historic events - MLK's I have a Dream Speech

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

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Speak your mind about this historic day.

culture of violence

distractions - Oktapodi

Two octopuses help each other in their escape from the grasps of a stubborn restaurant cook. However, even after overcoming insurmountable odds to reunite, their fight to stay together is not over.

quiet time

There have been so many things going on right now ~ federal government overseers at work; near to daily trips to the hospital to visit; updates from my brother on the west coast; arts proposals to join or be more involved with shows; moving "stuff" for people [the dubious rewards of owning a pick up truck]; town meetings; that what I sometimes wish I had more of was some quiet time.

My partner doesn't thinks so; but instead stews at home waiting for me to show up and visit. That kind of home-coming doesn't usually bode well, either. He notes, well, you've been alone in your truck driving everywhere.

But driving alone in my pick-up truck is not quiet time. ...there's too much taking place I need to pay attention on the road ...thank God I'm not a texter.

The other day BillP commented that I was able to sit for long periods of time without moving. I agreed. That's what I want to do when I'm alone.

I'm thinking more of time spent with no one but the elements [and the occasional building, such as the one seen here] to let my head clear out psychic excesses.

It's hunting season soon. Maybe I need to find a good place for a treestand, and not even bother bringing the bow.

travel - Meriden, Ct

On the way from New Haven to New Britain.

living with cancer - communications at the hospital

The patient should have an opportunity to ask questions to elicit a better understanding of the
treatment or procedure, so that he or she can make an informed decision to proceed or to refuse
a particular course of medical intervention.

This communications process, or a variation thereof, is both an ethical obligation
and a legal requirement spelled out in statutes and case law in all 50 states.
American Medical Association / Web page describing "Informed Consent"

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Last week Bill developed what might have been a "mild" case of pneumonia, however "mild" a lung infection can be at the same time one is hospitalized for cancer.

I suspect he even knew ~ intuitively ~ that he had contracted it. He'd been coughing some one day last week when I visited. We went downstairs, sat in the yard between buildings one/two and the older complex, and he mentioned something about getting an infection.

He did not go for radiation/chemo on Friday. Sat the weekend anticipating going Monday but when that came nothing happened. Oh, no, he was moved to a new ward. We knew that was coming.

I called early this morning to find out what was going on. Today, he learned at 1130 that he was not going for treatment again today. No reason provided. He got anxious. Over the phone I heard someone telling that someone from oncology was coming to see him.

Still with no answers I left work to see what was going on. As I was pulling into the VA Center, a call came from the oncology team. He had pneumonia. Yes we told him. He ought to have known that we won't treat him while he's getting antibiotics... but not to worry since the growth is slow and this should be resolved by the end of the week [meaning, I suppose, that treatments start next week].

One of the most frustrating things to deal with is not knowing. As I drove toward the center [made it in record time ~ less than half an hour] I kept thinking the worst. This is a repeat concern. Bill keeps asking to be told what's going on. So do I.

Might have to just move in and park myself in order to know what is going on.

Again, all that said, people working here are not uncaring; too busy sometimes, perhaps ~ which can happen at most any hospital. Yet the docs don't communicate their knowledge until after the frustration tipping point. Don't they get it? In the process of being an informed consenter getting the details from the docs does not seem to be too much to ask for.

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IMAGE CREDIT: Lungs Home Health which touts iteslef as "the UK's leading provider of drug testing products, pregnancy tests, ovulation tests, DNA Paternity Tests and home testing kits. The image was found at What Are Lungs?, a webpage put together by Nandini Thogarapalli, a grade five student at Dr. E.W. Coffin School, Calgary, Canada, as a science project that looks at lung cancer.

natural phenomena - salt water marine life

This is one of BillP's favorite pictures; one of mine, too.

Taken at Mystic Marine Aquarium, mostly clownfish and anemones. I took it indoors, using available light. While there is some reflection off the outer tank glass, very little is evident, even when the image was pushed and printed at 20x30 inches. What there is does not detract.

When we went to the aquarium, Bill said that he thought he might like to be a manta ray when reincarnated, gliding about unimpeded by sharks.



I pray that it takes a long time before he's able to pick up on that option.

frenzy - Islamophobia

PILGRIMS
can't help but be disappointed and chagrined watching bigots and fanatics hogging the airwaves ~ and getting ~ attention to publicize their own massive levels of ignorance and stupidity while prattling on about the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" which will be neither at the former World Trade Towers site nor a mosque.

Inspired, in part, by a growing anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe, the loosely aligned 21st-Century know-nothing Tea Party "movement" has also spawned its own versions of fanatical vitupertates, such as extremists like Pamela Geller.
The ideological flames then fanned by corporate media giants who think they stand to gain by war profiteering [GE owned NBC] or megalomaniacal egotism [Rupert Murdoch's FOX].

I am not Muslim, but I was fortunate enough to learn about Islam as a teenager; first from a Catholic School chum who, taught by some pretty strict nuns, became enamored with Islam. He introduced me to the Meaning of the Glorious Koran penned by British scholar Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall. Later, I came across what I thought to be a more lyrical English transliteration ~ The Koran Interpreted, by A.J. Arberry, a renowned Orientalist and Professor of Arabic. Both translations have their shortcomings with regard to mistakes of omission and mistranslation, but these two were invaluable in helping me first to be exposed to Islam, and, later, to be more appreciative and understanding of the beliefs of literally billions of people on the planet.

living with cancer - day one chemo/radiation

Getting started on cancer treatment is a bit like driving into a dark tunnel with no directionals.

I don't know if my friend had his first treatment today. Nursing staff in the afternoon they can't say for sure that he went to the cancer center; the nurse only knew that he was on the ward when she came on duty.

A different nurse, later on, reports that his ride didn't pick him up on time, but remains equally uncertain if he'd gone today for treatment [Shouldn't that be in the record?].

What is certain is that he was moved to a new ward, with nurses who don't know him nor his quirks and eccentricities.

I expect I'll hear a rasher asking "...is it bark or bite" when he lashes out loud and verbal. [It's bark, basically] He's in pain! He's got esophageal cancer! ...and nobody's taking the time to either explain all this or provide a bit of TLC. Surely nursing is more than reading blood pressure gauges and finding another vein to stick.

occupational health - how bug spray works

This is here because of a search I did on "paradoxical effects" of psychiatric medications. What I found was an article written by J K Palmer, associate professor of psychology, at Eastern Kentucky University.
      The article is interesting and relevant since the article first talks about the brain's neurons communicate with one another, and how drugs affect that communication process. Read down and you'll find that a chemical known as Acetylcholine is used by the neurons that control your muscles, heart, and lungs. It is also used by many neurons in the brain that are involved in memory. Acetylcholine crosses the brain synapses and tells the muscles to extend by stimulating the receptor sites on the muscles.
     When nerve signals are terminated this is called “reuptake”. Acetylcholine is rapidly broken down by a chemical called acetylcholinesterase. Have you ever looked at the fine print on a bottle of Prozac, Paxil, or Zoloft? It says in there that the drug is a “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor” (SSRI).
     Now, read the fine print on a can of insecticide. For some of them, it says that the active ingredient is an “acetylcholinesterase inhibitor”. So, the same effect that we see with bug spray, can be facilitated by SSRIs. You do the math.
     As an FYI, nicotine directly stimulates acetylcholine receptors. Alzheimer’s disease results when these acetylcholine-using neurons in the brain die. [As an aside, does this new info about bug spray provide us any fresh insights on the actions of former US Senator and insect exterminator Tom DeLay?]

poetry - in the accupuncture workshop

In the acupuncture workshop

the breeze closes one door
then opens another - literally

Each of us comes seeking healing
for maladies never discussed.

Then we wait.
and participate in the group
wherein we do not speak
yet get connected.

I have no idea if this treatment will work.

If this seems disconcerting I wonder -
How much different is this
from a blind-faith trust in medication
and otherwise invasive procedures
Such as they are.

So many have faith without even knowing
If those procedures work at all

Give me then, instead
The cool breeze that opened the door.

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IMAGE CREDIT: Mysteries Zone.com Acupuncture: Traditional Chinese Medicine

hunting - hunter safety courses

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has begun taking applications for upcoming Conservation Education/Firearms Safety Program classes.

It is recommended that you enroll early in the year and not wait until a month before the hunting seasons begin. Courses fill up quickly and you may have to wait or travel a longer distance to attend a course if none are available in your town. Where courses are taught varies from town to town and includes such locations as sportsmen's clubs, community centers, schools and offices of the Department of Environmental Protection. There are no fees for any of the courses and all materials are provided free of charge by the Conservation Education/Firearms Safety Program.

Anyone wising to enroll must do so through the DEP regional office [the closest one to me is in Franklin, CT]. You can also find where classes are being offered around the state.

FRANKLIN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA - 391 Route 32, North Franklin
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Phone: (860) 642-7239

Pre-Registration is Mandatory. All firearms hunting courses are 16 hours or longer. You must attend all scheduled class times.

Preparing for hunting is more than this set of classes. Tree Stand Safety can be important, too. Improper use of tree stands is one of the most common causes for injuries and death to hunters in the field. For free online instruction on the proper use of tree stands and safety harnesses, go to this website on tree stand Safety.

By the way, you don't have to go out hunting [for which one should be licensed, anyway] to benefit from taking hunting, firearms or bow hunting safety courses. They are good cram courses on some of the many things a person ought to know when hiking in the woods anyway.

May be of particular interest to photographers, budding naturalists, plein-air painters and anyone interested in responsible use of firearms.

art + artists - public art

From the Fairmount Park Art Association website ~ a thoughtful read


What is public art?
     Public art is not an art “form.” Its size can be huge or small. It can tower fifty feet high or call attention to the paving beneath your feet. Its shape can be abstract or realistic (or both), and it may be cast, carved, built, assembled, or painted. It can be site-specific or stand in contrast to its surroundings. What distinguishes public art is the unique association of how it is made, where it is, and what it means. Public art can express community values, enhance our environment, transform a landscape, heighten our awareness, or question our assumptions. Placed in public sites, this art is there for everyone, a form of collective community expression. Public art is a reflection of how we see the world—the artist’s response to our time and place combined with our own sense of who we are.

Who is the “public” for public art?
     In a diverse society, all art cannot appeal to all people, nor should it be expected to do so. Art attracts attention; that is what it is supposed to do. Is it any wonder, then, that public art causes controversy? Varied popular opinion is inevitable, and it is a healthy sign that the public environment is acknowledged rather than ignored. To some degree, every public art project is an interactive process involving artists, architects, design professionals, community residents, civic leaders, politicians, approval agencies, funding agencies, and construction teams. The challenge of this communal process is to enhance rather than limit the artist’s involvement.

What is the “art” of public art?
     As our society and its modes of expression evolve, so will our definitions of public art. Materials and methods change to reflect our contemporary culture. The process, guided by professional expertise and public involvement, should seek out the most imaginative and productive affinity between artist and community. Likewise, artists must bring to the work their artistic integrity, creativity, and skill. What is needed is a commitment to invention, boldness, and cooperation—not compromise.

Why public art?
     Public art is a part of our public history, part of our evolving culture and our collective memory. It reflects and reveals our society and adds meaning to our cities. As artists respond to our times, they reflect their inner vision to the outside world, and they create a chronicle of our public experience.

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Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).
IMAGES: 1 - Philadelphia Museum of Art / Dali Exhibition ~ May 2005; 2 - Nymph / Goodspeed Opera Foundation ~ October 2008; Elephant Graffiti / Paris ~ April 2007; 4 - Chainsaw sculpture / Middletown, CT ~ September 2004; 5 - Sculpture, Parc Emily Gamelin / Montreal ~ May 2006. Click on the images to see larger representations.

original work - Hot Dog Vendor

events - Burning Man

Oh, one of my long fantasies would be to attend a Burning Man event at Black Rock City, in Nevada, USA. I suspect that isn't happening this year.

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it will be all right
... In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city
— Lovin Spoonful

This team Apokiliptika will be there.

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IMAGE CREDIT: Pavilion of the Man - Rendering by Andrew Johnstone - Design by Rod Garrett and Larry Harvey Burningman.com

distractions - Dr. Laura's secret obsession

     Want to know what Dr. Laura Schisslinger is doing when not busy berating callers by repeatedly calling them the "N" word? Maybe she is giving advice on how to get a dirty sweaty man cleaned up ~ "...take a shower with him".

     No, she's also making jewelry! She is particularly fond of "WEIRD PEARLS"! But likes weird stuff in general. Who would have known?

mental health - Recovery is not treatment

"Recovery" is not a "treatment modality". For at least three decades [longer, if you go back to Clifford Beers] advocates, ex-patients and dispassionate observers have repeatedly argued that people can and often do, "recover" from long lasting disabling, debilitating conditions and experiences.
     At the same time, the idea was scoffed and dismissed by high ranking administrators and clinicians, citing [still] the ghosts of Kraepelin and Beuler as the rationale for why such an idea was untenable. "People don't recover from 'mental illness.' Their lives are lost and so is any hope for them doing much better" the clinical careerists would steadfastly maintain.
     Little or no thought was given to asking patients in mental hospitals what might be their wishes, hopes, dreams, or aspirations to achieve.
     Bean-counting bureaucrats spoke of "bed spaces," "treatment modalities" and "managed care." They asked drug companies when "the next miracle drug cure" would get people out of institutions and back on the streets.
     The standard response to those who had different ideas about treatment, care or rehabilitation, was to ignore them, keep them from the decision making process and to demean and invalidate the critical voices that offered options.
     Now, times have changed. Budget constraint called for innovation and "outcomes." Major funding sources started telling them that "recovery is good"! Gradually, those same clinicians and bureaucrats who walk past patients without seeing them took up the call.
     However, while the language has been embraced, other obstacles remain. "Clients" get wheedled and cajoled to large group meetings and say the process is "patient driven." Abusive staff and practices continue unabated. Known wrongs that take place fail to get "substantiated" when only patients witness those wrongs.
     How can this be? That bureaucrat driving his new custom SUV to the workplace while the patient gets penalized by Title 19 with "spend-downs" on maybe less than $500 a month. Patient driven huh!
     Folks, you don't have a clue.
     Admittedly, the samples mentioned oversimplify the problems inherent in social injustice and lack regard for people with mental illnesses. Administrators, Nurse Educators and other who shape professional opinion are still no different than the society at large. But my point would be the same no matter what quick capsule glimpse got noted.
     Recovery is not a treatment modality! The reasons people can and do recover are many and multifarious. But they come as much [or more] from within.
     "Recovery" may or may not include taking medications. For John Nash [the subject of the film A Beautiful Mind] they by and large did NOT, no matter what the film said.
     "Recovery" may or may not include assistance from mental health programs. In the case of survivors in the Vermont Longitudinal Study in 1987, for a goodly number it was in spite of what services the "system" provided.
     Recovery is a process It involves learning to live with complex and inexplicable phenomena [that many may call delusional], of freedom from unrealistic pressures to "get over" that phenomena within discrete time frame, and of being considered, cared for and loved as a fellow human being by others. Simple as that.
     How much more difficult this is to achieve in a society and culture that does not value those souls who are not immediately responsive to time-motion-study lifestyles. So challenging to those who drive efficient bureaucrats to distraction with abstruse, and often unexplainable questions. In the long run, it may call for dramatic and complete changes in cultural attitudes and norms, not something so easy to implement when it isn't even discussed.
     So...if you, the fashionably dressed mental health careerist can grasp this, then next time you wish to speak to someone -anyone, even one of your professional colleagues- about "Recovery" for people with living dramatic, even severe, cognitive / perceptual dissonance, then do so only after you actually drop your important paperwork and pre-occupation with meetings and give someone the time, energy and effort to sit with and actually get to know some of those persons who walk past you daily, but of whom you only know by diagnosis. Incidentally, it's a whole lot cheaper than funding the psycho-pharmaceutical companies, but takes longer to see results.
     Now that would be a step toward recovery.

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SOME RESOURCES: Clifford Beers' A Mind That Found Itself, National Empowerment Center, MindFreedom, Mary Ellen Copeland's Self-help Strategies

geek stuff - websites to explore

 • Free Software Foundation: The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users.
     * The FSF advocates for free software ideals as outlined in the Free Software Definition, works for adoption of free software and free media formats, and organizes activist campaigns against threats to user freedom like Windows 7, Apple's iPhone and OS X, DRM on ebooks and movies, and software patents.
     * We promote completely free software distributions of GNU/Linux, and advocate that users of the GNU/Linux operating system switch to a distribution which respects their freedom.
     * We drive development of the GNU operating system and maintain a list of high-priority free software projects to promote replacements for common proprietary applications.
     * We build and update resources useful for the free software community like the Free Software and Hardware Directories, and the free software jobs board. We also provide licenses for free software developers to share their code, including the GNU General Public License..

 • Photoshop Support: Creating Favicons, a tutorial by Jennifer Apple, who says "A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. They also show up in your bookmarked sites, on the tabs in tabbed browsers, and as the icon for Internet shortcuts on your desktop or other folders in Windows. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one."

other voices - Edward Abbey

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

"What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse.

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit".

Edward Abbey

distraction - lyp sync and dancing