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03/30/2008
Remembering Nadia
March 30, 2008: Today would have been Nadia’s 84th birthday. I only knew her for four months and a week, but I have never forgotten her. Nadia had something that tugged at my heartstrings. I loved her very much. She had been a self-made woman who suddenly lost it and ended up living in a large and filthy apt. With her 3 dogs. No one was taking care of her when I met her on February 3, 1999.
I had seen her around the neighborhood walking her black dog Otranto, but we didn’t talk until that Wednesday afternoon. I was on my way to the movies to see the modern version of the Cinderella tale, starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston. I had noticed her dark brown eyes and the dark circles under them and her long black and white hair. She was dressed shabbily—baggy trousers, dirty tennis shoes and a long sleeved top. I didn’t want to be late for the movie, which was all the way in the Palermo neighborhood, almost an hour away from Vicente Lopez. But I wanted to talk to her. After that, we ran into each other until she invited me up to her apt. on the 1700 block of Avenida Maipu. It was something out of the Miss Havisham character in Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.
That March 30, 1999 Nadia had a better birthday. I went to Depto. 10 F, knocked on her door. Her dogs were behind her when she opened. I will never forget her face, or the way Otranto, Niebla and Rubio were protecting her. You were the only one who remembered, she told me. That evening we had a little party in my apt. There was a cake, sandwiches, tea and coffee. Even her adopted son showed up. Nadia was happy.
21:25 Posted in My Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/28/2008
Bad Human Investment
Friday, March 28, 2008: I cannot thank all this mortgage fraud/predatory lending episode enough for all the trouble it has cost me. I am not just talking about financial losses here. They are great and I haven't recovered from them yet. There are other experiences that losing my condo brought to me. Humiliation, aggressiveness and being looked as a liability, being a loser. I am a bad investment, a person without a family.
21:04 Posted in Consequences of Foreclosure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/26/2008
Dominion Law Associates Again
March 26, 2008: I got another letter from Dominion Law Associates today. They want money or they will take legal action. I wrote them a letter saying I don't have the money to pay. I just don't. I am so sick of this! If I had known it was going to be like this, I would have died rather than go to GA back in 2002.
18:05 Posted in Consequences of Foreclosure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
754
Wednesday, March 26, 2008: I have been thinking about the GA foreclosure fiasco. I have been thinking about it a lot. And I ask: With a credit score of 754, didn't the mortgage company ask why? I mean, why a person with an excellent FICO score would be offered two mortgage loans with such high interest rates--one for 9.75% and the other for 13%? Didn't Novastar find that strange? Aren't high interest rates offered to people with poor credit? Didn't they, the mortgage and credit professionals, see a red flag? Wasn't it in their best interests (and mine) to warn me? Or to talk to the loan officer, ask him questions?
17:59 Posted in white collar crimes | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/23/2008
Rubio and the Rain
Saturday, March 22, 2008: Rubio would drag me out to get his palitos, also known as doggie sugar sticks, even when it was raining. And raining hard. Once, he got me out of the house when the water kept coming and coming down. We walked fast to the vet's pet shop, and got there just as it began to hail. We were hit by big pieces of ice, but Rubio didn't care. All he was interested in was his palito. The vet opened the door and gave him two palitos. When she saw how thouroughly wet I was, she gave me two more.
00:37 Posted in Rubio | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/22/2008
Different Flags Excerpt
April 17, 1987: When my mother calls from San Francisco, my Tia puts on her mask. Everything's fine, she tells her. We are not rich, but Ani and I are doing too bad considering. Considering what?, my mother asks. Bueno, this is still Argentina. Strange things happen here. Strange things? I can imagine my mother's alarmed face as she holds on to the receiver. No, no, nothing to worry about. I meant to say that the economy is not like the one you have over there in NorteAmerica. They chat for a few more minutes. Then, after I have talked to my mother, we hang up the phone. That's when my Tia's mask com es off. It's only for a little bit, a minute or two, but it's enough. I can see how sad and tired she really is. She's been protecting people all her life and now she's protecting me--and herself.
22:48 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/21/2008
NY Times Article on Debt Collectors
Dear Editor, I feel that it is good to have jobs in a hard hit region like Buffalo, N.Y., but not at the expense of people who have gotten into debt because of foreclosure, mortgage fraud, predatory lending and/or job losses. If people are always coming up with new ways to make money, why not have people not have debt? I know that in that case they could not try to collect from them, but it would be better all around. Debts that you cannot pay or are hounded and harrassed for can give you ulcers and make your life miserable in other ways. No one wants to be called by a debt collector. Nobody in their right mind enjoys not having money to pay their bills. Eugenia Renskoff
23:59 Posted in Letters | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Ny Times Article on Debt Collectors
March 21, 2008: I have just an article in The New York Times titled Collection Agencies Add Scarce Jobs in Hard Hit Region.
Instead of debt collectors and collection agencies giving bonuses and other prizes to those who get the most out of people in debt, why not make it easier for people to not have debt? I know that it's all about money, but in my experience debt collectors have crossed the line. And if a person has no money to pay, why keep trying to make them? Why keep trying to have them write checks they can't afford to write? Even if they wanted, debt collectors cannot have compassion because then they've have no jobs.
21:09 Posted in Consequences of Foreclosure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/19/2008
Manslaughter Conviction in Death of 7 year-old
I am writing about the stepfather convicted of manslaughter in the beating of the 7 year-old girl.This case is one more reason why things have to change in NYC and other parts of the country. Sometimes stepfathers are just plain mean with their new spouse's children. To beat up a little girl because she took a yogurt out of the refrigerator is simply horrible. I was appaled when I read that she was tied to a chair with duct tape and made to use the litter box. This little girl was not a wild animal. She was a human being with rights and feelings. Her misbehavior from time to time is obviously no reason for her stepfather's violence. If he had problems, why take it out on the little girl? Now she's dead and he will spend most of the rest of his life in jail. A life sentence would have been better. Eugenia Renskoff
22:42 Posted in Letters | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Shooping on the Cheap
Thrift shops. I adore them! I love discovering new ones. It’s better than looking inside somebody else’s closet. There are so many interesting things in thrift shops. Clothes discarded by the well to do, the rich, sometimes the very rich. What sort of things do these people give away to charity? I love robes and English china stamped with the name Wedgwood, Minton, Grindley, Myott or Royal Doulton. I love just plain beautiful things that somebody no longer wants. There was a large plasma TV at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop this afternoon. The picture was so clear that the old I Love Lucy episode looked like a movie.
00:50 Posted in Price Game | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/18/2008
Money
Tuesday, March 18, 2008: It's money, money, money! Can someone please tell me how I am supposed to give to others when I don't have for myself? Those others include creditors with expiring Statutes of Limitations, creditors coming after me when I am at the most vulnerable point in my life. I feel that everybody wants a piece of me, a tiny little piece or a bigger dollar slice, even when I have none to give.
19:55 Posted in Consequences of Foreclosure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/15/2008
Foccaccia
Friday, March 14, 2008: At dinner tonight I asked for a second piece of foccaccia. I don’t know, Alex said. I don’t know means no. Why don’t you have a piece of white sandwich bread? I shook my head. Thanks but no thanks. There were 3 pieces of foccaccia on a plate. Their plates are always fuller than mine. May I have a piece of foccaccia? Her daughter Terry asked Alex. Of course, honey, she smiled. I got up from my seat and put my plate in the dishwasher.
00:10 Posted in Italian Food | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/13/2008
Writing For Sale
Hello, I am selling my writing expertise. I write letters, both personal and business, essays, short stories and novels. I have had 15 years experience as a writer. My novel Different Flags was published and received excellent reviews. For samples of my work, please visit www.differentflags.com and www.beccar.wordpress.com. Only serious inquiries please. Payment: Half before I start assignment, the rest of the money is due upon completion. Eugenia Renskoff, www.differentflags.com
19:45 Posted in Writing Ad | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Puerto Rico Dog Killings
Dear Editor, I have never been to Puerto Rico, but the dog/cat situation described in the article is similar to the one in Argentina. It is inhumane to treat animals in this fashion, as if they were garbage. As in most cases, the problem begins to be noticed when the community loses money, and tourists boycott the place.
If people took these animals and disposed of them like they did last year, they should be punished to the full extent of the law. Eugenia Renskoff
17:47 Posted in Homeless Street Dogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/12/2008
Pushy Catholic Mothers
I have personally known mothers who push their sons to become priests. Nothing else will do for these women. It was like in the past mothers wanting their sons to become a doctor, lawyer. Eugenia
17:48 Posted in Catholic Church | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/11/2008
Walking Away from Bad Mortgages
It is a very difficult decision to make. Walking away from your home is not easy, even if there is little or no equity in the home and the monthly payments are overwhelming. Mortgage problems can keep you awake at night and your life becomes sheer hell.
Unfortunately, I am speaking from first hand experience. I had no equity in my Atlanta condo. In fact, I had overpaid for it without realizing it. I didn't walk away, but thought about it endlessly. My home foreclosed in November 2005 due to mortgage fraud and predatory lending on the part of the loan officer. My advice is: Don't let it happen to you. Never ever. Eugenia Renskoff
23:17 Posted in white collar crimes | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Glorifying the Priesthood
I totally agree with you. The Church is doing itself in by honing the image of the priesthood. There is nothing glorious about being celibate. If I had a son, I would not want him to be a priest. Eugenia Renskoff
22:55 Posted in Catholic Church | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Spitzer and his Fall
Tuesday,March 11, 2008: NY Governor Elliot Spitzer's sex scandal reminds me of John Profumo the Secretary of State for War in the England of the early 60s. Profumo met a London showgirl at a party, had an affair with her, then broke it off. He resigned after lying about it to the House of Commons, I think. I feel for Governor Spitzer, who seemed to have it all. Something must have been missing from his life to risk everything for this. I feel for his wife, who was at his side yesterday during the too-short news conference. She must have been crying inside, screaming for all of it to stop. And his 3 daughters, too. I can imagine what they must be facing.
19:19 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/10/2008
Our Side of Beccar
Monday,March 10, 2008: Beccar is now to be found on most Internet search engines. It is true--parts of Beccar have huge Swiss-style chalets with swimming pools and large gardens. Those chalets are for the most part behind Beccar's train station. When I lived there with my Tia, our block was on the lower middle class side. Our door was painted white and we had to walk up at least 20 steps to get to the living room area. I remember that it was a nice, bright house-style apt. The two bedrooms were large, the kitchen was cozy, with a door opening onto the patio. We had a lot of good talks in the kitchen.The patio was our second favorite place, especially in the late spring and summer months. It was covered with a large green and white awning.There was a round table and 4 chairs with cushions. And my aunt's pots and plants. All her geraniums, begonias and roses kept us company as we talked and/or drank mate in the afternoon.
Now our side of Beccar has several remodeled homes, chalets and other houses have been given a new roof, new garden, more modern looks. It's great to walk by them and admire how they've changed.
Our small place is almost the way it was before. Even the large tree outside our living room window is still as bushy as ever.
19:29 Posted in My Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/08/2008
Dominion Law Associates Offer
March 8, 2008: I got a letter from Dominion Law Associates in VA. Beach, VA with a settlement offer in the amount of $3,890.00. I don't have the money. The consequences of my GA foreclosure are still hitting me hard. I wish they weren't, but they are. I know they won't understand. Their client, Discover card, won't either. But it's the truth. If I did send Discover a check back in 2005, I don't remember. There was too much going on that year. My condo was in danger and my dog Rubio was very, very ill.
21:00 Posted in Consequences of Foreclosure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/07/2008
The Pizza Slice
Friday, March 7, 2008: I sat down to dinner with my sister and her family. A few minutes earlier I had seen her take 2 small pizzas out of the freezer. I looked at them and wondered: Will I get one this time? After a few minutes in the oven, the pizzas were put on the kitchen counter. Can I have one?, I asked, looking at her husband Dave as he bit into a slice. No, there's not enough, was her answer.
Whatever happened to sharing?
02:23 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/04/2008
Getting Away
Tuesday, March 4, 2008: Isn't it normal for people to want to get away from what's painful? Isn't it normal for them to want to be somewhere else if their place is uncomfortable? I have tried to have that happen to me, but without much success. The thing is that I have to come back to what I know is not good.
I remember when Rubio was ill and I wanted us to live in another building. Miguel, the portero is a sly, sleazy sort of person. He smiles right at you, but you can't trust him. I know he speaks about me behind my back. And when Rubio was very ill, he was mean to him. It was like hitting someone who was dying of cancer. He did it with words and gestures.
21:33 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
03/03/2008
My Cat Helps
Monday, March 3, 2008: I am going through a very difficult time right now. The only comfort I get comes from my cat. I hold her in my arms and she purrs. Lauchita is more than a person to me. I am not living alone, but I know I can depend on her and only her. There is no one else. My life is at another crossroads--one of the very many I have had. Everything feels very iffy, very topsy turvy right now. Having my cat with me is a gift.
02:31 Posted in Pet Comfort | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this