cast ballots

Today Ohio will vote itself a gloriously tragic, shortsighted and yet stupidly inevitable economic seppuku.

Elsewhere is looking better and better every day.

hometown heroes

Famous for having a river that caught on fire, topping the 2010 Forbes list of most miserable cities, and being the home of sports teams that can never quite win, even our disgruntled hippie protests kind of suck...

Occupy Cleveland looks pretty...unoccupied.

(via Sacbee)

Still waiting

I spent a bit of time this morning checking the news and, nope...still no blood in the streets.

(and yes, I chose that news story for a reason. Check out the gunny's last name!)

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bias

The Cleveland Plain Dealer should be ashamed of themselves.

Can't wait to see what they come up with when restaurant carry becomes legal in a few weeks. Gonna need some new underoos.

(By the way, congratulations to OFCC for making the City of Cleveland Heights abide by state law and standing up for our civil rights.)

watch for signs

This photo was taken behind the library by MikeW when I was giving him and Alan a little "Life of  Breda" tour around Willoughby and its environs.

As you can see, two of our local youths are taking a break from their myriad skateboarding adventures. Exhausting work being that cool, you know. Also, I suspect the tight pants restrict circulation and therefore blood oxygenation. (To the brain, mostly.) This popular daily hangout area is actually the library's back parking lot, reserved for library employees. The window on the left is where our intrepid library director is able to survey her domain, the door on the right is where employees enter and exit the building and on the wall between them is a sign that reads:

"NO Skateboarding or Rollerblading Permitted"

I'm sure you can imagine why I don't put much faith in the sign that is on the front of the building.
It looks a lot like this:

Got your pocket Constitution?

If this Ohio policeman is so blasé about confiscating mere video cameras and violating 1st Amendment rights, just imagine how eager he'd be to take away your oh-so-dangerous firearms. For the public good. And, you know, to protect his pension.



Just following orders, ma'am.

happy now, Allen Schulman?

Good thing neither of these women in Canton, Ohio were carrying a gun - someone could have really gotten hurt.

welcome to Ohio!

Where men like Canton City Council President Allen Schulman would rather see me dead than let me carry a gun.

(oh, and for the record, Mr. Schulman? The only person that seemed like any sort of threat in the original video was the policeman threatening to execute someone for being stupid. Not exactly the guy I'd trust to keep me "safe.")

what gun for banana?

Large tropical fruit at large after fight with embarrassed gorilla.

(No word on the whereabouts of a certain law enforcement officer.)

Soon, my gunnies. Soon.

Any day now, the streets of Ohio will be awash with blood.
(Okay. Not really.)

OC report

I'd like to be able to say that nothing at all happened on the 1st Annual OC Nonevent but something did. But even then, that really wasn't much of a big deal, either.

I went to Walmart and was told, by a woman I assume is an employee, that I needed to cover my gun. She told me that the store has a "no open weapons" sign on the door and I needed to pull my shirt over my gun. So, not wanting to cause a fuss on Nonevent Day, I complied. I then proceeded to walk through the store with a big gun-shaped lump under my tank top.

But really - who could blame her, right? This is how scary I looked:

Tiny woman in a skirt! With a gun! And a ponytail! (the bigger deal here was the skirt, trust me)

Anyway, the five remaining minutes Mike and I were in the store were spent asking each other,"Is there a sign? I've never seen a sign. Did you see a sign?"

We checked on the way out. No sign. And besides, a "cover up your gun" sign doesn't technically exist in Ohio. She could have asked me to leave if the building had it been posted with a "gun free zone" sign, but there wasn't one of those either.

So I guess I'll be writing a letter to Walmart corporation, asking them to remind the store manager of their open carry policy, which is to follow state laws.

After Walmart, I went inside a gas station to buy some diet coke and chips then we went for a walk in the park. We saw gigantic tadpoles and I think I might have gotten about eleventy million freckles but nothing else happened. Then we bought iced teas at the coffeehouse and walked around downtown Willoughby.

I then went home and ate some blueberry birthday pie, still a bit miffed that I had to hide my pretty new Dragon Leatherworks holster.

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OC update

Photo evidence - I really did it...and nothing happened. Mike says he thinks he saw a few people take a second glance, but that was it. No comments, no hysteria, no police. I did not go berserk and mow down other shoppers in a crazed hailstorm of bullets when I got in the vicinity of the beer cooler. Just a normal trip to the store, like any other Saturday...except for the first 15 minutes where I felt like I was stuck in one of those dreams where I go to work and I'm the only one who's naked and I had a giant neon "zOMG, GUN!" sign plastered to my forehead. Oh, and the collard greens I bought for tomorrow, that's a bit out of the ordinary.

When I got back to the car, I looked at Mike and Mike looked at me. "Well, then," I said. "I guess that's that."

"I guess so," he replied.

"No big deal."

"I guess not."

I'm still grinning.

And, hey! NancyR and MikeW are OCing too. Freedom is really fun, you should try it if you can. (And if you can't, well...get active!)

Today is the day

Since it's a gorgeous spring day and I don't feel like fussing with cover shirts, I am going to open carry to the grocery store. For a long time now, I've talked about the importance of atypical gun owners - like women & the disabled - being more visible in the fight for our 2nd Amendment rights so this it it...I'm going to walk the walk.

I'm wearing a pink shirt (opted against the one that reads "Radical Militant Librarian") and dolled myself up a bit (ok, just extra lipgloss, but still) in the hopes of looking as nonthreatening as possible, but I'm still so nervous. Wish me luck.

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puppetmaster

When I saw the headline on Drudge, I initially thought it was some sort of political joke. (Oh, and I was so right. In a way.) "Kucinich shows off ventriloquism skills..." it said and I was giddy thinking that possibly, maybe, the story would include ol' kooky Dennis playing with a ventriloquist's dummy. I crossed my fingers and hoped, "please, please, PLEASE show him with a puppet" and clicked the link...

YES!

Except, OHDEARGODNO...

Kucinich had his hand puppet sing "God Bless America," and the weirdness of it all prompted Oliver to ask, "How do you keep winning elections?"

"You're going to have to ask Dennis," said Kucinich, via his puppet.

I may have nightmares.

how it starts...

A local reporter takes a CCW class...

...I wasn't packing heat, but I was weighed down by a bellyful of well-worn biases about the kind of person who wants to strut around armed.

Considering her previous experience with guns, I'm not surprised.

fair warning: the CCW article sometimes sounds just as ignorant as you might expect and also uses some of those scary anti-gun buzz words but it's an initial, honest step for a woman who admits both her bias and her fear...so good on her. In fact, this article probably sounds a lot like some of my very first attempts at gunblogging. I sincerely hope she keeps shooting (and writing about it!)

Snowpocalypse, part, um...

Hmm. Seems I've lost count.

Anyway, we got five or so inches overnight and there's no sign of it stopping. There is a utility truck stuck in front of my driveway and the guys are trying to dig out as fast as they can, because I have to get to work. Sometime. (yes, schools are closed but the library is not.) Five minutes outside cleaning off my car and I'm soaked - my hair is wet and my mascara is somewhere in the vicinity of my cheekbones.

UPDATE: Called the library to say I'd be late. Was told nothing was plowed and my boss wouldn't be into work because the freeways are closed.

Hey, at least we're not in Japan, God help them.

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no mistake (on the lake)

Despite our crappy weather and struggling economy, Cleveland can be pretty hip - if you know where to look.

Come visit and I'll take you for a bratwurst at the West Side Market.

that'll teach me

Note to self: When reading local news, try to resist the urge to research every last detail lest your wikiwander makes you aware of certain uncomfortable facts, such as Mrs. Kucinich's tongue piercing.

Round on the end and hi in the middle

Okay, okay...so we don't have a great economy to make up for our crappy weather, but take a look at Ohio on this map...


That's right - nerdiest state EVER.

I'm so proud!

vocal local yokels

A Hallelujah Chorus flash mob descended upon one of my most favorite places in Cleveland.