We Are Getting Called Back into Physical Work :(

Even though we can do 100% of the job from home.  And we have been working from home just fine since March 15.  And we made production records.

Nothing has changed with the Covid pandemic since they had us work from home.  In fact, cases in Arizona are going up.

They are still adamant we must return to the building June 1st.

And our building is not conducive to reducing the risk of getting sick.  I am absolutely certain people will spread the virus.

We work in one open room.  157 on the claims side, then however many on the opposite side of the fairly open building in Customer Service.  Our cubicles are short, and management already said it would be too expensive to raise the walls.  As I complained here many times, I could already feel the cough/sneeze air of the gal in the cube behind me (because she doesn’t cover her shit).

The long hallways are open, kitchenettes with the water, microwaves, and refrigerators, are part of the big, open room and shared by most.  We all have to enter and leave by badging in and out of one central bottleneck.  There are 2 women’s bathrooms only with 5 stalls and 3 sinks.  They are crowded routinely.  We share them with the CSRs.  The janitor cleans the bathrooms twice daily, and when he does, he closes 1 of the bathrooms so the entire female claims and CSRs share 1 bathroom of 5 stalls and 3 sinks.

I am very concerned.  We already got many messages through the emergency system that someone in our building had been diagnosed with Covid-19 (this was toward the beginning of work from home).

Work says our health is the number 1 priority.  But I find that hypocritical since they’re dragging us back in with no justification in the middle of a global pandemic.

Leadership sent out a handout of the guidelines:

Do a self-survey and self temp check before entering the building (people are not careful, people lie, some carriers are asymptomatic)

Wear masks in common areas (except common areas got perverted to ‘not our big, open room where we all work and breathe for the majority of the day and there is recirculated AC.  Oh, and my supervisor diluted the manual’s instruction more by telling us that the masks are a recommendation, not a requirement)

Social distance and stay 6 feet apart (except the said our short cubicles are 6×6 so we’ll be the same distance as always.  And the bathrooms are going to be a bottleneck.  And the kitchenettes because so many of us have to share them.  And I’m worried leadership will come right to my desk to tell me things or help me with work.)

They said they’ll increase the air flow rate in the buildings they own.  (They don’t own our building.  Even if there is increased rate, it’s still a closed building, and the AC is still recirculated all day long as everyone breathes–without masks).

Work said they’re following federal, state, and CDC guidelines.  (Trump hasn’t really implemented any plan whatsoever, and he has ulterior motives to prioritize the economy over everything else so he can get reelected.  Our governor also prioritizes buisiness because the state ran out of money probably and he’s bought and paid for by corporations.  Our governor has already opened stores, malls, dine in restaurants, bars, gyms, pools, and casinos if that tells you where his priorities are.  And when people broke his recommendations by opening earlier, or having enormous groups with no health measures–he did nothing.  It was not enforced at all.  No fines, no orders to close down.  Nothing happened.  So we can’t depend on that douche to implement public health measures that are reasonable.  And the CDC has been politicized and muzzled, so their recommendations are weak and diluted.

So the federal isn’t doing anything for public health–they’re actively working against science and health measures.  Our red state is tired and inconvenienced and money over lives so no one is helping prevent the spread.  We are in a right to work state, so I have no protections if my work demands I go back–even if I feel unsafe doing so.  And I know even if I fight, they will say we’re essential health care workers so they really don’t have to make any accommodations at all to require us back in the building.  And obviously we HAVE to keep the job.  That’s not even close to an option.

But I don’t like it.

But I get so tired of capitalism and corporate interests jerking the little people around.  I want to have rights and a voice, and wish unions were mainstream.  We needed Elizabeth Warren to take care of some of this corruption and money over lives ideals that Americans just have to live by.  I want to feel safe at work.

I’m legit worried as soon as we step into work we will get the Covid-19.  So what was the point of us working from home at all, if we go back before the peak even hits the state?  I never thought moving to a red state might literally kill me…

I Am Native American (no matter the blood quantum)

I will share with you an essay I wrote and used (after updating and tweaking, of course) for various different things.  It proves a point that heritage, has little to do with blood quantum (percent) and a lot to do with family traditions, how and where you were raised, the community you choose to belong to, and the customs you honor.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Asking a Native American “what percent Indian” they are is ignorant and limiting.  And it has everything to do with government funding.  The government had to cede (stolen) land to tribal members and make monetary payments in many cases, so frankly, it was in their best interest to make the bar for being considered Native American pretty high.  Thus, it limits the land lost to America and the ability of descendants to get their rightful land or funds.

It’s the same motivation, opposite direction for African Americans.  The government wanted that slave labor, so it was in their best interest to keep the bar for being considered black very low.  That way even descendants generations out had to work for free and had no rights to property.  Thus, the “one drop” definition of being black.

Both ends of the spectrum are historically rigid, and super-detrimental!  So that is why my mom is considered a tribal member, but I am not.  And why Elizabeth Warren’s claim to Native American heritage is legitimate, even though it’s a small percentage of her blood. Though, don’t get me wrong, I am not cool with having nothing to do with a culture, but then appropriating it for personal gain.  But people with that family history and who appreciate and honor their traditional culture, should be able to claim it–no matter the blood amount.

So without further adieu:

 I was born on The Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. My great-grandfather lived in a tepee before religious missionaries put him in a boarding school where he was not allowed to speak his native language of Salish or dress in his buck-skins. The missionaries were attempting to integrate the Native Americans into white society by stripping away their Indian heritage. Despite this, our culture did not dissolve, as the stories of my ancestors were passed to me. I own authentic moccasins from one of the tribal elders, have danced with pride in pow-wows, and make delectable Indian fry bread for Thanksgiving dinner.

My mother is a recognized Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribal member. In the 1960’s, the laws limited government help to Indians of a quarter blood quantum or more, so unfortunately, I was not able to be registered as a Tribal member of the Flathead Nation. I did experience the poverty common on the Flathead Reservation during my early childhood, however. As a little girl, I thought it was normal to eat the reservation commodities, and I still have a taste for powdered milk. We also ate meat when my parents were able to shoot a deer or catch some trout from the creek. I remember my cousins from town were not allowed to play with me, because I wore hand-me-downs.

My parents, wanting me to have more opportunity in life, started my college fund when I was a baby. My mother is the only member of the entire family who has obtained a college degree–my parents wanted me to be the second. I can see the pain in their eyes when my dad and mom tell stories of taking money out of my piggy-bank to afford basic necessities in Montana.

My Native American Heritage is something I cherish and embrace. I will be an asset to Washington State University because of the ethnic and socioeconomic factors that molded my perspectives. These will help me to display a sensitivity and tolerance toward others from all walks of life. I also bring a strong sense of pride in my work not only for myself, but my family and community.

Discouraged

about politics, America, the state of feminism.

 

I feel like Elizabeth Warren was genuine about wanting to get dark money out of politics.  And I do think she intended to–and tried to run a campaign with just grassroots support.  The fact she had to take PAC money shows just how broken the system is.  If you’re not a billionaire or associated with lobbyists, it just isn’t possible to sustain a run for the highest office.  Caviot:  Unless you are a white, straight man.  Anyone outside of that demographic has to work extra hard to “compensate” for the otherness.  Evidence:  Even in the Democratic side, it was the darker-skinned people that were out first.

I hate that America hasn’t come as far as I had previously thought.  I saw sexism during Hillary’s campaign, and was horrified when people voted for someone who on tape said, “. . .Grab ’em by the pussy” over a female.  Nobody I know would think that kind of talk is appropriate.  Especially of some kind of authority figure.  And definity not appropriate for the most powerful person in the world.  I don’t think anyone would excuse that attitude from someone:  Not my parents, teachers, employers, not religious people, nobody in good conscience could stand behind that statement.  That talk would pretty much get anyone in trouble wherever they said it–yet voters thought that was still better than having a women.  It hurts.  I couldn’t believe it and it made me depressed to find out how much America still hates women.

Obviously he needs to be out of office before we lose our national parks, sacred lands, before animals go extinct, before all LGBT rights are stripped away.  Before our national security is compromised.  Before our elections become rigged and unfair.  Before all big corporations are deregulated.  Before predatory lending and speculative stocks become the norm again.  There is a lot of harm happening.  Some of it can’t be reversed and some will take a long time to correct.

But 2016 and 2020 are not that far apart and nothing fundamental has changed.  We are in a backlash.  America is polarized.  And women are still held to a different, impossible standard.  Warren is smart, well-spoken, she takes action.  Yet, that same ‘ol, ‘she lies’ narrative is starting up.  The media doesn’t cover her.  She has to work extra hard to overcome these obstacles.  More is expected out of her, then she garners less praise then the men when she is able to deliver.  It’s a no-win situation.  And people who refute the double standard are uninformed and blind.  Not all sexism is the grab-ass kind.  It’s insidious, like a rom-com.  It’s ingrained societal attitudes and expectations.  And it can be seen if you know what to look for.

She is a better candidate than:

Pete is only in there because he is white and male, and as long as he acts neutered donors and voters will overlook the gay “handicap.”  Privilege got him as far as he went.

Biden hasn’t really don’t anything.  He hangs on the coattails of Obama.  But he’s dropped out of 3 or 4 presidential bids.  He touches women too much.  When he led the trial between Anita Hill and Clarance Thomas, Biden allowed egregiously sexist questions to go unchallenged, and didn’t really believe what Hill was saying.

2 Direct Quotes of questions allowed to be asked to Hill:

1.  Sen. Howell Heflin (R-Alabama): Now, in trying to determine whether you are telling falsehoods or not, I have got to determine what your motivation might be. Are you a scorned woman?
   Hill: No.
2. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania): “You testified this morning that the most embarrassing question involved — this is not too bad — women’s large breasts. That is a word we use all the time. That was the most embarrassing aspect of what Judge Thomas had said to you.”

Aside from that horrible record for women, Biden is also known to team up with openly segregationist senators (race problems).  And he helped dirty money skirt regulations as an elected official of Deleware )ethics/money problems).  Problematic.

Bernie.  Seems all bluster and talk to me.  What has he actually done?  What is his platform OTHER than free healthcare for all?  And we know America has a hatred for communism, do we think middle-of-the-road voters will put their ballot in for a self-proclaimed socialist?

 

It’s obvious to me the Elizabeth Warren is the most capable of the candidates.  That she doesn’t have this horrible past or secrets.  That she’s experienced, but not in bed with dirty politics.  But I have this bad feeling that America just hates women to much to vote for her.  And I think that sucks.