Three Cheers For Two Men Lying Down On The Job

Barber James Williams successful cuts
young Mason's hair at a barber shop in Wales.
Mason has autism, and he's most comfortable on the floor. 

Lying down on the job is pretty much discouraged everywhere.

But I found two recently examples where people have done this, and they deserve a raise.

The first guy lying down on the job is one James Williams of the Jim the Trim Barber Shop in Briton Ferry, Wales.

Last month, a youngster with autism named Mason came in to get a haircut.

Haircuts can be difficult for some kids with autism.  

Williams said the boy has come into the shop in the past, and the kid would get very uncomfortable, especially when Williams tried to cut hair near Mason's ears.

Williams also noticed Mason seemed more comfortable on the floor. The barber figured if you can't beat him, join him.

So the haircut got done there, and worked beautifully. Mason was so pleased he gave Williams a hug - which is a rare move for Mason, said his parents, according to Huffington Post.

Too bad I don't live anywhere near Wales. I'd get Williams to cut my hair any time. And I wouldn't even make him get down on the floor to do it.

The second case, according to People magazine came in the form of a mall Santa.

Erin Deely says her son, Brayden has autism, and thusly not good at crowds, noise and pressure, such as people urging him to smile, goddammit.

But there's an organization call Caring Santa, which trains Santas and sets up quiet, controlled areas where kids with autism can tell Santa they've been good boys and girls and what they want for Christmas.

When Brayden arrived at SouthPark mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, Santa just got down on the floor and started playing with the toys on the floor with Brayden.

The result was the adorable picture you see in this post of the kid and Santa at the mall.

I don't know if Santa gets Christmas gifts, but this one surely won't get any coal in his stocking.


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Dark, Emotional German Ad Puts New Twist On Christmas Heartstrings

Scene from the controversial Christmas ad
from the German gorcery chain Edeka. 

Christmas ads are all designed to pull at the heartstrings, and really manipulate your emotions, more so than advertisements other times of year.

Some of these Christmas ads are quite good, as I've noted in past posts. Most of the ads are terrible.

Now, pointed out to me by the web site Mashable, here's an ad from the German supermarket chain Edeka that, at least for the most part, is much darker than most rosy holiday ads.

The characters in the ad are also very manipulated, but seem surprisingly willing to forgive the manipulator for it

As Mashable notes, the manipulation depicted in the ad might not be the best way to do things, but oh well.

I also don't know how the ad advances the cause of buying groceries, but oh well.  The ad is interesting and provocative.  It was just posted on YouTube on November 28 and already has gotten 30 million views  and counting fast.

Many people love LOVE the ad. "Very powerful ad that highllights an important issue for many older people: loneliness," tweeted Jeff Tijssen, according to the New York Daily News.

Others hate it.  During a Today show segment about the ad, co-host Savannah Guthrie said. "That is the worst thing I've ever, ever seen.....Oh, it's morbid."

In this television advertisement, we see a lonely old man in December, who gets phone calls from all his children, all saying things have gotten too busy and they can't make it for a Christmas visit this year.

We then have clips of the old man eating alone in dim light in his house near a Christmas tree, interspersed with scenes from the frantic lives of his adult children.

Then the adult children get the news right before Christmas itself: Their lonely father has passed away. The busy kids, now grieving, interrupt their lives and head to their father's home town to make arrangements for the funeral.

And then......Watch the video, and see what you think of this one:

Black Lives Matter Everywhere; Vermont Needs That Reminder, Too

Part of a demonstration against racism in St Albans,
Vermont on Wednesday. Photo by Morgan True/Vermont Digger. 

I've lived in Vermont my entire life (so far!) and I must admit a dirty, big secret about my state

There's a lot of racists here.

There's a lot of racists everywhere, but some people from outside Vermont think the Green Mountain State is a liberal utopia of understanding, brotherhood and sisterhood and kumbaya.

True, most of us here in Vermont are not racists, are nice people, who try to do the right thing, who worry about racial injustice. A number of Vermonters work tirelessly to combat racism.

Then you get displays like we had yesterday in the community where I live, St. Albans, Vermont. Which proves there are a fair number of bigots here, too.

A relatively small number of African-Americans go the local high school, called Bellows Free Academy.

Those African-Americans said racial tension is a problem at the school, so they held a rally in downtown St. Albans calling attention to this issue.

According to Vermont Digger, the demonstration did not go well at all, but the events of the day did prove the students' point: Racism is alive and well in Vermont, as it is pretty much everywhere in the nation.

Here's what happened during the demonstration, writes Morgan True of Vermont Digger: 

"A young man drove past the rally with a Confederate flag mounted to the bed of his pickup truck; others drove past givin demonstrators the middle finger. A group of white students who gathered around another pickup truck pantomimed shooting guns at demonstrators."

Obviously, the yahoos who did this kind of thing are not representative of the majority of Vermonters. But it proves quite a bit of work still needs to be done in terms of race relations.

One of the demonstration's organizers, Ebony Nyone, says her nephew is racially harassed at school, and people often use racial slurs.  

A pickup truck with a Confederate flag drives
past an anti-racism demonstration in St. Albans,
Vermont Wednesday. Photo by Morgan True
of Vermont Digger.  

There is one student in particular, she says, that keeps bringing a Confederate flag to school in an effort to harass black students.

Part of the problem, Nyone told Vermont Digger, is school officials don't often understand how racism manifests itself. When an African-American student finally retaliates or reacts, it's them that get punished or suspended, and the racist taunter goes free.

Vermont Digger also interviewed a guy named Richard Miller, who owns Miller's Automotive near Bellows Free Academy. in St. Albans.

He turned out to be not an example of hate-inspired racism, but perhaps maybe a type borne of ignorance. 

Vermont has one of the smallest proportions of African-Americans of any in the nation.  I wonder if some people here, especially in rural areas, meet few African-Americans, cling to stereotypes and what they think is the proper "role" for blacks.

If Vermont Digger's reporting is correct, Miller might be that type. He appears not to like uppity blacks, as the vernacular in these situations goes.

"'I'm not a racist person, but the black man has brought a lot of his misery on himself,' Miller said. 'They got this big chip on their shoulder and they're just daring someone to knock it off,' he said looking on in disgust at the protest from his garage window.

'I've got black friends,' Miller said. 'You know what he would call them people? Niggers.' he railed, gesturing at the demonstrators across the street. 'He's a good guy, and he says I've ot all kinds of whiae friends and I've never been called a nigger. You know why? Because I don't act like a nigger.'"

I guess demonstrating against racism makes you unacceptable, in Miller's opinion.

Miller also told Vermont Digger that white people are now the 'lowest on the totem pole'

Hmm. Interesting theory.

Yep, we have some work to do in terms of race relations, don't we?

Oh, and by the way, remind me not to get my truck fixed at Miller Automotive. If he has that attitude toward blacks, imagine what he thinks about a gay guy like me.
 

Ideas For Bad Christmas Wraps

Another bad wrapping paper print
idea: Santa stripping

Once you're done buying Christmas presents, you have to wrap them, right?

Fortunately, Twitter came to the rescue with the hashtag #BadWrappingPaperPrints.

For those of you who have a life and can't or won't scroll through the bad ideas on Twitter, here are some of my favorites:

---Eviction notices.
---Screenshots of Bill O'Reilly ranting about the War on Christmas
---The faces of underpaid Chinese workers who made the gift
---Child support overdue notices
---Donald Trump nudes
---People of Walmart

Do you have even better ideas? Post a comment!

Maybe We Don't Stop Mass Shootings Because They're Good For Fundraising

Today's scene at the San Bernardino mass shooting

As I write this late Wednesday afternoon, another mass shooting is unfolding, this time in San Bernardino, California.  Last I checked at least 14 people are dead, 14 are injured, and they're still looking for the shooters.

The mass shootings are coming on faster and faster and faster. It's almost like the nation is in a civil war, with lots of tiny mini factions fighting it out through terrorist attacks.

I get it. Preventing mass shootings is tricky business. They tend to involve a convoluted mess of hate, extreme politics, a gun culture, and laziness on the part of leaders.

Or is it laziness? I really hope I'm being way too cynical here. Is our nation's inability to stop mass shootings deep down a function of them being good for business?

Obviously most of us loathe mass shootings. Few people want to see innocent people die.

But I notice after every mass shooting, people from advocacy groups, and politicians try to outdo each other saying outrages things about the latest shooting.

On the surface, these loudmouths don't like the death of innocents, either. But is a little part of them, deep down, actually happy these kinds of things are happening with increasing frequency?

After all, the loudmouths say their outragous things, which riles up their base, who donate money to the cause the loudmouth is supporting, and they make oodles of money.

Here's the type of comment I'm talking about:  As the incident was unfolding, pundit Ben Shapiro snarkily Tweeted: "The answer to the San Bernardino shooting is clearly whatever the left wanted to push before the San Bernardino shooting."

Thank you, Ben. Of course I have no idea what goes on in Shapiro's head, or exactly what motivated him to say this.  Maybe he really just loathes liberals and it's as simple as that, who knows? I certainly can't accuse Shapiro of the money making cynicism I described. Because I just don't know.

But are some people using these shootings as a fundraising scheme? Yes, innocent people are dead, but hey, there's money to be made, right?

Another horrible aspect of this, as if there weren't enough, is to make all of us live in some level of fear. Will you, or I be the next person to be caught up in a thing like this?  Fearful people tend not to make rational decisions like calm people would.

So they might vote for a loudmouth reactionary as a response to their fear. Instead of really taking the time to consider who best would bring our country, our society forward in peace.

Another win for the offensive loudmouths.

I so hope I'm wrong.  I so hope I'm far too cynical and bitter.

Jeb Bush Lunch Bags and Clocks, Elizabeth Warren Discos, Bernie Finds Religion: Weird Gifts

Just in time for Christmas gift giving.
A Bernie Sanders prayer candle! 

Mother Jones just put out a gift guide of sorts, featuring some of the more unusual political gifts you could give this holiday season.

Bernie Sanders seems to be the politician most featured in these items, but there's stuff for people of every political stripe.

Following are some of the um, novel products Mother Jones featured, in no particular order.

There's a Bernie Sanders prayer candle, available on Etsy from an outfit called GoSaintYourself. 

The candle dubs Sanders "Saint Bernie" and has him wearing what appear to be Roman Catholic robes, holding an ancient Bible and I don't know what else.

Sanders is Jewish, but that's kinda besides the point, I guess.

Wouldn't you just love to have this Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren
Holiday Disco Paper Ornament? 

Brown bagging it to work? Then how about a collection of brown bags with Jeb Bush's face painted on it, and the logo "Jeb Bush For President *2016*"?  Could be a good diet gimmick. You see that lunch bag and you won't want to eat.

How about a Jeb Bush clock instead? It's a clock dominated by a stern looking Jeb Bush, probably telling those lazy good for nothing low income people to get back to work dammit, lunch time is over!

Probably my favorite political gift highlighted in Mother Jones is the Holiday Disco Party With Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren Paper Ornament.

The ornament is just as it says. It depicts Bernie, in red hightops, and Elizabeth Warren in full party dance mode with a mirror ball festooned with holiday lights above them.

True, I wouldn't call real life Elizabeth Warren a Dancing Queen, and Bernie Sanders isn't exactly John Travolta, (though he did dance a bit in a recent appearance on the Ellen show.)

Unfortunately, the Holiday Disco Party With Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren Paper Ornament proved hugely popular, and is sold out. Ahhhhhh.

On the bright side, though, from the same company, FullSnowMoon you can still get a paper ornament depicting Chris Christie serving cookies, John Boehner as a Christmas elf or Donald Trump as part of a still life of a bowl of fruit.

Downs Syndrome Kids Recreate Famous Paintings, Beautifully

Left: "Fifer" by Manet, Flavio poses for similar
photograph by Seola Zani. 

Sometimes great works of art beg to be recreated.

If only placed in the right hands.

The right hands in this case belong to Seola Zani, an Albanian photographer.

Zani had an ingenious idea: He took famous paintings, and used children with Downs Syndrome to recreate those paintings through photography.

Zani used famous paintings such as "Child With Dove" and Paulo as Harloquin, both by Picasso; "The Fifer," by Manet; "Prima Ballerina" by Degas and "Clara Serena Rubens" by Rubens

According to the Web site TheMighty, a web site with articles about successes with special needs youths, Zani specializes in family photography, and has always been drawn to classic works, so the photo project was perfect for her.

 

Left, "The Dancer" by Renoir: Right, "The Damcer"
(Ima) buy Seola Zani

Said Zani:

"The message I want to share through this project is that every human is a piece of art, so we have to learn to see them in a beautiful way....These children are beautiful, and they are able to do everything if we give them a chance."

I have to say, judging by the photos, Zani has certainly highlighted the beauty she describes.

Left, "Child With Dove" By Picasso, Right: "Child With
Dove," (Eljana) Ny Seola Zani.