Standard Standard

Get it? Double standard!

 How've you been? I've missed you. I am sure you have been having fun and practicing safe sunning during my "absence." While you were out doing summery things, I was recovering from carrying a recycled screen door home. No, I'm kidding. Along with a purposeful silence and wasting a ridiculous amount of time pinning Doctor Who memes and tattoos, a trip to Minneapolis was squeezed in to my already entertaining schedule, with the purpose being attendance at an art therapy conference. There is nothing like hanging out with 1000 art therapists. I shall refrain from saying much about it, as I like being a professional in the field. Suffice it to say, hanging out there makes me look pretty normal. That should scare all of you.

A purposeful silence? Although I am having trouble with "training furballs" again (so much talking, so many furballs), that's not what I mean. Oh, how I don't want to get all serious and political on here, even though it's my mundane blog and I can certainly do whatever I dang well please. Perhaps it is unwise to temper my feisty naughtiness--it might lead to some body part exploding or an intense case of constipation. Good or bad, right or wrong...there is so much fodder in the world right now. From The Donald running for president to Caitlyn Jenner accepting a sports award to continued arguments about whether a cake baker should have to bake a cake for a gay wedding....fodder, fodder, fodder. (I will say that why on earth would I want a cake from someone who doesn't want to bake my cake? I mean, I'm gonna eat that cake of which they probably spit in or used Ex-Lax in the chocolate frosting. Forget it!)

That said, I can't keep my yapper shut about the continued pay inequity for women. (So much for that self-imposed silence.) How is it that in this day and age the world's champion Women's Soccer team brings home a total of TWO million dollars in prize money while the world's champions Men's soccer team brings home a THIRTY FIVE million purse? Don't blame it on viewership--the women's soccer thing had a bazillion people watching, including Americans (who don't seem to grasp the concept of soccer on a very profound basis). In Addiverse math, in the U.S. viewership, the men had 167 total viewers, while the women had 167 trillion viewers. Perhaps I'll stick to watching things like Wimbledon, where the men and women get paid the same thing.

I still remember having a conversation about such inequity with my cousin in 1989. Yes, I am sure it was 1989. During a trip to the Grand Canyon, we passed a female construction worker holding up one of those slow/stop signs at the beginning of a construction zone. I mentioned how men get paid more money to do that job....a man holding a slow/stop sign got more money to stand in the same place, doing the same thing. I thought that absurd. I was wrong. What's absurd is that it is 25 years later and the inequity continues. People! Today, women get paid an average of 78 cents to every man's one dollar. God help you if you are a woman living in Louisiana--you'll be lucky to average 66 cents to the guy's dollar. Since there are NO states where the men and women make the same pay, I feel confident about my choice to babble about it for a few minutes here. I'm done now. Carry on.

 As for Minneapolis, it was a whirl-wind of a stop so I can't say much profound about it. The hotel was 1.5 miles away from the conference, so I had time to walk downtown on my way to/from the happenings. My first impression? "Everyone in this city smokes!" It was the weirdest thing. As I was walking down the street, I was engulfed in cloud of cigarette smoke. There were so many smokers that they even had the balls to smoke right under a sign stating "no smoking withing 25 feet." (How could I NOT take a photo????) As I looked around, it seemed like everyone was (1) wearing a backpack and (2) smoking. I found this odd, as Minny seems like such a healthy city--after all, everyone is walking around wearing back packs--so, I found a local art therapist at the conference and inquired about this. At first, she seemed confused and surprised by this. After a few seconds of contemplation, the light bulb went off:

Minny-Peep: "How do you like the city so far?"

Me: "Oh, it seems very nice! I have noticed something, though--it's like everyone smokes."

Minny-peep: [puzzled look]

Me: "I walk to and from the conference. It just seems like everyone smokes--I feel like I'm walking through a cloud of smoke. It seems weird, considering everyone appears to be walking everywhere and busy being healthy."

Minny-peep: [still puzzled]

Me: [waiting....oh geez, I've insulted her home town]

Minny-peep: [see light bulb go on]: "Oh! Everyone smokes outside. There is no where inside to smoke, so smokers smoke while they are walking to and from places."

That made complete sense. No smoking inside means ya gotta smoke outside. Since everyone is always walking here and there, the smokers are walking and smoking at the same time. Mystery solved.

As there was little free time in my conference trip schedule, the only thing I really got done that wasn't conference-related was a spontaneous trip to a Twins' baseball game. I can't resist a visit to a ballpark. (PNC Park and Petco Park, be proud--you remain on the top of my list.) The Twins were playing the Detroit Tigers, so that was a bonus--I'd never seen the Tigers play. I love when stadiums are incorporated into the downtown areas--you know, with a view like this. While I love the Cubs, Wrigley doesn't have this kind of feel. It has a feel, a mystique, of course but it is not this kind of feel. Target Field is nice enough--very clean, inviting, great view, good food, expansive grounds, easily accessed by foot--it didn't make my top three parks. That's okay--it was still fabulous and it was a great compliment to an art therapy conference.

I look forward to the day I can visit Baltimore and Fenway....oh, how I want to see the Green Monster in person.

I saw my Minny-peep the next day at the conference. She asked how my stay was going. I mentioned that I went to a Twins' game the night before. She seemed perplexed by this....almost as much as she had been about my smoking question. I guess art therapists visit art museums and artsy-galas, not MLB games.  I could tell that a Twins' game was not in her realm. I didn't bother to tell her that I got my first tattoo while at an art therapy conference back in the 1990's. I figured that would really befuckle her.

Speaking of tattoos....a last thought about Minneapolis. I didn't see many tattoos. Backpacks and cigarettes: yes. Tattoos: not so much. In Pittsburgh, tattoos were everywhere. I couldn't believe the volume of tattoos I saw while walking in Steel City. Minny, not so much. Art therapists aren't exactly sporting a plethora of tattoos, either, so that was disappointing. I do love seeing a good (or bad) tattoo when wandering the nation.

Good news is that tattoos cost the same thing whether you're a man or a woman. I have no idea if women tattoo artists get paid the same as the guy tattoo artists. I feel a research project coming on.....