I was watching some music channel earlier tonight (no, not MTV) and they were showing music videos featuring Spanish-speaking artists. I now have just enough knowledge of Latin pop music to possibly impress a cute Latina while in Miami, should the occasion arise. “Oh, Kinky? Sure, they’re okay, but I really dig Cafe Tacuba.” You know, I really should have taken Spanish instead of five years of French. I keep waiting for the chance to use it during the a chance encounter with a beautiful Parisian, or even a French Canadian. But even if that did happen, I don’t think I remember much more than “Je m’appelle Mark” and “Zut alors!” and “Ou est la bibliotheque?” Not exactly the kind of stuff that makes women swoon. And I don’t think I’ve ever made a woman swoon using English, either.

One reader took issue with my criticism of the state of community integration in Europe, pointing out that Stephen Hawking isn’t in a nursing home. He’s also Stephen Hawking, an important distinction. His experience is most likely not representative of all Europeans with disabilities, maybe not even all Brits. And I’m not saying that America is all that and a bag of chips when it comes to inclusion, because it’s not. But on the whole, the States are physically and programatically accessible to a greater degree than most of Europe. Emphasis on most. The UK is getting better, from what I hear.
I had a meeting at the office of my former employer, PACER Center. It was good to reconnect with all the people I know there. I love doing policy work, but sometimes I miss being in the trenches doing direct service. When I was at PACER, I did a lot of hands-on work with teens with disabilities and their families. I’m actually incorporating some of those experiences into the narrative thread of my book.

I just got home from the Minnesota caucuses and I’m fucking exhausted. It was interesting. I got elected to be a delegate to the county convention, so my Boston scheme is still on track. Not that there was a lot of competition for the spots anyway. But it’s a start.
Anyway, my hands are still freezing from the walk home, so me and the whole typing thing aren’t getting along too well right now. More tomorrow.

Kucinich apparently isn’t the only presidential candidate who could use some training in disability etiquette. Here’s an article describing how John Edwards allegedly patted some people using wheelchairs on the head. Thanks to morvern for the heads-up. I should start a consulting business for political candidates, running them through the do’s and don’ts of interacting with people with disabilities. I wonder how much I could charge before people accused me of being exorbitant. I’ve actually considered getting into the consulting game at some point. You’d be surprised at the number of businesses that still don’t have a clue about how to deal with disabilities, either from an employment or customer perspective. It’s definitely better than it was a decade ago; most of the big corporations have the basics down. It’s the mid-sized and small businesses that could use more attention.
And here are two of my favorite people on the Net: Susannah Breslin and Warren Ellis.

I need to catch up on my reading. My parents bought me a gift subscription to the New Yorker and I’m at least two issues behind. I also have at least half a dozen novels on my bookshelf that are silently accusing me of neglect. I really do need a new bookshelf. The one I have dates back to my law school days and it has books piled on top of each other every which way. It could easily kill someone if it ever fell over. And I’m in the mood for a really bad movie, so I rented League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I read the comic, which was excellent. I’m confident I won’t be able to say the same for the film.