#21 Boston - Any Day Now! October 27, 2006

That's what Nate kept saying, as us "newbies" kept oooing and aaahing at the precariously balanced sand rock formations in Arches National Park (http://www.infowest.com/Utah/canyonlands/arches.html). Being the freshmen that we were, we kept asking if any of them would come crashing down sooner or later, which was always answered by the enormously patient Nate with "Any Day Now." (Actually wikipedia says that since the 1970s about 42 of them have toppled over - so we were not completely off base here - erosion being the main culprit).

Arches National Park is an amazing place, and I for one am willing to admit that I was not expecting it to be so beautiful. It is the largest collection of natural stone arches in the world (more than 2000 of them), spread over a 70,000+ acre area. Its beauty is simply stunning, red rock canyons cradling the Colorado River with the snow capped La Sal Mountains as their backdrop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sal_Range). Its rock formations invite mountain bikers, rock climbers and hikers alike to be adventurous, maneuver bikes over slickrock, squeeze yourself between the stacked rock formations of the Fiery Furnace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fiery_Furnace_Panorama.jpg), and discover new and amazing ways to Sherlock your way out of the maze. The rocks not only shimmer in red - a multitude of colors are featured. Plus this area is a geologist's dream - Entrada (salmon colored) and Navajo (brownish-yellow) are the two main categories of sandstone, and the Entrada then brakes further down into a crumbly looking "Dewey Bridge" formation, the aptly named "Slick Rock" in the middle (try walking on it) and the Moab Tongue on top ( a more white-ish sandstone). Hah! Not too shabby, I actually paid attention.

Under the expert guidance of my friend Rani we were actually able to finagle our way through the Fiery Furnace quite skillfully. We learned about plants - the very rare canyonland biscuit root, for example, which only grows in Arches and a few nearby canyonlands, it lives on these little mounds and even walking too close to it, could destroy its very sensitive root system (see attached pictscha); the Mormon Tea (http://www.canyondave.com/MormonTea.html), which apparently is quite the picker-upper (also cured a few ailments too in the old days here or there....), and my personal favorite, the single-leaf ash (http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Tree%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/fraxinus%20anomala.htm). A signature feature of this area is the so-called cryptobiotic soil, a living soil crust, bustling with cyanobacteria (yeah baby!) and other little critters like fungi, algae, bacteria, lichen - the usual suspects. The crypto soil looks pretty cool, kind of knobby, like little miniature soil cities, societies of microscopic life who as the result of their hard labor provide a solid habitat for the native plants. One has to be really careful where to step so as to not wipe out hundreds of years of soil work with one stupid foot print and before you even head into the Fiery Furnace the park service (rightfully so) makes you watch a movie and take a quiz. (http://www.nps.gov/archive/arch/pphtml/subenvironmentalfactors11.html)

There is so much to tell - we say coyote poop for once, and a few very feisty beetles. We hiked up to see the Delicate Arch, which is just so serene and majestic (http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~phil/photos/gallery/images/delicate_arch.jpg) and I climbed through a tiny little whole in the sandrock (there might be picture somewhere with my butt sticking out of it, which I will probably try to suppress and which you will not see in the pictures I will send to you.....).

Edward Abbey needs to be mentioned, author of "Desert Solitaire" (which I did have to buy) and "The Monkey Wrench Gang" - http://www.abbeyweb.net/introduction.html - famous American writer and outspoken activist. Turns out, he was a park ranger here at Arches - and Desert Solitaire (according to Wikipedia)" is a series of vignettes about various aspects of his work as a park ranger in the desert Southwest, ranging from a polemic against development and excessive tourism in the National Parks, .... a story of working with a search and rescue team to pull a dead body out of the desert, .... stories of river running, his view of Mormonism, the social life in and around Moab, Utah, and more."

I ended up in Moab, Utaaaaahh, for a wedding - my friends Rani and Nate, who live there, decided to get married, and I for one was glad that I attended the festivities. Nate is a local boy, and Rani, while from the San Francisco Bay Area, has family in both India and Holland - which made the wedding party into quite a motley crew. A barbeque on the day prior, at their friend Jennifer's farm alongside the Colorado River with the cottonwood trees displaying their magnificent yellow fall coats, was the first of many events. A somewhat uncoordinated game of Badminton helped to work off the excess calories consumed and helped to create some room in our strained little stomachs for early evening desserts in Nate and Rani's back yard (many many Dutch treats, yummm!).

The wedding ceremony took place at a most magnificent spot, overlooking canyons, the Colorado River and again, with a breathtaking view of the La Sal Mountain Range. The hike there was a little less than a mile, and casual was the theme of the day. The groom wore shorts, the bride a Sari, and the ceremony was a lively mix of free-spirited American and traditional Indian ceremonies. There was laughter, tears of joy and happiness (as there should be) and just generally a pretty blissful mood (in particular after the red wine came out!). A Nepalese/Indian dinner topped off the festivities on Sunday, and the only regret I have is that I still am on my stomach-friendly diet, and kept longingly looking at the opulent selection of beers that were lined up for the event. I stuck with my doctor's orders, so I missed my first taste of Utah's classic "Polygamy Porter", but I have vowed to come back and sample the stuff next year.

The days after and surrounding the wedding were spent with tons of activities. Nate who is a pilot and has his own Cessna 170, was up in the air pretty much every day flying wedding guests around the area, over canyons, arches, rivers - there were hikes, breakfasts at the Moab Diner (http://www.moab-utah.com/diner/index.html) or the Red Rock Bakery with its scrumptious cheese bagels and succulent scones. My hostess for most of the days was the most wonderful Diane, who not only is a fabulous ranger, but is a much recognized trainer of agility dogs, in this case three charming Border Collies, Lucy, Sophie and Bracken, the puppy. If you have never seen agility competitions with dogs, you must go! Speed demons, they are! Rani's sister Lara lived across the street, and her house mates Suzette and John made sure I had breakfast every day. Asha and Miley, Nate and Rani's canines, also contributed to my well-being by just being wonderful dogs, even though Miley and I had a bit of a disagreement on my last night, as to who should sleep on the futon. We did decide that the futon was big enough for the both of us, and all was well.

I headed back on Wednesday, and here comes the really cool part - Nate, Doug (a fellow pilot) and Rani personally flew me from Moab to Grand Junction in the little Cessna - how cool was that??!! It was a wonderful ride, and I got to see the landscape from way up high.
Two plane rides later I was back in Boston, had a rude cabbie (who started jabbering in some strange language on his cell phone, apparently very upset that I had told him exactly which tunnel to take to get to Cambridge) and then had to deal with a fire alarm whose battery was dead, and kept beeping annoyingly. Welcome back, right?

Couple more things before I end this tome - my CT scans came back alright - the doctor called me in Utah, which was actually pretty great. Abdominal CT was ok, and on my thoracic CT (the lungs) there are some nodules, which are remnants of my TB infection when I was 18. In a couple of years or so, I should get an X-ray to see if the TB scars are still the same, but aside from that I am ok. What a relief! Being checked for possible lesions is no fun and pretty scary. Still leaves us with investigating the back pain, so I think a visit to a chiropractor might be in order.

Back in Boston, I can report on a fabulous event I ushered for last night, "9 Parts of Desire" - a one-woman piece, based on a wonderfully written play by Heather Raffo. At the Lyric Stage Company Lanna Joffrey is an absolute tour de force in her portrayal of 9 Iraqi women - artists, mothers, doctors, expats - she plays them flawless and true to character, 90 minutes straight. This is a must-see! (http://www.lyricstage.com/9Parts.htm)

Friends, I am signing off now (I am sure you are glad about that) - I have a birthday weekend coming up, and I will stick with my promise to NOT run the road race tomorrow. We are expecting torrential downpours and I might just not even leave the house. My knee is not ready yet, so either I will walk, if the weather allows, or just go back to bed and snooze a bit more.

Hope you get some zzzs in yourself - see you soon.

pet:)

#20 Boston - From Classic to Modern Times

It has been a culturally enlightening week to say the least, and personally a very challenging one.

The latter mostly due to the fact that the GI doc I have been seeing is wanting to investigate this back pain I have been having, and thus ordered a couple of CT scans, which were done yesterday in the wee hours of the morning. The prep work for the CT scans has definitely improved over the years and the barium solution one has to swallow is quite drinkable and is no longer the thick gooey stuff that made you want to run to the bathroom immediately. I am now more than anxiously awaiting the results - unfortunately, being in a cancer center every day exposes you to a lot of information, and it is tough not to fill your mind with unnecessary worries. One has to stay positive, to use my favorite quote: "Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change."

Now to the cultural part - starting off this past Friday with Boston Cares ushering duty, at Faneuil Hall for the Boston Classical Orchestra as usual under the vibrant leadership of musical director Steven Lipsitt. He is a bouncy little guy, who has an anecdote at hand for every composer, and recites a little summary about every piece to be played. The BCO has an extremely loyal and enthusiastic audience - the demographics hover mostly in the plus 60 crowd, but you should see these folks leap to their feet!! The program presented this past Friday was certainly worth a tremendous amount of acclaim - the BCO was joined by the Boston Cecilia (http://www.bostoncecilia.org/about/about-us.html) - a very fine choir, who dates back to 1876 (not its current members though) - and local-soprano-turned-famous Barbara Quintiliani (http://www.funkhouserartists.com/BarbaraQuintiliani/, who simply brought the house down. A stunning performance! On the menu for the evening were a truckload of Bach Cantatas and a little Haendel thrown in as well. The composers were chosen for a reason, they were both German, born a month apart and were two of the key composers in the early 18th century. Their lives ended up quite different, Haendel never married, he left Germany for Italy when he was young, and fostered his musical talents in Italy before settling down in England, where he enjoyed great success and lived quite comfortably, one might say. Bach was less the adventurer, more of a church and court musician, he did not venture too far from home, stuck around, married twice and had quite a few kids. Bach's music was more church-oriented, whereas Haendel was, as the program described, "the quintessential enlightenment secularist".

Same century, different day - Saturday, this time ushering on my own, mostly because I wanted to see the musical "1776" at the Lyric Stage Company. As mentioned before numerous time, this is my favorite theater in Boston, small, but beautiful, and every production I have seen here I have liked. Spiro Veloudos, the very jovial producing artistic director, has breathed very fresh air into this venue, and "1776" was an attest to that. It was the highest attended performance in the history of the Lyric, and it was no surprise as to why. This was just fantastic, and I am not saying that because I like musicals. (http://www.lyricstage.com/1776.htm) The play centered around the discussions the Second Congressional Congress had during a particularly nastily humid summer in Philadelphia in 1776. John Adams, brilliant, obnoxious, pushy, yet passionate, aided by the very relaxed Benjamin Franklin (who kept nodding off during the debates....), pushed through the declaration of independence written by a very reluctant Thomas Jefferson. Superb acting, Peter Carey as John Adams, Kevin Ashworth as John Hancock, John King as a brilliant, brilliant Edward Rutledge from South Carolina, so good, JT Tuner as the sometimes narcoleptic Ben Franklin, and of course Terrence O'Malley as Thomas Jefferson, who was just really beautiful to look at. Standing ovation, need I say more?

Cultural event #3 would be this Wednesday - my friend Nesli had alerted me to a concert taking place at Harvard Memorial Church - the Sinikithemba Choir was in town! Sinikithemba, a Zulu word for "we bring hope", is an unusual choir, all members are HIV-positive, and have set as their mission to "speak out through their music.... helping to end the tremendous stigma surrounding HIV infection in Africa". This was a very inspirational event. Performing with two other choirs, The Boston Community Choir, the SANS (Sharing a New Song) choir, and the stunningly talented (and also HIV-positive) blues singer Tim Hobson, this event brought a different vibe into Harvard Mem. At the end everyone was dancing around, and joined the choir up front (myself included) for a rendition of "O Happy Day". What a great evening! (http://sinikithemba.org/sinikithemba/The%20Sinikithemba%20Choir.htm). The event itself was organized by yet another great group, Sibusiso, a nonprofit that was brought to life by Boston area nurses and has made it its mission to improve the lives of HIV-infected and affected in resource-poor areas. (http://www.sibusisopartners.org/).

That brought us back to present times, I actually should quickly sign off as I need to head to the airport, heading to Utah today, to see my friends Rani and Nate get hitched. But not before putting in a couple of words for a couple of artist friends here - first my good friend Pauline Lim, who is extraordinarily multi-talented, so check our her website - www.paulinelim.net , and also my new friend Andrew Anselmo, who has raised Origami to quite the art form (www.flappinbird.com).

Talk to you next week!

Petra

#19 Boston - A Castle in the Clouds October 14, 2006

Fall has arrived! Boston - actually make that Cambridge - woke up this morning to a brisk 44 degrees F (6 degrees Celsius), I have already spent half an hour sweeping up leaves from the walkway next to the house and then there is that wonderful, crisp, autumn air - there is nothing like it. We are happy here about the weather, as opposed to those poor folks up in Buffalo, NY who got 14 inches of snow this week. That might have made me happy, most of you know about my somewhat unhealthy obsession with snow, but I have to say fall is my favorite season of the year out here in New England. I still must go and purchase the obligatory pumpkin, and slowly get ready for the upcoming Halloween Festivities. I live now in "a neighborhood" (wow!) and expect trick or treaters en masse.

So this past weekend was all in the spirit of the season - well most of it anyway. Saturday, after slowly emerging from some well deserved slumber and at-home malingering, my friends Todd and Lynda picked me up for a little excursion. Our destination was Ponkapoag Pond, located in the Blue Hills Reservation just a smidgeon south of Boston (http://gallery.cs.umb.edu/gallery/albums/album340/Ponkapoag_pond.sized.jpg). The Blue Hills are known as the largest conservation area within a metropolitan area here in the US, and have emerged as one of my favorite destinations near the hub. More than 7000 acres, and it offers pretty much everything an outdoorsy heart desires, hiking paths, a wildlife museum, lakes, swamps, bogs, golf course, a historic weather observatory, swimming in the ponds in summer, ice fishing in winter, you name it. I myself am a proud member of the Friends of the Blue Hills (http://www.friendsofthebluehills.org/), a nonprofit that has been engaged in preserving this wonderful little slice of heaven for all of us to enjoy. We had a lovely walk around the pond, with some early display of foliage and extremely pleasant conversation. Aaaaahhhhh.....

Sunday, it was time to head north to hit one of the epicenters of leaf peeping in New Hampshire - sacrificing some zzzzzs (that some of us could have used), my friend Elaine and I grabbed Ella, the caaah, and rambled up to Moultonborough, NH for the Castle in the Clouds, a most maaahvelous place! (http://www.castleintheclouds.org/). Of course, we got lost just a tad on the way up, and almost ended up at the Sandwich County Fair, which was not yet in full swing, but the local law enforcement directing all the early bird attendees to a "parking facility" (a large section of grass next to some kind of abandoned barn) took this quite serious and barked at us for not knowing what we were doing.....

The Castle - yes. "Breathtaking Views and Fun For All This Fall" states their website, and they ain't lyin'. Perched atop a small mountain on a 5000+-acre estate, the rustic castle is spectacular, with views of Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake, a multitude of hiking trails, 1000-ft high waterfalls, surrounded by foothills and mountains of the Ossipee Range dipped in fall colors as if painted by an impressionist artist. The castle, known to its owners as "Lucknow", was completed in 1914 as the home to Olive and Thomas Plant. Plant was pretty much a self made man who worked himself up to some considerable wealth - he called it quits at age 51, having millions in the bank, and this lovely house to boot. Apparently he was not as good with the retirement stuff as he was as a businessman, and lost most of his money (among others in the stock market crash of 1929); I think also that he and his wife did not get along that well later on (they occupied different wings of the house, that might just be an indication...), so they tried to sell the house, but no luck. After his death, the place went through a couple of owners, and is now in the capable hands of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (http://www.lrct.org/).

It is a wonderful place to visit, not just the views, but the house is pretty cool in itself. My two favorite bits were the showers (this was modern stuff back then) who brought Medieval torture instruments to mind, and the little crawl space which led to Mr. Plant's reading room (I assume that's where he hid from that lovely wife of his - my gut feeling tells me that she eventually did figure this out, and probably had thoughts of locking him up there for good, but that's a whole different story)

Monday, well, that was different. It was a holiday, Columbus Day, which we do get off at MGH. So I had signed on to run the Tufts 10 K for Women, one of my favorite road races in and around Boston. 7000 gals running through Boston - great vibe, great atmosphere! That was the good part. The bad part? Hmmm, first of all, it was freakin' 85 degrees out there!! Too warm! Too warm! It is October, for cryin' out loud! Everyone was huffin' and puffin', and I for one bore a striking resemblance to a tomato. I finished at a decent time, but the minute I stopped, my left knee and the associated IT Band got pretty angry with me, and so I spent the next couple of days limping around. Too early, said the sports medicine team at MGH, and scolded me for running way too early after the marathon. I know, I know, it is my own darn fault this time, but I just could not help it. The excitement and the crowd got to me, and off I went! I hereby promise publicly that the "Halloween Hustle" 5K that I am signed up for on my birthday (October 28) will be walked by yours truly. To ensure that, my friend Renee has promised to come along with her dog Rufus, who is a Dachshund/Chihuahua mix and who has no intention of running, so there you have it. In the meanwhile I am allowed to do any other sport pretty much, swim, bike, paraglide, mudwrestling, tossing the caber - anything, but no running for four weeks (doc says so).

That pretty much sums it up for last week, everything else is going pretty decent, work is great, I am enjoying our new location in the Lawrence House (did I mention my new office has a window?). My health is improving a bit, the reflux/stomach issue seems to be settling down with the help of some meds, and a visit to the GI doc is happening soon and hopefully I can be up to my old shenanigans shortly thereafter, right?

The weekend is already in full swing, and I am now going to join - more on that next week - I will be heading to Moab, Utah, on Friday to attend the wedding of my friends Rani and Nate (http://www.discovermoab.com/).

Talk to you soon, in the meantime, be nice to each other, and get out there and play!

pet:)

#18 Boston - Back to the Theater - October 7, 2006

It was time to do something different for a change, by now you guys are probably sick and tired of all the stories about running, huh? OK, I'll give you a little "cultscha" this time - it was a week of theater enjoyment - starting off with a Neil Simon play this past Friday, "California Suite" - performed by the Burlington Players in the Park Playhouse. Burlington is located 13 miles northeast of Boston, but, not to be mean or anything, my knowledge of this suburban community so far had been restricted to the fact that it is nestled in between a spider web of freeways (128,95, 93, Route 3) and that it is dominated by the most gigantic shopping mall known to mankind. OK, I am exaggerating a bit, but it is a fairly colossal retail establishment there, also known to us outdoorsy types as the meeting place for hikes in New Hampshire. You can park your car there nicely all day, and hop in the car pool for the White Mountains. The town was founded in 1799 and is situated nicely on the watersheds for three rivers, the Ipswich, Mystic and Shawsheen. Its history was more of the agricultural sort (hops, rye, that type of stuff), but with the freeways being built around it, in particular Route 128, it developed nicely and rapidly into a residential-commercial-retail-development type of place.

Anyway (see how craftily I steered the conversation back to the outdoors....), the all-volunteer Burlington Players, supported by our friend Irene Szewcuk (which is why we went there), tackled a Neil Simon Play: "California Suite" (http://www.msu.edu/~pelowsk1/neilsimon/plays/california.html), a combo of four one-actors that all take place in the same hotel room in chichi Beverly Hills - a divorced couple duking it out, a British actress with her not-so-straight husband getting completely sloshed because she did not win the Oscar (that other tramp did...), a guy trying to hide the very uncooperative harlot he apparently hooked up with the night before just as his wife arrives, and finally the Hollenders and the Franklins who went together on vacation but never should have. Funny stuff!

The other theater experience this week leads us back to Boston, to the Huntington Theatre Company where I am known to frequently usher - Pulitzer Price winning playwright August Wilson's "Radio Golf" was performed to perfection by an amazing cast, in particular Eugene Lee as Sterling Johnson and Anthony Chisholm as the Elder Joseph Barlow were more than notable. August Wilson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Wilson) grew up in the poorest of circumstances in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of a German baker and an African American housekeeper. His childhood experiences and his family's struggle during economically and socially challenging times found their way into the ten plays he wrote, which have been declared to be among the most genuine narratives of African American life in the 20th century.

Of course, there has to be some outdoorsy stuff - more on the passive side this time. Saturday my friend Denise and I zoomed up to the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, where she had lined up to run the Applefest Half Marathon (http://www.gatecity.org/AF/index.shtml) - if you guys remember, this was my first Half Marathon last year. This time, I got to just lay on the grass, let the sun shine in my face, read and enjoy myself while all the runners sweated it out on the race course. And of course, participate in post-race activities, such as eating apple crisp, drinking apple cider, eating another apple crisp....

Sunday the weather was not as kind and sunny, but that did not keep us New Englanders indoors- noooo! We are not deterred by weather of any kind! The sky could be falling, we would be out there checking it out. It was time to visit the North Shore (in the pouring rain), and visit (first time for me) Topsfield (quaint and green), Beverly (some quaintness, much bigger), Salem (town of witches, ghosts and ghouls), the half-island of Nahant (lovely seaside community), affluent Swampscott, and my new favorite, the darling little town of Marblehead - just cute (I can't think of another way to describe it), wonderfully situated at the seaside, quaint little streets, inviting restaurants and stores. It was just lovely, despite the crappy weather. A nice little lunch at the Driftwood Restaurant with an Ipswich IPA helped to round out this most enjoyable day.

Aside from that things have been plodding along. I am still not over my cold, and combined with my reflux issue which has not quite settled yet, despite the fact that we have restarted the medication, I have been a little under the weather, and used most of my evenings for some nice R&R. Yoga class with Pauline (who is the bestest Yoga teacher, I swear!), lots of movies, and reading, reading, reading (current selection "Lance Armstrong's War - NY Times best seller, fabulous read - inhaling it....). We moved offices at work, and boy, am I happy in my new digs! First of all, my new office has a window! Daylight! The Lawrence House, our new abode, is a small brick building right next to the hospital, and it has the feel of a house to it, very nice, away from the hustle and bustle of the hospital. One of our conference rooms even has a fireplace in it (doesn't work thought)...

Fall is slowly creeping in here in New England, with the one or other summer day still trying to hang on, the temperatures have come down, and we are experiencing those wonderful cool autumn mornings that I love so much. Today and tomorrow is apparently the choice weekend for leaf peeping, and my friend Elaine and I will be heading toward New Hampshire tomorrow to join a gazillion other people and go oooh and aaah. This is one of my favorite things to do and as mentioned to you early, I tend to get panic attacks just thinking I might miss it. So beautiful - it takes your breath away, every time.

I gotta go now, my friend Lynda, her fiancée Todd and I will be heading to the Blue Hills for a little stroll, and I am still sitting here in my PJs, better get going. Enclosed is a little mean humor about New England for your entertainment (none of it true, of course).

See ya!

pet:)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application for Permission to Live in New Hampshire





NAME:

ETHNIC INFORMATION: (voluntary)
White ( )

TYPE OF CARS OWNED:
Pickup Truck ( )
You don't own any Foreign cars, do you? NO ( )

CAR EQUIPMENT:
Gun Rack ( ) Stash ( ) CB ( ) Beer Holder ( )
Playboy air freshener ( )

BUMPER STICKERS:
"Ex-wife in trunk" ( )
"If Guns are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns" ( )
"Bush/Quayle" ( )
"Shit Happens" ( )
"If you don't like my driving, get off the sidewalk" ( )

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual ( )

FAVORITE CAUSE: NRA ( ) Pro-life ( )

Total given to these causes in the last 12 months:

FAVORITE DRUGS:
Grass ( )

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE BANNED?:
(check all that apply)
Democrats ( ) Welfare ( ) N.O.W. ( )

FAVORITE BEER:
Miller ( ) Michelob ( ) Bud ( )

FAVORITE POLITICIAN:
Don't Care ( )

CLUB MEMBERSHIPS:
NRA ( )

How Many Automatic Weapons do you own?

5 ( ) 10 ( ) More than that ( )

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Benny Hill ( )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Application for Permission to Live in Massachusetts

NAME:
(extra space left due to new social awareness)

ETHNIC INFORMATION: (voluntary)
Eskimo ( ) American Indian ( ) Hispanic ( ) Asian ( )
African-American ( ) American-African ( ) Black-American ( )
Other Group With A Long History Of Oppression By White Males ( )
(specify, so we can help you form a political action group)


TYPE OF CARS OWNED (pick two):
SAAB ( ) Volvo ( ) BMW ( ) Mercedes ( ) Honda ( )

You don't own any American cars, do you? NO ( )

CAR EQUIPMENT:
Blaupunkt ( ) Passport ( ) Escort ( ) Vuarnet Sunglasses ( )
Stash ( ) CD ( ) Cellular Phone ( ) Ski Rack ( )
Bicycle Rack ( ) Wine Rack ( )

BUMPER STICKERS:
"You can't hug a child with nuclear arms" ( ) "Greenpeace" ( )
"Dukakis/Bentsen" ( ) "Save the Whales" ( ) "Farms not Arms" ( )

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Gay ( ) Lesbian ( ) Other ( )
(note: failure to give the proper answer to the above means you can't
live in certain towns on the Cape, or get elected to Congress)

FAVORITE CAUSE: Whales ( ) Baby Seals ( ) Snail Darter ( )
Total given to these causes in the last 12 months:

FAVORITE DRUGS:
Crack ( ) Coke ( ) Grass ( ) Kitty's Diet Plan ( )

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE BANNED?:
(check all that apply)
The Bomb ( ) Handguns ( ) All guns ( ) Nuclear Power ( )
Cigarettes ( ) The NRA ( ) Republicans ( )

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE LEGALIZED?:
(check all that apply)
Crack ( ) Coke ( ) Grass ( ) Needles ( )
Flag Burning ( )

FAVORITE BEER:
Samuel Adams ( ) Beck's ( ) Corona(w/lime) ( )
Latest trendy brand ( )

FAVORITE POLITICIAN:
Ted Kennedy ( ) John Kennedy ( ) Bobby Kennedy ( )
Joe Kennedy ( )

CLUB MEMBERSHIPS:
ACLU ( ) Greenpeace ( ) SDS ( ) N.O.W. ( ) A.F.S.C.M.E ( )
Billy Bulger Breakfast Club ( ) Provincetown Boys Club ( )
Bull-dykes Kennel Club ( )

Even though we can't ever get any more power from Hydro-Quebec, don't
you think that Seabrook should remain closed forever? YES ( )

Don't you think that the people in the Midwest should stop dropping acid
rain on our vacation homes in Vermont, even if it means that they all lose
their jobs? YES ( )

How many watts (per channel, RMS) is your principal home stereo?
100W ( ) 200W ( ) More than that ( )

How many air conditioners do you have to help you through our long New
England summers?: 2 ( ) 3 ( ) 4 ( ) Central Air ( )
(note: Fewer than two A/C units may qualify you for state
subsidies if you are a non-white unemployed Democrat)

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Thirtysomething ( )