Why can't we say that AIDS is a lifestyle disease?
I used to smoke. If I died of emphysema or lung cancer or heart disease, there are people who would have no difficulty saying it was a result of my former lifestyle. Some might even say I "deserved" it - I knew when I smoked that it was not healthy.
I am (for now) overweight. If I died of stroke or heart disease or complications of diabetes, there are people who would have no difficulty saying it was a result of my lifestyle.
People who drink to excess die of liver failure, alcohol poisoning, ruptured esophagus or kidney failure. Rarely does anyone feel constrained NOT to say that those deaths are the result of lifestyle.
AIDS is often the result of unprotected random sex or shared use of dirty needles. Yet it seems to be absolutely forbidden to say that AIDS is a lifestyle disease. Not that AIDS is a punishment for sin, or God's way of cleansing the earth of the depraved - just that AIDS might be contracted as the result of certain unadvisable behaviors. Doesn't it seem that such a stance might make it difficult to communicate how to avoid or prevent AIDS? Isn't this just a little shortsighted?
There is a big difference between pointing out that certain outcomes are the logical, often foreseeable results of certain behaviors, and saying that the outcomes are deserved or are punishment for those behaviors. If we can't talk honestly about connections between cause and effect, the future may be dangerous.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
NEWS FLASH!
Late-breaking news: this week we learned that Diana Windsor, the former Princess of Wales, killed ten years ago in a car accident, is...STILL DEAD!
There was a public memorial on the tenth anniversary of her death. Why?
I know that sounds heartless, and I'm sorry. I'm very sorry for her and her family. She was a young woman when she died, and was deprived of many years of a normal life span. Her sons, whom, by all accounts she adored, were deprived of her presence and left to the tender mercies of a father of whom the best thing that might be said is that he has difficulty putting anyone else's interests ahead of his own.
BUT: what did she really do? She was very pretty. (Not beautiful. Sophia Loren is beautiful. Audrey Hepburn was beautiful. Venus and Serena Williams are beautiful. Halle Berry - with short hair - is beautiful. Margot Fontaine was beautiful.) She wore clothes like a dream - but who wouldn't with all the time in the world to work out, a cook to put together delicious low-fat meals, and an unlimited shopping budget? She shook hands gracefully, and put on a Lucite helmet and walked through a no doubt carefully sanitized former minefield. That may be a little unfair, because she did die before she had much chance to do any work with her anti-land-mine association, but really.
She had flaws - as do we all, so that's not exceptional - and not much shame about exposing them. In fact, she did so relentlessly, and apparently with little concern about the effects her behavior might have on her sons. She was, in the current web parlance, an attention whore. Just because she managed at the same time to display some vulnerabilities and a little charm doesn't make all this extended mourning any more reasonable or understandable. Have we become so addicted to emotional extremes that we go looking for reasons to keen, beat our chests, and break out the sackcloth and ashes? Isn't there enough sadness for us in our own lives and those of our families and friends? Do we have to go on these vicarious emotional binges?
And she's going to stay dead, so are we going to have to do this again, and again, and again, and again, at the 15th, 20th, 25th (the Silver Jubilee of the Death of Diana!)and other anniversaries ad infinitum, ad nauseam?
There was a public memorial on the tenth anniversary of her death. Why?
I know that sounds heartless, and I'm sorry. I'm very sorry for her and her family. She was a young woman when she died, and was deprived of many years of a normal life span. Her sons, whom, by all accounts she adored, were deprived of her presence and left to the tender mercies of a father of whom the best thing that might be said is that he has difficulty putting anyone else's interests ahead of his own.
BUT: what did she really do? She was very pretty. (Not beautiful. Sophia Loren is beautiful. Audrey Hepburn was beautiful. Venus and Serena Williams are beautiful. Halle Berry - with short hair - is beautiful. Margot Fontaine was beautiful.) She wore clothes like a dream - but who wouldn't with all the time in the world to work out, a cook to put together delicious low-fat meals, and an unlimited shopping budget? She shook hands gracefully, and put on a Lucite helmet and walked through a no doubt carefully sanitized former minefield. That may be a little unfair, because she did die before she had much chance to do any work with her anti-land-mine association, but really.
She had flaws - as do we all, so that's not exceptional - and not much shame about exposing them. In fact, she did so relentlessly, and apparently with little concern about the effects her behavior might have on her sons. She was, in the current web parlance, an attention whore. Just because she managed at the same time to display some vulnerabilities and a little charm doesn't make all this extended mourning any more reasonable or understandable. Have we become so addicted to emotional extremes that we go looking for reasons to keen, beat our chests, and break out the sackcloth and ashes? Isn't there enough sadness for us in our own lives and those of our families and friends? Do we have to go on these vicarious emotional binges?
And she's going to stay dead, so are we going to have to do this again, and again, and again, and again, at the 15th, 20th, 25th (the Silver Jubilee of the Death of Diana!)and other anniversaries ad infinitum, ad nauseam?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
All the trouble in the world...
A news story I heard this morning - about the cruelly unsuccessful forced urbanization of Bedouins in Israel - started me thinking again about something that has occurred to me on and off before.
I think probably all, but for sure at least ninety per cent, of the trouble in the world can be attributed to nation-states' attempts to impose national structure on basically tribal societies.
From the macro view, it explains so much. A tribe is from a relatively circumscribed geographic area. The members are relatively homogeneous in physical appearance, morals, ethics, mores and behavior. Tribes are suspicious, often to the point of fatal hostility, of non-members (if the stories are true, think of how many tribes' names for themselves translated simply to "people" and their names for other groups to "not people.")
Think of:
The former Yugoslavia - fine while Tito and the Soviet Union were around to keep the lid on, but as soon as those control factors disappeared, all the former tribes started right back in killing each other. And they'd had a number of years in forced proximity to incubate their animosity.
Greeks and Turks - they have at least reached a mutual accommodation now, but for years, this was one of the most deadly feuds in the world.
Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland - again, while there is a (so far) long-standing cease-fire, these two groups spent decades attempting to wipe each other out.
The continent of Africa - sadly, many populations of Africa seem dedicated to starving, blowing up, killing with thirst, shooting, and otherwise wiping out most of the rest of the continent. The Hutu/Tutsi conflict, the warlords in Somalia, and the genocide in Darfur are all, I think, the result of a basically tribal mentality, which says that those who are "not like us" must be exterminated, since they may be dangerous. But nation-states like to deal with other nation-states, so all these tribes must be jammed into countries, like jigsaw puzzle pieces being smashed into spaces where they don't really fit.
The longest-running feud of all (at least to modern memory), the Arab-Jew conflict - this is truly a tribal war in every sense of the words, and has been going on apparently for the length of recorded history.
The Mexico/U.S. immigration disagreement - stay with me here, because this is one of those situations that gets complicated in the details. In the U.S., European settlers followed the Protestant/Norse/Germanic pattern with the indigenous inhabitants: burn them out, run them off, or kill them. In Mexico, settlers followed the Roman/Catholic (not Roman Catholic) pattern: assimilate and exploit. That means that, in Mexico, there are numerous descendants of native tribes who were accustomed to wandering around their territories with no boundaries, no limits, and no restrictions. In the U.S. there is a population that believes strongly in boundaries, limits and restrictions, especially where territory is concerned. Mexicans don't really see any difference between this side of the Río Grande and that, so if things aren't going well on this side, no problem - go to that side. To the U.S., the WHOLE POINT is that there is a huge difference between this side and that side, and if you want to come to this side, you need to follow the rules. This is exacerbated by the fact that so often Mexicans look - um, well, different. They speak, you know, a different language. They're not like us. Probably dangerous.
Red states/blue states - possibly an extreme application of this theory, but it still has possibilities. To red staters, blue staters talk funny, dress funny, eat strange food, make fun of "us," think they're so smart, want to keep "us" from driving what "we" want to, won't let "us" pray even when "we" want to, try to keep God out of the public debate, and on and on. To blue staters, red staters talk funny, dress funny, eat strange (and unhealthy) food, want to make "us" go to church and pray even if "we" don't want to, insist on driving gas-guzzling exhaust-belchers and defiling the earth, air and water, want to put God and the preacher in "our" bedrooms, and on and on. To red staters and blue staters, the others are not like us. Probably dangerous.
Tribal differences. All the trouble in the world. And I think things won't get better until we start to understand that the tribal mentality is basic to human behavior - probably hardwired into us - and figure out ways to deal with it.
I think probably all, but for sure at least ninety per cent, of the trouble in the world can be attributed to nation-states' attempts to impose national structure on basically tribal societies.
From the macro view, it explains so much. A tribe is from a relatively circumscribed geographic area. The members are relatively homogeneous in physical appearance, morals, ethics, mores and behavior. Tribes are suspicious, often to the point of fatal hostility, of non-members (if the stories are true, think of how many tribes' names for themselves translated simply to "people" and their names for other groups to "not people.")
Think of:
The former Yugoslavia - fine while Tito and the Soviet Union were around to keep the lid on, but as soon as those control factors disappeared, all the former tribes started right back in killing each other. And they'd had a number of years in forced proximity to incubate their animosity.
Greeks and Turks - they have at least reached a mutual accommodation now, but for years, this was one of the most deadly feuds in the world.
Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland - again, while there is a (so far) long-standing cease-fire, these two groups spent decades attempting to wipe each other out.
The continent of Africa - sadly, many populations of Africa seem dedicated to starving, blowing up, killing with thirst, shooting, and otherwise wiping out most of the rest of the continent. The Hutu/Tutsi conflict, the warlords in Somalia, and the genocide in Darfur are all, I think, the result of a basically tribal mentality, which says that those who are "not like us" must be exterminated, since they may be dangerous. But nation-states like to deal with other nation-states, so all these tribes must be jammed into countries, like jigsaw puzzle pieces being smashed into spaces where they don't really fit.
The longest-running feud of all (at least to modern memory), the Arab-Jew conflict - this is truly a tribal war in every sense of the words, and has been going on apparently for the length of recorded history.
The Mexico/U.S. immigration disagreement - stay with me here, because this is one of those situations that gets complicated in the details. In the U.S., European settlers followed the Protestant/Norse/Germanic pattern with the indigenous inhabitants: burn them out, run them off, or kill them. In Mexico, settlers followed the Roman/Catholic (not Roman Catholic) pattern: assimilate and exploit. That means that, in Mexico, there are numerous descendants of native tribes who were accustomed to wandering around their territories with no boundaries, no limits, and no restrictions. In the U.S. there is a population that believes strongly in boundaries, limits and restrictions, especially where territory is concerned. Mexicans don't really see any difference between this side of the Río Grande and that, so if things aren't going well on this side, no problem - go to that side. To the U.S., the WHOLE POINT is that there is a huge difference between this side and that side, and if you want to come to this side, you need to follow the rules. This is exacerbated by the fact that so often Mexicans look - um, well, different. They speak, you know, a different language. They're not like us. Probably dangerous.
Red states/blue states - possibly an extreme application of this theory, but it still has possibilities. To red staters, blue staters talk funny, dress funny, eat strange food, make fun of "us," think they're so smart, want to keep "us" from driving what "we" want to, won't let "us" pray even when "we" want to, try to keep God out of the public debate, and on and on. To blue staters, red staters talk funny, dress funny, eat strange (and unhealthy) food, want to make "us" go to church and pray even if "we" don't want to, insist on driving gas-guzzling exhaust-belchers and defiling the earth, air and water, want to put God and the preacher in "our" bedrooms, and on and on. To red staters and blue staters, the others are not like us. Probably dangerous.
Tribal differences. All the trouble in the world. And I think things won't get better until we start to understand that the tribal mentality is basic to human behavior - probably hardwired into us - and figure out ways to deal with it.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The homeland?
Every time I hear someone talk about "Homeland Security" or "attacks on the homeland," I expect to have to go to a May Day missile parade or click my heels and say, "Sieg heil."
When did we start to have a "homeland"? I have a home. I bought it and am still paying for it. I have a country. It's only a coincidence, because I was born here, but I love it anyway. But a homeland? That's something from a bad spy movie or an over-the-top drama about the evil German colonel with a monocle and a riding crop. ("Ve must defend ze homeland against all invaders!" "Sieg heil, Herr Colonel!")
I don't want a homeland. I liked having a home and a country. I want to go back to having a country. Let the movie Nazis and Russians have a homeland. Please give me back my country.
When did we start to have a "homeland"? I have a home. I bought it and am still paying for it. I have a country. It's only a coincidence, because I was born here, but I love it anyway. But a homeland? That's something from a bad spy movie or an over-the-top drama about the evil German colonel with a monocle and a riding crop. ("Ve must defend ze homeland against all invaders!" "Sieg heil, Herr Colonel!")
I don't want a homeland. I liked having a home and a country. I want to go back to having a country. Let the movie Nazis and Russians have a homeland. Please give me back my country.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
My Own TV Channel
If you had your own TV channel, how would you program it?
Mine would carry:
Marx Brothers movies
The Three Stooges, but only episodes with Curly. No Shemp or that other guy.
I Love Lucy
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Bob Newhart Show (the show from the 70s, with Suzanne Pleshette)
Star Trek - all of them
Tremors, but only the original, not Tremors II, III or IV
1950s B monster movies - heavy on Godzilla and his buddies
Plan 9 from Outer Space - bad enough to get its own time slot
Star Wars - the first movie, now known as Episode IV
Abbott and Costello
Classic Disney animation (we're assuming I could afford the enormous licensing fees I would have to pay)
Of course, the classic "Disneyland" TV series
Die Hard I
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Carol Burnett Show
A&E's version of Pride and Prejudice
The Dean Martin Show
Maybe the Ed Sullivan Show
The Alan Shepard launch, the John Glenn launch, and the Apollo 11 launch and moon landing
Have Gun, Will Travel
Maverick
Topper - the TV series
The Red Skelton Show
I Married Joan
December Bride
Bachelor Father
The People's Choice
Magnum PI
Soap
The Rockford Files
77 Sunset Strip
Cannon
The Saint
Mannix
There are more - I will add to this as I think of them.
Mine would carry:
Marx Brothers movies
The Three Stooges, but only episodes with Curly. No Shemp or that other guy.
I Love Lucy
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Bob Newhart Show (the show from the 70s, with Suzanne Pleshette)
Star Trek - all of them
Tremors, but only the original, not Tremors II, III or IV
1950s B monster movies - heavy on Godzilla and his buddies
Plan 9 from Outer Space - bad enough to get its own time slot
Star Wars - the first movie, now known as Episode IV
Abbott and Costello
Classic Disney animation (we're assuming I could afford the enormous licensing fees I would have to pay)
Of course, the classic "Disneyland" TV series
Die Hard I
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Carol Burnett Show
A&E's version of Pride and Prejudice
The Dean Martin Show
Maybe the Ed Sullivan Show
The Alan Shepard launch, the John Glenn launch, and the Apollo 11 launch and moon landing
Have Gun, Will Travel
Maverick
Topper - the TV series
The Red Skelton Show
I Married Joan
December Bride
Bachelor Father
The People's Choice
Magnum PI
Soap
The Rockford Files
77 Sunset Strip
Cannon
The Saint
Mannix
There are more - I will add to this as I think of them.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Back after a month (almost)
I can't believe it's been this long since I last posted. After that experience trying to write, I sort of backed off. Talk about writer's block. Nausea when you try? Truly stupid.
It has been RAINING here for 40 days by official weather bureau count. I haven't been able to ride for at least that long. BORING. And it doesn't look like stopping any time soon. We seem to be caught in a cycle of rain, evaporate, moisture goes back into the atmosphere, rain, evaporate...
I'm worried about Linda, if it doesn't stop raining so she can hold some classes. Like any enterprise, a riding school can only go so long without bringing in some income. This is why I HATE being poor. It would be so nice to be able to help friends out.
So.
Here is San Antonio in a nutshell: a mariachi wearing a Spurs championship cap. Backwards. Because the group was playing for the city celebration. I love this town. Got to work the championship parade on the river. Got to get clos(er)to the players, although not that much closer. Still, I was THERE and only at the top of the Arneson River Theater instead of sitting at home watching on TV.
We went to see Plácido Domingo perform. Oh my God. I don't care how old he is, I don't care if his voice isn't still in its prime. He was wonderful. He sang "Granada" for one of his encores and it made me cry. He also had a mariachi (not the same one as for the Spurs parade) that performed during his encores and it's easy to see where his heart is. He was magnificent during the opera selections, but absolutely moving during the encores, when he sang zarzuela, folk songs and mariachi.
Oh, how amazing. The National Weather Service has just issued a flash flood warning. Just imagine. And after only 40 days of rain. For this they interrupted a rerun of "M*A*S*H"?
Off to wring out my hair and smooth my gills down.
It has been RAINING here for 40 days by official weather bureau count. I haven't been able to ride for at least that long. BORING. And it doesn't look like stopping any time soon. We seem to be caught in a cycle of rain, evaporate, moisture goes back into the atmosphere, rain, evaporate...
I'm worried about Linda, if it doesn't stop raining so she can hold some classes. Like any enterprise, a riding school can only go so long without bringing in some income. This is why I HATE being poor. It would be so nice to be able to help friends out.
So.
Here is San Antonio in a nutshell: a mariachi wearing a Spurs championship cap. Backwards. Because the group was playing for the city celebration. I love this town. Got to work the championship parade on the river. Got to get clos(er)to the players, although not that much closer. Still, I was THERE and only at the top of the Arneson River Theater instead of sitting at home watching on TV.
We went to see Plácido Domingo perform. Oh my God. I don't care how old he is, I don't care if his voice isn't still in its prime. He was wonderful. He sang "Granada" for one of his encores and it made me cry. He also had a mariachi (not the same one as for the Spurs parade) that performed during his encores and it's easy to see where his heart is. He was magnificent during the opera selections, but absolutely moving during the encores, when he sang zarzuela, folk songs and mariachi.
Oh, how amazing. The National Weather Service has just issued a flash flood warning. Just imagine. And after only 40 days of rain. For this they interrupted a rerun of "M*A*S*H"?
Off to wring out my hair and smooth my gills down.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Writing
I started writing a book this morning. The interesting thing (well, at least interesting to me) is that I have thought about this for a long time, but when I did it, it made me feel physically ill. Dizzy, nauseated (NOT nauseous, which means "nauseating" [i.e., conducing to nausea]), the whole bit. This has relatively recently become a habitual response for me to tension, conflict or nervousness. I don't like it.
I am in therapy, which is where this first started, when topics came up that were difficult to deal with. But why when I'm writing? (Incidentally, this book is not about my therapy or my traumas or anything like that. It's just a simple adventure fantasy thing.)
Maybe I'm just catching something. I can always hope.
I am in therapy, which is where this first started, when topics came up that were difficult to deal with. But why when I'm writing? (Incidentally, this book is not about my therapy or my traumas or anything like that. It's just a simple adventure fantasy thing.)
Maybe I'm just catching something. I can always hope.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
So what do you write about when you don't have anything to write about? Dullness? Write bad poetry? (Because it's so hard to write good poetry.)
Well, I could talk about how I'm going to go CRAZY if I don't get some time to myself. It seems like there is NEVER a time when somebody's not around the house. I've even gotten to where I like getting up early because nobody else is awake. It doesn't seem fair that I should have to leave my house to get away from constant company, but it looks that way. Can't take it much longer. AAAAUGH! <----- scream of agony.
There are also nine cats here. One cat is fine, he's the official household cat. The other eight are being "fostered" by one of the kids. She has raised them but now doesn't seem willing to lift a finger to get them adopted. I guess I will have to, because I WILL NOT live with 9 cats.
Then there are the six dogs. We were down to three, and that was wonderful. Then one got adopted at a dog adoption event, then I agreed to take in my mom's dog when mom had to go into a nursing home, then the nine-cat kid brought home a half-grown mutt she found wandering around her college campus.
Help.
Actually, the dogs aren't bad - they don't talk back, they're very affectionate, and they're almost always up for anything. And the ones I'm responsible for I can handle - after all, I brought them home. It's the ones that were dumped on me without my permission being asked that drive me nutty.
So, if you hear of anyone saying, "Boy, I'm just going to lose it if I don't find a kitten somewhere," direct him or her to this blog.
Well, I could talk about how I'm going to go CRAZY if I don't get some time to myself. It seems like there is NEVER a time when somebody's not around the house. I've even gotten to where I like getting up early because nobody else is awake. It doesn't seem fair that I should have to leave my house to get away from constant company, but it looks that way. Can't take it much longer. AAAAUGH! <----- scream of agony.
There are also nine cats here. One cat is fine, he's the official household cat. The other eight are being "fostered" by one of the kids. She has raised them but now doesn't seem willing to lift a finger to get them adopted. I guess I will have to, because I WILL NOT live with 9 cats.
Then there are the six dogs. We were down to three, and that was wonderful. Then one got adopted at a dog adoption event, then I agreed to take in my mom's dog when mom had to go into a nursing home, then the nine-cat kid brought home a half-grown mutt she found wandering around her college campus.
Help.
Actually, the dogs aren't bad - they don't talk back, they're very affectionate, and they're almost always up for anything. And the ones I'm responsible for I can handle - after all, I brought them home. It's the ones that were dumped on me without my permission being asked that drive me nutty.
So, if you hear of anyone saying, "Boy, I'm just going to lose it if I don't find a kitten somewhere," direct him or her to this blog.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
I cantered half a circle during my riding lesson today! In one way it's very exciting because I am getting back to it; in another it's discouraging because I have been at this point twice before and then lost ground because of piddling little injuries - not enough to keep me from riding, just enough to keep from riding correctly.
I love riding: the satisfaction when I get something right, the really wonderful kind of tired I feel after a lesson, but mostly just being with the horse. The one I ride most often is Oscar, a brown and white paint with a black mane and tail. He was abused when he was younger (someone used a wire bit on him which chopped a semicircle out of the side of his tongue) and took a lot of work when he first came to the stable but now he is a sweetheart. The only thing he has a real problem with is having his girth tightened - he still tries to bite and kick when he thinks that's about to happen. You just have to keep an eye on him, and once the girth thing is over, he's fine again.
The story is that I am going to learn to jump. We'll see :-)) I'd rather learn dressage but I may not live that long.
I love riding: the satisfaction when I get something right, the really wonderful kind of tired I feel after a lesson, but mostly just being with the horse. The one I ride most often is Oscar, a brown and white paint with a black mane and tail. He was abused when he was younger (someone used a wire bit on him which chopped a semicircle out of the side of his tongue) and took a lot of work when he first came to the stable but now he is a sweetheart. The only thing he has a real problem with is having his girth tightened - he still tries to bite and kick when he thinks that's about to happen. You just have to keep an eye on him, and once the girth thing is over, he's fine again.
The story is that I am going to learn to jump. We'll see :-)) I'd rather learn dressage but I may not live that long.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Wow, work has been crazy. Could NOT sleep Thursday night and had to be at the grocery store at 8:00 a.m. on Friday to pick up a catering order for a groundbreaking ceremony at 10:00 that morning. Then a full day of work after that. Boy, PR is glamorous! The groundbreaking ceremony went off without a hitch although we didn't get all the media coverage anyone might have wanted.
Why I listen to books on tape instead of the radio in my car
So, to completely change the subject without any transition at all, I remembered the other day why I don't listen to Public Radio much. They were interviewing some woman, a singer who had seen Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation on global warming. She went on and on about how upset she was - she couldn't sleep for simply DAYS afterwards. Her particular form of self-torture was thinking about what coal-fired energy must do to the environment. Then she decided she must do something about this, and ever since she decided to be part of the solution, she has been serenely at peace.
What has she done to protect the globe from the depredations of man? Does she use only fluorescent light bulbs (properly disposed of when burned out, of course) and keep her thermostat at 80 degrees in summer time and 65 in the winter? Does she keep lights on only in the room she is using at the time? Does she protest at strip mines? Does she use solar? Does she contribute to research into safe nuclear energy?
No. What this person does (at least according to her interview on public radio) is to sing songs about coal mining.
Gee, thanks.
Why I listen to books on tape instead of the radio in my car
So, to completely change the subject without any transition at all, I remembered the other day why I don't listen to Public Radio much. They were interviewing some woman, a singer who had seen Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation on global warming. She went on and on about how upset she was - she couldn't sleep for simply DAYS afterwards. Her particular form of self-torture was thinking about what coal-fired energy must do to the environment. Then she decided she must do something about this, and ever since she decided to be part of the solution, she has been serenely at peace.
What has she done to protect the globe from the depredations of man? Does she use only fluorescent light bulbs (properly disposed of when burned out, of course) and keep her thermostat at 80 degrees in summer time and 65 in the winter? Does she keep lights on only in the room she is using at the time? Does she protest at strip mines? Does she use solar? Does she contribute to research into safe nuclear energy?
No. What this person does (at least according to her interview on public radio) is to sing songs about coal mining.
Gee, thanks.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
My First Ever!
Since I have decided to work on becoming a free-lance writer I think it's important to get used to expressing myself in a public forum - so what better than to start a blog? Never mind that I'm about five years behind the curve. I'll catch up.
This blog is going to be a rambler. I might talk about grammar and punctuation (I know, [[snore!]] but it's important) one time and my last riding lesson the next. I might even figure out how the two go together.
Stay tuned.
This blog is going to be a rambler. I might talk about grammar and punctuation (I know, [[snore!]] but it's important) one time and my last riding lesson the next. I might even figure out how the two go together.
Stay tuned.
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