Meander's. Kitchen made the right call

[SarahScoot]

EdSane, I strongly disagree. Boycotting someone who chooses to spew hateful opinions, and/or boycotting a business that tacitly endorses said opinions, shows that those opinions are not tolerated by a considerable contingency. It does not hinder the “message of equality.” As has already been said, people have a right to express their opinions and beliefs, and in turn, people have a right to respond to those expressions.

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[jwws]

OK. first of all Vera did not support the anti gay spewing from Michelle. she was right there with Miranda supporting the cancellation. What then happened was Michelle walked into Village Green Nursery on April 26th, surprising Vera and asking if she could use VGN that night to explain herself. Vera chose to say OK and knew it would cause some backlash but for those of you saying Vera does not support LGBT causes or is a gay basher, you do not know what you are talking about. So enough already, it is done. Geez move on. If you don’t want to shop at VG fine but let’s not make this another hundred post thread bashing someone.

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[JoB]

EdSane

the same impulse that made me go out of my way to shop at Village Green now have made me not bother.

you might call that financial retribution.

I call it going out of my way to support causes i believe in.

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[MB]

Just for a little perspective on where Ms. Johnson’s head was, here is what she said to The Stranger after the event…

Do you regret having Michelle Shocked play?

“Yes, I regret that after talking with Michelle that I did not take some time to separate myself from the situation and think it through. I did not have enough facts. After the show was cancelled, it dropped off my radar and I went on with my own life. Michelle showed up at my business, during work hours and persuaded me to allow her play here and answer people’s questions. Under no circumstances did I intend to imply that I support bigotry or hatred. I apologize deeply to anyone that this has offended.”

Do you stand by your decision to have her perform?

“NO. I think speaking to her would have been enough and should have been enough. But it happened, and I can’t change it. It’s a hard lesson that I can use to learn from. I understand the frustration that is out there about this situation. I am frustrated too. I can only speak my truth and learn from my misjudgement. That is truly what this is, a misjudgement that I own. From a place of honesty, I seek forgiveness from those who were hurt as I also work through forgiving myself.”

http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/29/owner-of-village-green-nursery-regrets-fridays-michelle-shocked-performance

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[carrieann]

I’ve admittedly never shopped at VG, but certainly know OF Vera from a number of friends and just seeing her name in various community settings. So I’ve no personal ill will toward her at all, and continue to give her the benefit of the doubt. There’s no way I’d slap her with an “anti-LGBT” label over this, since I was not there when the decision was made to allow Michelle Shocked onto VG property, and there’s just no one to know the full extent of what went down. I do know, however, that it was pretty unsettling for Miranda (who many may not be aware rent(ed) property from Vera) as Michelle was pretty much smack dab in Miranda’s front yard, putting on her performance, as her girls were in the home, wondering what the heck was going on and why this woman they knew their mama had recently had a “run-in” with was there.

So rather than be sucked into the negative aspect, sitting here and bashing Vera or her business, I’ll instead support and uplift Miranda and hers. I know people are calling for this whole matter to be put to rest, but it sounds like it’s negatively impacting and effecting someone who was/is pretty well known in our community. Has Vera made a statement about why she made the choice she did? I don’t know if it would help or hurt her more at this point, but if she’s being unfairly slammed, I would think she’d want to make attempts to clear this matter up. Or perhaps it’s just a case of, “They’re going to think what they want to think. Can’t please them all. Those who know me will continue to support me. Those who don’t, I bid thee farewell.”

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[Traci]

I don’t buy the “oopsies, I wish I knew then what I know now” schtick. The whole thing seemed very underhanded and deliberate. About supporting local business, I’m all for it. But I don’t have to support a business just because it’s local or family owned. Actions have consequences.

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[EdSane]

@SarahScoot&JoB, of course you both have the right to express your opinion (which you have done) and to go even further by exacting financial retribution. My point is that this does one thing only. It hurts a local business. It isn’t advancing ‘equality’. It might make you feel better inside. Equality will only work if people are free to express their real views so that they can be challenged (not financially). This just reminds me of the same tactics used by NOM and other organizations to push their far right agenda. Peoples change and views broaden because of conversation. Shutting that down won’t solve anything.

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[JanS]

Seems to me people are being knocked for standing by what they believe in. Nothing wrong with that, Mr. Sane. It’s the same reason I don’t support Walmart or any other business whose practices I do not agree with that. If I don’t stand for what I believe in, what does that make me?

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[Cait]

You can’t make people spend their money in a place where they don’t want to and you shouldn’t guilt them into it either. Local businesses, like big businesses, make PR mistakes and this was one, plain and simple.

You’re right, Traci, I don’t buy it either. It’s the risk you take when you do a favor for a friend – and it sounds like she knew that this might backfire on her from the start. Well! Actions have consequences. And it’s not as if this woman asked to use a space of hers that is NOT associated with her business. If she wanted to do this in her OWN backyard and not attach this to her business, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But that choice was made, it was made on behalf of her business and it didn’t pan out like she hoped it would. Unless you don’t have any market competition AT ALL, you can’t afford to do favors for friends who could jeopardize your business.

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[jwws]

cait,

Her backyard IS her business they are one and the same, VG nursery is at Vera’s home. I just don’t understand why folks feel the need to rehash this over a month later. vera made a choice, it may not have been a good one, but she has made public statements concerning it and has moved on as everyone else should. you all are beating a dead horse.

Go Bruins!

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[funkietoo]

I have known Vera for years and will continue to be friends with her, and her customer.

Think she has made a public apology re: this person. I accept it and will move forward.

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[jwws]

Well stated funkietoo. I think what a lot of these posters do not realize is that Vera was the one to originally schedule MS for the 4/26 concert at VG but thinking the weather might be a deterrent she teamed up with Miranda to host it at Meanders. Then came the crazy, hateful MS statements and both Miranda and Vera spoke out against the statements and cancelled the concert. It was only when MS showed up at Vera’s business and spoke with her that Vera made her decision, which she now regrets. Vera has a great heart and does not deserve this rehashing of old news/people boycotting her.

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[JanS]

to be clear…the original poster was out of the country, so only heard about this now on his return. Yes,jwws, to you it was old news, but it wasn’t to him.And, until I read this thread, I was not aware of Vera’s statement to The Stranger as an apology.

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[jwws]

@JanS

OP didn’t drag Vera into this, others did and they certainly are not out of the country. OP just gave Meanders KUDOs, nothing wrong with that, attacks on VG and Vera without knowing the whole story are wrong…..how many of those attacking Vera know that right after gay marriage was approved she got ordained to perform marriage services at VG if a couple desired to be wed there?

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[JoB]

edsane..

it isn’t exacting financial retribution to choose to no longer go out of my way to support a local business when i no longer feel comfortable going there.

i have never had a personal relationship with Vera. Her hours and steep driveway are not conducive to patronage by someone who is disabled and who can not easily schedule good health during the hours she is open.

However, after hearing about her struggle to stay in her house and in business, i made an extraordinary effort to spend my plant dollars there last year.

in the aftermath of her choice to schedule Michelle at her business on the same night that an alternate program had been scheduled at Meanders to fill the void created by the cancellation she says she supported …

and the insidious facebook calendar notice that went out to those who had originally RSVPd for the Meander’s concert…

I no longer feel i need to go out of my way to support the business of someone who so obviously didn’t appreciate the effort I and others made to keep her afloat …

and it would literally be going out of my way.

I only chose to speak up when people supporting Vera chose to characterize Miranda’s choice to cancel the concert and present an alternative program as a gambit to increase business at Meanders

and you chose to characterize my choice to no longer shop at Village Green as financial retribution.

Each and every one of us has a choice where to spend our dollars.

I actually ate at a Salty’s restaurant a few weeks ago because i love the location but for the most part i no longer spend my dining dollars in Salty’s because of that offensive van he parked out front during the presidential elections.

i got out of the habit of shopping at Target during their little brush with homophobic behavior… so i don’t go in there much any more either.

and i no longer try to plan my day to include a stop at Vera’s business.

customers are fickle..

it took a lot to get me in her door to begin with…

and i might have chosen a wait and see attitude if

I hadn’t been one of those who got an unwanted facebook notice of Michelle’s last minute appearance at Village Green …

a notice that kept re-appearing in spite of every attempt i made to delete it…

and attached itself to my location for the entire evening on the vacation pictures i tried to post from a restaurant at the coast..

not only was i constantly reminded that Michelle would after all be appearing in West Seattle that night..

i was forced by her Michelle’s efforts to advertise her show on my facebook page…

to say i resented that is putting it mildly.

I know that Vera didn’t produce that announcement..

but she made the decision to allow Michelle to use her and her business in a way that made me very uncomfortable…

and that discomfort was not alleviated by her public behavior immediately following the concert.

making me feel uncomfortable wasn’t the way to keep my business.

I am aware that Vera made a mistake…

and i was aware of the apology she eventually made on the Stranger…

but that doesn’t mean that i owe her my business now…

or that stating that is somehow vindictive

context matters… I would have been unlikely to post about this at all had the mere fact of posting the circumstances of that concert and the understandable outrage at what Vera characterized in her post to the Stranger as a huge mistake on her part not created the need to present Vera as the victim.

I sincerely hope she repairs her relationships within the gay community.

I hope she repairs her relationships withing our local advocacy community.

I wish her and her business well.

but it would take a lot for me to once again go out of my way to make an effort to patronize her business…

labeling me vindictive for making a shopping choice… as though i owed anyone my business simply because they live near me…

is only likely to make me feel less comfortable there.. not more.

Vera hasn’t seen much of me this year, but the local businesses i patronized before making an effort to spend my dollars with her are happy to have me back.

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[JoB]

jwws..

Vera drug herself into this.

Regretting her choice doesn’t change that…

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[EdSane]

Re-read my post, you clearly missed the intent.

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[jwws]

Ed

Forget about it this is the capital J nanny forum I for one am done with it.

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[JanS]

I find it interesting that if all don’t agree with you, jwws and Ed, it’s a “nanny forum”…wow..but if you disagree, it’s a conversation? and you are educating the rest of us?

there are people in the world who have different opinions than yours !

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[JanS]

jwws…the whole story? I know the whole story…and I know that while Miranda was at Meander’s that night, her child and friend were at home alone, and people (strangers) were walking into the house looking for the MS concert…and the MS concert people ( have no idea it was Vera or not) took it upon themselves to enter Miranda’s house and tap into the electricity. How disrespectful!Scared the crap out of the kids! Miranda didn’t deserve any of that, and it put her in a very awkward position. She has subsequently had to move.

Yes, you are not the only person to know the “inside” scoop…some of us just have listened to the other side.

Vera made some hurtful decisions that night…for some people it changed the way they think about her. Sad but true, unfortunately.

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[Walker]

Vera also asked Miranda to move out after all of this. So there is more for your whole story.

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[JanS]

interesting that someone lost a home over this..kinda sad..

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[JoB]

jwws…

lol..

net nanny is when you tell other people what they should or should not think..

and then censure them when they disagree with you…

forgive me for pointing out the obvious

but i am not the one who did that

for sure.. i told you what i think

and a bit of why

tactfully, i only alluded to the part of the story that came in the middle..

you know.. after she said yes to Michelle

and before she posted to the Stranger that she had made an error…

or any part of what continues to this day

TMI .. if you know what i mean

And it’s probably better for all of us if it stays that way

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[JoB]

EdSane

I did read your post carefully.

was i extracting financial retribution when i took my business away from other local nurseries and gave it to Vera?

or only when i decided that maybe i didn’t want to go out of my way to help her as much as i had thought i did?

The growers who lost my business when i transferred it to Vera didn’t lose it because they were doing a bad job or were providing a poor product.

they lost it because i arbitrarily went out of my way to transfer that business to vera.

I am still spending the same amount.

My business has stayed local.

And.. it’s a lot less hassle for me.

No business is owed customers. They earn them.

you could say it’s the American Way

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[Cait]

jwws – I am well aware that her business and her home are one in the same. I stand by my point.

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