This is actually kind of a roundabout peek into Elizabethworld since really it involves my Mom.
If you've met my Mom in person, you know that she's flippin' hilarious. You also know that she's not quite all there, and that she drives me bat shit crazy at times because of this.
Finally, you know exactly how I ended up like this.
For those of you who don't know my Mom, though, I'm posting the first paragraph of her daily e-mail to me from yesterday. (I already got her permission, so don't even try the, "Oh, your poor Mom," bit with me.)
After reading this, go back to July in this blog and read my earlier "A Peek Into Elizabethworld" blog. It's like a frickin' time machine here, people.
PS: In case there is any doubt, I absolutely love and adore my mother. She cracks me up -- especially now that I don't live in the same house as her. O=D
MOM'S THURSDAY E-MAIL:
"Quick Sigh from Ol' Mom who is sweating after a short walk. Even on the West Side, it's warm! Did not see Ryan Seacrest today...probably told you a million times he works in the building across from us. For breakfast he has egg whites and spinach from deli downstairs, loves Baha Fresh and Koo-Ker-Roos, parks on level 2. I"m sure he sends staff "out" for food. His voice is more recognizable than his face, at least to me! bcc. bcc"
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my Mom is obsessed with Ryan Seacrest.
And, in case you're wondering, she actually meant "Baja Fresh" and "Koo Koo Roo".
Finally, "BCC" is the acronym my mother and I came up for her habit of "Boring Chit Chat". If you're not careful, she'll talk your ear off for hours about the history of irrigation in the Los Angeles Basin, Ryan Seacrest, and why she doesn't shop at TJ Maxx anymore.
Is it starting to make sense now? You're welcome.
Cheers,
E
Friday, November 16, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
It's 10PM -- Do You Know Where Your Local Veterans Are?
BEYOND SAD
So, this is the first part of a three part “Elizabeth on her Soap Box” series. Bear with me, because I’ve actually got important things to say here for once.
Every now and again, I like to not be a complete asshole, and instead write about issues that actually have merit. (As opposed to any of my craptastic reality TV shows, Britney Spears, or the state of my neighborhood Starbucks.)
I read this article on CNN a few days ago. I was hoping to get this blog up in time for Veterans Day, but life has gotten crazy this month (mostly in a good way).
While normally trust CNN about as much as The National Enquirer, I do think that they’re reporting fairly accurately on this subject.
It was something that I already knew about; and, it’s something that I believe the American population in general knows about on some subconscious level. It’s something I’ve been meaning to focus more of the conscious part of my mind on for about a month or so, and just seeing this article really brought it to the forefront of my mind:
Here are some fucked-up facts for you:
- More than 25% of the American homeless population are U.S. Veterans
- Approximately 468,000 veterans experience “severe housing burden”, where over half of their income goes towards housing (thus making them highly susceptible to becoming homeless)
- Requested Iraq War Budget for Fiscal Year 2008: $155.5 Billion
- Expected Cost of Iraq War: Over $1 Trillion
- Requested Veteran’s Administration Budget for Fiscal Year 2008: $86.7 Billion
- Amount of money the VA specifically sets aside to deal with homeless veterans each year: $150 Million
- The VA (Veterans Affairs) houses approximately 100,000 veterans every year. While those 100,000 are surely better off thanks to such assistance, that leaves approximately 300,000 veterans (that we officially know of) homeless at any given time.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?!?!
As far as I’m concerned, there aren’t enough question marks and/or exclamation points available to express how much incredulity I feel with this question.
How on God’s green earth can this be happening? How can a country that prides itself on having the finest armed forces in the world allow 300,000+ veterans to be homeless?
Well, there is no easy answer. A few interesting facts that shed some light on the subject:
- 76% of homeless veterans experience alcohol, drug, or mental health problems
- According to "Is Homelessness a Housing Problem?" in Understanding Homelessness: New Policy and Research Perspectives, published by Fannie Mae Foundation in 1997, most homeless veterans are “…single, unaffiliated men…”, whereas most housing funds available in federal programs are geared towards “…helping homeless families or homeless women with dependent children…”
- Of all of the soldiers from the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars that have been diagnosed with PTSD (approximately 15-17% of them), only 23 to 40% (depending on the area) are seeking professional help, due in large part to the stigmas still attached to “mental illness”.
- Over 40% of reservists lose sources of income when called upon active duty.
These are just some of the many factors that lead to over 300,000 veterans being homeless. While there is no one reason for the cause of this problem, there really is no reason why this should be happening AT ALL in the first place.
SO… NOW WHAT?
The fact of the matter is that while the actual people working within the VA are overall compassionate, committed people who would love to eradicate homelessness amongst the veteran population, they’re stuck having to work with our government.
In case you’d like to get an idea of the kind of madness you encounter trying to work with the government, here’s a very useful link on Citizens Against Government Waste’s website as to what kind of ridiculous garbage the U.S. Govt. likes to spend its “pork” on, as opposed to, you know, serving the troops that serve us.
Ultimately, even the VA has turned to “veterans helping veterans” organizations and community based charities to help fight homelessness among the veteran community. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, “Programs that seem to work best feature transitional housing with the camaraderie of living in structured, substance-free environments with fellow veterans who are succeeding at bettering themselves.”
While the ultimate goal would be to get the U.S. government to spend its taxpayers’ dollars on helping the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, that’s not happening any time soon.
I don’t know what the exact solution is to this. It’s probably a multi-faceted program or series of programs that would need to be facilitated by both the federal and state governments, as well as local communities.
I do have a few ideas as to how individuals can help. There is always the option of donating to the organizations that are doing the most work and having the most success in fighting this epidemic, and volunteering at the local homeless shelter.
In the meantime, I’m just going to post the information that I have. I do have an idea or two of ways that people can help these homeless veterans. I’m going to work on these in the next few weeks, and I’ll post whatever I put together here. (Yes, I’m announcing this here so that I therefore feel obligated to follow through since it’s in print on the worldwide web.) =)
In the meantime, here are some useful links… hence the subject line.
SOME USEFUL LINKS:
U.S. Veterans Affairs Dept.: http://www.va.gov/
Homeless Programs & Initiatives Page on the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department Website: http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=2
Veterans for America (Humanitarian and Advocacy group dedicated to treating veterans with psychological traumas and brain injuries): http://www.veteransforamerica.org/
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans: http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm
National Coalition for the Homeless (Charity and Advocacy group that has some good facts & articles on the issue of homelessness itself): http://www.nationalhomeless.org/
U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program (This is a Federal program that works to reintegrate homeless veterans into the workforce): http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/fact/Homeless_veterans_fs04.htm
THE NEXT STEPS
I’ll post another blog in a few weeks once I’ve done some more research to see if I can flush out a few ideas. I encourage everyone to take a few moments and visit some of the above links to find out more about the issue.
It’s funny – it’s only two days after Veterans Day, and already all of the news stories on this subject are disappearing from the headlines. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this is one issue that REALLY bothers me.
BTW: I will post more funny/stupid blogs in between this blog and the follow-up blog on this in a few weeks. So, if you don’t see the follow-up blog, but you see one about funny things my roommate has said or a new record of foods & liquids that I’ve managed to spill on myself in one day, don’t worry – I definitely haven’t forgotten about this.
Cheers,
E
So, this is the first part of a three part “Elizabeth on her Soap Box” series. Bear with me, because I’ve actually got important things to say here for once.
Every now and again, I like to not be a complete asshole, and instead write about issues that actually have merit. (As opposed to any of my craptastic reality TV shows, Britney Spears, or the state of my neighborhood Starbucks.)
I read this article on CNN a few days ago. I was hoping to get this blog up in time for Veterans Day, but life has gotten crazy this month (mostly in a good way).
While normally trust CNN about as much as The National Enquirer, I do think that they’re reporting fairly accurately on this subject.
It was something that I already knew about; and, it’s something that I believe the American population in general knows about on some subconscious level. It’s something I’ve been meaning to focus more of the conscious part of my mind on for about a month or so, and just seeing this article really brought it to the forefront of my mind:
Here are some fucked-up facts for you:
- More than 25% of the American homeless population are U.S. Veterans
- Approximately 468,000 veterans experience “severe housing burden”, where over half of their income goes towards housing (thus making them highly susceptible to becoming homeless)
- Requested Iraq War Budget for Fiscal Year 2008: $155.5 Billion
- Expected Cost of Iraq War: Over $1 Trillion
- Requested Veteran’s Administration Budget for Fiscal Year 2008: $86.7 Billion
- Amount of money the VA specifically sets aside to deal with homeless veterans each year: $150 Million
- The VA (Veterans Affairs) houses approximately 100,000 veterans every year. While those 100,000 are surely better off thanks to such assistance, that leaves approximately 300,000 veterans (that we officially know of) homeless at any given time.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?!?!
As far as I’m concerned, there aren’t enough question marks and/or exclamation points available to express how much incredulity I feel with this question.
How on God’s green earth can this be happening? How can a country that prides itself on having the finest armed forces in the world allow 300,000+ veterans to be homeless?
Well, there is no easy answer. A few interesting facts that shed some light on the subject:
- 76% of homeless veterans experience alcohol, drug, or mental health problems
- According to "Is Homelessness a Housing Problem?" in Understanding Homelessness: New Policy and Research Perspectives, published by Fannie Mae Foundation in 1997, most homeless veterans are “…single, unaffiliated men…”, whereas most housing funds available in federal programs are geared towards “…helping homeless families or homeless women with dependent children…”
- Of all of the soldiers from the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars that have been diagnosed with PTSD (approximately 15-17% of them), only 23 to 40% (depending on the area) are seeking professional help, due in large part to the stigmas still attached to “mental illness”.
- Over 40% of reservists lose sources of income when called upon active duty.
These are just some of the many factors that lead to over 300,000 veterans being homeless. While there is no one reason for the cause of this problem, there really is no reason why this should be happening AT ALL in the first place.
SO… NOW WHAT?
The fact of the matter is that while the actual people working within the VA are overall compassionate, committed people who would love to eradicate homelessness amongst the veteran population, they’re stuck having to work with our government.
In case you’d like to get an idea of the kind of madness you encounter trying to work with the government, here’s a very useful link on Citizens Against Government Waste’s website as to what kind of ridiculous garbage the U.S. Govt. likes to spend its “pork” on, as opposed to, you know, serving the troops that serve us.
Ultimately, even the VA has turned to “veterans helping veterans” organizations and community based charities to help fight homelessness among the veteran community. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, “Programs that seem to work best feature transitional housing with the camaraderie of living in structured, substance-free environments with fellow veterans who are succeeding at bettering themselves.”
While the ultimate goal would be to get the U.S. government to spend its taxpayers’ dollars on helping the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, that’s not happening any time soon.
I don’t know what the exact solution is to this. It’s probably a multi-faceted program or series of programs that would need to be facilitated by both the federal and state governments, as well as local communities.
I do have a few ideas as to how individuals can help. There is always the option of donating to the organizations that are doing the most work and having the most success in fighting this epidemic, and volunteering at the local homeless shelter.
In the meantime, I’m just going to post the information that I have. I do have an idea or two of ways that people can help these homeless veterans. I’m going to work on these in the next few weeks, and I’ll post whatever I put together here. (Yes, I’m announcing this here so that I therefore feel obligated to follow through since it’s in print on the worldwide web.) =)
In the meantime, here are some useful links… hence the subject line.
SOME USEFUL LINKS:
U.S. Veterans Affairs Dept.: http://www.va.gov/
Homeless Programs & Initiatives Page on the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department Website: http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=2
Veterans for America (Humanitarian and Advocacy group dedicated to treating veterans with psychological traumas and brain injuries): http://www.veteransforamerica.org/
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans: http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm
National Coalition for the Homeless (Charity and Advocacy group that has some good facts & articles on the issue of homelessness itself): http://www.nationalhomeless.org/
U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program (This is a Federal program that works to reintegrate homeless veterans into the workforce): http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/fact/Homeless_veterans_fs04.htm
THE NEXT STEPS
I’ll post another blog in a few weeks once I’ve done some more research to see if I can flush out a few ideas. I encourage everyone to take a few moments and visit some of the above links to find out more about the issue.
It’s funny – it’s only two days after Veterans Day, and already all of the news stories on this subject are disappearing from the headlines. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this is one issue that REALLY bothers me.
BTW: I will post more funny/stupid blogs in between this blog and the follow-up blog on this in a few weeks. So, if you don’t see the follow-up blog, but you see one about funny things my roommate has said or a new record of foods & liquids that I’ve managed to spill on myself in one day, don’t worry – I definitely haven’t forgotten about this.
Cheers,
E
Friday, November 2, 2007
Can I Ask a Question?
Is the name “Elizabeth” REALLY that hard to spell?
Now, I’ve come to terms with the fact that, apparently, the name “Elizabeth” is too long. Every time I tell people my name is Elizabeth, they say, “Do you like to be called “Liz” or “Beth”?”
Well, last time I checked, I liked to be called by my NAME, which is Elizabeth. (NOTE: If you’ve been referring to me as “Liz” previous to 2002, you get a free pass. I know I drilled it in to you back then, and the fact that I’ve now decided to stop being a bratty teenager has no bearing on your ability to call me by another name. I understand.)
Anywho, back to my question. You see, I go to the Starbucks down the road from my office almost every work day. I like it. I like the people who work there. They know me, and they like me.
However, they don’t know how to spell my name… like, AT ALL.
For those unfamiliar with how Starbucks operates, first of all, welcome to the developed world! Glad you’re here! I know it can be tough getting out of a place like North Korea, The Democratic Republic of Congo, or Nebraska.
Second of all, normally when you walk into a Starbucks, it’s packed. So, they take your name down, and print it out onto the label (along with your specific drink order) that they stick onto the cup that will hold your drink.
Now, I know “spelling” ranks pretty darn low on the list of priorities amidst the American people. After all:
A.) English is quite possibly the most difficult language to spell in, because there are pretty much zero rules involved; and,
B.) We have spell check now.
However, I’m thinking with a name like “Elizabeth”, it’s probably something that the AVERAGE American can spell, since it’s been one of the Top 20 Female names since this country was founded.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Allow me to regale you with some choice spellings of my name by the people at my local Starbucks:
1. Elizabet
2. Lizabet
3. Lizabeth
4. Elizab
5. Elisabeth (acceptable if this lady was French, but she wasn’t)
6. Elizibeth
7. Illizibeth (That’s actually my personal favorite – it’s going to be my rap name.)
8. Lisbeth
Out of the (literally) hundreds of times I’ve gone to this Starbucks, they’ve probably spelled my name correctly twice. (That’s how I know it’s not just a system thing where they can only enter so many characters into the register’s name field.)
I know I stutter and slur my words a lot (shut up, it’s a speech impediment… most of the time), but are people really not understanding that my name is “Elizabeth”?
Again, I really like my peeps down at the local Starbucks. But, not being able to spell “Elizabeth” correctly? I’ll bet if my name was “MacKenzie” they’d get it right.
By the way, if you name your child “MacKenzie”, I really don’t need to know you. That’s the most God-awful name for a female child on the planet, and everyone and their Mom is naming their kids that now.
But that’s a whole other rant for a whole other time.
Cheers,
E (Since, apparently, most people can’t spell my full name)
PS: Yes, I know I didn't blog at all during October. I went out of the country, and when I came back my new home city was on fire. I'll be back in full effect for November, je te promis.
Now, I’ve come to terms with the fact that, apparently, the name “Elizabeth” is too long. Every time I tell people my name is Elizabeth, they say, “Do you like to be called “Liz” or “Beth”?”
Well, last time I checked, I liked to be called by my NAME, which is Elizabeth. (NOTE: If you’ve been referring to me as “Liz” previous to 2002, you get a free pass. I know I drilled it in to you back then, and the fact that I’ve now decided to stop being a bratty teenager has no bearing on your ability to call me by another name. I understand.)
Anywho, back to my question. You see, I go to the Starbucks down the road from my office almost every work day. I like it. I like the people who work there. They know me, and they like me.
However, they don’t know how to spell my name… like, AT ALL.
For those unfamiliar with how Starbucks operates, first of all, welcome to the developed world! Glad you’re here! I know it can be tough getting out of a place like North Korea, The Democratic Republic of Congo, or Nebraska.
Second of all, normally when you walk into a Starbucks, it’s packed. So, they take your name down, and print it out onto the label (along with your specific drink order) that they stick onto the cup that will hold your drink.
Now, I know “spelling” ranks pretty darn low on the list of priorities amidst the American people. After all:
A.) English is quite possibly the most difficult language to spell in, because there are pretty much zero rules involved; and,
B.) We have spell check now.
However, I’m thinking with a name like “Elizabeth”, it’s probably something that the AVERAGE American can spell, since it’s been one of the Top 20 Female names since this country was founded.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Allow me to regale you with some choice spellings of my name by the people at my local Starbucks:
1. Elizabet
2. Lizabet
3. Lizabeth
4. Elizab
5. Elisabeth (acceptable if this lady was French, but she wasn’t)
6. Elizibeth
7. Illizibeth (That’s actually my personal favorite – it’s going to be my rap name.)
8. Lisbeth
Out of the (literally) hundreds of times I’ve gone to this Starbucks, they’ve probably spelled my name correctly twice. (That’s how I know it’s not just a system thing where they can only enter so many characters into the register’s name field.)
I know I stutter and slur my words a lot (shut up, it’s a speech impediment… most of the time), but are people really not understanding that my name is “Elizabeth”?
Again, I really like my peeps down at the local Starbucks. But, not being able to spell “Elizabeth” correctly? I’ll bet if my name was “MacKenzie” they’d get it right.
By the way, if you name your child “MacKenzie”, I really don’t need to know you. That’s the most God-awful name for a female child on the planet, and everyone and their Mom is naming their kids that now.
But that’s a whole other rant for a whole other time.
Cheers,
E (Since, apparently, most people can’t spell my full name)
PS: Yes, I know I didn't blog at all during October. I went out of the country, and when I came back my new home city was on fire. I'll be back in full effect for November, je te promis.
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