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Oops, missed yesterday.
Otoh sleep is good.
So, the upside of no laptop at work is- am getting uni reading done.
Downside of no laptop at home is- no internets in bed. woe. lol.
Tonight off so that I can go to San Francisco tomorrow and meet up with Mom and Sister who are staying at son's. They took the train into town- how fun is that? I'll take the bus down, get a ride back up on Tues.
Then back to it on Tuesday- Chicano/Latino Cinema Tues, Native American Studies and work on Wed.
Am really enjoying the texts for these classes, which is such a lovely change. A well written text is a joy.
Write to your congresspeople about the HHS proposed changes. Even if what we need (and we might, we might, I dunno) is something that allows practitioners to opt out of prescribing birth control, redefining birth control as abortion is not the way to go about it.
With that, back to bed. Sleeping in my own bed, in the dark and quiet night: priceless.
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Slept well again last night. Not that I couldn't use ANOTHER 12 hours, but that's not going to happen today. Class, study, work. Still, sleep is good, and getting caught up on uni reading is good.
Now on to the not-so-personal things.
There are a number of things going on in US politics and in US public policy that, frankly, make me frightened, furious, and ready to take action. I keep meaning to post about them, and then finding myself so tired that I am afraid I cannot do them justice. Let me try now.
First is the draft paper before Health and Human Services that will redefine any kind of birth control as abortion. This takes my mind from one place to another, living as I have from the time of the thalidomide scandal through the introduction of The Pill, Planned Parenthood, and legal abortion and Women's Studies as a legitimate field of scholarship.( somewhat rambling pursuit of truth follows )
For a more forceful, more focused, and (probably) more useful presentation of the issues surrounding the HHS paper and what (if you are so moved) you can do about it, ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tammy212 has put together three well-written posts about it.
And now we have Sarah Palin as vice-presidential nominee. Which is several kettles of fish, most of which smell already. And I need to go to class. So confused sorting out of that will need to be a post for another day.
This post brought to you by the letters X and Y and the gratitude for a forum for my thoughts and the education to at least partially think this through and be able to do research and present it for discussion.
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This from the NYT- Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization.
(prior links dump Here.)
What can you do about it?
City Farmer
Community Gardening and Kids
Community Greens
Moss in the City: Urban Gardening
Urban Gardening Magazine
ETA Pick Your Own gardens and farms in US, UK, Europe, Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa</a>.
Perhaps you and some friends get together and lament not being in better shape. Can one of you donate land to a group project garden? Maybe all you have is a balcony in a climate with a short growing season. Can you grow herbs? sprout seeds?
Maybe you think it's inefficient to grow any of your own food. Well, maybe it is from a strictly commercial business point of view. But in terms of best use of the calories you take in / the calories you expend, which is more worthwhile? the giant pack from Costco or Tesco? or the oxygen-producing, carbon-dioxide reducing pot of chives or basil on your sill? The tomatoes you get from the pot on the balcony? the lettuce from the box on the verandah? Remember, even some flowers are edible. (I use nasturtiums in my salads. mmm, peppery!)
I dunno if the problems caused (to some extent, unwittingly) by globalizing trade and industrializing farming are all curably by home food farming. I do know that even if you have a 'black thumb', over time you can learn to listen to plants and come to recognize what it takes to have an honest relationship with sun-converting chlorophyll-using beings, and that in itself can be balm to a wounded soul, and help right some of the imbalance in the world.
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As a nurse, I'm firmly science-based. As a child of the 1950's, brought up on fairy-tales and science-fiction, poetry and reference books, geography and archeology, I'm equally at home in (or at least recognize some of the signposts and landmarks in) 'left-brained' and 'right-brained' experience. As a child of the 60's with my brief foray into psychedelics and a much longer, more careful sojourn in spiritual and esoteric study, I'm a believer that things connect- that living as though we are not all in relationship to each other, to all of life, all of time, all of space, lessens us.
From the TED website: One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor's brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness ...
Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the "Singin' Scientist."
"How many brain scientists have been able to study the brain from the inside out? I've gotten as much out of this experience of losing my left mind as I have in my entire academic career."
Jill Bolte Taylor/My Stroke of Insight/ TED Feb 2008
( Click )
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Ok. I have been studying Marshall Rosenberg's theory and practice of Nonviolent Communication for a number of years now, and YAY! for YouTube: he's on it. I cannot recommend this enough- I hope the vids are enough to whet your appetites for being treated kindly, with respect and dignity, and the expectation that what you want most from life is to be alive every minute.
Nonviolent Communication
part 1 9 mins 35 sec.
part 2 5 mins 47 sec. (particularly helpful about depression)
part 3 4 mins 25 sec.
Nonviolent Communication and Corporations
part 1 28 mins 32 sec.
part 2 28 mins 58 sec.
part 3 26 mins 32 sec.
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in honor of the end of winter
Carole King/It's Too Late
and the coming of spring
I'll be taking some time to do a little self-care: concentrate on uni, swim/walk/garden, and think.
Still be around, cleaning up lists. If you'd like me to let you off my fl, let me know, or use 'defriend'- it's always defriending amnesty day.
[I first heard this song in 1971, not long after my oldest son was born. I knew as soon as I listened to it that for me, it would always be about knowing that my marriage wouldn't last. It was 1981 before the divorce was final, but the end began that day in the fog and chill of Sebastopol, dancing in the living room and crying for something that hadn't happened, and was inevitable.]
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Two ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) slashababy 2007 stories, each with some Elijah in them, so happy [now belated] birthday, Elijah:
In the days when all was new and we were made new, too. for waqaychay, a hobbitpile with smut; Always good to see you, a DomLijah for trianne; and a 3_ships story for cinaed in the Firefly/Serenity 'verse: Alive and Kicking.
Uni starts today. Am looking forward to it, and not. Sadly, sleep these days [with the exception of two glorious days last week of 8+ hours] seems to be three hour naps punctuated by a half-hour of getting up to pee, check email, make quickie posts, and go back to bed; this alternated with the occasional day that allows several hours online at a time with more like 6 hours sleep at a time- but I can't predict which day's going to be which, which is frustrating as hell. Things are underway to deal with this a bit better, but that'll probably take a few weeks.
Passed on from : A Violation of both the Law and the Spirit about vandalism at poet Robert Frost's house. What landmarks, or historic sites, or areas/sites that are being preserved, or should be preserved, are in your area? Do you know? do they matter to you? what have you done or would you do to identify/preserve them? [yes, I'll do mine, but not today. back to bed, right now.]
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on a better note: Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness
Washington, DC
March 20-23, 2008
Split This Rock
info@splitthisrock.org
Split This Rock Poetry Festival calls poets to a greater role in public life and fosters a national network of activist poets. Building the audience for poetry of provocation and witness from our home in the nation's capital, we celebrate poetic diversity and the transformative power of the imagination. Featuring readings, workshops, panels, contests, walking tours, film, parties, and activism! See the website for the incredible line-up of poets, including Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, Martín Espada, Sam Hamill, Galway Kinnell, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sonia Sanchez, and many more. Split This Rock is cosponsored by DC Poets Against the War, Sol & Soul, Busboys and Poets, and the Institute for Policy Studies. Split This Rock
Poetry Contest – January 15 Deadline: The contest benefits Split This Rock Poetry Festival. $1,000 awarded for poems of provocation & witness; Kyle G. Dargan will judge. $500 for 1st, $300 for 2 nd, and $200 for 3rd place. 1st place winner will read the winning poem at the festival. The poem will also be published on the festival website at www.SplitThisRock.org. All winners receive free festival admission. $20 entry fee benefits the festival. Postmark Deadline: January 15, 2008. Guidelines for entry: Guidelines for Contests.
Call for Poetry Films – January 30 Deadline: Seeking artistic, experimental, and challenging interpretations of poetry that explore critical social issues. Films up to 15 minutes. Entry fee: $15. Selected films and videos will be screened during the festival's film program. For full guidelines and required entry form: http://splitthisrock.org/film.html
Support Split This Rock, the historic gathering of activist poets: Every dollar you give is tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, the Institute for Policy Studies. Just click here: Secure Donations keyand be sure to designate "Split This Rock" as the project you'd like to support. Or send a check payable to "IPS/Split This Rock" to: IPS, 1112 16 th Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036. Many thanks! Your contribution will make a tremendous difference.
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From the Deadbolt
Karl Urban Talks Comanche Moon Mini-series, Indian Rights and the Old West, and Star Trek
by Troy Rogers
After appearing in the final two Lord of the Rings movies and The Bourne Supremacy, Karl Urban will soon go down in cinematic history as the new reincarnation of Dr. "Bones" McCoy in director J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek film. Before Urban ventures into the Star Trek universe to boldly go where other men have gone before, the New Zealand born actor will be riding into the Western sunset with Val Kilmer, Steve Zahn, Rachel Griffiths, Elizabeth Banks, Wes Studi, and Adam Beach in the upcoming three-part CBS mini-series Comanche Moon, a prequel to Larry McMurtry's popular Lonesome Dove novel and 1989 mini-series of the same name. ( More on Comanche Moon and Star Trek: the Movie, from Karl )THE DEADBOLT: To you, what's the most important theme of Comanche Moon that still stays with you? URBAN: For me the most enduring thing is one of camaraderie and loyalty and friendship and the extraordinary lengths the characters would go to to protect and look after their friends.
For more on Comanche Moon, lock down our latest news story, Saddle Up for Comanche Moon in January 2008. 
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~~
Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
...
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path
To joy.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Engaged Buddhism
Youtube of the movie
Despair-work.
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First, just to say that my older boy was in a car accident Sunday. Not his fault: he was on a winding canyon road someplace down in LA [quite likely Malibu since they took him to St. Johns'] when someone crossed the line, hit him, then he was hit from behind. Broken ankle [surgery, good repair] and some strained ligaments [didn't say where but I'm suspecting right arm and shoulder]; physical therapy and rehab for while and he'll be ok.
We are all grateful that it happened as it did: right fender to right fender, left fender to rear; and when he spun, it was on a section of the road with actual strong barriers- there are other parts of the road that are a 150 foot drop straight down, but not where he was. Good EMT/Paramedic crew, excellent orthopedic surgery team, good nursing care and PT- all in all, the best that could have come of it. Your good wishes for him and appreciation of all the people caring for him from the road designers on up, much much appreciated by me.
( ex-husbandy stuff )
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Over in LJ zingerella has written a beautiful work on The "Wall of Shit" Theory which I must, in good conscience, put before y'all over here, too.
This says wonderfully well something I know but have been unable to articulate.
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| 2007-10-16 18:08 |
| PSAs |
| Public |
| between here and a nap |
| content |
| how to save a life/live sessions @aol/the fray |
| burma, charity, ecology, economics, fun, health, history, hope, kindness, philosophy, poetry, politics, psychology |
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No cuts. Not today.
The redemption of Cutler Beckett or Tom Hollander's charities.
Orlando Bloom and others design cards for Epidermolysis Bullosa charity
redscorner's Fight to earn enough to pay for brain surgery: quoted from verisimilitant. redscorner is currently suffering from two serious neurological conditions which require surgery, but she is unemployed, without health care, and unable to qualify for Medicaid. However, megaupload has this 'rewards program' where, if she can secure 5 million downloads, they will give her 10,000 dollars. She has until the end of November to do this. You can download once every day and each download helps. The files are txt documents that give more details about her situation. They are spyware, malware, and virus free and really only take a second to download. Help this girl out and, if you feel so inclined, post this in your own journal to help spread the cause.
1. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5QBOA940
2. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7LPXMESC
3. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0O8AYRES
Proof links are virus-free
Via rocketbalm
[My dad worked at RAND corporation in the 50's. I thought everyone had discussions like this at the dinner table and beach-side barbecues. Guess not, hunh. This is so well done.]
Please support something, anything, for the people of Burma. The US Campaign For Burma will take immediate donations, or you can buy The CD 'For the Lady' or one of the beautiful WEAVE scarves. Similar site is Burmacampaign.UK.
Do something for yourself. Make a journey into The Depths of Money and start saving yourself from drowning in debt, stuff, or need.
Be excellent to one another. Watch a good movie, take a good walk, read a good book, cook a good meal, have a good bath. Recognize the good and sacred in each thing, place, person, idea that crosses your path.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.
- Walt Whitman
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From The Scotsman, today
( US calls in the anthropologists to beat the Taliban )
It's so crucial, to my mind anyway, to first know and then understand the history of peoples where they live. Where is it that things are for them, how is it that they perceive things got that way? And how/where is it they expect things to be, now and in future?
Good questions to ask ourselves, whether Brits or Americans, Israelis or Palestinians, religious or not, immigrants or 6th generation or 60th generation.
My current reading includes Assembling California by John McPhee, a look at the intersection of geologic time and human time, specifically (though not explicitly until very late in the book) the 1989 "Loma Prieta" Earthquake in Northern California. To get there Mr. McPhee takes us up and down California, back and forth from San Francisco to Tahoe, via Cyprus (Sri Lanka) and Pangaea, the courses of rivers and the movement of tectonic plates, until not only the current geography of California is formed in our minds but to the extent possible the events and activities prior that have created the California I lived in that day, the day of that earthquake.
In this book he references Leonardo Seeber's use of the idea of the "Principle of Least Astonishment":
"Our direct view of geologic phenomena has been severely limited by the relatively short span of history and by the relatively small vertical extent of outcrops. ... In many respects we only have a two-dimensional snapshot view of the geologic process. Moreover, the interpretation of geologic data was probably influenced by the psychologic need to view the earth as a stable environment. Manifestations of current tectonism were often perceived as the last gasps of a geologically active past. Thus, subjected to the principle of least astonishment, geologic science has always tended to adopt the most static interpretation allowed by the data."
on page 279, quoting from a 1983 paper by Leonardo Seeber titled "Large Scale Thin-Skin Tectonics"( From a Zhurnal.net review, which also references that this book can be slow reading- another example of geologic time intersecting with human time, right in the little bark of these pages.) How does that tie in with this article about anthropologists in Afghanistan? It seems to me that we, or at least I, follow the principle of least astonishment when relating to others: are they not now, here and now as I meet them, as they have always been? whereas to themselves they are where they have gotten to at the moment with all their pasts, lived and unlived, behind them. What right do I have to be astonished if someone is not who I imagined them to be? well, the astonishment may be a mechanism of how human beings are, but any consequent anger, fear, outrage, disgust, etc. need to be measured against what I know about them, these other people, not what I imagine. Thus, anthropologists working with the military: take a deep breath, soldier, and wait one more moment before you shoot, and let's see if this is a threat, a risk, a situation, or a person.
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