Palmer's Dream

As I was going to the Las Vegas Aids Walk yesterday, I saw this wild brain institute building, fronted by a Palmer sign and framed by a Mardi Gras mask. I thought, "Am I dreaming?" Talk about deja-vu and goosebumps!

I've been doing the AIDS Walk here, on and off, for about 10 years. My dad was HIV positive, so, for me, this is an important cause. After having a heart attck, a local surgeon refused to perform surgery on my dad, due to his HIV status. He was afraid of contamination of the heart-lung bypass machine, plus probably himself. He mentioned contamination and my father's age as his "reasons for refusal." Due to his prejudice and refusal to perform surgery, my father had multiple heart attacks afterwards, resulting in major permanent damage to his heart. Another cardiothoracic surgeon finally, and successfully, performed the surgery. Thank you to this doctor, and shame on the first! My father died a few years ago, partly because of this and its affect on his COPD.

My dad had always been interested in the workings of the human mind, and had also gone to (pre-Katrina) New Orleans with a couple of his dear friends, before all of this. He absolutely loved his New Orleans trip. When he passed, I decided to use a Mardi Gras theme for his memorial service. My dad was always up for a party, loved cooking, music and travel. He would have loved this! People came together in a true celebration of his life, with zydeco music playing, masks, food, and joy.

So, when I approached this scene, I totally got goosebumps! Okay, Dad, I know you're here! I love you!

Anybody Interested in Stopping the Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf?

Is anybody out there interested in stopping the proposed 2010-2015 Oil and Gas Leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)? The US Department of the Interior's (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar has already held 2, and will be holding 2 more public hearings around the US. If you cannot atttend, you can watch the meeting via live webcast. The next 2 meetings will be held this coming Tuesday in Anchorage, and Thursday in New Orleans, so please spread the word quickly!

The DOI is accepting public comment via e-mail, postal and personal delivery. This is a direct quote from them:
"The MMS is seeking comment on all aspects of the new program including energy development and economic and environmental issues in the OCS areas. Comments are also requested on the specific subjects of size, timing, and location of sales and on the issues of buffer zones, revenue-sharing, and the use of unitization to limit the number of structures. The public comment period is open until September 21, 2009, pursuant to Secretary Salazar’s announcement on February 10, 2009."

You can watch videos and see Power Point presentations of the 2 already-concluded meetings, as well as get contact information from their website:
http://www.doi.gov/ocs/

So, all bloggers, please write or go to the meetings to oppose this proposed program! You can send e-comments here: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=09000064808e9d16
You are required to state your name, address and e-mail. If you want your name and/or addresses removed from public record, you need to state this at the beginning of your comment (limitations may apply, so read their rules). Here is my comment and you're welcome to copy any or all of this:

PLEASE WITHHOLD BOTH MY E-MAIL AND HOME ADDRESSES FROM THE PUBLIC RECORD, THANK YOU!

My name is _______________, United States citizen, and I am writing to oppose off-shore drilling and exploration, in the person of the 2010-2015 Oil and Gas Leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf proposed program. The original reasons for prohibiting offshore drilling (not to mention drilling in ANWR) have not changed. Think about tourism, real estate values, pollution that destroys ecosystems, our climate, and the security of our food supply. Now, put all of this in the same thoughts as offshore drilling and spills. (Spills can be caused by equipment breakdowns; natural disasters like hurricanes; deliberate acts such as terrorism, vandalism, illegal dumping, or war; and just plain, old accidents.) Obviously, they are not compatible.

Remember the Exxon Valdez disaster, anyone? This ship ran aground in March of 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. This spill killed tens of thousands of wildlife and fouled approximately 1,300 miles of beaches and surface water. It only took this one accident to create the worst environmental disaster in history. Fishermen have lost everything, homeowners have polluted land, and many Native Americans have lost their traditional way of life. All the while, the 20-year-old class-action lawsuit against wealthy Exxon is still being dragged through the courts, postponed indefinitely by Exxon Corp.’s expensive legal maneuvers to avoid settlement payments. Valdez, Alaska is still recovering. Are we really now willing to risk yet another accident?

Offshore drilling will also not magically solve the oil crisis, but it will forever change an ecosystem. Experts state the oil will not reach the market for approximately 10 years. This, obviously, will not help us now. Also, let’s not forget that oil companies have untapped reserves. Think about why they're not tapping into what they already have readily available, yet are asking us to open up yet more avenues for them to increase their profits!

As for this offshore oil helping to reduce oil prices, that’s absolutely ridiculous. The United States has only 4% of the world’s oil. Any person, company, or country that owns or controls 4% of anything, has no real power to change prices or policies. Whatever happened to common sense? The United States of America does NOT set oil prices. OPEC member nations set oil prices. The USA is not a member of OPEC, so we do NOT have any influence in setting oil prices.

Instead of spending all this time and energy on oil and gas, why aren’t we pursuing clean, renewable and sustainable energy? Could the answer possibly be the ecosystem-destroying, climate-changing, lethal combination of billions of oil and gas company product defense dollars and political influence and corruption? Hopefully, American citizens are smart enough to not be duped by the public relations of product defense that is full of lies meant to benefit and sustain the incredibly rich and powerful energy industries. Big Oil and Gas will simply do whatever it takes to keep their wealth and power.

In conclusion, I absolutely oppose the continuation of a business-as-usual energy policy, found in the current guise of the 2010-2015 Oil and Gas Leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf proposed program, that will negatively impact marine ecosystems and the environment (by indirectly increasing both greenhouse gases and the rate of climate change), and threaten the security of our food supply. Thank you for your consideration.

Late-Bloomer or Early Achiever?

Were you an early achiever, or are you a late bloomer? Please share your story.

Here's mine...
I am a late bloomer. I only began warming up in the later years of high school and college, due to illness, family and monetary problems. I had always wanted to take some type of music lessons, join the Girl Scouts, etc., but lack of money prevented me from following these dreams. Due to a long-term childhood illness, I was restricted from physical activity. So, a friend of my mom's gave me her old guitar, and I taught myself how to play chords. Another friend of hers paid for art lessons at a local museum. I was also allowed to join the percussion section of the elementary school orchestra, even though I couldn't read music. It was there I began to learn how to read music. Then, I had an awesome music teacher in 7th grade, but we moved across country 3/4 through the school year.

When in my new digs, I didn't have the same opportunities in either art or music until high school, although I did have a brief and unremarkable stint as a cheerleader in eighth grade. During freshman year, I joined the church choir and the school glee club. I learned quite a bit from the music director at school, who had no problem challenging us to sing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, or various a capella pieces while expecting us to stay on key throughout each piece. I became fairly proficient at sight-singing and singing harmony, even improvising a bit. Once in a while, when improvising at home, I used to sing off-key purposefully just to razz my mom.

Once I started college, though, aside from music theory, and a course each in sight singing, voice and piano, I was still essentially a beginner in all. I had also been extremely busy working all through both high school and college to pay for my tuition, holding down two part-time jobs during the semester and one full-time and one part-time job during summer vacation. There was no extra time or money for more music lessons.

As for art, I took classes in drawing, graphic design and photography at college. I worked hard to develop both my eye and visual thinking, and continued taking classes long after I got my degree. I graduated in 3-1/2 years with honors. However, music went by the wayside for decades, as did art after I moved away from my second home-town.

Now, I expend most of my energy just to get through my workday. I still have grand aspirations to buy camera equipment and learn a new instrument, along with taking music lessons in guitar, piano and voice. Of course, money is an issue, as well as my draining job. When I do have energy after work, I write poetry, essays, and this blog, as writing takes little physical energy. So, now I want to work on art, music and writing. I wish humans didn't need sleep, as this would solve the time issue, at least.

I feel like I'm ready to soar creatively, and hope to use my summer vacation to work on my creative pursuits. There are so many wonderful connections among all the arts, that maybe I'll create multi-media pieces and use them to create positive change. All of this, of course, can make someone crazy. Yet I just read the following quote today on www.violinist.com, posted by Roland Garrison: "Sanity is the refuge of those who have chosen not to exceed their limits. Use it as a launch point, not a goal." He is so right! So, I say to all late bloomers: we're not crazy! We're simply, finally, reaching for our dreams...better late, than never!

So, now, what's your story?

May Women Wear Hats Indoors?

Well, this post was prompted by my boss informing me that teachers in my school district are not allowed to wear hats indoors. I had received many compliments on my hats from my colleagues, students, and their parents, as they were classy, elegant, and well-coordinated with the rest of my professional attire.

When an adult is elegantly or classily dressed, this has traditionally included a hat. We are no longer in the hippy or grunge generation, both of which temporarily eclipsed the wearing of hats with a much more casual, uncovered head look, along with helping to create a concomitant increase in skin cancer. Hats are, however, making a comeback. They are increasingly being seen on the heads of many fashionable, professional people.

If one looks at milliner's websites or reads etiquette books, unlike hat etiquette for men, ladies most certainly do wear their hats indoors. Traditionally-styled women's hats (as opposed to gender-neutral baseball caps and cowboy hats) are considered a fashionable part of a woman's complete daytime outfit, and as such, remain on the head both indoors and outdoors.

"Hat head" results when ladies remove their hats, is often unattractive and may also look unprofessional. Personally, I'm embarrassed by hat head and would prefer to look both nice and professional. Unlike my employer, hat etiquette spares ladies like myself this embarrassment by allowing us to keep our hats on indoors, since many of us do wear them outdoors to prevent skin cancer (which, in my case, runs in my family).

Wearing hats outdoors is healthy, and they do help prevent skin cancer. Please don't say, "Well, you can always wear sunscreen." Up to approximately 56% of liquids that you put on your skin, including lotions like sunscreen, are absorbed into one's bloodstream and go directly to the major organs. I prefer to cover my head with a hat, rather than expose my body to nasty chemicals. Hats are passive solar protection that keep you warm in winter, cool in summer and help prevent skin cancer. Some hats even carry an SPF 50+ label, the highest possible SPF rating for a hat.

The American Cancer Society has stated that 1 in 5 people will develop some form of the fastest growing type of cancer in America: skin cancer. Most people receive most of their sun exposure before age 18, and skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in young women ages 25-29. Therefore, schools should encourage all of their students to wear hats, as a form of preventive medicine.

I believe that teachers model, not only learning behaviors, but proper personal hygiene and dress, as well as interpersonal behavior. Hats can be used to teach history, manners, and etiquette. As teachers are models of behavior for their students, shouldn't we be modeling the idea that wearing hats is cool and fashionable, as well as a useful protection against skin cancer?

My classroom behavior program also includes teaching traditional signs of respect, such as the custom that boys and gentlemen wait to allow girls and ladies the chance to enter a room ahead of them. All children stop to allow an adult to pass in front of them, as a sign of respect. The entire behavioral emphasis in my classroom is one of respect, consideration and encouragement of others. I have taught my students ladies' hat etiquette, as well. I have done all of this, without the distraction, but the assistance of a hat worn atop my head, both outdoors and indoors.

What are your thoughts about all of this? Should employers continue to go against traditional rules of etiquette and forbid female employees to wear hats indoors, as part of the dress code? Should employers change their dress code to allow, or even encourage, their employees to wear hats as a form of preventive medicine? At the same time, should they also follow the traditional custom of hat etiquette and allow their female employees to wear their hats indoors so as to spare them the embarrassment of hat head?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Here's part of an online ad for fashion-trendy hats for women:
"...Proudly carries Betmar's CCMAC 50+ SPF tag, in association with The Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Campaign. Hats are in, Save your skin, Be sunsmart!" (http://www.delmonicohatter.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=HATWOM)

Here's the Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Website:
http://www.ccmac.org/our_story.html

The North Pacific Gyre - the Texas-Sized Plastic Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean

Please watch this 7 minute, 20 second talk from TED (which is my favorite website to visit to learn new and interesting things):



Reduce - Reuse - Recycle. BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag...to the store, any store, when shopping. Buy a reusable bottle and carry your liquids in it, instead of using innumerable plastic bottles. Do anything you can to avoid using plastic. This includes the much-beloved balloons people, especially children, love and which frequently fly away to parts unknown...ending in the guts of both land and ocean animals who thought they were food, to their demise. When you avoid plastics, you'll help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, to boot.

In the same vein, avoid polyester fabrics, buy cotton and linen clothing and linens, buy vintage or antique items. Go to your neighborhood thrift store, contribute to a charity, reuse things and help save our environment at the same time! My favorite thrift store is Savers! I also love e-Bay, as this is a great marketplace for vintage and antique items. What's cool, is that the things you buy have a history, instead of just buying something new, using it, and then throwing it away. Bonus...products produced from natural sources tend to be much healthier for our bodies and our environment. The same thing goes for what you ingest and put on your skin. Chemicals found in shampoos, lotions and underarm deodorants like aluminum, parabens and sodium laurel/laureth sulfates are not good for people. Up to and around 56% of what you put on your body is absorbed directly into your blood stream and is ferried straight into your body's major organs. Genetically modified organisms are not good for us and most people have never even heard of them, never mind know just how many of the products that they eat contain them. The gyre is simply the tip of the iceburg.

Also watch the great, fast-paced 20-minute animated video on the stuff we buy, sell and use in our daily lives. Look for it further down the sidebar of this blog. It's from http://www.storyofstuff.com/.

Violence in Mexico

The United States hasn't been serious about the violence in Mexico because it would hurt our own government and corporate economic interests. Decades of putting our heads in the sand and a refusal to use a combination of diplomacy and economic sanctions to pressure the Mexican government to fight corruption and reign in their drug cartels, have all contributed to the anarchy and violence that is spilling over the border into our own country. Instead, we pushed fair trade and our corporations built manufacturing plants. "Fair" trade and human rights don't generally go hand-in-hand.

Let's close our manufacturing plants in Mexico. The Mexican government cannot protect the maquiladoras who work in them - over 470 women and girls have been killed in Juarez, Mexico. Over 100 journalists have been killed by drug cartel people, some of the victims thrown to the lions...literally. Over 1,600 people, including US journalists and citizens, were kidnapped and killed just last year. The corrupt government of Mexico can't and won't control its criminals and allows them to act with impunity, because the criminals also include the police, military and government officials, themselves. At the end of this post, please read the more detailed information on the inexplicable arrest of over 45 women in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico. Many of them were tortured and repeatedly raped by their arresting officers and held for over a week without bail. The government has purposefully refused to pursue any investigation of these arrests, rapes, tortures, and detentions since they occurred in May, 2006.

The United States government should recommend that all US corporations and non-profits discontinue all operations and pull their employees out of Mexico for their safety. We can use the production jobs to increase our own GDP and humanitarian assistance here in our own country during own rough fiscal times, anyway. Our country should refuse to send any aid or assistance to Mexico until the government pursues the prosecution and detention of all guilty parties involved in the drug cartels, violence and human rights violations in their country. This should help motivate the Mexican government to actually do something significant about the violence. We should be doing something to protect American citizens in border towns on our side of the border, as well. Our reporters and government should also be telling American citizens the truth about the extremely high levels of violence being perpetrated right on our doorstep!

Check out some of the interesting first-hand accounts of life in Juarez, Mexico and across from it in El Paso, Texas, USA on this CNN blog:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/26/this-is-not-the-mexico-i-remember/

Information of the women of Atenco, Mexico, plus a request to write a politely-worded letter to Mexico's Attorney General demanding justice for these victims of human rights violations:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/the-women-of-atenco/page.do?id=1361019

UPDATE 3/7/09
I just learned that an 18-year-old girl, a cousin of a collegue, was murdered by drug cartel members a week ago in Chihuahua, Mexico; she was an innocent bystander. My collegue has stated she would absolutely not travel to Mexico at this time because of the extent of the violence, much of which is not publicized north of the border to United States citizens. This violence includes grenades being thrown into crowds, as well as kidnappings for ransom. If you're thinking of traveling to Mexico, please think twice.

9-11 and Pearl Harbor Were Not the Only Attacks on US Soil

I was doing research on the Austro-Hungarian Empire when I came across the following information: the United States was attacked on its own soil by German saboteurs long before the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center or the multiple attacks on 9-11. During World War I, there were three attacks on American soil by German saboteurs.

The first was at the Black Tom munitions plant on Black Tom Island, part of Jersey City, NJ on July 30, 1916. German agents sabotaged ammunition supplies to prevent the Allies, especially the British, from using the American-made materials to continue their blockade of German troops during WWI. The first and largest ammunition explosion would have registered between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale, was felt as far away as Philadelphia, and was heard in Maryland and Connecticut. Fragments from the explosion tore into the Statue of Liberty (after which the arm was permanently closed to the public), and the concussion broke windows as far away as as Times Square in NYC. The explosion killed 4 people.

The successful attack at Black Tom emboldened German agents to stage a second attack on US soil at the Montreal-based Canadian Car and Foundry Company at Kingsland (now known as Lyndhurst), New Jersey. The Foundry had large munitions contracts with Britain and Russia. The Kingsland Explosion occurred in what is now known as the New Jersey Meadowlands on January 11, 1917 and leveled the entire munitions plant, which had been supplying arms to the Allies. Although Germany never admitted guilt in the Kingsland Explosion, the government paid reparations to the United States in the 1950's.

In March, 1917, the third sabotage attack was at the US Naval Shipyard at Mare Island, CA, 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, during which explosive-filled munitions barges exploded, killing 6 and injuring 31.

All three sabotage attacks were not publicized at the time, although President Woodrow Wilson, who had campaigned for re-election in 1916 on an anti-war platform, was well aware of them. He won re-election by a narrow margin. Had news of the first attack been widely publicized to American citizens, the results of this close election may have been different. Nevertheless, these escalating sabotage attacks by German agents on US munitions sites contributed to the decision made by the United States to join forces with the Allies and enter WWI on April 16, 1917.

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigations/607_sabotage.html

Mugabe's Zimbabwe: A Reign of Poverty, Hunger and Cholera

President Robert Mugabe refuses to step down, even though he lost the 2008 election. Since he came into office, Zimbabwe has experienced hyperinflation and a complete breakdown of its health care, agriculture, education, water treatment, energy, and other basic infrastructures. His policies have caused the starvation, illness and death of thousands of people, left many homeless and without jobs to earn a living wage. His ruling party has terrorized the population through the use of imprisonment, torture and death to enforce his will. Just a few days ago, Zimbabwe abandoned its currency to allow people to use other currencies to pay for goods and services, and to conduct business. The Zimbabwean government will be paying its workers in US Dollars.

In Zimbabwe, the cholera epidemic has already killed an estimated 3,000 people, and has rapidly become a global threat as Zimbabweans attempt to reach the safety and security of neighboring countries, predominantly as illegal immigrants. Those who travel to receive adequate medical care often die along the way, or soon after they reach overflowing hospitals.

Nearly 3 million people have left the country in the past decade. Those Zimbabweans who now want to legally leave the country can no longer afford the exorbitant passport fees. This affects many people, including those who were slated to go to University outside the country and business people who trade with neighboring countries for necessary goods. As for starvation in Zimbabwe, the World Food Program has estimated approximately 7 million people, or 75% of the population, need food aid. WFP has halved cereal rations in order to feed more people.

Hopefully, when the new unity, all-party government begins rule on February 13, 2009, many of these horrible problems will be addressed and eventually remedied. However, I'm not going to hold my breath.

For basic information on Zimbabwe, read this from the CIA Factbook:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html

For additional information, read this BBC News article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2776719.stm

This link will provide you with information about cholera:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82608

These IRIN articles are about the high passport fees and starvation:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82515
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82458
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82649