Filed under: Janet's Politics
I joined one of my clients, Travelin’ Joe, of espresso catering service fame, at the Berkeley Food and Housing Project on Thanksgiving morning to serve lattes to the homeless and needy. Travelin’ Joe in real life is Bill Choy, who has been crafting lattes at corporate and private events for the likes of Bill Gates, John Travolta and Robin Williams for 17 years.
This year he reached a new audience; instead of coffee for the stars, Travelin’ Joe served lattes for those less fortunate. While Travelin’ Joe manned the espresso machine, I talked to the people who were there for the rich, warm espresso drinks. These people break your heart—they’re dirty, in ragged clothing, clutching the bedrolls and bags that represent home.
Chanel is from Danville and wants to make it as a singer. John used to have a good job in the printing industry, but print shops can no longer compete with electronic delivery. Robert was trying to get a ride to Redwood City, where the panhandling is better—Thanksgiving is apparently a good day for these guys—he made $800 last year. He was looking forward to buying booze and dope with the money he collected. Blaine was clearly bipolar and off his meds. Philip has graduated from law school and is trying to pass the bar exam for the fourth time. Timmy was decorated for Halloween and god only knows what’s going on in there.
Travelin’ Joe closed up shop, and I figured that as long as I was there, I might as well join the other volunteers who were serving Thanksgiving dinner. I was inspired by the people who work at this facility. One of the case workers picked herself up from addictions and street life, went to college and graduated with a degree in social work. She remembers many of these people from her days on the streets.
If Thanksgiving is a time of tradition, then this is a new one for me. I intend to join Travelin’ Joe next year at Berkeley’s Food and Housing Project; this experience has made us thankful for what we have, and it has made me very aware of just how capricious life can be.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
Filed under: Janet's Politics | Tags: espresso cart, homeless, jobless, Thanksgiving, tradition
One of my clients is doing something very cool. He’s Travelin’ Joe the espresso man. He’s been around the Bay Area for nearly 20 years, wheeling his espresso carts to all manner of events. In real life, Travelin’ Joe is Bill Choy, and he’s crafted cappuccino for the likes of Bill Gates, Robin Williams and John Travolta.
But this year, Travelin’ Joe is reaching a new audience, the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. Instead of coffee for the stars, Travelin’ Joe will be serving cappuccinos to the homeless and jobless—those who can no longer afford the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
The coffee business has been good to Bill, for which he is thankful, and he is looking forward to sharing some of his good fortune this year.
I’m going to join Bill on Thanksgiving, and I hope that we’re starting a tradition that will endure. The way we’ve got it figured, if everyone gave just a little, what a collective difference we could make.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
Filed under: Janet's Politics | Tags: first dude, Levy Johnson, politics, Sarah Palin
It’s profoundly shocking that people actually take this imposter seriously. Are they crazy? A person without sophistication and a very limited world view—she’s never traveled, though she does apparently know that Russia is just on the other side of the Aleutian chain.
No snooty ivy league education for her, no background in public policy, political science or law, though I did hear a vague reference to her graduating from some kind of college in Idaho. Running a state that has a smaller population than the Bay Area is not a primer for governing a nation to which the entire world looks for leadership
Can you imagine four years of having to watch her trailer trash family, waiting in the wings to find out whether or not Levy Johnson shows up for Thanksgiving dinner, what’s going to happen to the first dude or the retarded baby which is apparently how she refers to her youngest child. Will her other daughters follow the family tradition of teenage pregnancy while Sarah espouses abstinence? Will she quit in the middle of her term when she’s not having fun anymore?
For someone who loves politics—this is a wonderful sideshow. If this becomes more than a sideshow, I am frightened.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
Filed under: Janet's Politics, Uncategorized | Tags: Goldman Sachs, love story, meltdown, Reagan admin
I knew it was going to make me crazy, but I went anyway. Michael Moore’s movies never pretend to be objective journalism, but Capitalism: A Love Story is particularly painful to watch.
The story begins with a condemnation of the Reagan administration, which I’ve been saying for years—these were the guys who shut down any program that provided a social safety net. There are so many people who could be back to leading productive lives with just a little help; instead they’re living on the streets in the richest country in the world.
As if this movie were not depressing enough, I just finished reading an article in the New Yorker about the financial system meltdown—it should be required reading for those who see this movie. It reads like a soap opera featuring a very rich fraternity, Goldman Sachs.
I went to a movie yesterday afternoon and there were two women who talked throughout the entire film—not even two hours in length, including previews. I see this all of the time.
I suppose it’s a result of people getting used to renting films where they can stop, start, rewind and talk throughout the course of the movie. This, however was on my time and it just doesn’t seem like it’s asking too much to expect people to shut up for a couple of hours. It’s also been my experience that politely asking people not to talk results in outrage and death threats.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
Another month, a new quarter, and we’ve witnessed Moammar Khadafy pitching a tent in Donald Trump’s backyard, Dick Cheney undermining national security and god only knows what’s going to happen with health care. Everyone’s screaming about socialization, but I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. Citizens in countries with socialized medicine enjoy a high quality of life—look at the Scandinavian countries or France.
I don’t happen to think I’m overtaxed, but I don’t want my tax dollars going to bomb the hell out of the Middle East. I think Obama is a hero for trying to tackle so many problems in the first year of his presidency. I’m hoping we can get out of the Middle East and begin to spend those billions of dollars on our own problems and our own people.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
I live in Berkeley where the parking police are merciless. I have gotten tickets for the backend of my homely little car hanging over into the red zone and being at the wrong place at the wrong time on street-sweeping days.
But this is the corker. I parked at one of the slots where you go up to a little ticket validation machine—I inserted coins and printed my ticket. By the time I got back to my car—an estimated 12 feet—there was a ticket for $55 on my windshield. Exactly one minute and three seconds had elapsed. Pure outrage.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
Filed under: Janet's Politics | Tags: healthcare, Middle East, trillion dollars
I have opinions on everything political.
What makes me crazy is that if we hadn’t spent the last eight years bombing the hell out of the Middle East, we could have used these trillions of dollars to provide superb healthcare to all Americans as well as to shore up our own infrastructures.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
We knew it was coming, but Teddy Kennedy’s death stunned me. This is a guy who could have spent his entire adult life working on his golf swing and his tan.
Instead, he chose to spend nearly 50 years in the US Senate as a tireless champion of the little guy. He is probably best known as a champion of universal health care. But there’s so much more. He is recognized for being able to work collaboratively with legislators who did not share his policies.
He even seemed to be able to have a dialog with W when they talked about the No Kid Left Behind program, which did just that—left lots of kids behind. I think a large part of this is due to the fact that W and Mr. Dick elected to bomb the hell out of the Middle East rather than deal with our own social problems and infrastructure.
So, who steps up to carry the torch? I’m not sure anyone can fill this void.
Janet Peischel, Top of Mind Marketing and Business Development. I help my clients increase sales by 15%/quarter.
