Motel Negative Six

Nastiest motel ever. Motel 6 at 7707 Lee Highway, Chattanooga.

We only stayed here because it’s where our youngest daughter’s rowing team was staying.

I have low expectations when it’s this cheap — you can expect thin, rough towels that they are stingy with. Ditto for the cheap mattress and thin pillows, plus the use of an exterior stairway instead of an elevator. I was even fine with expectations of thin walls and noisy kids (who were surprisingly quiet, though). I hoped they would have a hair dryer as I didn’t pack one, but I was philosophical when I saw that they did not. But check this out for Room 215.

NEGATIVE FACTS:

  • The floors LOOKED clean. But this morning after my shower, I dried off, got mostly dressed and put my makeup on. When I went to put my socks on, the bottoms of my feet were BLACK. Ew, ew, ew. I’m not a clean freak and I’ve certainly had dirty feet before, but that was GROSS.
  • No trash can or bag.
  • No spindle in the toilet paper holder.
  • Husband couldn’t completely lift the toilet seat because the toilet tank leaned over onto it.
  • Probably close to a dozen cigarette burns on the edge of the tub.
  • A partially peeled off paint job on the tub.
  • No shampoo or conditioner.
  • A busted doorjamb on the bathroom door so you couldn’t even click it closed, much less lock it.
  • The bathroom doorknob was hanging loose.
  • The bathroom door (back side) was FILTHY.
  • One electrical outlet was either partially burned on had some dried opaque stain. I didn’t check closely.
  • Cigarette burns in the blanket and on the bedspread.
  • Curtains were half off the rod and had cellophane tape on one end and what appeared to be nail holes along the edge of the other side.
  • Not a big deal, just ugly: The old TV mount was left on the wall when they installed another TV on the dresser.
  • Inside of the microwave wasn’t throughly wipes out.
  • The door and wall next to it had clearly not been wiped down in a LONG time.
  • Not in my room, but one of the kids on my daughter’s team reportedly picked up the remote control in her room and a few bugs came crawling out.
  • Our daughter’s room had no heat.
  • Oddly enough, this hotel was OVERBOOKED and out of other rooms. We were tired and it was late, so we stayed anyway.
  • I pulled bedding off and checked for bedbugs but I didn’t see signs of them. The mattress was seriously stained though.

For my peace of mind, I’m glad I had no black light to check for stains on the blankets.

And it makes sense that the room number on the wall next to the room’s door had Braille on it. The blind are probably the only reason this hotel has a two- or three-star rating (depending on where you check).

NEUTRAL FACTS:

  • Our room smelled strongly of fragrant pipe tobacco (not smoked, just the tobacco). That actually didn’t bother me. Made me think of my maternal Papaw.

POSITIVE FACTS:

  • The mini-fridge looked clean.
  • At least they had no bedbugs, and there was a fart fan in the bathroom. Fancy.

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‘He’d better be a white male.’ SERIOUSLY?!

Michael Avenatti. Photo credit: vpickering, Occupy Lafayette Park via photopin (license)

I went to Facebook this morning looking for a topic idea to write a personal column for my day job, as a weekly newspaper editor in west Tennessee. Instead, I got all personally liberal’d up about some topics I saw there. Some of my thoughts are too partisan to have a proper place in the newspaper I edit because I don’t think it would be fair for me to dominate the discussion with my personal views in a newspaper that I don’t own — although I desperately wish other opinionated locals would write THEIR partisan opinions, from both ends of the spectrum.

So here I go, putting the onus on my precious-and-few blog readers to soak up more of my proudly liberal thoughts today. You peeps rock.

Ahem. Here goes.

I had to respond to this story, wherein Michael Avenatti says the 2020 Democratic candidate for president better be a white male, if Dems are to have a prayer of winning. (Avenatti is an American attorney, entrepreneur and, apparently, a Dems’ demigod.)

Here’s my gut reaction

I don’t know whether to say, “Oh, for fuck’s sake” at this nimrod’s frankly utilitarian misogyny or to say “He’s probably correct” just because I fear it’s going to be a close race and difficult enough to win without making the haters clutch their pearls over promotion of feminism and racial equality.

I *want* a woman in the office. Ideally, a woman of color, compassion and wisdom. That would be GLORIOUS. But I will take any frigging Democrat we can put in the Oval Office to unseat Donald Trump, who is dangerously stupid.

I think we are going to learn a lot about where we need to turn our efforts for the next presidential election, based on the volume and direction of votes we see on Nov. 6 this year.

MY QUESTION OF THE DAY: Who is YOUR 2020 Democratic presidential pick? And why do you think this person has a prayer of winning against an incumbent, even one as impenetrably malicious and idiotic as Trump?

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Filed under Feminism, Politics

I really meme this … on the many shades of sexual identity

I’m pissed about the Trump administration’s current shady & shitty attempts to erase the legal identities and rights of trans people by “defining” them out of existence. Here’s what I think.

… about trans people’s rights (& woe to the cracker-ass crackers who trample them).

Click pic to check out Sam’s tweets.

Click thumbnails below to see more!

Want to learn more about human sexual identity? It’s not just binary, y’all.

  1. Biology: Let’s get all sciency. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/health/transgender-trump-biology.html
  2. Intersex: More sciency goodness about gray areas that are part of REALITY. Plus you get to use the words “phalloclitorus” and “clitoral crura.” You’re welcome. http://intersexroadshow.blogspot.com/2011/01/phalloclitoris-anatomy-and-ideology.html
  3. Terms to use and understand about different-from-you sexuality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sexuality_spectrum. Plus, this chart is VERY helpful.
  4. Normal boobs: Along the lines with #2 in this list, here’s a library of photos of normal female human breasts. Just take a look at how DIFFERENT they look, and how NORMAL they all are. Not sharing for prurient interests (although those interests are normal too). http://www.007b.com/breast_gallery.php
  5. Human sexual identity is on a spectrum, and that’s normal: The following statements are a really good overview about the physical sex identities of humans. And please give a standing ovation for the author, @ScienceVet2. (NOTE: If he ever objects that I took screenshots and lets me know of his objections, I will delete these pics and just refer people to his Twitter page, since I didn’t ask for permission in advance. I only intend these screenshots to be convenient for readers.) CLICK ON EACH TO ENLARGE.

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Filed under Human Rights, Sexuality