Extreme Makover: Home Edition

[ascottk]

Yet another house built in 7 days

 

I spent about 3 hours at the reveal which was only a few miles north of us. It was an interesting experience. Over a thousand people gawking at the celebrities while the production crew had the audience act like the Byer family got home (which was about 1 1/2 hours before they actually did). It was around 85 degrees Fahrenheit and 50% humidity & it was quite uncomfortable for a while.

 

Here's an excerpt from http://www.extrememakeoveroregon.com/:

"Good morning, Byers family!" was the phrase Ty

Pennington of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition enthusiastically shouted as the

Byers family ran out of their Corvallis house jumping and screaming, about to receive the

greatest surprise of their lives. Out of dozens of Oregon home builders, ABC chose

award-winning, green-certified Legend Homes to help this very deserving family get the

home of their dreams in Oregon’s first and perhaps only Extreme Makeover: Home

Edition.

 

The Byers look like your typical American family: a hard-working dad (Rob), a

doting mom (Rachel), two rowdy boys (Chris, 13 and Joe, 12) and a spunky little sister

(Jenessa, or "Boey," 8). But in January 28, 2006, the family's world went dark. Boey

was diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive childhood cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma,

which has a 70% survival rate. This loving, spirited family refused to be defeated by the

disease and banded together to help Boey in the fight for her life. Not only did Boey—

nicknamed by friends as “The Little Warrior”—endure nearly a year of chemotherapy

and radiation, she became proactive and outspoken about combating cancer. During and

after her 2006 treatment, she visited other children with cancer, created YouTube videos

about cancer and started a foundation to help fund research for childhood cancer.

Unfortunately, Boey’s cancer recently returned. In June, in between stays at

Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Boey asked Oregon Senator Ron Wyden to co-sponsor

the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act.

 

Though the Byer family is united in rallying around Boey and advocating for

progress in pediatric cancer treatment, her past medical bills have left them beyond

broke. The family's fixer-upper house that Rob planned to transform into their dream

home is in serious disrepair. Healthcare experts have advised the family that the home is

dangerous to Boey's fragile immune system. While asbestos has been removed from the

house, the structure is still filled with toxic molds, a faulty electrical system, dry rot, an

unstable foundation and broken windows. Brother Joe, who has Asperger Syndrome (a

form of autism), suffers asthma attacks triggered by the home's toxins, which also

requires medical treatment.

 

Here's a few pics of my experience with so-called "reality" tv:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ascottk/Extrem...yerFamilyReveal

 

The official t-shirt:

 

The camera dolly:

 

Ty:

 

Some of the design team:

 

"Boey" with her mom, dad, grandpa, and Ty:

 

The family in front of their home:

 

I hear the episode will air in late September or early October on ABC so you might see me in the audience! I ended up taking a lot of video too.

[Nyarlathotep]

Dear Press,

 

Since when was the nuclear family the typical American family? Over 50% of children are conceived out wedlock! Doting wife? The divorce rate is at an unprecedented level--mostly because divorce is finally becoming an acceptable alternative (that, and so-called "starter marriages"). Three kids? How are they going to afford college if they've been run into the ground by the monster of a healthcare system that we have in place?

 

Do me a favor; don't take the nuclear family option. The fallout lasts for years. It's a false image, and you bloody well know that. The American Dream has never been having a wife, two kids, and a mortgage on a bloody McMansion; that was never the point. The point was to make something of yourself. The people have lost their way, and you are to blame. You know this isn't the only time you committed grievous sin of lying to the public. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

Sincerely,

Nyarlathotep

 

P.S., building a home for that family (not that you had anything to do with it) was really nice, and something of which I'd like to see more.

[Crispy]

Do me a favor; don't take the nuclear family option. The fallout lasts for years.

Nice imagery.

 

And well said. In Australia we have a similar concept: The Australian Working Family. (You have to Enunciate Each Word Very Clearly.) The Australian Working Family, the government tells us, has Never Had It So Good (please-please-vote-for-us-in-the-next-election-oh-god-oh-god-please-help-us-we're-going-to-lose). The Australian Working Family represents all that is Good And Holy about Australia, you see, and everyone who is not part of An Australian Working Family is probably an Unaustralian No-Good Welfare-Dependent Abo Dole-Bludging Prostitute. Needless to say, the Unaustralian No-Good Welfare-Dependent Abo Dole-Bludging Prostitutes are dragging this country down and must be taught a lesson so that the Australian Working Family can have a Fair Go.

 

*throws up* <--- Sorry about that, just had to purge the propaganda from my system.

[Nyarlathotep]

Don't even get me started about the God-hating, baby-killing, Liberal hippies and their evil plot to turn good, hard-working, Christian Americans like You and Me into Satanist, Sodomizing faggots homisexuals who have abortions for pleasure.

[Ishtvan]

The 50% born out of wedlock statistic seems to be for women who give birth under the age of 30, FYI.

 

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-213.html

 

There's also a pretty strong racial disparity:

- The proportion of White women under age 30 who had either a

premaritally born or premaritally conceived first birth tripled, from

15 percent in the early 1930s to 45 percent in the early 1990s. For

African American women, it doubled, from 43 percent to 86 percent.

 

- The proportion of first births to women 15-19 years old that either

were premaritally born or premaritally conceived increased from

28 percent in the early 1930s to 89 percent in the early 1990s.

 

- In 1990-1994, about 85 percent of all first births to White women

ages 15 to 19 were either premaritally born or premaritally

conceived, compared with 25 percent for the 1930-1934 period. The

comparable figures for African American teenage women were

98 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

[Nyarlathotep]

Holy shit! I've never actually seen the full statistical breakdown!

[Renzatic]

Does a conversation ever go by here where someone doesn't break out the soapbox and go off on some half baked socio-political rant?

[Nyarlathotep]

No.

[Crispy]

I think it shows that the Dark Mod team is formed of mature and intelligent people. So there.

[Macsen]

I was born out of wedlock. In fact, I remain unmarried to this day.

 

P.S. Is it me or does 'wedlock' sound like a wrestling move?

[Maximius]

Oh how wonderful, another US family destroyed by piss poor healthcare and some television producer sees an opportunity for a tear jerking, "man saves puppy" style television show. I hope that they have a couple of million of those homes being constructed, for the countless homeless and destitute who wander this land.

 

If anyone wants a clearer picture of how things work here in the US, take a listen to this:

 

http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=21421

Edited August 1, 2007 by Maximius

[Maximius]

'wedlock'

 

 

No need for obscenity!

[Crispy]

Oh, grow a wedlocking spine, you wedlocking wedlock.

[Vadrosaul]

Oh how wonderful, another US family destroyed by piss poor healthcare and some television producer sees an opportunity for a tear jerking, "man saves puppy" style television show. I hope that they have a couple of million of those homes being constructed, for the countless homeless and destitute who wander this land.

 

Could be worse. They may have received no aid at all, not even the self-serving corporatist type. No one is forcing the television network to have that style of show nor require it to be a charitable one.

[Maximius]

Could be worse. They may have received no aid at all, not even the self-serving corporatist type. No one is forcing the television network to have that style of show nor require it to be a charitable one.

 

 

But thats my point Vad, if they weren't lucky enough to attract the attention of a TV producer, they would not be getting much or any help. I don't want to force the TV to be a charity, I don't want charity at all, I want a real frigging healthcare system like other advanced nations have. And affordable housing to boot. Do you know in Manhatten right now the average cost of a house is a couple million? Here in Philadelphia, my buddy lives in the West side where the gentrification is steadily forcing poor and middle income families out farther and farther. Every year the "nice" (read white) sections grow in size while the "rough" (read black/Latino/poor Asian) sections are shrinking. Eventually they are either forced out of town or crowded into small sections that are really de facto reservations, ala the Native Americans.

 

Everyone calls it progress but its really a kind of micro colonization. +Nothing+ is being done in terms of assisting those who cannot afford to stay. Rents go up 200% in a year because landlords realize they can make a lot more money suddenly. Developers go to the city, get them to force people to sell their homes, so that a new strip mall can be built for the wealthy college students at Penn and Drexel and the other schools. Its a constant, low level tragedy playing out around the nation. Listen to that audio file I linked, its a great breakdown of this dynamic.

 

Some folks say "Who cares? There are winners and losers in life." but they are myopic at best. My buddy has seen the levels of violence rise steadily in his neighborhood as the years and gentrification roll on, as people are uprooted and families ripped up, life plans dashed to pieces. So now Philly is actually experiencing a bit of an image problem. They gentrified to make it all pretty and attractive to investors and home buyers, but it now has a reputation as being Murder city 1 or 2, vying with New Orleans for that honor. People are scared on the streets, smash and grab thieves walk up and down the "nice" neighborhoods for unlocked cars and open windows during the day (one day I walked out my door and a gentleman was going up the street beside me trying car doors, he politely said "Good morning" and kept on with his work) , and on average you can hear pistol shots ringing out a few blocks north one or two nights in a week. There are direct links between these things. Uprooted communities don't just disappear, they fester. Then you have to do what New York has done, where you have some of the wealthiest communities in the world right up the road from the poorest municipality in the nation, unleash a racist, fascistic police force to keep the "nice" and "rough" sections neatly separated and give them carte blanche to beat and murder, as Rudy Giuliani did. (Why, why why didn't his cancer kill him, why?) Except Philly is no where as wealthy as New York so it cannot afford to do so, so the gangs and what have you have a lot more liberty here.

Edited August 2, 2007 by Maximius

[Macsen]

That isn't just an American problem, Maximus. We have similar problems in Britain, with the added problem that languages and cultures are destroyed as well as communities and families. It all leads to this kind of thing.

[Maximius]

That isn't just an American problem, Maximus. We have similar problems in Britain, with the added problem that languages and cultures are destroyed as well as communities and families. It all leads to this kind of thing.

 

 

Thats a really interesting read Mac. Why did the one guy refer to all "white" settlers being targets. Do the Welsh not consider themselves white or does white have a non racial meaning in this context.

 

What is the situation like now? Is the land still being gobbled up?

[Macsen]

Thats a really interesting read Mac. Why did the one guy refer to all "white" settlers being targets. Do the Welsh not consider themselves white or does white have a non racial meaning in this context.

I think they decided to attack only white settlers' property because they didn't want to attack poor people seeking genuine refuge in Welsh communities. At the time you'd never see a black or asian person buying a summer home.

 

What is the situation like now? Is the land still being gobbled up?

It's pretty bad - no one of my age can really consider being able to afford a home. A house costs £200,000 in my area. In other words you have to be half way to being a $ millionaire to afford a house in Wales.

 

As you can guess this is pretty much destroying Welsh language communities as everyone has to move because they can't afford homes where they grew up.

 

Things have really taken a turn for the worse in Cornwall, where houses cost as much as in central London. This has led to the re-forming of the CNLA.

 

While the majority of Welsh and Cornish people condemn attacks on property you can understand how some people could feel that violence is the only way to sort out the situation. I wouldn't play any part in it however.

 

There's little that can be done about this problem in terms of changing the law to limit house prices or summer homes - Welsh laws still need to be approved in England.

 

Plaid Cymru - the Welsh Nationalist Party - has just entered government in the national assembly of wales for the first time in its 80 year history, so there's some hope that they push for a referendum on stronger law making powers for Wales and then maybe sort the situation out.

 

The irony of course is that so many people living in Wales were born in England that they're likely to lose such a referendum at the ballot box!

 

I have nothing against England or the English BTW. But as much as we like England we like Wales too, and feel aggrieved to see the language and culture of Wales wiped off the face of the earth by summer homes. It's unlikely that the people that move here know the harm they're doing, of course. Which is why we need legislation.