“American households with incomes of less than $10,000 give an average of 5.5 percent of their earning to charity or to a religious organization, while those making more than $100,000 a year give only 2.9 percent.  After changes in the 1986 tax code reduced the benefits of charitable giving, taxpayers earning $500,000 or more slashed their average donation by nearly one-third.  Futhermore, many of these acts of benevolence do not help the needy.  Rather than provide funding to social service agencies that aid the poor, the voluntary contributions of the wealthy go to places and institutions that entertain, inspire, cure, or educate wealthy Americans - art museums, opera houses, theaters, orchestras, ballet companies, private hospitals, and elite universities.”

From a study published in the New Yorker in 1991.

The wind has been howling so loudly in the last few days.  Stacy Michelle came up this weekend and we had a very enjoyable time.  We went to dinner at Hurricane Kate’s and then to the Shanty and met up with some of my friends for drinks on Friday.  Yesterday we got a bagel and hiked Trinidad Head then went down to the Loleta Cheese Factory and tasted all sorts of yummy cheeses.  We came back to my place and relaxed until the evening when we went over to Deric’s and he cooked us the most amazing meal of cheese puffs, marinated tofu for me and halibut for them with this asparagus and spinach sauce that was soooo good, peas with fennel and tarragon, and for dessert homemade truffles and dulce de leche ice cream with white chocolate and toffee.  He is insane in the kitchen and so amazing.  Then we tried to do a 750 piece CSI puzzle and after 2 hours gave up cuz it was too hard.  Stace and I had breakfast at the Alibi this morning before she headed back to Santa Cruz.  All in all a very enjoyable weekend.  And tonight is trash tv night!  YAY!

Things have been awful busy lately.  It’s a bit of a struggle to negotiate the time I need to complete my schoolwork, organize events for Take Back the Night, participate in other community involvement and actvism, and not get completely distracted by my adorable boy toy.  Truthfully, I should be putting way more time into school, especially on the weekends but its hard because Deric’s schedule is practically the opposite of mine.  I’m sure I’ll get into a groove here soon, I just need to focus.  The wind has been howling really loudly since last night and it reminds me of some spooky horror movie.  It’s making me sleepy when I need to be grading papers.  A couple days ago someone came to my apartment complex and hung up posters for a campus event going on next Wednesday called “Confessions of a Terrorist.”  The conservative republican organization on campus is sponsoring the event and its going to feature a talk by a former member of the PLO.  I saw the posters a while back and was curious about what the implications for the talk were going to be and planned to go, but apparently whoever is organizing the event targeted my building with the posters.  About half of my neighbors are Saudi Arabian.  It’s crazy how in such a small progressive town there is still such prevalent racism that something like that would happen.  I’m definitely gonna go to the event and see what the fuck is up.  Things I want to happen this week:  Ashley to call me back, for me to get my shit together with my coursework, try and start knitting something.