Rick Sanchez and his favorite Wise Latina

Junior broke his big toe Wednesday night so today after a not-so-sleepful night and doing this and that for him in the a.m. I finally decided to just stay home from work yesterday.

Which is how I happened to catch CNN's Rick Sanchez. He's a bit over the top for me sometimes and I find it especially unnerving when he attempts to both interview a Spanish speaking person, and translate for them at the same time. But yesterday he said something that I feel needed to be said and I think he said it very graciously and diplomatically.

The backstory: He interviewed several "wise Latina" women in his life, including his own mother, to ask them how they felt about our next Supreme Court Justice. His mother spoke in Spanish. (Well, she was speaking to her son.) And then he responded to viewer feedback with this:

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"Most of you thought that story you just saw was pretty cool. Most of you told us it is was a fresh idea, a different way of covering the story.

But some of you have written with some pretty harsh criticism about the fact that my mom doesn't speak English.

Look, I would be lying if I told you that that didn't sting me a little bit, but, hey, I understand that many of you are more than 100 years removed from your ancestor's arrival in America, and that gives you a different perspective on things than mine. That's fair.

So, rather than sharing research or historical analysis, let me take this opportunity now to share with you my perspective from kind of like where I come from.

My mom can't express herself in English because I can. She isn't accomplished and she isn't wealthy, because I am. My mom missed meals when I was growing up so that I could eat. See, my mom didn't bring me to America so that she could become successful or educated. She brought me to America so I could become successful and educated.

She couldn't go to night school because she spent 10 to 12 hours a day in a factory sewing leather shoes together while my dad washed dishes all his life and bussed tables at the fancy hotels on Miami Beach.

Their story is the story of millions of immigrants who come to America, maybe even some of your ancestors, who did the same exact thing. They struggled, they went without, and they even sacrificed their own betterment so that we, their sons and daughters, could thrive.

I mean, look, it's just some perspective for our national conversation. I also welcome your perspective on my blog at CNN.com/ricksanchez."

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Bravo, you wise Latino man. 8-)

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Meanwhile, Back on the Bench . . .

Oh yes I have. Whether online, via sneak peeks at home for lunch, on the radio in my car, or on the nightly news recaps, I have hovered over the confirmation hearings of that "wise Latina woman."

I feel like I'm watching a poorly scripted high-school propaganda play, that goes out of its way to exaggerate stereotypes of privileged white male prejudice (that's what we used to call it in the South instead of "racism" or "mysogynism" <-- which is entirely too difficult to spell!) . . . written for the purpose of impressing upon today's young women and men why it is still so very important to embrace feminism. Many times, I thought I might be hallucinating. You know that moment when you see something really inappropriate or shocking, and you blink in disbelief, and ask yourself aloud, "No, he didn't just say that. Not TODAY, in 2009, on national everything?"

I spent the past couple of days rereading the transcripts to make sure I heard them correctly, and, you know what? It sounds a LOT worse in text. The condescension (sp?), self-aggrandizement, lizardish yuckisms like when that one bozo spoke Ricky Ricardo (oh yes he did!)

Bring up her temperament? Based on anonymous comments by lawyers? Ha! Oldest trick in the book. ("She's crazy.")

Ask her the same questions over and over and over and over hoping to make her crack and give a different answer? That's either called "an interrogation" or "evidence of the questioner's dimwittedness." And when the questioner has dismissed his own well-documents racist comments as "jokes" but won't accept the future First Latina Supreme Court Justice's confess-and-get-back-to-the-point, it makes me want to hurl.

I could go on. But you were all there, and you don't need me to feed you the news bytes. But the fact that these white men are spouting this stuff ad nauseum (because they don't have anything else to pin on her) is evidence of the backlash of change. That's my theory.

You can always tell when things are really changing, whether it's in a marriage, an organization, or a country, when people get really upset and start saying the things they usually keep behind the mask. "I hate you!" What is really underneath all that is fear. It is so much easier to demonize, pin the blame, point fingers, or, what seems to be happening at the hearings, practice a little or a lot of projection, than to say, "I'm scared." Think about it. The only person up there that seems to be able to is the finally-elected comedian on his 5th day on the job.

Change has come. You can tell by the backlash. There's a big pot of potatoes boiling on the stove, the scummy stuff must bubble to the surface before it eventually vaporizes.

But ahhhhh! Then, in the evenings this week, like a wave of cool, clear water out of this mucky unbecomingness, comes Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate and herself a lawyer, speaking really long sentences on Rachel Maddow that are actually grammatically correct. She uses big words, sometimes, but sprinkles in a lot of slang and catchy phrases, and I found her to be the most articulate and engaging news commentator I've seen in about 100 years. I didn't even care if I agreed with what she was saying or not, I have loved just listening to her language this week.

I do hope that one day Sotomayor writes a book with an entire chapter devoted to what she was really thinking but couldn't say during the confirmation hearings.

Claudia Vargas at SFIFAM

Another photo from the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market (this could go on for days you know . . .). This is Claudia Vargas and she was SO funny. She makes art, such as retablos, from recycled materials. She is a veteran of the market, and she brought a basket full of "cameras" made of beer cans, wire, etc. When you move a wire, the camera pops open -- and out -- to reveal a silly face.

She was standing at the edge of her booth "shooting" people's pictures as they walked by and she was really cracking herself up! There was, of course, no shortage of new victims for her prank as the place was packed. We shared a good laugh and then we walked on but then I saw she was entertaining herself so much -- she could probably go on for hours! (tears were nearly rolling down her face) I finally went back and took her picture. I said, "uno, dos . . ." and she popped the camera, LOL!

Saraguro Beadwork in Santa Fe

This is Zoila Alexandrina Chalán Lozano, a Saraguro woman from a beadwork cooperative in Educador. Although it was her first time at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, the Saraguros have attended before, thanks to the help of Ann Severine, a bead artist in Santa Fe who has sponsored them each year, helping with their applications and other intricacies of bringing the women here and hosting them once they get here.

This is the awesome booth of designs from the cooperative of , I think Ann said, about a dozen women. I noticed that both young women and older women were trying on the collars, each one finding just the perfect design for their wardrobe and personality.

Ann (above) is one of two beaders that I know of (there may be more, if so let me know and I'll link to them here) who do not just reverse engineer the Saraguro designs and techniques for their own benefit, but who contribute significantly to the Saraguro cooperatives. Ann teaches some of the Saraguro designs and patterns, and sends a portion of her income from that back to the Saraguro cooperatives.

Chris Prussing from Juneau, Alaska, sells her tutorials (last I checked there were about 15 of them!) of Saraguro designs on bead-patterns.com and donates half the money from sales directly back to the four Saraguro beading cooperatives.

(FYI, there are now patterns and designs available that mention "Saraguro" but they are only "inspired by" the designs and they don't use the traditional stitching. Not being fussy, I just mention this because the above designers have been to Ecuador and taken classes from the women, use their very unique stitching techniques, and donate directly back to the coops.)

Income from the Folk Art Market and donations from Chris and Ann (among others I'm sure) have had a significant impact on the Saraguro women's lives. They have literally built housing for their cooperative, maintain a healthy bank account which is used for micro-loans to themselves, so that they can get bulk pricing on beads and supplies, and of course derive an income for their families.

I might never get to Ecuador, but I was happy to meet Zoila and see how she and her coop partners are taking control of their craft, on an international scale.

P.S. If I got any info wrong in this post, it's all my fault, LOL! Ann shared a lot of info with me but I wasn't exactly taking notes. ;-)

International Folk Art Market photos

Wow! So much classier than the decor at the Econolodge! The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market was a feast for the eyes. And for humble handworkers like us, it was such a treat to meet friendly, talented crafters from all over the world. However . . . my feet are really mad at me right now, and I don't think we made it through more than 2/3 of the booths before the crowds did me in and Sarah and I parted ways hasta next time.

So, can you spot the volunteer in these photos? ;-) Just kidding -- she was such a sweetheart, and so willing, I couldn't resist taking her picture too. The two women artisans are from different places in Bolivia. The woman sitting on the ground is an Ayoreo Indian. She is making clothing and purses by needle weaving pounded bromeliad fibers.

The volunteer, I was told when I paid for a little plate from Uzbekistan, was one of a whopping 1,400 who help at the event, handling everything from parking to payments to assisting artists in their booths, an especially gracious touch that helps to bridge cultural and language barriers.

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Econolodge

Sarah and I met up in Santa Fe to go to the International Folk Art market tomorrow. Here we are at the Econolodge. Sarah says the curtains look like William Morris on bad acid. It might be hard to tell in the photo (and if so I'll be embarassed for saying this) but it looks like there is something in the valance that's giving the finger to something up above it.

The guitar is, yes, petite. My DH found it at Goodwill for Sarah because she had a vision of covering a guitar with beads. Better to start with a small one eh? (The guy coming into the hotel at the same time as me said, "Is that a camp guitar?" and I just said, "Yeah, I think so." Whatever a camp guitar is...)

Sarah's friend in the northwest sent her a huge box of beads. That is what's on the table. We are pawing through them to see who gets what. The arm wrestling commences tomorrow . . .

My Commodious Cage

Finally, a couple of photos of my cubicle at work. Funny, for years I've often felt like someone just let me out of a cage -- now, every day, sometimes several times a day, I literally leave one.

But it is a commodious cage, and thanks to my friend Buffy, aka Bethany Nelson, it's like a little altar to beautiful things. She built it on vashtu and feng shui, and I'm slowly injecting it with that Himalayan altitude. ;-)

Ya know, it's tricky to get a picture of your own cubicle. Somehow I feel like an aerial view would be nice. Or at least a view from the door. Stay tuned, I guess . . .