Insurance and Writing Feuds
Two totally different rants for this beautiful autumn morning. Got to get this agita out, as I couldn't run this am (John left for work... no one to watch the kiddies!)
~~~~~
Yesterday, I arrived at school to see donuts on the counter. They were there, courtesy of the school workers - you know, the ones who scan the kids into the building, take care of attendance, lunchroom duty, etc, help maintain the atmosphere... your heroes if you're a teacher. They really make the place run so much better.
It seems that Thursday, they all got letters in the mail. Their insurance is gone.
The school district says the union was supposed to inform them. The union says the SDP was supposed to inform them. Meanwhile, the feline escaped from the satchel when some of the aides visited doctors and were presented with bills, since the insurance claims were denied.
Nice.
As awful as this is, how do we fix it?
A very dear friend of mine, a bit older than I am, has had a very recent scare with a very scary disease. It was an awful time for everyone around her. She is getting better, but now, she and her husband are having a hard time keeping jobs, because employers don't want to deal with someone with a "pre-existing condition."
And the list goes on. Unfair to the individual. Completely, utterly unfair.
But at the same time, I can see the point of the companies. SDP is in the hole by hundreds of millions of dollars. Enrollment is DOWN. They've slashed every position known (for example, we have a nurse. We share her with 2 other schools. No school has its own nurse anymore) except for teachers. Wait. They slashed teachers, too. They still can't make budget.
Companies left and right are going under. We all know that a big part of the fall of GM was its crazy benefits and pension programs. Mostly pension, which is gone now, but bennies are another drain on the black.
Is the answer OBAMACARE? Gosh, I fell like I just cursed. I despise the idea of government sponsored anything, let alone health insurance. I guess, if the politicians weren't exempt from it, if they were required the same coverage as the man on the street, maybe I'd trust it. In its current form, however, all obamacare will do is cause companies, like SDP, to drop insurance, so that it can be picked up on the government tab. Which will make everything worse. At the same time, doctors and pharmaceutical companies DESERVE TO MAKE A PROFIT. They aren't in it for charity.
What is the answer? I don't know. I'm starting to understand that line from the Princess Bride: Life's not fair.
~~~~~
The next rant is for my JAFF friends out there. I don't know if any of you ever get here, but you won't find me in JAFF land anymore. It's been long in coming, with some groups requiring I sign a contract to put up my stuff, and others disappearing into infighting.
Last night, one of the other authors on the last site I belong to put a comment on FB that anyone who thinks other Austen heroes should be more Darcy-like are, basically, morons in heat, only concerned with Darcy's hotness, and should cease and desist writing.
There's a reason P&P is the most loved book by JAFF. Darcy is, for many, the most acceptable candidate for modern romantic hero. The rest are old men (George Knightley is a pedophile, but I still love him, and Brandon is also a crusty old bachelor lusting after a teenager. Ick.); impetuous, incestuous, wishy-washy, flim-flam (Really? Edmund and Fannie after all that?), and the unwashed sailor man, who is my only other contender for acceptable modern hero, Captain Wentworth. Sure, she wrote other stuff, but these are the biggies, right?
I was only trying to say that the original rant was pretty harsh, considering, and that her criteria would exclude me as a writer. I don't believe I came across as bashing her, as she was certainly bashing 90% of JAFF authors. I was, inelegantly, trying to remind her of that.
Her comment back, agreeing that it was a good thing that I've, for all intents and purposes, stopped writing, was a slap. I will be the first to admit that I'm not the most talented writer out there. That's why I write FANFICTION and not books on the shelves at B&N. I do have enough of a spine to say, however, that there are people who still request the stuff I've written. It's mind candy, sure, but some people like it. I do not believe that people like me should stop writing just because we aren't highfalutin, metaphor embracing, literary geniuses.
She has since apologized for telling me I'm a talentless lackwit. I'm not so sure it's genuine, more she's sorry that I called her on it. (I sent her a nasty gram. Probably shouldn't have. But I never claimed to be the better person).
My point remains. FANFIC IS FANFIC. It is not literature. It is done for fun by people who like to write and like to read about other possibilities for characters that they love. I am SO SICK of GIRLS ruining my fun! Dammit! That was supposed to stop after high school!
Whoo. I feel better now.
~~~~~
Yesterday, I arrived at school to see donuts on the counter. They were there, courtesy of the school workers - you know, the ones who scan the kids into the building, take care of attendance, lunchroom duty, etc, help maintain the atmosphere... your heroes if you're a teacher. They really make the place run so much better.
It seems that Thursday, they all got letters in the mail. Their insurance is gone.
The school district says the union was supposed to inform them. The union says the SDP was supposed to inform them. Meanwhile, the feline escaped from the satchel when some of the aides visited doctors and were presented with bills, since the insurance claims were denied.
Nice.
As awful as this is, how do we fix it?
A very dear friend of mine, a bit older than I am, has had a very recent scare with a very scary disease. It was an awful time for everyone around her. She is getting better, but now, she and her husband are having a hard time keeping jobs, because employers don't want to deal with someone with a "pre-existing condition."
And the list goes on. Unfair to the individual. Completely, utterly unfair.
But at the same time, I can see the point of the companies. SDP is in the hole by hundreds of millions of dollars. Enrollment is DOWN. They've slashed every position known (for example, we have a nurse. We share her with 2 other schools. No school has its own nurse anymore) except for teachers. Wait. They slashed teachers, too. They still can't make budget.
Companies left and right are going under. We all know that a big part of the fall of GM was its crazy benefits and pension programs. Mostly pension, which is gone now, but bennies are another drain on the black.
Is the answer OBAMACARE? Gosh, I fell like I just cursed. I despise the idea of government sponsored anything, let alone health insurance. I guess, if the politicians weren't exempt from it, if they were required the same coverage as the man on the street, maybe I'd trust it. In its current form, however, all obamacare will do is cause companies, like SDP, to drop insurance, so that it can be picked up on the government tab. Which will make everything worse. At the same time, doctors and pharmaceutical companies DESERVE TO MAKE A PROFIT. They aren't in it for charity.
What is the answer? I don't know. I'm starting to understand that line from the Princess Bride: Life's not fair.
~~~~~
The next rant is for my JAFF friends out there. I don't know if any of you ever get here, but you won't find me in JAFF land anymore. It's been long in coming, with some groups requiring I sign a contract to put up my stuff, and others disappearing into infighting.
Last night, one of the other authors on the last site I belong to put a comment on FB that anyone who thinks other Austen heroes should be more Darcy-like are, basically, morons in heat, only concerned with Darcy's hotness, and should cease and desist writing.
There's a reason P&P is the most loved book by JAFF. Darcy is, for many, the most acceptable candidate for modern romantic hero. The rest are old men (George Knightley is a pedophile, but I still love him, and Brandon is also a crusty old bachelor lusting after a teenager. Ick.); impetuous, incestuous, wishy-washy, flim-flam (Really? Edmund and Fannie after all that?), and the unwashed sailor man, who is my only other contender for acceptable modern hero, Captain Wentworth. Sure, she wrote other stuff, but these are the biggies, right?
I was only trying to say that the original rant was pretty harsh, considering, and that her criteria would exclude me as a writer. I don't believe I came across as bashing her, as she was certainly bashing 90% of JAFF authors. I was, inelegantly, trying to remind her of that.
Her comment back, agreeing that it was a good thing that I've, for all intents and purposes, stopped writing, was a slap. I will be the first to admit that I'm not the most talented writer out there. That's why I write FANFICTION and not books on the shelves at B&N. I do have enough of a spine to say, however, that there are people who still request the stuff I've written. It's mind candy, sure, but some people like it. I do not believe that people like me should stop writing just because we aren't highfalutin, metaphor embracing, literary geniuses.
She has since apologized for telling me I'm a talentless lackwit. I'm not so sure it's genuine, more she's sorry that I called her on it. (I sent her a nasty gram. Probably shouldn't have. But I never claimed to be the better person).
My point remains. FANFIC IS FANFIC. It is not literature. It is done for fun by people who like to write and like to read about other possibilities for characters that they love. I am SO SICK of GIRLS ruining my fun! Dammit! That was supposed to stop after high school!
Whoo. I feel better now.
posted by birdwoman | 7:20 AM
4 Comments:
Sorry, Betsy. I agree with you. JAFF has changed, and not for the better. I am very happy and grateful for the lovely people I've met through JAFF, but now it's time to move on. I know you and I are not alone either.
*hugs*
It totally saddens me. I made some great friends there but feel like it's become this place of nit-pickets who are full of lice themselves. Sheesh. Bunchage brigade, indeed.
OBAMACARE is going to exacerbate every problem you mentioned.
I know. But I don't know what the answer is? Do you?
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