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If you’re like me, you hate getting calls from telemarketers, yet find it hard to be rude to them, which can make it difficult to get off the line. (They’re just folks trying to make a living, right?) Since getting caller identification, this problem has greatly reduced our dinnertime interruptions although the phone still rings; we simply don’t pick up (unless I forget or get curious about a number). Last week, my niece emailed me that cell phone numbers are now going to be included in a public database too, making them subject to telemarketers. Turns out, this isn’t true according to information cited on the national Do Not Call Registry: “FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers don’t call consumers on their cell phones without their consent.”

Even so, I decided to block my home and cell phone numbers by calling the registry, which is managed by the Federal Trade Commission, at 888-382-1222. You can also block your phone number online. The whole process took less than 30 seconds—well worth it if prevents those annoying calls.

Don’t be left out of the most important election of the century. Not only in terms of national issues, but statewide initiatives on the Nov. 4 ballot will have immediate and far-reaching impacts on people from all levels of our community. To have a say in this election, you must be a registered voter (a Massachusetts resident, a citizen, and at least 18 years old) and TODAY is the last day to register! Register by completing this form and mailing it (postmark Oct. 15) to your city’s election department. You may also register in person. In Lowell, you have until 8 p.m. tonight to register at City Hall, 375 Merrimack Street. New citizens may register to vote after the deadline by bringing their dated naturalization papers to city hall by 4 p.m. the day before the election.

The two presidential candidates and their running mates could not be more different in their priorities and plans for dealing with the pressing issues facing our nation (watch tonight’s debate). In terms of the Commonwealth, ballot question 1 alone, if it passes, could devastate the delivery of basic services to our communities by reducing state revenues by more than 40 percent. For details about the impacts of Question 1, a reckless proposal to eliminate the state income tax, check here. For more information on state and local candidates, see this website I recently learned about that allows you to identify your candidates based on your address. It also offers discussion of the ballot iniatives including pros and cons of each one. Whatever you do, be informed, and VOTE because it matters.

Maybe it’s no surprise to you, but the National Organization for Women (NOW) has come out strongly against Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. For a more balanced look at the presidential candidates’ views on issues that NOW sees as being of particular concern to women, check here. In the meantime, below is a sample of statements that I received via email regarding their views of Palin: 

“Friends, we are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

“Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech, gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second- (and possibly first) -most-powerful person on the planet. 

“We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and altogether devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin’s political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and from which we’ve so demonstrably benefited.

“First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women…”  

When I posted about the Favorite Poem Project earlier in the month, I learned about the videos, or “mini-documentaries” that were made along with the third book of the series Invitation to Poetry. Then I discovered that you can watch many of the videos online. They are amazing and addictive and bring home the fact that poetry should be read aloud, memorized, listened to, that it needs to be heard. These videos are especially powerful because each chosen poem is given context by the meaning it has to the person reading it. A brilliant synergy results: the poem gives us insight into the speaker’s life, even as his or her interpretation of it reveals more about the poem to us. For instance, John Ashberry’s poem The Improvement gained immensely for me by the speaker’s understanding of it. I’ve never been able to ‘crack’ Ashberry; I just don’t get him. But then a stranger with his intense appreciation of Ashberry shed a light for me to see more into the poet’s work that I ever had before. In the future, I know I will read Ashberry’s poems in a different way.

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I’ve been baffled for some time about which reusable water bottle to get. I got the message that disposable plastic bottles are bad, especially if they’ve been sitting in the sun, because besides the waste issue, they leach some nasty stuff into the water you’re thirsting for. So, then I bought a Nalgene bottle because I thought I heard somewhere that the hard plastic was better, then I heard that even hard plastic is bad if you put them in the dishwasher. Now, one of my health websites that sends me emails is talking about the “BPA”s that leak into water” from even hard plastic bottles. They have links to SIGG, Camelbak, and Klean Kanteen - all companies that offer alternative bottles made of lightweight aluminum for around $20. Before you rush out and get one, Globe Magazine had a provocative article defending plastics, specifically saying that if we would all recycle our plastic it would eliminate the environmental argument against plastic. Too true! The recycling statistics cited are abysmal – in 2006, Americans only recycled 7% of the more than 29 million tons of plastic in use; the recycling rate for Boston is only 12% which is the lowest in the state (lower than Lowell?) which averages about 30%.

Addressing the water bottle issue only in passing, author Keith O’Brien seemed to buy into the argument that the cost of replacing plastic containers would far outweigh the benefits (I wasn’t convinced). A chemist explains that plastic bottles can be reused “if washed with hot, soapy water and thoroughly dried” – is it even possible to thoroughly dry one of those skinny-necked bottles? The net advice seems to be to be cautious and avoid the hard plastic bottles that can leach BPAs and only reuse a purchased plastic bottle in an emergency. So, I guess I’m shopping for an aluminum water bottle; how about you?

Based on a comment I received to a recent post regarding “a disastrous and widespread bullying issue pervading the entire school system,” I thought I’d write about the issue, which profoundly impacted my own childhood and is a hot topic with the Lowell School Committee. (See safety subcommittee agenda for Thursday, Oct. 9.) There is no question that bullying happens in our schools, our playgrounds, and our sports fields. It also happens in our businesses, on our roads, and in all walks of life. If they don’t end up in prison, childhood bullies often grow up to be adult bullies. I have no doubt that bullying has impacted each one of us in some way. In my case, I was a silent witness to children being bullied on the bus and I never spoke up for fear the bully would turn on me. Later, as a seventh grader, I was the victim of bullying by a bunch of supposedly tough girls. I use tough loosely because I learned then and it remains true today that bullies are not tough, which is why taking a stand against bullying makes a difference.

In terms of Lowell, the culture and leadership at each of our schools have the greatest impact on reducing bullying, which is why the school committee continues to put time into establishing effective policies and procedures to make sure prevention and consequences are handled effectively district wide. My personal theory, based on anecdotal rather than actual statistical evidence, is that bullying is more vicious and prevalent in school communities where there is little diversity, where outsiders are so clearly marginalized because the general population is lily white and of a similar economic status. In Lowell schools, “everyone is different” to a certain extent and so there is more tolerance for being different. That said, bullies are out there, so we’re working hard to improve school culture and educate children and staff that bullying is not okay, and it will not be tolerated. (More on this in a later post.) In the meantime, think about your own experience with bullying and the impact it had on you. For me, standing up to those seventh grade girls changed my life.

Yesterday’s Boston Globe featured an op-ed by UMass Lowell Amy Perlmutter and Joel Tickner (fellow and associate professor at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production) that promotes exploiting the connection between environmentally friendly technology and future economic strength. The authors say, in addition to efforts around renewable energy, Massachusetts has “a leading edge in four other key areas”: green chemistry, green buildings, materials reuse, and emerging materials. They urge state power brokers to “take advantage of…the Commonwealth’s competitive advantages to become a world leader of the green economy of the future.” Contrast that message to James Carroll’s column on the same page where he discusses the “nice coincidence” of the government’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout costing about the same as the Pentagon’s yearly budget. Carroll’s point: “One need not be an economist to know that spending money on war planes, missiles, and exotic weapons systems, not to mention combat operations, creates far less social capitol than spending on education, bridges, mass transit, new forms of energy—even the arts. The genius of this nation’s most brilliant minds has been yoked for more than half a century to the invention of ways to kill and destroy.”

How’s that been working for us so far? The United States is a major exporter of weapons worldwide, which has aided the growth of terrorism and destruction of our environment; we desperately need leadership with a new vision for employment for our people and our role in the world. We must rethink our focus and put our best creative minds and resources to developing green technologies that will reinvigorate our economy and sustain our future.

The Poetry Festival is coming up on Friday, October 10th through Sunday, the 12th, and it looks great! I am excited that former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky will be in town. One might wonder what a Poet Laureate actually does, but in the case of Pinsky, who served from 1997 – 2000, the work is ongoing. He came up with the brilliant Favorite Poem Project by simply asking people what their favorite poem was and why. The response was amazing, with 18,000 Americans of all ages and backgrounds writing in, and the result became an anthology of poems with the comments of the responders included, and then a second and a third book were compiled. The books are a refreshing mixture of poems and show the quiet importance of poetry in people’s lives. For awhile, I would give the first book, Americans’ Favorite Poems, as graduation and birthday gifts. The second book, Poems to Read, was given to me as a gift, and I hear that the third, Invitation to Poetry might be the best of all, because it includes a DVD of people reading their favorite poems aloud. So, while I don’t know Pinsky as a poet, I admire him immensely as a laureate. You can buy tickets for the Saturday night reading featuring Pinsky here (they’re a good deal at $11.50/$15 at the door). Note: most of the events are free and there are many family and kid-centered workshops and events - “Poetry detectives” sounds fun!

Last night was a great evening to be downtown, dancing and celebrating with other members of the community at the Mayor’s Ball to raise funds for the Merrimack Valley Food Bank. My husband and I planned to attend briefly to support the cause, and then have a quiet dinner at one of the many excellent restaurants nearby. Instead, we stayed and enjoyed delicious appetizers while visiting with people from all walks of the community. Many familiar faces were there: Mayor Bud Caulfield obviously, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, Police Chief Lavallee, Schools Supt. Chris Scott, City Manager Bernie Lynch, city councillors, and school committee members, as well as cops, teachers, parents, administrators, and leaders from the nonprofit and business sectors. I loved the connection of folks hanging together in support of an organization so vital to our community. The atmosphere was festive, friendly, and infused with warm energy. Susan Lavallee, the chief’s wife, got a warm hello from a stranger, who it turns out, thought she was new Lowell Supt. Chris Scott. Lavallee told the embarrassed elderly gentleman that she hoped the superintendent was attractive, to which the man replied “absolutely!” To prove his point, I introduced the two women, who were not in the least concerned by the mistaken identity. As we headed home finally, I couldn’t help but think of a twist to an old adage: a community that parties together, stays healthy together.

When it comes to this presidential election, I’m not objective. As much as I would have preferred a woman topping the ticket, just any woman will not do. (In other words, Sarah Palin ain’t our girl.) Thursday’s vice-presidential debate may not have had a clear loser—Sarah Palin did not make a fool of herself as some had expected (hoped?)—but it was patently obvious that she does not have the knowledge, the gravitas, or the substance to be our second in command. Aside from a winning smile that often felt out of place given the seriousness of the subject and an exceptionally pleasant television demeanor (after all, she had a former career in broadcasting), she was so lacking in substance it would have been laughable, if it wasn’t so scary: “Diplomacy is hard work by serious people,” said Palin with a kindly smile in response to the question about how a McCain-Palin ticket would win back international good will squandered by the Bush administration. In fact, most of her answers had that same rehearsed meaninglessness. The problem is, the delivery was so sweet and folksy, the language so tied into what people want to hear, such as “getting rid of greed and corruption on Wall Street” that I’m afraid some may not look beyond the veneer of her pretty face to hear the shallow words or contemplate what these policies will mean to our future. For instance, Palen talked confidently about “energy independence” as the solution to our current oil crisis. In her world, drilling in Alaska and everywhere else in the U.S., regardless of the environmental impacts, should be our focus to bring jobs and oil to the American people. Well, like most of us, I don’t like spending billions on foreign oil either, but the solution to the problem is NOT rampant drilling here: It is conserving now and investing heavily in research and development of alternative forms of energy that are environmentally sound. The nation that commits to energy R+D and solves this problem will be not only truly “energy independent” but the economic leader of the world. That happening on a McCain-Palin ticket is highly unlikely, and it is only one of many views these two promote which will have us continuing down the wrong path. (more on issues later) During the debate, Sarah Palin was pleasant to watch, likable, and a good performer, but given she’s on the ticket to be our number two leader—that just makes her one dangerous pretty face.