"Speaking of Nakashima, anyone like Jeffrey Greene? Seriously. He's Nakashima school. Bought a piece from his studio along the canal in New Hope back in 1976. Original. Unique. He makes similar now but not like this. It's handcarved and he worked on it so long, maybe his FIRST peg chair, that it got too small for a DR. So he stuck it in the corner and I bought it. Ended up going for a totally different look (Victorian!) and I've been carting this chair around for 30 years!!! Can't find anyone who wants it. Is it worthless???" I can't imagine that it's worthless. Au contraire in fact. I recall seeing his furniture around; in fact, he may have had a store in Lambertville, or maybe I'm thinking of somebody else. But I know I've seen it fairly often. I never reacted particularly positively to it, but that's because I thought it looked like Nakashima knock offs. Shows how little I knew (or rather, how little I know). I hadn't realized his studio is so close to me. I wonder whether it ever has open days.

My boyfriend and I were with the 250,000 in NYC. We came from his house in Brooklyn, and the subway was jam-packed. Got off at Grand Central Station onto a very crowded 42nd Street and got swept into the crowd up 5th Avenue. 10 blocks away from Trump Tower it was impossible to move even on 6th and Madison Avenues & crowds spilled over onto Park as well – the entire mid-town of Manhattan was taken over. There were men and women of all ages, colors, languages and persuasions and everyone was polite, helpful and respectful. I didn’t see any anti-protests. When we had dinner on 2nd Avenue I was shocked to see on TV the lying press conference by Sean Spicer. It was so much like the dictatorships in 3rd-world countries when he said this was the biggest inaugural celebration in history, period, and that's how it must be reported. Wow. We must keep up the fight.

tartanmeup (love that name!) Here is an example of Memphis style: The Inspiration Here is Memphis style in full swing; the quirky look combines super-saturated colors with kitschy prints. Read on to see the current, muted interpretation of this trend. -From House & Home This piece about Memphis has great pictures and is really well done. https://houseandhome.com/gallery/trending-for-2016-italian-memphis-style/ From Wiki: On December 1, 1980, Ettore Sottsass organised a meeting with designers, and in 1981 formed a design collaborative named Memphis. The name was taken after the Bob Dylan song "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" which had been played repeatedly throughout the evening's meeting. They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes. The group produced and exhibited furniture and design objects, annually from 1981 until 1988. The result was a highly acclaimed debut at the 1981 Salone del Mobile of Milan, the world's most prestigious furniture fair.[citation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Group

The bottom line is that there will always be both predators and prey in all living things. If we use good sense we do what we can to not become prey. There is healthy fear and unhealthy fear. Believing that crime lurks around every corner that mass media and social media promotes is unhealthy fear. This would include the nonsense that all men are potential rapists, women are approaching strangers in stores and malls to lure them into human trafficking, any stranger who smiles or speaks to you is a threat etc. That unhealthy fear will eventually make one prey. The relatively few true predators out there will always be able to pick the weak out of the herd. Unhealthy fear is weakness. Healthy fear is knowing that there are some bad people and things in the world. Healthy fear is being aware of your surroundings. It is locking your doors and taking normal precautions. Healthy fear is Not because you expect to become a victim but because you are realistic enough to understand that bad things happen. Healthy fear is taking preventative measures but never allowing fear to paralyze you from enjoying life. I part company with Elmer when it comes to dives versus nice establishments. The restaurant //hospitality trade has always been rife with corruption on many levels and it is not just the customers. From back door street drug dealing by cooks and local "thugs" in the local dives to women, kink, designer drugs and other services etc. in high end establishments often frequented by the wealthy many of who are politicians or the owners of the high end places themselves. Raye Smith made a lot of good points. The examples cited in the OP were annoying behaviors but nothing criminal. Paranoia is not healthy fear and I think Kath realizes that herself. She just needs to work on getting past that and devise a system to help her DD gain the skills of surviving the life of a young adult. The world is no less safe than it ever was. But for some reason we have become a fear drive society. We tend to divide people by gender, sex and race making shard human issues and threats more difficult to solve. On the other hand we blend criminal statistics into one big ball of fear without dividing them properly into their sub groups so we can view them in clear perspective and determine where and if the real threats are to ourselves. New age feminists refuse to acknowledge that a young women having a consensual 3 way with guys in front of their friends is not in a good position to say no to the 4th guy. Being drunk doesn't absolve one of responsibility no matter if you are a man or a woman. If you want respect as an equal then act and take responsibility as an equal. Only Kath's DD can make the decision to stay or leave her job. But if she does stay it can be a positive opportunity for her to learn how to deal with people and become mentally tougher which is a good life lesson for all to have.