Irvine Renter will be speaking at the monthly meeting of the Green Party of Orange County on Sunday, December 7, 2008, at 2:00 at the offices of the Irvine Ranch Water District located at 15600 Sand Canyon Ave., Irvine, CA. Also speaking will be Dave Levy, a valued return Green Party visitor from Orange County Fair Housing Council. He will speak about public and private ways to protect the quality of life in Orange County by ensuring equal access to housing opportunities, an important way to foster diversity and preserve dignity and human rights. December’s GPOC meeting topic will cover the importance of housing in these uncertain times, and will focus on the Green Party’s Key Value of Social Justice. “Radical Housing for Radical Times” will concentrate on novel approaches to help reach the goal of affordable, stable, quality housing for all.
Everyone is invited, so if you are interested in hearing a discussion of this issue, please stop by.
Does anyone have any good news they would like to share? I have been reading all the headlines lately, and I can’t find anything even remotely positive going on in the economy or the housing.
I don’t care what topic it is on. You can make it personal if you like. Just give me some good news…
{book}
I’m the son of rage and love The Jesus of Suburbia From the bible of none of the above On a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin No one ever died for my sins in hell As far as I can tell At least the ones I got away with
And there’s nothing wrong with me This is how I’m supposed to be In a land of make believe That don’t believe in me
Get my television fix sitting on my crucifix The living room or my private womb While the moms and brads are away To fall in love and fall in debt To alcohol and cigarettes and Mary Jane To keep me insane and doing someone else’s cocaine
And there’s nothing wrong with me This is how I’m supposed to be In a land of make believe That don’t believe in me
Irvine Renter will be on the radio again this weekend. I will be a
guest of John McCauley on KBPK FM 90.1. I can be heard on Sunday
November 30, at 6:30 PM. The streaming internet broadcast can be found here. I invite you all to tune in.
I would like to make an announcement. Irvine Renter will be on the radio again this weekend. I will be a guest of John McCauley on KBPK FM 90.1. I can be heard on Sunday November 30, at 6:30 PM. The streaming internet broadcast can be found here. I invite you all to tune in.
{book}
AZDavePhx has been busy at the IHB. Last weekend I featured several of his works, and this weekend we have even more.
Like many people, he saw the rampant expansion of credit and a debt-fueled lifestyle to be a problem. It was a problem encouraged by our government and the purveyors of credit.
Many people used their homes as ATM machines, and this money was a huge stimulus to the economy.
Like many of us, AZDavePhx wonders where all this money went…
The lure of real estate was all the free money is generated.
Of course not all these purchases worked out as planned.
Some people are finding their purchase is very scary and painful.
Now our government wants everyone to step up and buy an overpriced house to bail out the banks.
The loan modification terms are good. With the fear of death, the lenders are suddenly willing to negotiate.
Are these companies too big to fail?
Has our government given them a get-out-of-fail-free card?
They say life is so much sweeter through the telephoto lens of fame
I wanted to remain anonymous. If it were not for the book, I would still be hiding in the shadows. When I first started writing for the IHB, I had a great deal of pent-up energy for getting the word out about the Great Housing Bubble. I wanted people to know how prices got to where they were and why prices were going to fall. It saddened me to see people lose everything to the market (it still does), and I wanted to save as many people as I could. As the IHB grew from around 500 visitors a day to 3000 visitors a day, I knew my words were having an impact on people’s lives, and I found that very satisfying (I still do). By staying anonymous, and writing to help people without regard to fame or fortune, I was seeking a purity of purpose that would keep my writing honest, truthful and free from bias. I hope that I can maintain that purity now that my identity is no longer a secret.
Like most of you, I have met a few famous people, but there is one experience that sticks out in my mind when I think about how fame impacts people. I used to work in the golf course development industry, and I was the project manager on a golf course being designed by Greg Norman. One day, he made a site visit, and I got to spend about 6 hours with him. What is fascinating about spending more than a few moments with someone very famous is that you get the opportunity to observe everyone else around him. Famous people are treated differently than the rest of us. People give them special attention and admiration. People want to be near them and feel like they are part of the aura of fame that surrounds them. As an observer of fame and part of the entourage, I saw how the experience impacted me and the others present, but I had no idea how it felt to be famous. It was something outside of my experience. Wednesday, I had my 15 minutes of fame, and I got a taste of what celebrity feels like.
I made the front page of the Turnertown Gazette
My day started with appearing on the front page of the OC Register. I knew a story was coming out, but I had no idea I would be featured on the front page. My wife called me early in the morning and told me that my son’s teacher was jumping up and down and exclaiming, “Your husband is on the front page of the newspaper!” My day of fame had begun. Later that morning at work, I got a call from KPCC public radio asking me to do an interview. I think it went pretty well (MP3 link).
At 6:30 that night, we had our IHB gathering and book signing party. It was a tremendous success. I signed books for 2 1/2 hours before I had a moment to take a break. It was thrilling. The greatest satisfaction I get from writing for the IHB is the many “thank yous” from the readers. I got to meet face-to-face nearly 100 people who all came to express their gratitude for the work I do. I had a satisfaction overdose.
What I found particularly interesting was meeting the many lurkers who came out. I know by the statistics that this blog has many readers, but the number of posters represents maybe 5% of the readership. There is a silent majority: that large group of people who are touched by the blog that I never see. It was wonderful to meet so many of them. It opened me to a whole world of readers with whom I had previously only had a one-way relationship.
I want to thank all of you who came out that night. It was the pinnacle of fame. I knew at that moment what celebrities feel like when everyone around them treats them like someone special. It was an amazing experience.
Hey words gonna get around Everybody dies famous in a small town
I know I am not famous, and I really have no desire to be famous. I am a small fish in a small pond in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted to share with you what it was like for me to have my 15 minutes of fame. Wednesday, November 12, 2008 is a day I will remember for the rest of my life.
I exceeded my quota of “thank yous” on Wednesday, so please don’t thank me more in the comments on this thread.
If any of you want to share your stories of fame, I would enjoy reading them. If any more lurkers want to come out of the shadows, introduce yourself and tell us how you found the blog and how long you have been reading. Also, anyone wanting to share their experiences of the IHB party, I would like to know what was happening in the rest of the room. I was too busy to pay much attention. It looked as if a good time was had by all.
They say life is so much sweeter through the telephoto lens of fame around here you get just as much attention cheerin’ at the high school football game
I dreamed of going to Nashville Put my money down and placed my bet But I just got the first buck of the season I made the front page of the Turnertown Gazette
Every last one, route one, rural hearts got a story to tell Every grandma, in law, ex girlfriend Maybe knows it just a little too well Whether you’re late for church or you’re stuck in jail Hey words gonna get around Everybody dies famous in a small town
