Greedy Chinese and Americans Desecrate Mayan Artifact for Mundane Use

Yes, you've heard it all before. the overseas sweatshops, the exporting of American jobs to far-flung lands, the plundering of the resources of third world nations, but this one takes the cake. Working back from what we've got, it appears that a Chinese company that makes art boards and sells the product under the name of "Alvin"( not the shriekingly obnoxious Christmas chipmunk) and markets to unsuspecting artists in the states, has done the utterly unthinkable. If we didn't have photographic proof you just would not believe it. The Alvin art board, designed as a drawing support or for other art projects uses a simple clip at the top to secure the paper. the "clip" in this case is a piece of ancient Mayan art. The metal masks, used by the Mayans to contact the spirit world in their traditional religious rites, have been shamelessly plundered and attached to the pressed board for use as a paper clip. Ironically I spent some time this weekend looking at samples of Haitian metal art, otherwise I might have missed this grotesque travesty.

Iced Coffee Season 2012

Some people are telling me to shut up and enjoy the weather. Okay, so there are a couple of things wrong with that. One is that I never, ever enjoy it being 90 degrees--that's just me. Two is that there is no contradiction between enjoying the weather and knowing that the planet is about to catch fire and burn every living thing off the surface of it...real soon.

So anyway, I opened Iced Coffee Season in March. Just now catching up on this sorely neglected blog thing. By 'catching up' I mean that I read some old posts this morning and cackled at my own stuff. Sad.

Then I started reading my dog's blog www.airedalecrimespree.blogspot.com and cackled some more. Everyone knows I'm avoiding creating the hyperlinks in the newsletter. True, because it says so on Facebook. I'm going to go make a large poster now.

I Don't Even Have the Title to This Property and...

Today I received a notification from my bank detailing recent online payments made by me. I always open these, for some reason, even though I check my account almost daily. Let's see if we can imagine the look on my face when I learned that I paid my mortgage--to Chase Mortgage, the company who held the mortgage until July of '10 when I refinanced with another company.

Could Chase somehow return that money to my bank account in time for me to pay my actualy mortgage? Certainly not. I am now embroiled in a letter writing campaign that threatens to eclipse the volume of letters between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, although these particular letters will not be of such a felicitous nature. All manner of printouts and information is to be included along with certain phrases which must be written exactly as told to me by the minimum wage employee(s)--I called twice, looking for a different answer--and the envelope must be addressed just so. And then sent on to Columbus Ohio where, when it finally arrives, researchers will attempt to locate the money. Meanwhile I cannot pay my actual mortgage until this is sorted. Color me homeless in 6 months or less.