Can I tell you about my friend Tamara?

I can’t keep up with blogs so I while I know she has a blog, I don’t read it often. It’s out of date anyway – she’s been down in New Orleans for the past couple weeks with an organization (don’t know who) that went down with tons of pet food and then has been helping rescue pets in flood-damaged areas. Voluntarily, mind you. And while the waters are pretty much gone there’s stlll so much damage. I have friends who lived there who left, went back, left again and are now swallowing hard and going back. Mud and debris, garbage like we can’t imagine and mold. It’s creepy – you know it, I know it. We’re all wondering what it’s like and being glad we chose other places to live (where we only get hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, funnel clouds….)

But rescuing pets in this environment – well, if I were 100 percent healthy and able, it’s not something I could do. And while I’m still of the “people first then animals” mindset, I’m so aware how important these animals are to folks (hey most of my familiy is cats, no wait, just cat-oriented) and I’m only a tiny bit aware of the hell they’ve been through. I mean geez, so many abandoned,, starv…

Well, enough. I wanted to talk about my friend, not get all weepy about the pets. But it goes with the territory. Tamara is now heading back to Seattle. And things were so financially tight that the group could only come up with bus fare for her; Greyhound from New Orleans to Seattle. So when they heard this, some of the local sf community put their heads together and one said well, duh, we can do this, why don’t we just put her on a plane” and another one of us put a airline ticket on a credit card and we’re flying her home. And are you ready for this? The AIRLINE lowered the rate they were going to charge her. Hands up lease – when was the list time you heard of ANY airline doing this sort of Right Action?

Anyway, Tamara, whose blog calls itself “another polite punk production” has been someone I have been massively fond of for what 20 years? I no longer remember when I met her. Probably at an early Norwescon in the 80s. She was “Tami” then and in my brain she often still is, but has been calling herself Tamara for long enough that I should damn well remember it. She is simply one of the warmest, kindest, nicest people I know. In all the years I’ve known her I haven’t known her WELL, but we like and trust each other. It’s ALWAYS a ten times better party if I see her there. She’s a woman I’ve described to folks as “the warmest cuddliest leather dyke I know” and I hope that’s an okay description to Tamara. I value her friendship and her warm caring personality. I know some of the things that’s she has survived in her life and I’m mega-glad she’s part of mine, at least part of my karass. My crowd, the circle I share.

I’m going to spend some time over the net few days catching up on her blog and I hope to see her soon. I’m SO in awe that she just WENT to friggin New Orleans like that. And risked gods know what to rescue feral cats and dogs and hamsters (now THERE’s an image, huh?) I have NO idea what. And breathing in that SHIT, and sleeping gods know where and eating gods know what. So yeah, I’m sending a check to the “get Tamara home” fund because Tamara, I like to think, represents EVERYTHING good I want to praise. And she represented my entire fucking community down there. And I am so fucking proud to be her friend.


And it’s thanks to Tamara’s blog that I offer this website - http://www.orderofsuccession.com/ I already lost my number but I think I’m 5,518th in order of succession.