 does not have any money to travel to Phoenix because he has just lost his job at the BIA. Also, his father has left behind some money in a savings account, money which Victor hopes to claim. Since all his neighbors and friends are as poor as he is, he decides to accept some money from the Tribal Council, which often has a fund set up to assist members of the tribe to bring back the remains of their dead relatives to the reservation. However, the Tribal Council is only able to give him one hundred dollars. This is barely enough to pay for his plane ticket. Thus, Victor is desperate for help of any sort from anybody.
Thomas Builds-the-Fire is the only person who offers to help Victor. However, Thomas is a square peg in a round hole, shunned by most people in the reservation because of his penchant for telling the same stories over and over again. The two had been childhood friends but went their separate ways in their teens. Victor is tormented by thoughts of the awful things he did to Thomas, after their separation; like when he totally beat him up for no reason at all. Thus, accepting Thomas’s help is a last resort for Victor.
Also, after they drive all the way back home, Victor does not really know how to thank Thomas for his help. He feels like he cannot repay Thomas’s kindness, and is even more embarrassed by his inability to rekindle their friendship after their trip. When he offers Thomas “the cardboard box which contains half of his father” as a gift, he is using an extraordinary option to address the problem at hand, so that it can be said that “desperate times call for desperate measures."
The thought "Desperate times call for desperate measures" is from a proverb that has no attribution to a specific author or speaker. This philosophical proverb, which is considered an English idiom, means that steps you would ordinarily not consider taking must be considered and taken when situations are of an extremely bad nature: In other words, it suggests that it is necessary to initiate extreme solutions for extremely bad problems.
In "This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," Victor takes the extreme measure of accepting Thomas Builds-the-Fire's money and allowing Thomas to accompany him on his trip to claim his father's cremated ashes and to salvage his father's few valuables. Another extreme measure Victor takes is to agree, after the subtly life-changing journey, to listen to one--"just one"--of Thomas's stories. The miracle is that Victor gained an understanding of his father returning home as a spiritual traveler in the spirit of a salmon and that Thomas, who had not told a new story since the night Victor beat him up, saw new stories when he shut his eyes following the receipt of Victor's promise.It takes a lot for me to put a bumper sticker on my car. With the exception of the occasional political candidate, I haven't given into the temptation since college. That is, until this summer, when I revealed one of my most strongly held political views.
The sticker says it all, in big bold letters: "SAVE THE MALES."
Now, I don't expect this mantra to become a rallying cry in the 2008 election cycle. But I do think it's an important factor in how we consider the social arena that defines our politics.
I was inspired, in part, by the story of Mary Winkler. Winkler, a Tennessee woman, was charged with the first degree murder of her minister husband, shooting him in the back as he lay in bed and abandoning him in their home as he bled to death.
Winkler — who initially fled the scene of her crime — admitted to killing her husband but later shed responsibility by shrouding herself in a cloak of female victimhood. Somehow a jury of her peers bought it, convicting her only of voluntary manslaughter.
The heinous abuse she suffered justifying murder? According to Winkler, she and her husband had been arguing about finances and other problems. "He had really been on me lately criticizing me for things — the way I walk, I eat, everything. It was just building up to a point. I was tired of it. I guess I got to a point and snapped," she said.
Our justice system is deeply flawed when a woman with access to the full resources of a church community and a university (she was a part-time student at the time) gets away with shooting her husband in cold blood.
Mary was sentenced to just 210 days, given credit for the 5 months she had already served, and allowed to spend up to 60 days of her sentence in a mental health facility. After serving only a total of seven months behind bars, she was released from custody last week.
Compare this to the fate of Scott Peterson, a California man given the death penalty after killing his pregnant wife, Lacy. Are we so sexist that we believe that women are incapable of walking away from abuse, that they are so emotionally frail that we should accept it if they "snap"—a result that often comes with deadly consequences?
This treatment of women as intellectually and emotionally weaker beings is not the only area where we've gotten it wrong when it comes to the sexes.
Men are also seen as disposable when it comes to parenting. We're told dads don't matter. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans two years ago, politicians and newspaper reports barely touched on the fact that eight out of ten children living there were from families without fathers. Instead, we blamed the government for the poverty of these families—and ultimately, their inability to leave the city during the horrific storm.
Jessica Peck Corry is a public policy analyst with the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo.
For years, we've been trashing men in every aspect of our culture. Advertising campaigns reflect this right and left. After all, "Choosy Moms Choose Jif." Shouldn't dads be expected to have opinions on the peanut butter their children consume?
Sitcoms also reflect our societal view that men aren't worthy of our respect. Watch reruns of any of your favorite sitcoms — from the classic "Everybody Loves Raymond" to the cute "The King of Queens" — and this fact becomes very obvious very quickly. The women cast members are physically beautiful and intellectually witty, frequently nailing punch lines that almost always come at the expense of mostly pudgy and noticeably dumber male characters.
Our education system is designed to reinforce negative notions about men. Our college campuses host women's studies programs that award degrees based solely on knowledge of the white male patriarchal regime that supposedly keeps us all down.
The men I know in my lives — even the white ones — are anything but oppressive, stupid, or unloving. I was raised by a single father, my husband is an incredible father and a constant source of my admiration, and I am constantly overwhelmed by the compassionate ways of our many male friends.
For far too long, Americans have tolerated silent discrimination against men and what we're seeing today is the devastating consequences. My one-woman campaign to save the males has started with a simple bumper sticker. But it doesn't stop there. I'm not going to take it any more. Next fall, I may even - gasp - vote for a white guy..
save the males, indeed!
Jessica,
Nicely put. The contributions of men and women alike should be valued based on the impact of their act, not by the gender of the contributor. Additionally, anyone that commits a crime should be held accountable for their actions, without regard to gender.
The day we, as a society, begin assessing the seriousness of a crime based on how badly the perpetrator felt rather than the action itself, is the day we throw out rational thought. We've come too far as a society. Let's not slide back now.
Get me one of those bumper stickers!
At your service,
Christine0
This weekend the English Language School (ELS) has gone to Jeffrey’s bay for a weekend outreach. They left early Friday morning and will be returning of Monday evening. On Thursday night during the community meeting they performed one of the dra
mas that they will be doing. It was a great blessing to all of us. We pray with them that the Holy Spirit will use the drama to speak to many about Jesus. (A.P)Utterly minor bug :rolleyes: but when viewing a page such as http://stats.free-dc.org/stats.php?p...s&subproj=500k, the "Jump To Rank" box at the bottom of the screen doesn't work, it always jumps to the number 1 rank, whereas the box at the top works as expected.

 good and nothing to complain about except that the motors are wedged in tight in the housing and I ripped the bottom of the motor off... Read more
It's exactly what I needed: a replacement motor for my QR Ladybird. I damaged one of the motors it came with in a crash, and ordered It... Read more
Please note that DealExtreme Forums are not a sales or product support board. For support questions, please contact us via support ticket at for a guaranteed response. We make every effort to make the quickest replies.
All good and nothing to complain about except that the motors are wedged in tight in the housing and I ripped the bottom of the motor off after 10 min use, was trying to measure motor at the time, bottom of motor cannot be... Read more
Impression:Awesome product.0 0 0
It's exactly what I needed: a replacement motor for my QR Ladybird. I damaged one of the motors it came with in a crash, and ordered