My article came out...

Doesn't really sound like me, but they've got their own style less "rooted" in my heartfelt digressions. Shared with PDA crew and have heard on social networking from the kinds of disability orgs that don't usually look at my work.(Which is nice and offers some of the pleasure I didn't get when the paperwork showed up...however, have to guard against imagining the Whole New Life I might get from this one piece...becoming the "crip voting" guru that the producers at "All In" call, or all my big important books--I guess it could happen, but I've assured myself of five "big breaks" already that didn't swing the world's doors on their hinges) After that happens, it's hard to keep doing what I do.
Read it here... and let me know what you think.  Mail your ballot if you have one...Arizona, deadline's tomorrow!

Bohemian Crip Watches Movies--Maudie, 2017

Have to admit that even increased visibility of crips speaking out about our issues has not diminished my love/hate relationship with disability cinema.*

Yes, I agree that more actors, writers, directors and others with disabilities should be allowed to ply our crafts, but this movie is like many others and does not feature that, to my knowledge. That said, it is a unique addition to the genre for many reasons.

It is as understated and unsparing as the rough mountain scenery that the story takes place among, and maybe its being a Canadian-Irish joint venture counts for the absence of inspiration-porn style hype, or maybe because I didn't know the story of folk artistMaud Lewis so my brain wasn't prompted by rising music toward an expected crypoint or anything of that sort Maud's disability, while a challenge to her family's struggle to be and stay respectable, somewhat pales compared to a teenaged indiscretion that left her pregnant out of wedlock years before the story opens.(unique enough to find a movie that starts with a disabled woman, instead of someone giving bad news to her parents.)

.Both British actress Sally Hawkins, who played Maudie, and Ethan Hawke, playing against his image as her husband with his scars on the inside, delivered strong, if patently unromantic performances.(You might not like their relationship at first...he can be rough on her, but over time, I came to believe he does it more because he doesn't trust anyone to stay around, given his lack of attachment growing up...this made me feel more sympathy, but viewers' mileage may vary on that.)

Disability, while presented as an undeniable fact in Maud's life, made obvious as she struggles to walk long distances or do household chores without modern conveniences, is not a foe for Maudie to fight, any more than her artistic talents are presented as anything more than a sort of...side-hustle that interrupts an endless round of mundane chores. I find this viewpoint, on one hand, admirable and grounding, but also slightly disappointing because nothing Sets Maud Free or transforms her life.  Maudie would probably be surprised, much like the heroine of "A Patch of Blue" that anyone thinks her life awful enough to yearn for a transformation, anyway.Read more about Maud(and see some art)

Phone Follies...

Calling again today for Florida's Amendment 4, which will, hopefully, reinfranchise over a million Floridians. People are not picking up as they had earlier in the cycle, but one South Asian man was rude about my accent, which stung a bit as he took some time to get specific. On one hand, though, I get it...he is probably in the epicenter of bitching about Indian voices on customer service lines and the like...maybe he's waited half his life to say that to someone from the dominant culture(at least, allegedly) and I blundered right in. Once the insult subsided, it reminded me of when my mom got in a car accident with a dude on a motorbike and my name was on the paperwork.
The adjuster would call me all the time, trying to psych me out about how injured the guy was, and how he had a kid, and, you know...try to get me to admit something or something like that.(Which I couldn't have even done, even if it wouldn't have been both stupid and self-demolishing...I wasn't there.) Anyway, Justin The Adjuster wasn't great at research or something, because his final gotcha was something like "Ms. JaNECKE, you don't understand...this poor man's *life's* been affected...he can barely hop."
I  wanted to tell him that would have been an upgrade for me, especially once I found out that I didn't have enough coverage to get the lift fixed(My policy on current van does...the more you know!) but I'm not sure I had the guts to say it in real life.I was a very different Crip in 2001.
If I did, I'm not sure he would have believed me, because , you know, aren't there *places* for people like that? And I made sense on the phone...surely that means I can get around, right?
Ironies aside, I feel good about this part of my work, but there were some problems. To wit:
-Restoration sounds like "registration" enough that I'm sure I said it wrong a number of times.
-Sometimes those electronic dialling programs aren't All That.
-it can be difficult to cut through 150 years of voting history in the 40 seconds the average busy American gives you before deciding if you are a pain in her ass or not. Especially if you are really trying to project and sound warm and all that, at the same time that you don't want to sound like you are selling them something.

In Which I Make A Successful Pitch...

and will be attempting to write a blog post about Vote By Mail, specifically my state's PEVL, which I love, for @RootedInRights call for posts about disability and voting...it will be due close to the end of the month, and I almost talked myself out of trying something for possibly the millionth time. I decided to follow the Olbermann-Starbucks Cup advice and not do the naysayers' job for them, which worked at least partially as advertised.

Can't really call this a revolution in thinking, exactly, though because one thing I've learned from freelance writing is that people tell you "No," a hell of a lot, and that there doesn't seem to be much rhyme and reason for why. but for today, it's Talent 1 Low Self Esteem Demons 0.

Bohemian Crip Endorses...

Not that I'm like Obama, but if any Arizona members of Disability Nation want to know what I'm thinking about races and stuff, feel free to read it here.
_Definitely all in for David Garcia for governor not only because of his background in education, his take on choice(trust women), but because he has never given an interview wanting to "phase out" Medicaid  and Ducey has. Also, I don't see David getting invited to the Koch Compound in Palm Springs. Would really hate to see some of the racist framing against him win again too.

-January Contreras looks like our state's  best shot at criminal-justice reform, which I am excited about, but mainly I find her a good choice because, unlike Brnovich, she would not be a party to lawsuits that would wreck #ACA and pre-existing condition protections.Very important topics to your Bohemian Crip.

- The Sinema thing is the biggest saga, emotionally. Because I've gone from unreserved fangirl to almost total detractor, but I don't think either one is very healthy. I've finally gotten over thinking I'm inferior for lacking her polish and bursting CV, and I really do wish the Iraq war protestor would show up for the party a bit more often...Still, I'd rather deal with her depressing bipartisan fetish, than someone with her  knives out for our benefits like McSally(whose repellent lies about Kyrsten's background make me feel better about Sinema.

Anita Malik all the way over Schewikert.

Still haven't totally decided on the mayor's race. Valenzuela may have more heart-string appeal for me, but Gallego may have a better grasp on what the job entails.  Thoughts, anyone?