Lady Lydia: Still Living in an Alternate Universe

[Flossie]

2 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

The town she lives in is pretty rural and redneck, although it's in the same county as one of the last outposts of lefty hippie-dom. People seem to think of Oregon as a bastion of liberalism but most of the (thankfully sparsely-populated) state is rightwing redneck country. The KKK ran the political machinery, even in Portland, as were carrying out lynchings in that part of Oregon right up until WWII. With a shortage of African-Americans in the state, they went after Catholics and Jews. Lydia and the good pastor fit right in.

The hell?  I have to step in here.  Do you now or have you ever lived in Oregon?  I do, and have for the last 30+ years.  Portland is pretty liberal, which is why the citizens there come unglued when some racist idiot takes the 'live and let live' attitude to mean that they can behave like the cretins they are.  You can be stupid here, but don't expect pats on the back when you show your ass.  

There are areas of the state that are sparsely populated, because those areas tend to have fewer natural resources to support larger cities.  Lots of cattle ranches there, and ranchers tend to be pretty self sufficient and dismissive of people who hire people to do things they have to do for themselves.  Those areas usually vote red, but as a whole, Oregon is a blue state.

We have had a total of one documented lynching, in 1902.  A black man was accused of raping a white woman and was shot and hanged after he was either released or escaped from the Coos Bay jail.  Oregon does have an unfortunate and disgusting past where the KKK was prevalent, but its political power was short lived (1921-1924) and by the early 1930's its 'official' state organization died out in the early 1930's.  

In short, we here in Oregon are most definitely not perfect, and we have things in the past and in the present that we are not proud of, but we are not a bunch of right wing rednecks.  Lady Lydia does not represent us.  She might live here, and she's an embarrassment, but she's a peculiar one, for sure.

[Carol]

On 12/22/2018 at 5:17 AM, DangerNoodle said:

"At the start and end of every shift, the former staff (nurses, doctors, housekeepers, food service, and many others) come into the room to say goodbye and introduce the next person  who will be taking their place on the new shift. It sounds something like, "My name is Jack and I will be your waiter tonight" ?  When you use the call button they come readily and cheerfully and apologize for any inconvenience. 

The doctors linger and talk as though they were in a classroom, explaining the structure of cells, blood, skin, and the names of things, and how it gets infected, where, when, etc. They tell what the name of the disease is and some of them will translate to the latin name.  It is like attending a class. One young doctor was so animated about his subject that I thanked him for the finely delivered lesson.

I call bullshit on this.  It's totally made up; a figment of Lydia's imagination.  No hospital staff would drop everything to visit a patient at the end of their shift.  Hospitals are very busy places, Lydia, with everyone doing their jobs and giving their patients the courtesy of not dropping everything to entertain bullshitters such as yourself.    

And, BTW, Lydia, I was raised in the top 1% of wealth, lots of privilege.  It isn't what it's made out to be but I will pull rank on you here.  

Stay in your own lane, dear.  Tsk, tsk.

[Briefly]

4 hours ago, ladyamylynn said:

My best friend ended up on the local town snark Facebook page for having a toilet in her front yard! In her defence, it was only there for a couple of days during a remodel. Still, she should have crocheted a doily for it at least!

My local MIL (Mr. Briefly's step mother) nearly had one as well, she got Mr. Briefly ticked off about something and she had been joking about needing a toilet in her yard to plant flowers in.  He tried really hard to find one (it had to be a specific one) with the idea of leaving in her yard in the middle of the night.  But since she would have known he was responsible, I'm not upset that it never happened.

I do not like clutter.  At all.  It gives me hives practically.  So my house is usually fine if somebody comes over, although I don't dust as often as I should.  The guest room is also my craft room and there is a futon, we have sheets, pillows and blankets if anybody needs to spend the night.  But you might want to give me a call firs, so I can get all my half-done crochet projects off of it first!

[feministxtian]

34 minutes ago, Briefly said:

I do not like clutter.  At all.  It gives me hives practically.  So my house is usually fine if somebody comes over, although I don't dust as often as I should.  The guest room is also my craft room and there is a futon, we have sheets, pillows and blankets if anybody needs to spend the night.  But you might want to give me a call firs, so I can get all my half-done crochet projects off of it first!

I cannot deal with clutter,,,AT ALL. Seriously, I'll have an anxiety melt down if I have to deal with it. We do the seriously minimalist thing in most of the rooms in our house. My office upstairs is too cluttered (too much necessary stuff, not nearly enough room) and I can't relax and work in there. I end up working in my dining room. 

But, I can come up with room for overnight guests, we have air mattresses that we can blow up and put sheets & blankets on. If you're looking for 5 star accomodations, that ain't gonna happen. If you're looking for cheap, clean and a little privacy, then you're more than welcome to stay. 

2 hours until my son's plane lands...I don't know who's more excited, him or me. 

[AliceInFundyland]

Oregon is not racially diverse. It’s quite white. Portland is segregated. I love it here, but it is. Too many people are dismissive of this particular fact when we embrace our “weirdness.”

The state is a mixture of very tolerant blue people. And then there are redder people, many live in depressed logging towns or cattle communities towards the east

There are quite a few people that I would describe as purple. Like socially liberal but give me my guns and get the government the hell out.

The state has awkwardness in its past. Most do. 

 

[Maggie Mae]

5 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I also often wonder what Lydia would think of my minimalist/modern art-style "good china" and my "Claudia Kishi settled down and moved to Stockholm" aesthetic for my living room. 

I ❤️ your BSC reference. 

I think Lydia's style is hideous and terribly dated. I often see these fundies and think "wow, this person is the polar opposite of me" but Lydia is now in first place. There isn't a thing about her style or blog I find appealing. 

[AliceInFundyland]

6 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Yet another disgusting incident- Parking while black. Sadly, this is the second Oregon story on this page. This doesn't even count another story, also in Oregon, about a family getting their inflatable Black Santa Claus destroyed, which wasn't posted.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/white-woman-pulls-knife-screams-racial-slurs-black-family-parking-space-215801413.html

 

I noticed this and thought I would include it to illustrate my Oregon is unfortunately still white point.

[nastyhobbitses]

5 hours ago, AliceInFundyland said:

Oregon is not racially diverse. It’s quite white. Portland is segregated. I love it here, but it is. Too many people are dismissive of this particular fact when we embrace our “weirdness.”

The state is a mixture of very tolerant blue people. And then there are redder people, many live in depressed logging towns or cattle communities towards the east

There are quite a few people that I would describe as purple. Like socially liberal but give me my guns and get the government the hell out.

The state has awkwardness in its past. Most do. 

 

So basically Left Coast Vermont?

Your description just made me recall the SNL sketch where a bunch of white supremacists start talking about creating a white supremacist paradise where it's a beautiful unspoiled countryside where everyone is white...and they realize that what they're describing is just Vermont. 

[Black Aliss]

22 hours ago, Flossie said:

The hell?  I have to step in here.  Do you now or have you ever lived in Oregon?  I do, and have for the last 30+ years.  Portland is pretty liberal, which is why the citizens there come unglued when some racist idiot takes the 'live and let live' attitude to mean that they can behave like the cretins they are.  You can be stupid here, but don't expect pats on the back when you show your ass. 

<snip>

In short, we here in Oregon are most definitely not perfect, and we have things in the past and in the present that we are not proud of, but we are not a bunch of right wing rednecks.  Lady Lydia does not represent us.  She might live here, and she's an embarrassment, but she's a peculiar one, for sure.

I have actually spent a good chunk of my life in Oregon and still do go there many times a year. And yes, Portland is liberal,* almost to a fault, but that doesn't mean there was never a history of the Klan being in political power there. Eugene is, likewise, very liberal, but that's just one part of Lane County.  

Get outside of Portland or Eugene proper, and it's a different place, as the election results for 2016 show:  https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/oregon/ 

Places like Roseburg, where Obama visited after the shooting at Umpqua College and protesters waved confederate flags and screamed racial epithets at him. Even McMinnville got itself on the map and boo to the incompetent reports who claimed the unpleasantness of screaming racist knife-wielding lady took place in Portland.

 Alonzo Tucker has the distinction of being the only documented lynching but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of Catholics and Jews mysteriously hanging themselves during the time when the Klan was active. "We don't talk about that."

So, I'm sorry you took my characterization of Oregon's racist history personally. It wasn't intended to reflect on everyone, certainly not the denizens of Portlandia. I would add only that those who choose not to remember history are doomed to repeat it.

*except notably for a small percentage of asshats, including a couple of Hilton-Doubletree employees, and, of course your police force.

On 12/30/2018 at 10:10 AM, Palimpsest said:

As for yard litter in rural areas - the hoarder on the other side of the road was forced to clear up their front yard by the town recently.  Multiple old rusty cars (not trucks or tractors) and other junk were removed from the premises altogether, and the boat collection was reduced significantly.  Not enough though.  Three of the five 24' boats were merely relocated to the back yard and I still have to look at two of them when I drive past.  They have been there for at least 14 years without moving an inch.  We think he's convinced that he's Noah preparing for the next flood.

Do you live on the road that runs from my house to town? For the past year a guy near us has been hauling boats, cars, trucks, trailers, even campers out of the back of his property where the Himalayan blackberries had mercifully hidden them from view (and allowed them to grow a fine patina of mold and moss on every surface) and put them in his front yard with for sale signs on them. Just when we think he has finally gotten his property cleaned up, out come a few more vehicles. I'm not sure he even knew what he had until he started whacking back the brambles.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Black Aliss

[PennySycamore]

@ladyamylynn, your mention of toilets in the front yard reminds me of this scene from The Help where Skeeter changed "Drop off old coats" in the newsletter to "Drop off old commodes":

 

We do have one neighbor who has a perpetual swap meet/ flea market/ yard sale in front of their house.  If we had the proper zoning laws in the county or had a HOA in the neighborhood, we could do something about it.  I do think I can complain to animal control about another neighbor's dogs though.  They have too many dogs for one thing and they let some of their big dogs run loose.  Those dogs threaten people that pass by and they don't fucking care.  The dog did not let itself out of the house.

[Leftitinmysnood]

On 12/30/2018 at 1:03 PM, Carol said:

I call bullshit on this.  It's totally made up; a figment of Lydia's imagination.  No hospital staff would drop everything to visit a patient at the end of their shift.  Hospitals are very busy places, Lydia, with everyone doing their jobs and giving their patients the courtesy of not dropping everything to entertain bullshitters such as yourself.   

Actually, the large hospital network I work for does have their staff do this. Not everyone, but anyone in direct patient care, who changes shifts, has to go to each patient room, introduce the incoming nurse or tech and thank the patient before going home. They are supposed to do it for other staff as well, so it wouldn't be unheard of for aides, housekeepers, physical therapy techs, etc.,  to do it too. It's part of making sure patients know who is taking care of them.

[nelliebelle1197]

Why did I think Lydia was in Iowa? It is hard to imagine her in Oregon. Hell, it is hard to imagine her anywhere but a padded room.

[saintmom]

On 12/30/2018 at 2:00 PM, ADoyle90815 said:

I've seen a toilet being used as a firepit.

I used one as a planter.  It was fun.

[nokidsmom]

On 1/3/2019 at 6:10 PM, saintmom said:

On 12/30/2018 at 1:00 PM, ADoyle90815 said:

I've seen a toilet being used as a firepit.

I used one as a planter.  It was fun. 

I have seen them as planters.  As a kid, one of my friends lived in a two flat and the two flat next door had 2 toilets in the backyard with flowers in them. 

A few months ago, Mr. No were on a weekend trip and went past a house with several toilets out by the road with plants in them.  So they are handy as planters..  

[zee_four]

On 12/30/2018 at 5:30 PM, AliceInFundyland said:

Oregon is not racially diverse. It’s quite white. Portland is segregated. I love it here, but it is. Too many people are dismissive of this particular fact when we embrace our “weirdness.”

The state is a mixture of very tolerant blue people. And then there are redder people, many live in depressed logging towns or cattle communities towards the east

There are quite a few people that I would describe as purple. Like socially liberal but give me my guns and get the government the hell out.

The state has awkwardness in its past. Most do. 

 

I believe Colorado is very similar, another Western state with a more conservative past but more recent liberal gentrification. I think Colorado is more diverse, Denver used to be majority minority (mostly Latino) and Denver and CO Springs are two western cities with a fairly large black population, historically and today. (I just looked and it appears CO has double to percentage of black and Latinx residents, OR has slightly more Asian residents).

 

A lot of libertarian bro types, they dont want taxes but they want their guns and weed 

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

I saw this and immediately thought of Lady Lydia.  This very cool but what a lot of work. It needs roses.

Spoiler

 

[PennySycamore]

@Don'tlikekoolaid,  I wonder what model of car is was that got yarnbombed.

[church_of_dog]

Why have openings over the glass?  As silly as it is, at least it could be useful to keep frost off the glass, or bird droppings, etc.  I guess it's just for fun but I sure wouldn't enjoy washing it.

[Georgiana]

13 minutes ago, church_of_dog said:

Why have openings over the glass?  As silly as it is, at least it could be useful to keep frost off the glass, or bird droppings, etc.  I guess it's just for fun but I sure wouldn't enjoy washing it.

How will you see the car curtains (that every civilized person uses to decorate their car) if you don’t leave openings?!?

[church_of_dog]

8 minutes ago, Georgiana said:

How will you see the car curtains (that every civilized person uses to decorate their car) if you don’t leave openings?!?

of course!  what was I thinking?

[Cartmann99]

25 minutes ago, church_of_dog said:

Why have openings over the glass?  As silly as it is, at least it could be useful to keep frost off the glass, or bird droppings, etc.  I guess it's just for fun but I sure wouldn't enjoy washing it.

Think about how heavy it would be when it's wet!

[church_of_dog]

7 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Think about how heavy it would be when it's wet!

I 'm also enjoying picturing how it would look after the neighborhood cats have sharpened their claws on it for a few days.  Felt!

[older than allosaurs]

It looks as though Lady Lydia is only about 10 miles from the aging hippie bastion of Eugene. I have a friend from high school who lives just up the road from her in Junction City.

Portland, and Oregon, does have a long-running reputation for being a tough place for black people. At statehood, Oregon banned blacks entirely.  If there was only one lynching of a black man, that may have been more due to lack of opportunity than lack of prejudice. It is the only state in the country that still has a Jim Crow era law allowing split jury verdicts on some felony cases, making it easier to get convictions without meeting the "reasonable doubt" criteria. Most analysts believe the law is racist in fact if not always in intent, and even Lousiana has voted it out. Oregon didn't ratify the 15th Amendment until 1959.

My step-daughter and her family live on Rosa Parks Way in Portland, and the racial divide there is striking. There are still black families in that rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, but the ever-growing number of hipster shops and restaurants are white, white, white. We didn't see a black customer anywhere until we walked a few blocks to the Safeway. My experience there isn't vast, but it feels segregated compared to Seattle, which is saying something.

As for the state as a whole, I think the jury verdict acquitting the Bundys and other organizers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation shocked a lot of folks who had not stepped out of their liberal bubble lately.

[nastyhobbitses]

So with all the KonMari discussion in other threads, who else would love to see an episode of Tidying Up with Lady Lydia? 

[AmazonGrace]

That crocheted car blanket definitely sparks joy.