SERIES:
BOONDOGGLE-
BUSTING
(At right, Wanda shortly after returning to California in 2009)
Part 20 - CONCLUDING
"THE HOUSELESS HUSSIES"-- BOONDOGGLE BUSTERS LITERARY PLAY (9/30 - 10/6/2021)
THIS ONE-ACT PLAY co-authored by Harold E. Grice and me (Wanda Sue Parrott) was part of a
gala vaudeville-style fundraising event spearheaded by Bobbie Hall on May 28,
2016, at the Center for Spiritual Living, Monterey. In his introduction, Harold
said, "The plight of homeless women is distressing. Many of these women
are in this situation through no result of their own action. So, I ask: Why Are They
Treated As Society's Throwaways?" (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 19 - THE LITERARY
BOONDOGGLE BUSTERS AWARD GOES TO . . . GRANNY ANNIE! (9/23-29/2021)
FOLLOWING Gavin Newsom's
2-to-1 victory in last week's Recall Election, it was obvious this collection
of homeless columns is nearing its 7-year cyclical conclusion. If I decide to
retire at the end of the seventh year, you'll read it here first. Meanwhile,
to transition from our local "boondoggle busting" period into Gov.
Newsom's "get housing solved" cycle, I'm naming Granny Annie
recipient of the 1st Literary Boondoggle Busters Award. You'll meet her as a
role model in the truncated script below in which a women's shelter was
proposed years before Monterey finally got its first such shelter, Casa de
Noche Buena, in January 2021. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 18 - SO, WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RECALL-NEWSOM DAY? (9/16-22/2021)
Feeling anxious was only one of my experiences on Tues., Sept. 14. If another adjective fits the day, it's "distracted." Why? The prior weekend's announcement by Marge Ann Jameson--that she was closing Cedar Street Times-- was still fresh the day our boondoggle-busting governor's recall election led me to revisit this column's birth after I'd read Marge Ann Jameson's post at www.cedarstreettimes.com: (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 17 - WHAT KIND OF BOONDOGGLE GAME PLAYER ARE YOU? (9/9-15/2021)
WINNING a boondoggle sounds simple: bust it! If it were that easy, California's homeless crisis would be on
the run instead of on the fence. So?
In case Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic Boondaddy Governor, keeps his seat in the September
14 recall election, cleanup of homelessness and the housing crisis will hopefully imitate a winning hand in the
card game Hearts and should shoot the moon.
Conversely, could a replacement governor return California to square one? Indeed. If politics is played
like the board game Monopoly, a loser can return to square one.
Power brokers in politics, law and business aren't the only boondogglers. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 16 - After The Recall, What Kind Of Homeless Show Will Go On? (September 2-8, 2021)
PREDICTING
the future is how news is concocted and sustained. If California's Governor,
Gavin Newsom, had known in early 2020 what he knows now, would he have changed his
State of the State address on February 19? By mid-March, the nation was going into shelter-in-place lockdowns, from
which California began emerging on June 15, 2021, just as whimpered calls for
recall of the governor rose into a threatening roar. Voting is still under way. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 15 - Do You Think The Governor Should Finish His Job? (August 26 - September 1, 2021)
STARTING on Tues., Aug. 31, 76-year-old HC will move back into her van. If lucky, she won't spend a sixth
year as one of the unknown numbers of homeless women on the Monterey Peninsula. Why? Because her name is
finally high on the long list of homeless women waiting for affordable housing.
Since June 2020, (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 14 - Up Rose Gritty Old Granny Annie Who Defied Me To... Do WHAT? (August 19-25, 2021)
UNDERSTANDING Harold E. Grice isn't easy. If his professional background as an engineer gives the
impression that he should be all problem-solving-left-brained, you're in for a surprise. His signature is as illegible
as the lines in a crazy quilt, and he writes like a funny-boned philosopher. Examples: The ways he handled his
August 10 diagnosis of cancer and this Facebook entry from a few years ago:
"Sometimes, things are simply as you devise them and at others there is bit of a surprise... (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 13 - When Do You Choose To Save Someone From Something? (August 13-19, 2021)
POLITICKING
today is like preaching was in David Zeisberger's lifetime. If five words summarize
their sales-pitch sermonizing, they are: to save someone from something. Zeisberger, a Moravian minister, lived from 1721-1805. He became a
missionary after his ordination in 1749 and spent decades among Indian tribes
he called "My Brown Brethren." How many Indians he "saved" through
conversion to Christianity is unclear. However, he lived among those whom he convinced
to exchange scalping for sowing seeds. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 12 - Who Will Scoop The Poop If The Governor Is Recalled? (August 6-12, 2021)
VOTING will be over and done on September 14. If a majority of voters says NO to recalling Governor Gavin
Newsom, he'll keep the job he's had for the past two-and-a-half years. If they vote YES, he'll be replaced by
whichever candidate gets - not a majority but simply the most - votes.
That winner would, in effect, grab the seat and finish out the balance of Newsom's term, leaving us to ask:
How will he/she scoop up the poop left behind?
We're not talking doggie doo-doo, folks. There's human excrement piling up on our streets. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 11 - Do You Think It's Wise To Change Horses Midstream? (July 30 - August 5, 2021)
“LOOKIN’ for Love in all the wrong places”* was the opening line of a popular song from 1980 sung by Johnny Lee. If I had my “druthers,” it would be the political Boondoggler’s metaphorical theme song for the forthcoming recall election. Here's why: Governor Gavin Newsom is a Boondoggle-Buster whose progressive actions have broken long-ignored solutions to homelessness. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 10 - What Would Jesus Say About Homelessness Today? (July 23-29, 2021)
WINNING is the name of all boondoggle-busting games, but what are the stakes in this one: The state’s highest
political office or the race against homelessness? If Governor Gavin Newsom isn't unseated in the special recall
election on September 14, he can win them both! (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 9 - What Would You Do If This Happened To You? (July 16-22, 2021)
FOLLOWING publication of the edition headlined, "What does Governor Gavin Newsom mean: 'Once the Mind is Stretched...'?" a reader responded on June 27, 2021. Wow! (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 8 - Warning: The "N" Word Lies Ahead! (July 9-15, 2021)
If
you’re offended by raw, honest love poems, stop reading after the third
question. Or, go for four!
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 7 - Can City Manager's Successor Curb Future Homelessness? (July 2-8, 2021)
REPLACING Craig Malin, Seaside's City Manager who announced last Friday that he is resigning as of August 31, will be nigh impossible. See Craig-Malin-Resigns! (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 6 - What Does Governor Gavin Newsom Mean: "Once The Mind Is Stretched..."? (June 25 - July 1, 2021)
LISTENING to Governor Gavin Newsom speaking to James Corden on the CBS Late Late Night Show on June 15, 2021, took me momentarily back more than 50 years. If I didn't know better, I'd say Ira A. Greenberg, Ph.D., was whispering in my ear, "Once the mind is stretched, it can never return to its original form."
It started in 1967, when (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 5 - Where Do The Homeless Campers Go From Here? (June 18-24, 2021)
BOONDOGGLING, as a hypothetical team sport on the Monterey Peninsula, now has its first confirmed case of Covid-19 "Pandemium" in which both winners and losers emerged in a contest fans might call a tie and critics define as a draw... (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 4 - Are You Ready For The Ides of June? (June 11-17, 2021)
DROPPING by the homeless encampment on the future Campus Town's site was my plan on Tuesday. If anyone remained in the church lot, where the Roberts Lake Community camped during the 15-month Covid-19 pandemic, I'd ask where occupants of those 35 vehicles will go, since Seaside's deadline for vacating the premises (CONTINUE READING...)
Part 3 - Do You Know the Words to the Negro National Anthem? (June 4-10, 2021)
NAMING two three-word slogans as Black National Anthems in last week's column proved personally humiliating and humbling. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 2 - Which of the Two National Black Anthems Most Moves You? (May 28 - June 3, 2021)
TYING the first anniversary of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to local boondoggle-busting might seem a stretch. If, however, the metaphor "home is where the heart is" qualifies as "mindful homelessness" for those whose homes lack loving heartfulness, a valid definition transcends the Floyd tragedy of May 25, 2020. (CONTINUE READING...)
Part 1 - Could California Profit From A Debt-Forgiving Jubilee? (May 21-27, 2021)
BUSTING a boondoggle as big as homelessness is like riding a Brahma bull. If Buster beats Bucko without breaking into pieces, giving up, or dying, he/she has a chance of winning. But if not, Buster will get blamed for his/her failure. Then, round and round with Bucko the successors will go, in a housing crisis boondoggle-busting contest now approaching the half-century mark... (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
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