DEVALUED PENNIES : WHY THE REPORTAGE ON PENNIES IS ALL WRONG : CONSIDER YOUR PIGGY BANK : OPINION BY CHRISTINE TRZYNA

DEVALUED PENNIES : WHY THE REPORTAGE ON PENNIES IS ALL WRONG : CONSIDER YOUR PIGGY BANK

Ever buy an expensive coat and think "but it's a good investment because I'm going to get years of wear out of this?"  You're not thinking about single use, you're thinking about REUSING the item.

Let's say the coat is a stretch for you, your budget, because it's a couple hundred dollars. You start thinking about the classic cut, the winters ahead, and that, so long as you don't get too fat or too thin, you can wear that coat hundreds of times.  If you wear that $200 coat fifty times a winter, for five winters, you can see how little it costs PER WEAR. ($200 divided by 250 =?)

You might also do this when you thrift shop and are buying used clothing. You might think "Someone else shrunk these pants and they are not new off the rack, but at only $10, if I wear these pants ten times that's only a dollar a wear.  (Jeans that fit are often a great value per wear. The designers changing the essential shape of them, the length, the width of the leg by year is the only thing that makes a purchase of jeans questionable value-wise.)

So what I'm getting at is THE COST OF MANUFACTURING A PENNY IS NOT THE POINT AT ALL. It's the FACT that pennies are reused thousands of times.  If they were not, we would not have so many years of them STILL IN CIRCULATION. Pennies may cost more to make them than a penny, but if you consider REUSE they are a terrific value.

The devaluation of the dollar makes the value of pennies so devalued some people don't think we need them. But that is not the point.

We do. We do not need prices or taxes rounded up to a nickle.

Once there are no more pennies, the nickles will be next to be exterminated.

Here is a true story.

When I got my dog, and had to watch for hazards such as broken glass, rotting meat on discarded chicken bones, and so on, while walking her, I began to find pennies.  I stooped to pick up her poo. I stooped to pick up pennies.

I had a piggy bank in my closet and I threw the coins in there and forgot about them.

I was using a library further from home than most people would travel. The library closest to me had become scary, requiring constant security and visits by the police. I traveled to this other library which was quiet and underutilized until about three in the afternoon, when the school children came in. That branch was supporting seventeen schools!

One day the head librarian, anticipating a lack of funding for their summer reading program, told me that she was not going to be able to give participating children the things she had in the past. They usually got back packs, school supplies, even new shoes for gym. I said I would try to help.  I called office supply stores and tried to get the school supplies, but was told they needed months to process such requests.

One day I walked into a 99 Cents Only Store on the way to that library. I asked for the manager and she was willing to give me things people had returned.  However, while some of these things might work as prizes, there weren't school supplies.

I went home and while laying in bed, trying to figure out how to get what was needed, I remembered my piggy bank.

I'd never counted how many pennies I'd stooped to pick up while walking my dog.  I opened the piggy bank and there was over $40 in it! (40 X 100 = ?)

I called the manager at that 99 Cents Only Store and asked her if she would be willing to take this amount to provide me the school supplies. She was. I warned her it was all pennies.

I turned over the piggy bank and she gave me so many boxes of crayons, pens and pencils, color markers, notebooks and diaries, and so on that, when I got this all to the library, I was told that it would be enough for several summers. Maybe even years.

That was the true value of pennies.

C 2025 Christine Trzyna

THE JACARANDA TREES ARE BLOOMING as I WRITE OUTDOORS AT A PARK

Purple everywhere and flowers dropping, none that have perfume. Green grass.  Cool out.  Cloud cover.  I can see the laptop screen.

The last several days, writing, printing, and snail mailing letters of protest and advocacy.  Will any of them solicit response?  Don't know.  Have to get my anger out of my system.

In the works, one to the library, which has been taking a survey.

Fearless squirrels coming to see what I have in my lunch bag. Luckily this park has many pine trees with plenty of pine cones so they are not entirely addicted to processed and inappropriate people food out of garbage cans.

Be Productive.

Evenings with a friend, watching old films. Eating Reeses peanut butter cups every night, more than I ever ate in my entire life.

Later I hope to sew a carry bag for my friend, as a gift for him, for Father's Day.

Terrible worries about the economy, job loss, and the desperate need for more truly affordable housing. "It's going to get worse," he says, frequently, when I find articles about the excessive number of for sale houses on the market, how first time home buyers are backing out of buying, afraid their incomes will not support mortgages.

We've been watching the construction of a major, potentially community changing, housing project.  Advertised as "From the low 600,000."  These town homes are clustered together so that it appears that all that's between them is the car access.  We see how their address clings to a single family home neighborhood rather than the busy street that some of them front.  Will there be soundproofing? Two sets of them have been completed, and we think someone is living in one, perhaps a show-piece furnished, but we don't think a single one of them has been sold.

The front doors are narrow and painted the color that must be the color of the year, a yellow like a chunk of cheese or maybe a school bus. "How can you even get any furniture through that door?" "Maybe they think people are going to order their furniture from Ikea, assemble it indoors, and never get it back out again?" It looks like two rows of these town homes made of wood and plywood have been left standing and we see no workpersons continuing to work. Is the builder waiting for inspections? Moved crew to another site? Out of money?

Who wants a townhouse in this neighborhood? 

What will happen to the government housing? The ma and pop stores with low rent?

I think of the seniors who have lived in their own single family home, purchased years ago for much less, inflation, the devaluation of the dollar, the horror that $40,000 a year is barely livable for one person.  I think that if you have a house you can sell for a million, these town homes might be a sensible move. But... how many seniors want to do three stories of stairs?  The promised electric car plug-ins suggest that these are targeted to attracted young people, techies, people with income of $100,000 a year or more. A way into housing, perhaps without expectation of ever making the pay off?

We muse over the economy between meals.

My friend and I go to eat fast food a lot these last few months. Neither of us were ever much into fast food but it works with a temporary lifestyle. McDonalds, Wendys, Popeyes, Kentucky Fried, Jack in and Box, even once Arby's. Too much fried.  Too many fries.

We look to see who else is eating, what cars there are in lots or going through drive-throughs. We think indoor dining is empty.

We think Rite Aid. All those employees who have loyally held on.

If AI is going to take over so many jobs, how will all those people earn their living?

Another squirrel.

More purple flowers.

C 2025 Christine Trzyna

STORAGE SHEDS ARE NOT "HOMES" BEWARE THAT THE SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS IS BASED ON HUMANS IN STORAGE SHED "VILLAGES"

SO MUCH CAMPAIGN PROPAGANDA in the mail, much of it with claims of what certain candidates will do to "combat" or "solve" homelessness.

The counts of how many people are homeless in Southern California vary. My guess is that you can take any figure any politician is depending on and TRIPLE it. People do not want their names on census and do not believe that there is any privacy in it. 

BEWARE THE STORAGE SHEDS that are called "homes."

If there are 50,000 homeless in LA you can bet someone is going to set up 25,000 storage sheds (two homeless to a shed) and call the people who sleep in them HOUSED.

Storage sheds in "villages" may be better than a person not knowing where they are going to sleep at night, and offer more safety, especially for women who are preyed upon by (mostly) homeless men, but I do not consider a person "housed" because they are sleeping in one of these storage sheds.

IF YOU PUT A STORAGE SHED UP IN YOUR BACKYARD and run an electrical chord from your house into the shed and charge rent, that is completely illegal.

So is renting a garage that has not been converted lawfully.  Lawfully means that it has utilities installed.

Even twenty years ago thousands were living in these illegal rentals, as well as - believe this - in ACTUAL STORAGE FACILITIES.

As I wait to find out if property developer Caruso or community activist Bass win the mayor election for Los Angeles city, a very close race, I and my friends are CONCERNED.

Twenty years ago I was aware that this was the case and the problem has only gotten worse.  GREED by property developers and apartments is what has caused homelessness to become a permanent problem in Southern California.  

GREED.

Take a look at the City's list of SLUM LORDS (repetitive violations) while you're at it.  Some of those names will sound familiar.

PARANOIA and TRUE TERROR : TALKING TO STRANGERS

A woman who came to the U.S. from a country that experienced Communism said, "No way am I going to take the vaccine. The government chips people."

She pantomimed a vaccination being performed that inserted a chip.

"Just like they know where you are all the time because you take your cell phone with you wherever you go," she said.

"If you're a criminal,  a drug dealer, a sex trafficker, I could believe that the government might find a way to chip you and track you. Believe me, they don't care about people like us," I said.

"I'm not changing my mind.'

"I understand."

I couldn't help but think this woman is still effected by living under Communism.

I'm still exhausted and in withdrawal from four years of Trump administration chaos. 

Though the reportage is that Californians are getting vaccinated enthusiastically, other people are telling me that they've had no luck getting local appointments, and those who do not drive and cannot drive to the big vaccination sites are trying to get in on websites to make appointments in the middle of the night. Some are going by to see if there are vaccinations left at the end if the day due to no shows. Locally is Ralphs, Walgreens, Vons, CVS, and Rite Aid.

In a few days it will be more competitive. 

June 15 is the target date for everything open but frankly I don't think a feeling of normalcy will be immediate or soon after that. The stress of a year of fear has damaged our collective psyche. Not socializing in person has turned us into a nation of loners reevaluating our friendships. So much has been put on hold. As the schools open there may be rather empty classrooms - at least until mothers find new jobs and go back to work. I think there will be some sense of relief but mask wearing, social distancing, and hand sanitizing will go on and remind us we are not safe.

Smiles unseen.

Hugs withheld.

Inner conflict about hating to go back to work and having to.

The traffic being one of the worst experiences you didn't have to deal with.

More craziness.

There are people to be afraid of. People infected with evil. 

I was surprised when a person I know who is highly involved at her Christian Church told me there is no Satan, no Devil, that evil exists in people.

Another person also involved in his Christian Church told me there was no reward or punishment. 

I asked him why someone worships a God who just doesn't care (enough to reward or punish.)

All of this was a bit concerning but not upsetting. Maybe they're right. 

What kept me up was hearing a report on YouTube by a well known Christian who talks End Times.

He talked about China and the way Christians were being persecuted.

He said the backed up container ships (i.e heading to American ports such as Port of Los Angeles) included Christian stowaways escaping Communism. "They've gone insane and are screaming."

I imagined the total darkness. Maybe you and a couple other people with flashlights, food, water, and a poop bucket, think you can deal with the dark for three weeks. Questionable air. Movement of the heavy ship. Metallic sounds or dense quiet. Knowing that on all sides, top and bottom, you're surrounded by containers. You don't know if it's day or night. You might have kept a calendar or a watch but you're not going to have a cell phone or radio that can get signals. Then, for whatever reason, the ship doesn't dock. No-one can tell you why. You wait, more trapped.

I think human cargo is a reality. As are people in the know. Paid to load the people. Unload people. There has to be. This isn't hobos finding an empty boxcar. It's not Jews shoved into trains headed for camps. It's weeks on the ocean.

It's illegal immigration.

It's refugees but also spies.

Try finding what you need and can afford Made in the U.S.A.

My friend decides not to buy China, searching a box of tinned cat food and finding no "made in" notification at all!

C 2021 Christine Trzyna

HURRICANE DORIAN LEAVES BEHIND SHOCK AND BEFUDDLEMENT

And so Hurricane Dorian destroyed an island or two of the 700 islands that make up the Bahamas and the loss of life and missing persons might not be well understood for months.  Day and night I searched for new YouTube testimonials and videos that were not PR for charities proving that they were there helping.  As criticisms came in about the Bahamian government's handling of the disaster, in particular unwillingness to reveal the death toll, so came the many testimonials of people who saw others swept away.  One testimonial from a child was that they were swimming and saw a lot of dead bodies in the water.  How many of the 2500 people who have been reported missing will prove to be alive? If 70,000 to 76,000 people are homeless and have lost everything, and 2500 are on lists of the missing, and about 5000 people have been transported to another island, or in some cases to the United States, well, do the math.

So here is what I think:  SHOCK has numbed and befuddled many, including officials.

Some bodies may wash up on shore but it seems more of them are deep under the sea.

DNA will be used to identify many.

And there is a politeness involved.  If a dead body cannot be identified, and the loved ones cannot be located, who is there to tell?  Who is there to come claim a body?

It comes at a time when there are easily 50,000 homeless people just in Los Angeles - County.  My guess is it's more like 150,000.

Every day people live like they lost everything to a Hurricane.

Is it smart to build an entire new town in the same place?

I remain unable to answer.


C 2019  Christine Trzyna

CONSUMERIST CHRISTINE TRZYNA TWEAKED : THE ANTIDOTE TO MARKETING SELF VIA PRODUCTS

Having fun thinking about what products (chewing gum, nail polish, hair conditioner) I would endorse aside, lately the CONSUMERIST me has been tweaked by too many bad experiences with products and services which translates on the sales floor level to clerks who are jerks and on the corporate level to making hay while the sun continues to set.

At a time when we all need to be stimulating our ever failing economy (We all know those unemployment rates do not reflect those who ran out of unemployment and are now loosing everything they ever earned), the effort of dealing with these businesses (including one increasingly shitty "non-profit" gym) is to the point where it hardly seems worth the time and energy to complain to them (as if someone who earns their living there would care) or even the Consumer Bureau, which also has unpaid volunteers answering the phones these days, taking a guess at what you oughta do.

Instead, since the personal is political, what I have to say about these experiences to anyone who will listen (including strangers I encounter here, there, and everywhere) has become my high art of putting them out of business (or at least making informed and wary customers of the next sucker who goes in to buy.) Yes, my frustration and anger has become that of the bitter complainer so BUYER BEWARE.

I haven't purchased a thing besides underwear from an indoor shopping mall for a few years now! The last time I went to an indoor shopping mall I felt henpecked by fake phony clerks who kept asking me store after store "How are you today?" Never had more people staged a concern over my well being and as a gambit to sell me something.

I felt for all these people desperate to make a living and keep their jobs while on commission, but I left remembering why I mail order.

I also remembered being a clerk myself (back when it was an art in itself) and one never pretended to be overly familiar with a stranger or forgot they there to serve!

After you buy (and spend all that time and money on transportation) to get there, the product falls apart. Surprise! Made in China! So you call the store and someone of the phone says "Can you come in with your receipt?" I did that recently, spending over an hour to get back to the place, and the manager of the store stared at me and denied anyone ever said they would fix the problem, as if it were out of his pocket! It's almost as if they count on you NOT bringing back products because it's too much effort. That means manufacturers are not being held to excellence. Instead they figure how much shabby they can get away with!

Oh, but they want you to take that SURVEY on your receipt so corporate can find out if you were happy with your last visit.

Speaking of shabby, service in the stores seems over unless it's a very expensive store indeed. I think I can speak for you too! Aren't we sick of walking miles of isles trying to find products or someone to ask for help or direction, rude employees at the gym (who aren't even pretending they see the correlation between your membership and their job (Are they talking down to me because I'm not fit?) and products that fall apart (Wore those tennis shoes twice before the insides came unsewn and rubbed blisters into my feet) or that you cannot try on in a store (No dressing rooms? Guess at what bra size you wear?) and are not returnable (Didn't you see the sign?), is at an all time high as our economy continues to fall apart.

Writing this has made me feel (just slightly) better!

C Christine Trzyna 2011 All Rights Reserved including Internet Rights and International Rights

WHAT I WANT IN MY SOCK (NOT MY STOCKING! I DON'T WEAR THEM!)

WHAT IS MY HEART'S DESIRE?

My Favorite (Cheap) Chocolate: Hershey's Dark and Hersheys Chocolate with Almonds. (However I'm open to Chocolate Swiss.)

My Favorite Gum: I've been trying all the new chewing gums in their newly designed artistic packages but ORBIT brand in WATERMELON or CITRUS is the best! (It turns out 20 minutes of chewing after each meal really is good for your teeth and digestion!)

My Favorite Nut Candy: Pastel Jordon Almonds.

My Favorite Fruit: Oranges. These are perfect!

A GOLD COIN - much better than a half penny though a half penny will do.

MY LONG LOST RING RETURNED MYSTERIOUSLY (Perhaps an apportation!)

A LOVE LETTER (It must be sincere!)

All the money that is owed to me by various scoundrels (including intellectual property thieves) so I can pay off all my own debts.

A year's supply of Indian incense.