jimmyt, you make several good points.

I'm not visiting these Mudcat pages about Katrina much now, I have too much to do. And while what I donated to the Red Cross wasn't anywhere near as much as jimmyt was able to send, I will continue to help. Texas has absorbed a huge number of the refugees, and a call went out today at work for volunteers at the Salvation Army in town, where 300 are housed. The kids are needing attention, and perhaps the adults need help. I'll take over a stack of books my children outgrew, and I'll also take over a bunch of paper and pencils (if there was ever a group that needs to make lists for themselves, this is it!) and my expertise with the computer. Whether I read to children or help their parents fill out the forms (online or otherwise) is of no matter. But it will be helpful, and is a better use of my time than dignifying malcontent Kirsten's rants with any more responses.

I was, however, curious about this writer who, as Little Hawk says, starts from a position that many of us share politically, but somehow manages to twist and shout to such a degree that she repulses those who might otherwise agree with her. I visited Anderberg's web page--a package of vitreol, all justified by she due to her role as a poor single mother. (But she apparently lives on Vashon Island?) So I guess she isn't out there doing any of these support things, she can't afford to. She's instead insulting the intelligence of many people who could do without her nonsense right now (and by-the-way, if she didn't spend so much time ranting on the computer, I bet she could get a job). Here (in no particular order) are a few tidbits that turned up in a Google search:


Her "hate mail" is posted with the names and addresses of those who deigned to write to her. Her "fan mail" is not treated so--those names and addresses are protected (to conceal the fact that she wrote it herself, perhaps? I know of one author who wrote a book panned by the critics, and she spent hours writing reviews for herself and posting them at Amazon. . .) At any rate, she is an unreliable narrator of the events she sees going on in life and the world around her.

Here's one of her hate mails (I'll remove the poster's name, even if Kirsten didn't):

August 28, 2005
Subject: You are a fucking whiny bitch
From: "xxxxxxxxxx"
"You do not speak for me, you dumb broad. I am black, born and raised in the suburbs of Laguna Beach CA. So yeah, I am privilaged and damn proud of it. My parents are lawyers and doctors. My sister is also a doctor, so you want to tell me that blacks don't enjoy the same benefits as whites? Fuck you! No, I don't believe that the goverment should pay for the homeless, poor, or for single mothers. You should have enough common sense to not have children until you are finacially stable enough to have and afford them. Yeah, my parents paid for me to get my degree in political science from UCLA. I have also met both presidents Bush and Clinton. I support Bush 100%. Why? Because I am a LT in the navy. I did something with my life, not just sitting around whining waiting for a handout like you bitch ass is. Get a real job bitch! I work for a living. So life dealt you a bad hand. Get over it and get over yourself. FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!"

After a rant about the IndyMedia another reader told her, ala Little Hawk, that she should "check her ego at the door."

Arbitrary and Capricious--another unsatisfied target of Anderberg's mis-firing pen. Once again, the group she speaks up to "defend" want no part of her defense. Plus a well-reasoned response. Then there are the Pot Calling the Kettle Black (near as I can tell without wading into a sea of BSDM blogs) exchanges. Our little Kirsten is quite the lady [not].

Here is the Alexa info about her web site and a look at the links that come and go from her site.

Here's a review--finally--a music connection (can any Mudcatter in the Seattle area provide an independent review?): Kirsten Anderberg has been entertaining and educating audiences with her unusual wit and alarming honesty for over two decades. She is known for bringing audiences to cheers, jeers and tears at festivals, clubs, and political events throughout the Northwest. Whether she is performing solo, or with a swing quintet, a 12 piece Motown revue, or a feminist duo, her performances are always engaging, professional and original.

I do find this one quite interesting, by the pseudononymous "Sister Mary Contrary" from March of this year. It is called Kirsten Anderberg: Anti-Catholic Bigot: Fascists sometimes pretend to be one of us link. It even comes with a rather bizarre photo.

There are pages and pages of stuff both generated by and about Anderberg, but I'll close with this link:

The alternative press is alternative because of what it does, Not because of the social classifications of its participants

A response to Kirsten Anderberg's attack on Alternative Press Review

link

SRS