tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77880709796553467142024-03-10T20:22:48.330-07:00Lorinz MuzeOne petite woman's journeyLorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-25097899658942054492023-12-27T12:29:00.000-08:002023-12-27T12:29:47.522-08:00Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year! I hope this letter finds you in good health, spirits, and living a life you love.
Retirement year-2 has been full of travel and fun. Here is how my year went:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9DJwe6pxbBI-CobNBE8mYyR5kujHoItiELbfk8xTAvvOmREEzKngCDsv0xMPZn9dC5cFIybVlMtXDzQ04pVyatlF8h2AACSOV_kRDubsYcBHrn6I_emf48F0Qr80EmwzXSmzJ0nB0TpWup8ADRem9mdZyviK2dZV56ye8ITxyPeoW_UeMTNKYubyLt_I/s4032/LB@Stonehenge.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9DJwe6pxbBI-CobNBE8mYyR5kujHoItiELbfk8xTAvvOmREEzKngCDsv0xMPZn9dC5cFIybVlMtXDzQ04pVyatlF8h2AACSOV_kRDubsYcBHrn6I_emf48F0Qr80EmwzXSmzJ0nB0TpWup8ADRem9mdZyviK2dZV56ye8ITxyPeoW_UeMTNKYubyLt_I/s200/LB@Stonehenge.jpeg"/></a></div>A NY Times article enticed. I texted sister Gina in the waning days of January, “Would you be interested in an Amsterdam rendezvous?” That led to a 10-day, spring excursion to Amsterdam and London. Amsterdam RIJKS Museum held a Vermeer (one Dutch Master) exhibit: 28 of the known 36 paintings. 450,000 tickets sold out worldwide, in 4 days. We also toured the Van Gogh museum, discovered creamy eggs (YUM), visited the Hague to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring (who had already returned home from the RIJKS), admired the works of numerous Dutch Masters, hunted down a Dutch Baby (which is, as we discovered, not Dutch but German), ate Dutch pancakes (like a humongous crêpe - served sweet or savory), and walked, and walked, and walked.
We arrived in London nearly 2-weeks prior to the King’s coronation and stayed near the Paddington station and Kensington Palace. Eating fish and chips at a local pub on our first night, we then vowed to eat international cuisine for all subsequent meals. What an adventure - and such ono grinds (good food)! BIL Michael and I were London neophytes so we played tourist: British Museum (I got totally waylaid in the Polynesian halls by Hoa Hakananai-a Moai stone figure from Rapa Nui and by Capt. Cook artifacts from Hawaii), London Tower and Bridge, the Shard, etc. We also visited the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, which is ground zero for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6iP5h3uH13X_af-NmY7U9X0mlI446RWthLP_g_eqsz3nw0IiOEAEJvdkaQl_1sAbuLUBq9BS1xYm33sNJchI2x9-GLTz8LdDulmZFMAsOh4zPODF9KQU_r1JN9ffrrWY-cpY_yAsmAH1n7-duwbnYpn_KXKrjAi5IwQ6fOvyWgFsh0H2VEGBIQynrT01Y/s4032/Chun%20Clan.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6iP5h3uH13X_af-NmY7U9X0mlI446RWthLP_g_eqsz3nw0IiOEAEJvdkaQl_1sAbuLUBq9BS1xYm33sNJchI2x9-GLTz8LdDulmZFMAsOh4zPODF9KQU_r1JN9ffrrWY-cpY_yAsmAH1n7-duwbnYpn_KXKrjAi5IwQ6fOvyWgFsh0H2VEGBIQynrT01Y/s200/Chun%20Clan.jpeg"/></a></div>I made two trips to Oahu. My first trip coincided with the visit of niece Lael and her family. They are all active and beautiful. The triplets will turn six and Alanna, eight, in 2024.
I camped in Yosemite five different weeks. Two were volunteer weeks, one doing trail maintenance on an obscure trail between Tioga Pass Rd and the Hetch Hetchty reservoir. I climbed to Sierra Point, an old trail closed by rockfall in the 70’s. It’s a steep 1/2 mile and the real task is in sniffing out the old trail after crossing a boulder field. But the view… 5 waterfalls from a single perch: Vernal, Nevada, Illilouette, Yosemite, and Little Yosemite falls. It was worth all the effort and every scrape. I was also in the park twice with the Chinese Pilgrimage, a program that honors the work of the Chinese in literally building Yosemite NP.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnvZPEg62sf6Gp0jkys_CpIGZG0-kvnZ8ULIEoeiTY6hIQNkOIvQ-VkU8OV-XDGEG1jf3P3X32-4NTjDBNoq4Unqn4KZVwBPp-4O7k-nsP94Fmf7SA-8xpPhhAvvIoDdwNTKnMlSEPxLZyez5Otu5I2sfSvS-LZjjWeUDT3YU2AkPWwyjjv5Aj4mRmG4W/s14702/Sierra%20Pt%20pano.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="3844" data-original-width="14702" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnvZPEg62sf6Gp0jkys_CpIGZG0-kvnZ8ULIEoeiTY6hIQNkOIvQ-VkU8OV-XDGEG1jf3P3X32-4NTjDBNoq4Unqn4KZVwBPp-4O7k-nsP94Fmf7SA-8xpPhhAvvIoDdwNTKnMlSEPxLZyez5Otu5I2sfSvS-LZjjWeUDT3YU2AkPWwyjjv5Aj4mRmG4W/s320/Sierra%20Pt%20pano.jpeg"/></a></div>I began hiking with two new groups. The German Hiking Club was started over 40-years ago in Grass Valley, about 90-minutes north of me. They hike in areas completely unfamiliar to me and that is attractive. I am also learning to guide hikes in the Sutter Buttes (Histum Yani or Middle Mountain to the native peoples). That has me hiking in the mountains twice a week or more - and that makes me happy.
To that end, I walk 5-6 miles on most days. When I’m training for something, I add ankle weights and a weighted backpack (a not-so-new activity newly named “rucking”).
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQA-9A558LMaC6Jcsj_bn7ISmqAlMoSx3_fhabyQNa5tDK3LtkrNhZ6XM20aQJcUytdKM7VNyEEAAoMgntH3YRxfoPhsy74kHPGaOVj-TvfbFnQzMF-GKhZSKT33_J8A7IUvyUIvfZ3r1wZD0lHKO1jKrDYdwWu12XoK1waFgNQxYPL13121Ill3Ogs8l/s3088/LB%20Flying.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="1737" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQA-9A558LMaC6Jcsj_bn7ISmqAlMoSx3_fhabyQNa5tDK3LtkrNhZ6XM20aQJcUytdKM7VNyEEAAoMgntH3YRxfoPhsy74kHPGaOVj-TvfbFnQzMF-GKhZSKT33_J8A7IUvyUIvfZ3r1wZD0lHKO1jKrDYdwWu12XoK1waFgNQxYPL13121Ill3Ogs8l/s200/LB%20Flying.jpeg"/></a></div>My ukulele band, renamed Ka Pili (the Connection), is refocusing our sound after our friend and bandmate Malia moved to Fremont, CA. (Lotta tears shed by all ovah dat one).
I also continue to perfect my gluten-free baking - just for the heck of it.
Los Gatos (the cats): Cali quietly passed at 21 years on Dec 14th. The boys: Koa
Manoa and KeaMoku (6yo) - are delightful as ever and grow more affectionate with age.
Favorite binges of 2023? Netflix docu-series on The Blue Zones, those 5 global areas that contain an unusual concentration of centenarians. The series looks for commonalities. Best Book: Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia. This book distills the commonalities of the Blue Zone denizens into increasing “healthspan” vs lifespan in suburbia. How do we get there? Can we reap the benefits of a long, healthy life outside of the Blue Zones? How do we replicate their lifestyle in the burbs? This book is fascinating despite being dense with medical jargon.
What’s on tap for 2024?
Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim in late February. I will definitely kick up my weight training, stair running, maybe even hiking in the Sierra w/ankle weights as Day-3 will be 17-miles with vertical elevation gain and loss.
Honolulu in March for a family reunion and to commit Aunt Sandra’s ashes to the ocean.
Joshua Tree NP with friends in early April for the spring bloom.
Mt Fuji in September. It’s a staircase = more stair training.
Lots of ukulele rehearsals as Kimi and I get deep into duet-mode.
I am thankful for good friends, a wonderful cat-sitter, and good health. Eh - how you? I would love to hear.
May you live fully and prosper in 2024. Love and Aloha ~LorinLorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-32881912795540655572023-01-06T14:16:00.002-08:002023-01-10T16:19:04.972-08:00Hau'oli Makakhiki Hou! Happy New Year!Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! = Happy New Year! I hope this holiday season finds you and yours happy, healthy, and creating a life you love aka “Vitality at every age and stage.”
In 2022, I did get some bucket list travel done by visiting Nepal and hiking into the famed Khumbu Valley, home of Sagarmatha (Mt Everest). In April we followed in the footsteps of famous climbers and trekked part of that trail. John (NP classmate and a favorite traveling companion) and I joined a group of ten for this trek. Our guide was Gary - with whom we previously hiked in the Dolomites. Three Sherpas guided and guarded us. Our bags were carried by jōkpë: a cow/yak cross, that is larger than a cow but more docile than a yak. So we hiked with lighter day packs and enjoyed the views. Our lodges were part of a new franchise on the route, Yeti Mountain Homes. Our rooms were private with hot showers but only when the sun shone sufficiently for solar hot water. At some point around 15,000 feet elevation, the trail curves around the spine of a mountain and the upper valley is visible all the way to Sagarmatha (Mt Ev). The famed Temboche Gumpa (monastery) was ahead on the right and Ama Dablam hung over that side of the valley. The Lhotse ridge hid Nuptse to the left. Sagarmatha took center stage, cloud plume blowing off her summit. Lohtse on the right. It was breathtaking - the best moment of my trip.
All my training seemed to payoff. I walked 6-8 miles daily with light backpack and ankle weights. Additionally, I hiked in the Sierra, at altitude weekly. That translated into a very pleasant trip.
In late June I did a horse packing trip into the Emigrant Wilderness, just north of the Yosemite border. It was peak mosquito season and the only thing I will say about the trip is that I would rather walk 15 miles than ride them.
Early August, I joined with a group of 22 Chinese people on a 3-day pilgrimage to climb Sing Peak, on the southern Yosemite National Park (NP) border. Tai Sing was a famous hi-country chef who cooked for the historic Mather Mountain Party of 1915 (google it) at the inception of the National Parks system. There were many Chinese people that worked in the areas now known as Yosemite, Sequoia, and King’s Canyon NPs; their story is now being told in Yosemite NP. It was a fun trip and all the youngins usually spoke several dialects of Chinese! I’m sooo jealous!
Of course I volunteered in Yosemite for a week and we camped in my new, favorite campground = White Wolf. It was a historic summer home for the indigenous Miwok and Awahneechee tribes - and trust me, they occupied all the best places. Lots of ground rock grindstones near the river and bat caves nearby. For the 3rd year I worked on Tuolumne Meadows restoration and learned to use a 100-year-old cross cut saw - mannn it almost cut on its own; through downed tree trunks like butdah.
Lastly, in December John and I met friends in Joshua Tree NP - a designated “dark sky” area in the USA. We happened to be there during the Geminids Meteor Shower. Yowza! Shooting stars every 10-15 seconds! And man it was cold. I slept with my 20-degree sleeping bag inside another bag.
I tore out my front lawn this year and put in a drought-tolerant, low-water-use, Asian garden. Still planting - but the gist is in.
I continue to play ukulele and my band combined with my ukulele teachers band for summer and Christmas gigs. So fun!
Best books Bacon read in 2022:
Kareem Abdul Jabar is a devout Holmesian and is co-writing prequels to the Sherlock Holmes novels penned by Sir Conan Doyle. They are very true to Holmes history and are delightful in every way. I’ve become a KAJ fan.
American Scandal is my fave 2022 podcast. I have lived through many of these “scandals” but lacked details and did not follow them to conclusion. It covers subjects like Iran/Contra, Theranos, Edward Snowden, Hare Krishna, Waco, Exon Valdez, etc. Super, super interesting.
What’s on tap for 2023?
The Jane and Bill descendants are descending into Kaneohe this spring. It will be good to see ev’body. Plus I NEED some humidity!
Hope to volunteer in Yosemite again this summer. The application process begins in mid-January.
The price of gas kept me from driving/camping to the East Coast for fall colors. I may attempt that in fall 2023.
Dems da highlights!
E Hookaulana (celebrate) 2023 by creating a life you love.
With love and much Aloha ~Lorin
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-66225199718618477262021-12-30T21:09:00.004-08:002021-12-30T21:09:38.810-08:00Mele Kalikimaka e Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!Mele Kalikimaka e Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I pray thee well and hope this annual letter finds you in good health and spirits. Even better - with vitality at every age and stage.
What an interesting year I’ve had. After 42 years of nursing and one year on the COVID frontline, I retired April 1st - no joke! Eight months out, I’m still trying to find my rhythm. The pandemic has surely spared me the common malady of instant over-commitment. The one thing I have dedicated myself to is daily exercise: a 4-6 mile walk, sometimes 8, and/or yoga via Zoom. With another new COVID variant on the rise, I’ve not returned to the yoga studio. Additionally, my cats have learned that when my yoga mat is rolled out, I’ll be on the floor - just where they want me. I get a good core workout and intend to add some light weightlifting in the new year.
My trek on the Everest Trail in Nepal was postponed until April 2022 (fingers crossed). That opened my calendar for national travel. Though I currently loathe flying, I did fly home to Hawaii for nearly the entire month of May. There, we stood on a shallow sandbar in Kaneohe Bay to scatter the ashes of my parents, Aunt Cornelia, and Uncle Sammy. The day was beautiful and it felt “glorious” as my mother often proclaimed.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6gttGJxwMsDyynZiXwhQ7So66RzI-SVBo9TfL3no8oKI6rFn2eiTiJBpBpcfrOwcyAYQCH6U0FWSn4HFquWE7meLWXOt9jcM3rUdjSwymkh6YKk57cak8N0pHsOc_g3loJrtHzGgXbOFUZNHG7cJUu9gcB8NIiXrU3gQ-VOS1zAyJd2fLftflOGnBtg=s2560" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6gttGJxwMsDyynZiXwhQ7So66RzI-SVBo9TfL3no8oKI6rFn2eiTiJBpBpcfrOwcyAYQCH6U0FWSn4HFquWE7meLWXOt9jcM3rUdjSwymkh6YKk57cak8N0pHsOc_g3loJrtHzGgXbOFUZNHG7cJUu9gcB8NIiXrU3gQ-VOS1zAyJd2fLftflOGnBtg=s600"/></a></div>
Kaneohe Bay: photo taken from sandbar.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR-pb2XKwy1EvLbwtdcvEf_4TpZlN465IjVFaVMN5drkmjfYrHxQhqGVWgTGqo8t3ObJzB9jNDNXEX0i94v_R7g93jU1xYDflEoFVHX6uI91Ke1GwKzL8-4s-9W8Q5YshtVAPzgtMJwyzMg_bpRVcf2T_6-xSm_tkG02o0qobfHjRkrc6AbAE6lPoUmg=s4032" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR-pb2XKwy1EvLbwtdcvEf_4TpZlN465IjVFaVMN5drkmjfYrHxQhqGVWgTGqo8t3ObJzB9jNDNXEX0i94v_R7g93jU1xYDflEoFVHX6uI91Ke1GwKzL8-4s-9W8Q5YshtVAPzgtMJwyzMg_bpRVcf2T_6-xSm_tkG02o0qobfHjRkrc6AbAE6lPoUmg=s320"/></a></div>In early June I attended the 3-day, Indian wedding of Mona and John in Long Beach. What a thrill! I attended with my dear friends, the Singh’s, whose large family has been so welcoming to me. I loved every minute!
In late August, Bill (a faithful backpacking buddy on loan from his wife) and I packed into BAM (Bacon’s Adventurosa Mobile) to head north along the coastal route, then east, paralleling the Canadian border. Mostly, we camped in national and state parks. We visited seven National Parks (NP): Redwoods, Olympic, North Cascades, Glacier, Theodore Roosevelt, Wind Caves, and Badlands. We also visited Devil’s Tower, Mt Rushmore, and Crazy Horse. Our terminus was Ann Arbor, MI to rendezvous with niece Lael and her family, sister Gina, and her husband Mike. I made the westward, return trip solo, never driving more than 300 miles/day. Again, I visited national parks: Cuyahoga, Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, and Great Basin. I met innumerable, wonderful Americans and fielded many questions about my van. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhD1ZjlGFFDtMllqKUsSa8YnCKuuc5USQMIoCreKmbYzG1Fk1-ZPI-lM29XRCDnzpXr2rgpKniVVRsn4KxSHvuPcN4FE-d2hQoK6JGOP8G4HoAX8b-jLWCCR0QHbsQwFAqL5tEqxn4DGwKBasJe8TiAdH7U6sBrFfi_QgqFEDUPNzUFVioikcazaTYwig=s4032" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhD1ZjlGFFDtMllqKUsSa8YnCKuuc5USQMIoCreKmbYzG1Fk1-ZPI-lM29XRCDnzpXr2rgpKniVVRsn4KxSHvuPcN4FE-d2hQoK6JGOP8G4HoAX8b-jLWCCR0QHbsQwFAqL5tEqxn4DGwKBasJe8TiAdH7U6sBrFfi_QgqFEDUPNzUFVioikcazaTYwig=s320"/></a></div>
While I am thinking of it, here are some peak-season NP tips. You’ve undoubtedly heard that NPs are over-loved and overcrowded these last years. Some of them require timed-entrance passes, purchased online. So my biggest tip is to get into the park before the rangers manage the gates each morning. The park gates are typically open 24/7. Rangers begin controlling the entrances between 7-9am. Passing through the gates early will spare you the long, exhaust-fumed queues into the park. Many rangers now close their gates when park capacity reaches a specified limit. (When I arrived at Glacier and departed Arches, the gates were closed = no entry.) In Glacier NP, we awoke at 5am to be on the road by 5:30. So do some research before you go. Pack a cooler with food and hit the road. Also, be aware that all caves tours are now booked online several weeks in advance. Lastly, a senior “Golden Park Pass” is available at 62 years for a one-time fee of $80. (Free to Wounded Warriors and war-time vets with required paperwork). Not only does this provide free park access for one vehicle and four people but it also halves the camping fee. Wowee! Who knew?
In November, best buddy John and I retraced my earlier trip up Californian and Oregonian coasts into Washington state. As we approached the mountains, the roads were slushy, forcing a hasty retreat to the Columbia River Gorge - where we were pelted by another atmospheric river. We were duly impressed with the plethora of state parks along the Oregon coast - seemingly every few miles… and sooo beautiful! I might migrate that way as drought is an increasing problem for California.
I continue to play music with my ukulele band KaBang! (Kaneko, Bacon, and Yang). With bass player Wade, we typically hold weekly, outdoor rehearsals. I continue to take ukulele lessons though I am not sure my performance actually reflects that tutelage. Nonetheless, my teacher Carla (from Waipahu, Oahu) is skilled and patient. We collaborate on all the musical arranging I do for KaBang! and I’ve learned a bit about music theory, jazz, and how to modulate pitch to escalate musical movement in the distinctive style of the Brothers Cazimero (for you with Hawaiian musical roots). Good fun!
Best Books Bacon read in 2021:
The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett Graff is an oral history of 9/11.
With time zone disparities between the coasts, I saw the Twin Towers fall on TV before I went to work. I worked in an Emergency Dept. so I was not glued to a TV that or the following days. Time and distance buffered me from the granular events of 9/11. This book is an account from survivors and their personal experiences on 9/11. It is not necessarily factual, as few survivors had the facts. I found it moving and enlightening. Remember how we rallied for one another after 9/11? This book left me feeling hopeful for the American spirit and our capacity to care deeply for one another.
You can also listen to an abridged version of the book in a podcast called Long Shadow - which you can find for free on your favorite pod-catcher.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. In Caste, she argues that the racial tensions in the United States are better explained through the lens of caste, not race… [She examines] the eight tenets of a caste system, how the caste system affects the lives of people in the upper and lower castes, and how we can move away from caste and create a more equitable society. I love books that enlighten and move me, this was one.
I am currently reading Grant, the definitive biography of Ulysses S Grant by historian Ron Chernow. I dunno… it seemed fitting to understand the events of the Civil War more fully.
What’s on tap in 2022?
First and foremost, I am making a commitment to switch to automated, randomly-generated, long, and complex passwords for my devices (iPhone, iMac, iPad). Like a dinosaur, I have resisted - and you know the rest of their story.
If COVID allows, best-buddy John and I will trek on the Everest Trail to 15,500 feet. Then on to Egypt, for I have friends in Cairo. We hope to see The Great Pyramids of Giza, Alexandria, Luxor, and Petra.
I also hope to volunteer for 1-2 weeks in Yosemite this season. Dat’s real soul food. Perhaps a cross-country trip to New England to see the fall colors?
What is going on in your world? What inspires you and keeps you moving? How is your family? I would love to hear.
Keep an open mind to changing science. Walk with caution. Use kind words and a gentle tone. Love self and one another.
E Hookaulana (celebrate) 2022!
With love and much Aloha ~Lorin
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-43237469212184299732021-01-01T21:18:00.006-08:002021-01-02T13:51:19.683-08:00Hau’oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year) <p><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; text-indent: 18px;">Hau’oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year) to you and yours. I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; text-indent: 18px;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My annual letter a-l-w-a-y-s opens thusly, wishing that you and yours enjoy good health and spirits. Never has this been more salient as we are assaulted with job loss, income stress, social and physical isolation, while being stalked by a deadly virus. I hope even in this, you can find moments of joy, happiness, and hope.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvp5KGCLuDxaHqwZWoFSGya9y2reQG0Q15_iFU5mtt7HplFJs_DTFdUimSzJP20JZ7uKzyOgKOF7BxKqvm7DEjvcL9zi-t1N4gSfnlw4RsYluP2_qTdP3yQLUUmbT5BWbubcLiCNoHwy4Z/s2048/Xmas+Cats+2020.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvp5KGCLuDxaHqwZWoFSGya9y2reQG0Q15_iFU5mtt7HplFJs_DTFdUimSzJP20JZ7uKzyOgKOF7BxKqvm7DEjvcL9zi-t1N4gSfnlw4RsYluP2_qTdP3yQLUUmbT5BWbubcLiCNoHwy4Z/s320/Xmas+Cats+2020.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koa, Kea, & me</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For only the second time in my life, I spent Christmas alone. The lights on my tree blazed all day while a constant stream of carols suffused every nook and cranny. Nonetheless, it lacked luster without the gathering of friends and family. The footer on my emails reads:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This year, to lovingly observe z Holidays means giving up “but we always…” for the sake of everyone - so that next year we might once again have it all. </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only you can make it so. So do so.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">… I could hardly ignore my own advice.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well COVID sure put a monkey wrench into our year; didn’t it? So much for traveling home for Mom’s 95th or a subsequent memorial. Cancelled our 3-week hiking trip in the UK and a 2-week Home-for-the-Holidays including both Christmas and New Year. Do you know that in my 41 years of nursing I have never had a vacation that included both Christmas and New Years? This, my final year of nursing, was gonna be it. <i>Auwe (alas) no mattah no moah; I going retire in 100 days anyways.</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, we lost my Mom and her sister Cornelia this year. This social isolation is very, very hard on our super seniors. Weeks before Mom died, just when Honolulu ended its lockdown, my cousins whisked “the sibs” (Aunties Jane (my Mom), Corn, San, and Ellen, and Uncle Dave) to an outside, physically-distanced luncheon. They invited us all to FaceTime into the gathering. Mom was mostly non-verbal and it was the last time I saw her and Aunt Corn. Good thinking cousins! Dey so akamai (smart)!</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Working in an outpatient clinic is all kinds of new stress. Because my asthma has become a real problem, particularly during winter, I work in an N95 from the first day of fall, through the winter. (See how much you’ve learned this year? I don’t even need to explain PPE and N95.) So even before COVID hit, I was already in protect-my-lungs mode.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kaiser was very fast to respond, canceling all in-person appointments and non-emergent surgeries prior to the California lockdown. Because we already make telephone and video visits, we pivoted to virtual work over one weekend. It wasn’t pretty but it was better than anyone else in the region - by far.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">While I am fortunate to be working, still, it <i>is </i>anxiety producing to be locked in a small exam room with anyone for 20-minutes. <i>What if they are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic?</i> I think I pretty much speak for most healthcare workers (HCW) when I say: wear a mask, practice physical distancing, do it outside, and during this surge - stay home and do not gather.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Remember that during the 1918 flu pandemic, most of the 1.5 million deaths occurred during the winter. Just like, “Only you can prevent forest fires”; Only YOU can keep you/yours/us safe.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am flummoxed by the lack of COVID response in the US - as is, BTW, the rest of the world. I’ve presented the science in my blog and will not repeat it here. But you are welcome to visit and read at:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">https://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One last thing regarding COVID. We saw early reporting in January from Wuhan that implied coronavirus was airborne. Unfortunately, it took the CDC the better part of a year to make that known. This new reporting shows confirmation data out of S Korea. “Coronavirus can travel farther and faster inside restaurants than previously thought, South Korean study suggests. Two diners at a South Korean restaurant were infected with novel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(25, 85, 165); color: #1955a5; font-kerning: none;">coronavirus</span></a> in a matter of minutes from a third patron who sat at least 15 feet away. The third patron was asymptomatic at the time.” WATCH z video!</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2020/12/11/korean-restaurant-coronavirus-airflow-study/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2020/12/11/korean-restaurant-coronavirus-airflow-study/</a></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>But I don’t go to restaurants</i>, you say. Yes, but when you invite even a few people over to eat, your home becomes like a restaurant. If attendees have not quarantined before and after a negative test or for 10-days, your gathering poses an unnecessary risk. With the virus mutation becoming increasingly transmissible, nothing but an N95 will keep viral particles out. The surge we are experiencing now is from small, familial gatherings over Thanksgiving. Officials fear the Christmas bump will force us to triage people away from healthcare from tents in the parking lot.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are living through, what is on track to be, what history books will call, the greatest catastrophe in American history. With 350,000 Americans dead and a disease continuing to spread like wildfire, keep your masks on - we will likely need them for most of 2021 if not longer. Remember, the COVID vaccine does not prevent infection nor the spread of infection. Hopefully, like the flu vacc, it boosts your immunity to prevent a lethal infection. Make sure your lifestyle choices are consistent with survival.</span></span></p><p class="p5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The number of HCW COVID fatalities now number in the several thousands, though this data is not officially tracked. It stands to reason that if no one is tracking, the numbers are assuredly higher.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As we discuss surging outpatient personnel (like me) into staffing the hospital, I will make my exit if needed. Nurses and doctors came out of retirement to work the pandemic - some of them died. This is not the battle for older, frontline workers. This is a young persons war - and that’s not me.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My ukulele band KaBang! had continued to hold outdoors, physically-distanced rehearsals all year. But we have stopped for the winter, taking no chances to get through this surge.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqdclzN0J3UTevPMrnixG0E6pq1md5W-cghiK9Z1Z5VTHAMFfnVsklUWKT_Psgrv-slaxhFJJ4fIuxvRcsq4D9YTRxAoYMVnlJhNMomB3VoCfAp9lx9kQk9JAU8VdfNtVRy77wCPuXk54/s2048/Humpty+w%253AGirl+Power+10.2020.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqdclzN0J3UTevPMrnixG0E6pq1md5W-cghiK9Z1Z5VTHAMFfnVsklUWKT_Psgrv-slaxhFJJ4fIuxvRcsq4D9YTRxAoYMVnlJhNMomB3VoCfAp9lx9kQk9JAU8VdfNtVRy77wCPuXk54/s320/Humpty+w%253AGirl+Power+10.2020.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cora, Ayla, Leia, Alanna</td></tr></tbody></table><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I did get to Newport Beach, CA in October to visit with Lael and her family before their move to Michigan. Because I could not isolate ahead of time, I wore a mask, kept my distance, and slept in BAM (Baconz Adventurosa Mobile). With some reluctance, I took my Humpty Dumpty (made by Aunt San) and bequeathed him to the next generation. He’s like 58 years old so I was a little sad to let him go.</span></span></p><p></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">With lots of alone time I have devoured books, podcasts, and MasterClasses. Here are some of my recommendations:</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Favorite podcast: Presidential by the Washington Post. This was originally<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a weekly broadcast prior to the 2016 elections. Highlighting each President in order of ascension, it begins with Washington and ended with Obama. They have since added two more episodes. I discovered Presidents I knew nothing about. It was a fascinating recall of American history as everything of import is touched by the hand of the President. <i>Really, it was fascinating.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Favorite books: Lincoln-Team of Rivals. At times, reading this was a slog, an almost daily accounting of Lincoln’s presidency. Nonetheless, there are striking similarities to our times and division. Famous for his generous opinions of others, one cannot fail to admire the thoughtfulness and grace that ruled Lincoln’s decisions. Angry letters never sent, snippets from his journal, and headlines from the NY Times all combine into a stimulating, nourishing stew that renewed my hope for our male-dominated, federal leadership. This tome is worth the time.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has co-written a few excellent prequels to Sir Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series. Apparently KAJ is a real Holmesian; these books are true-to-form, in-the-vein, and riveting respite.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have more recently been thinking and reading about citizenship, civic duty, and living in a way that is responsible to and for others in my community. America is known for its rugged individualism but that, it turns out, is a myth. Nor does that mentality serve us well in a time that requires us to consider others, to love them as ourselves, and to speak the truth. The new year is always a good time to reflect on who I’ve been, how I behaved, were my words kind and did I honor others?</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s on tap for 2021?</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Believe it or not, my 65th birthday quickly approaches and I am eligible to retire on April 1st. I had planned on another big party for both birthday and retirement. <i>Auwe! Maybe 2022?</i> When safe, I do plan to pack my van and drive east to see friends and family. Maybe even drive parts of Route 66. Maybe end up in the NE for a never-done-before: see the fall colors before returning home.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I would love to hear how you have fared and the direction of your life.</span></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Be well. Find joy. Laugh, sing, dance, play, and love.</span></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A hui hou kakou (until we meet again)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>~Lorin</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-indent: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-64887360705620661522020-10-25T09:52:00.003-07:002020-10-26T23:09:29.433-07:00WWFD? What Would Fauci Do?<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">WWFD? What Would Fauci Do?</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">From the Trenches - # next</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">To enlarge, tap picture. Click X in upper right corner to return to blog.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sadly, little has changed since my last blog in July but the rising death count and case load. Perhaps the disease is more real now, perhaps you know or know of someone succumbed to COVID-19.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4utDt_i9_9Bx_8eGtCcL2-olUuxNOyuP0uXuWUp1K-5OtUTC9H35dkWSdSpIz8JZkFPpJ0fhUNNxW5hw_fBfJajLaScFMZzLvCFMAZ84xRwZQIsNpgWFWp5kZwMMSMn08_R4y01DphVS/s826/Coronavirus+mapped+10.2020.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="814" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4utDt_i9_9Bx_8eGtCcL2-olUuxNOyuP0uXuWUp1K-5OtUTC9H35dkWSdSpIz8JZkFPpJ0fhUNNxW5hw_fBfJajLaScFMZzLvCFMAZ84xRwZQIsNpgWFWp5kZwMMSMn08_R4y01DphVS/w315-h320/Coronavirus+mapped+10.2020.png" width="315" /></a></div><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;"><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">America leads the world in COVID-19 deaths by many tens of thousands. If you think for one-minute that many of these deaths were not preventable - change your news channel - your information source is inaccurate. More Than 1,000 Current and Former CDC Officers Criticize U.S. Covid-19 Response. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">An open letter calls for the federal agency to play a more central role in addressing the pandemic. [1]</span></p></span><p></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As we head into winter, flu season will be complicated by COVID-19. As the weather cools and people gather indoors, the risk of viral spread increases. We are already in, what has been named, “the fall surge.” Hospitalizations and cases are rising across the nation. We have not “turned the corner” by any stretch. The virus is surging - it is not disappearing.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trump is right when he says people are sick of COVID-19. This is called COVID fatigue, we are tired of being apart, we want to hug our grandkids and gather at Thanksgiving - and we may give-in to our wants. The problem is, with 220,000+ dead Americans, COVID-19 is not sick of us. In fact, COVID-19 might just be warming up.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The intention of this blog is to give you the latest data on how to keep you and yours safe until we have the political will to come up with a national plan. Why a national plan? Because the nations who have successfully navigated COVID spread have done so with a unified, national strategy. With the resources of the nation being brought to bear on supply chains for PPE and testing materials, with case tracing and a plan for dealing with those infected and those exposed. 220,000+ American deaths clearly demonstrate that whatever plan this country is working is an ineffective one.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(238, 34, 12); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #ee220c; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What have we learned since July?</span></span></p>
<ol>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We’ve learned that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has been compromised by pressure from the White House. [2] The first obvious example occurred July 8th when Trump tweeted that CDC’s guideline for reopening schools were “too tough.” CDC capitulated and revised them. [3] July 8th was the first (though not the last) time that I logged onto CDC’s website to print their COVID-19 Guideline so I could track changes made in subservience to Trump and against the advice of career epidemiologists and public health experts.</span></span></li>
</ol>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Other examples of CDC compromise:</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>September 1st CDC announced: “If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one.” This was a head-scratcher and completely at odds with contact tracing (the bedrock of epidemic management) but consistent with a misguided theory that less testing equals less cases. California’s Gov. Newsom immediately announced that the state would not be downgrading its testing. CDC reversed this guideline on September 24th. [4]</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2) We’ve learned that the this virus is aerosolized - like measles - this is a big deal. Aerosolization greatly contributes to ease of infection. Remember the Disneyland measles outbreak during the Christmas Holiday of 2014? </span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">CDC: <i>Measles Outbreak - California, December 2014 - February 2015</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><i>As of February 11, </i></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(238, 34, 12); color: #ee220c;"><i>a total of 125 measles cases</i></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><i> with rash occurring during December 28, 2014–February 8, 2015, had been confirmed in U.S. residents connected with this outbreak. Of these, 110 patients were California residents. Thirty-nine (35%) of the California patients visited one or both of the two Disney theme parks during December 17–20, where they are thought to have been exposed to measles, 37 have an unknown exposure source (34%), and 34 (31%) are secondary cases. Among the 34 secondary cases, 26 were household or close contacts, and eight were exposed in a community setting. Five (5%) of the California patients reported being in one or both of the two Disney theme parks during their exposure period outside of December 17–20, but their source of infection is unknown. In addition, 15 cases linked to the two Disney theme parks have been reported in seven other states: Arizona (7), Colorado (1), Nebraska (1), Oregon (1), Utah (3), and Washington (2), as well as linked cases reported in two neighboring countries, Mexico (1) and Canada (10). [5]</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We’ve heard similar COVID-19 stories: In June, a surprise birthday party in Texas resulted in 18 coronavirus cases. In July, a house party in Michigan led to 43 cases, and a family gathering in North Carolina led to 40 cases because the attendees "went about their daily lives" before they started showing symptoms. In some places, in-home gatherings are now responsible for the majority of new coronavirus cases. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed how a chain of family gatherings in Chicago let to three deaths. [6] I think we’ve all heard about the wedding in Maine that resulted in multiple COVID cases and deaths of people not even in attendance.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Aerosolization is a big deal, micro viral particles can hang in the air and be inhaled by another. In another example of CDC flip-flops, CDC finally declared what has been evident (to the medical community) for months: COVID-19 is aerosolized to enable airborne transmission. They quickly reversed that declaration with a backflip, only to reverse the reverse with a running Round-off- Back Handspring-Back Tuck. It would be entertaining and laughable if it weren’t so tragic. We have never seen such a schizophrenic CDC and it is more than disheartening for health care workers (HCW) across the globe who have depended upon the guidance of CDC for decades.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What does aerosolization mean for our own safety?</i> It means masks are helpful. They stop droplets and some aerosol. But if you spend 15 or more minutes in a confined space with an infected person (i.e. carpooling, flying, exam room, meal prep in the kitchen), a simple, cloth mask will not keep aerosolized virus out of your respiratory tract.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What about public transportation, flying or carpooling?</i> Best practice would have everyone wearing an N95 mask (get them on Amazon, Home Depot) to contain your own droplets and aerosols. Keeping the windows open will disperse any escaped viral particles thereby reducing the build-up of virus to infectious levels. Avoid the instinct remove the mask to cough or sneeze. DO sneeze inside your mask, that is what its for. I’ve read of a plan to physically distance commuters and open the windows on commuter trains into NYC through the winter.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What if everyone has a negative COVID test?</i> Technically that could work, however, the White House Rose Garden Super-Spreader event gives us a stellar example of when it did not. Twenty-eight people were infected at that event <i>where every attendee had a negative test. </i>If the people living in a biologic bubble can get infected… that ain’t you and that ain't us; don’t let your guard down.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rule #1 for indoors and out - keep physically distanced from people not in your “quarantine pod”. No close contact (within 6 feet) to any person for greater than15 minutes., wash hands, wear a mask. Keep it outdoors if possible (the odds of contracting the virus are 20 times higher indoors). Keep indoor gatherings small and with people under 60 years.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>If not the CDC? </b></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">WWFD? = What would Fauci do? I am a fan of Dr. Fauci. He is not beholding to Trump, he cannot be fired by Trump, and he shrugs off the bullying. Yes, Dr. Fauci made some missteps - who didn’t? This IS the novel Coronavirus - a never-been-seen-before virus to which humans have no immunity. Do not get attached to a treatment plan or way of interacting with the virus. Good scientists will change their recommendations as we learn more and the data change. A man who can say, “I thought this, the data suggests that, we were wrong, the new plan of action is…” THIS is not ego driven but science driven; isn’t that what you want?</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: #fefefe; font-kerning: none;">"Let's see if we could put this to rest once and for all," Fauci said. "Cloth (face) coverings work.</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"> If you look at the scientific data, the masks clearly work. I mean, they are part of a multifaceted approach of—masks, keeping distance, avoiding crowds, washing hands, doing things outdoors, much more than indoors. All of that is a combination of prevention modalities that are easy to do relatively speaking.” [7]</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Follow the advice of Dr. Fauci and the World Health Organization. Dr Sanjay Gupta of CNN seems to be pragmatic and sound. California’s state or local health department has good information. Beware information dispersed by any politician unless it closely follows that of the Health Department.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">And one more thing: listen to epidemiologists and public health professionals. Shun the radiologist who plays a public health professional on TV. He might have slept at a Holiday Express but he’s still bogus.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill Gates: I’ve tackled every big new problem the same way, by starting off with two questions. Who has dealt with this problem well? And what can we learn from them?</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Look for best practices from other countries.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Totally Under Control</i> is a new 2-hour documentary (streaming on Hulu & Amazon Prime) tracks our COVID-19 response against that of South Korea. Both countries learned of their first case on the same day in January. Both national responses are chronicled at critical decision points, when S Korea went right and the US went awry. </span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Research and follow best practices of other countries. i.e. Australia (905 deaths), New Zealand (25 deaths), S. Korea (457 deaths), Taiwan (7, yep, no typo, just 7 deaths). To be fair, these countries have a national strategy to protect their citizenry and national healthcare and electronic medical records that provide data in real time. The US could have that, we have the infrastructure, so far we lack the will. But we could personally follow the practices imposed by those countries.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Follow their example: universal mask wearing in public spaces, physical distancing from others, keep rooms well ventilated, avoid crowds, closed spaces with close contact, sanitize hands, cough into elbow, avoid touching your face. WHO instructs those with underlying conditions or over 60 to wear a medical/surgical mask. These practices are simple and the bedrock of interrupting the spread of any contagion.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Australia and other southern hemisphere countries had record low flu seasons. The physical distancing and other public health precautions put in place to combat COVID-19 quashed the flu season. It makes sense, flu is also a viral illness. The US could hope for the same but then, we would have to behave the same.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(13, 28, 61); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: #0d1c3d; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>COVID-19 vs. cold and flu symptoms —</b> Because the symptoms of COVID-19, a seasonal cold, and the flu have a lot of similarities, mild cases of COVID-19 may go undetected. <a href="http://app.respond.kaiserpermanente.org/e/er?s=936847217&lid=10403&elqTrackId=53d526d0acb24702806a6353e6a235cb&elq=1021aefe5ec34718b4ed6c1dfa4342a1&elqaid=8180&elqat=1"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(17, 85, 204); color: #1155cc;">Watch our video to learn more about the different symptoms for COVID-19, the flu, and a cold</span></a>. [8]</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The symptoms which are unique to COVID-19: shortness of breath, new loss of smell and taste, rash on hands and feet. Fever (over 100.5), shaking chills, headaches, cough, sore throat, diarrhea, muscle aches, and fatigue, are common to both COVID-19 and influenza. </span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Colds come on gradually and the most common symptoms are a stuffy nose, sore throat, and sneezing. They sometimes also include a cough and fatigue. Fevers and headaches are rare.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">All three infections are viral illnesses - we don’t use antibiotics for viral illnesses. We use Tylenol for fevers, Robitussin for cough, Cepacol and salt water gargles for sore throat, inhalers for wheezing, etc. Even for COVID-19; its a virus.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you have symptoms, contact your doctor. Many doctor offices do not have PPE (personal protective equipment) so we do not necessarily want you in our office. We will try to treat you over the phone or by video visit. We will send you to the Emergency Department for shortness of breath - where staff are properly protected and chest X-rays and blood oxygen saturation can be assessed.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">What about the Holidays?</span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">WWFD? Dr. Fauci's Tips for Celebrating the Holidays in a Safe Way During the Coronavirus Pandemic</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Go small-scale or go virtual.</span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Be very careful and prudent about social gatherings, particularly when members of the family might be at a risk because of their age or underlying condition," Fauci told <i>CBS Evening News</i>. "You may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice the social gathering unless you're pretty certain that the people that you're dealing with are not infected ... either they've been very recently tested or they're living a lifestyle in which they don't have an interaction with anyone but you and your family." As he explained this, Dr. Fauci pointed to his relationship with his wife, Dr. Christine Grady. The duo only socializes with each other and no one else.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Don't assume that just because you feel OK you are OK.</span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">While explaining this on <i>CBS Evening News</i>, Fauci referred to nationwide observation reports from his fellow coronavirus task force member, Dr. Deborah Birx. Those reports discovered that family members are spreading the coronavirus to each other more often than at the beginning of the pandemic.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Household transmission is assuming a greater element of the transmissibility," Fauci said. And since researchers are learning that <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003346"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">about 1 in 5 people who become infected with the coronavirus are asymptomatic</span></a>, it can be a big challenge to know if you might be at risk for spreading the virus to someone who may experience more severe symptoms or complications. (Say, someone with any of these <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">high-risk medical conditions pointed out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</span></a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Travel early.</span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you do decide to gather in person, follow the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html#thanksgiving"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">CDC's safer holiday travel tips</span></a>: Drive and don't stop along the way (What about bathrooms? See below); then, after arriving, quarantine at a separate dwelling (such as a no-contact Airbnb) for at least five days (the median time it takes to test positive). Then get tested before gathering with your family.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Keep things small.</span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"When people do things in crowds without masks—particularly indoors—it's just asking for trouble. We know without a doubt that those are the events that have spreading among people. It isn't as if we haven't been there before. We know that's trouble. It just seems obvious you've got to avoid that," Fauci said in the interview with <i>CBS Evening News</i>.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Check out one poignant example of this in our story about <a href="http://www.eatingwell.com/article/7869607/coronavirus-outbreak-at-family-gathering/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">a coronavirus survivor who spoke out after hosting a gathering that infected 14 and killed 2 family members</span></a>.) So only invite a small crew that can stay safely spaced at least 6 feet apart in the event of any congregating.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Speaking of masks, wear one with anyone outside of your household—even relatives.</span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the beginning of the pandemic, Fauci wasn't a huge proponent of masks, fearing that there might be a shortage for health care workers. But just one month later, Fauci reversed his stance, once he learned that masks—even the <a href="http://www.eatingwell.com/article/7826665/baggu-face-masks/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">cloth face masks</span></a> you can buy or make—help prevent infection.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"When you find out you're wrong, it's a manifestation of your honesty to say, 'Hey, I was wrong. I did subsequent experiments and now it's this way,'" Fauci said during a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fauci-no-surprised-trump-covid-19-media-appearances-60-minutes/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i>60 Minutes</i> segment that aired on October 18</span></a>. So in case you're looking for his final answer, it's wear a mask—even with your family—each and every time you're sharing space with anyone outside of your household and especially anytime you're inside. (That is, when you're not eating or drinking.)</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.952941); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">While not seeing family might feel like a tough pill to swallow, those are some sage doctor's orders as turkey time inches closer and closer. [9]</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">What about bathrooms; both public and private? </span></b></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Public bathrooms continue to pose a problem. [10] Ever heard of toilet plume? Aerosolized viral particles can hang in the air of an enclosed bathroom. Scroll to my previous blog dated July 12th to the paragraph: <b>What about bathrooms; both public and private? </b></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lastly, remember the 3 W’s: <b>Watch</b> your distance, <b>Wear</b> a mask when you can’t watch your distance, and <b>Wash</b> your hands.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Garamond; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">e malama he pa waiho ai = keep safe</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Footnotes:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-1-000-current-and-former-cdc-officers-condemn-u-s-covid-19-response-11602884265</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">[2] <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database</a></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[3] https://khn.org/morning-breakout/cdc-to-revise-school-reopening-guidelines-after-trump-blasted-initial-ones-as-too-tough-and-expensive/</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[4] <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3386">https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3386</a></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[5]<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6406a5.htm">https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6406a5.htm</a></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[6] <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/it-safe-have-dinner-together-inside/616568/">https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/it-safe-have-dinner-together-inside/616568/</a></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[7] On CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter 9/27/2020</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[8] Kaiser Permanente</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[9] <a href="http://www.eatingwell.com/article/7870002/tips-from-dr-fauci-on-how-to-reduce-your-risk-for-coronavirus-during-the-holiday-season/">http://www.eatingwell.com/article/7870002/tips-from-dr-fauci-on-how-to-reduce-your-risk-for-coronavirus-during-the-holiday-season/</a></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">[10]https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/10/15/coronavirus-public-restroom/</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p>Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-59371852683338373022020-07-12T16:27:00.000-07:002020-07-24T21:19:10.778-07:00<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">You ARE Your Brother’s Keeper - From the Trenches #5 </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">To enlarge, tap picture. Click X in upper right corner to return to blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">America’s First! First in COVID cases (3,000,000+); first in COVID fatalities (133,000+). Let’s just be with that for a moment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The graph below is a comparison of new cases per million - which we OWN baby! If this does not horrify …I pray I am never indifferent to… never able to justify the damaged and lost lives represented by this graph. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Prof. Michael Osterholm Univ of Minnesota, Director of the Center of Infectious Disease says the US COVID-19 catastrophe “is a raging forest fire looking for human wood.” Ki<i>ndling made in America.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the bigger message, also clearly demonstrated, is that there IS a path to living better with COVID-19 - and we’re not on it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">How do we differ from other countries? They employed centralized leadership with a strategic plan guided by science: lockdown, physical distancing, masking, hand washing, reopening once case levels were low with robust testing and tracing. In the US, a strategic plan guided by science would have the CDC running the show with federal and state policies reflecting their guidelines. Want to see what a US national response could have looked like? Read them and weep: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">First, How to Read Obama’s Pandemic Playbook</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/read-obama-pandemic-playbook-pdf/"><span style="font-size: large;">https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/read-obama-pandemic-playbook-pdf/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">AND (Obama’s) PLAYBOOK FOR EARLY RESPONSE TO HIGH-CONSEQUENCE EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASE THREATS AND BIOLOGICAL INCIDENTS</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6819258-Playbook.html#document/p2</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We’re STILL not following the Playbook (though it is never too late to start) and without centralized leadership, every state is on their own. And while states have capable people, one state medical director lamented, “The experts are at the CDC” - who seem to be muzzled. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of national leadership; remember the admonition in my last blog? Listen to experts like Dr. Fauci. Listen to experts in virology, epidemiology, and public health. Listen to your local politicians only if they are clearly guided by science. If your Governor is touting something at odds with Dr. Fauci, I’d pick Fauci over e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e just now.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“The reality is that the virus is not <i>under</i> control; it is IN control.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So here we are - at starts and stops - as I predicted last month. We have added 1,000,000 new cases and 40,000 fatalities. <i>What now?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Contract! Pull in! Slow down! Just because the gym is open does not mean you need to be there. Just because air fares are cheap does not mean you need a ticket.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What have we learned in the last month? We’ve learned that the US COVID-19 mortality rate is 4.2% versus 0.1% for the flu. <i>This is no flu.</i> We’ve learned that systemic inflammation called leukotriene storm causes multi-organ disruption and failure leading to death. We’ve learned that an old and cheap steroid called Dexamethasone is helpful. We learned Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug touted like snake oil as a prophylactic and cure - is harmful. We’ve confirmed that COVID-19 is mostly spread through the respiratory tract and less so by touching infected surfaces. We’ve learned that peak infectiousness (highest quantity and virulence) occurs in the pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic period and accounts for 50% of viral transmissions. Which is why masks and physical distance are effective in crushing the curve, as demonstrated by the EU, Scandinavia, S. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, just to name a few. We’ve confirmed that indoor gatherings, no matter how well intentioned, can be the spawn of death. We’ve learned that the PR number is important but that Joe Public does not know how to interpret the data. We’ve learned that safe re-opening cannot be done “my way”. Remembering that we are in this together; <i>MAYBE</i> we’ve learned that reopening must be done “our way” - with each of us being responsible for all of us - as again demonstrated so aptly by countries who have done so.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The CDC: </b>- On June 25th, the CDC updated its list of specific conditions that increase a person’s risk of severe COVID-19 illness: advanced age (65 and over), COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, CKD (chronic kidney disease), obesity (BMI >30), immunocompromised state, serious cardiac diseases (i.e. coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, heart failure), sickle cell disease, and uncontrolled diabetes. Combine any of these with common diseases like high blood pressure, over weight (BMI 25-30) or asthma and the risk for severe illness with COVID-19 infection increases exponentially.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What does this mean?</i> It means if people wish to avoid contracting and transmitting COVID-19, for which there is no natural immunity and no vaccine, they will have to diligently practice physical distancing, masking in public, meticulous hand washing, avoid gatherings of more than 10 people FOR THE NEXT YEAR OR SO. Until “All Clear” is proclaimed from the rooftops by Dr. Fauci or his emissary.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Review the CDC guideline links to recommendations regarding gatherings, public bathrooms, restaurants, schools, etc. See the latest recommendations on how to comport one’s self during a pandemic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of schools, I’m heartened to see the CDC hold their ground on recommended guidelines for reopening schools. Were I a parent, I would make a copy of their current and recently released school guidelines (~ 17 pages), in case they buckle to Presidential pressure and tweet-storm and weaken their guidelines. <i>I’d kinda want to know; wouldn’t you?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lets talk about testing.</b> We ARE testing more. Is that why we detect more cases? Of course, but that is only half the story. Epidemiologists watch the PR = positivity rate. That is the ratio of positive tests against total number of tests expressed as a percentage of positive tests. This graph from Propublica demonstrates the rolling positivity rate (PR) of Arizona vs New York. The number of actual tests are rising in both locales but so is the PR in AZ; meaning more tests are positive. Conversely, the number of tests are also rising in New York but the PR is falling. The PR is how we know that we are not seeing more positive COVID-19 cases just because we have more tests. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A PR of 30% is an unmitigated disaster. We see this kind of exponential PR increase in hotspots across the US. Experts say wide spread infection can only be stopped by reversing course and shutting down hotspots once again. Recall that China quarantined another major city in May. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We can’t test our way out of this mess. Testing works once the numbers of infected people are low and the contacts of each new case can be traced. Testing is a useful tool only if resulted in 1-2 days. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The current California PR = 6.8%. With the recent flare of cases in Sacramento, we are booking testing appointments a week out with another 3-4 days for results. (Quest has been taking 11 days to result tests. Making testing useless.) Part of this delay is secondary to a lack of testing and developing supplies. Additionally, the government could activate more labs, like veterinary labs, as was done in Europe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ask yourself, why are we 5 months into a pandemic and we still can’t get a q-tip?! Why can’t I get an N-95 mask for seeing patients? </i>If you’re upset about that - write your Senator, Senate Leader McConnell, and your President. There is no jumpstarting an economy, no getting kids back to school and parents back to work when well people have to quarantine at home for 2-weeks waiting for a test and results.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Does anyone still think this is a hoax? <i>Helluva hoax!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Obviously, testing is only part of the equation. Many Americans are behaving badly. What do we do? “There is no single method for protection,” Prof. Osterholm says, "Distancing is huge, distance, distance, and distance. That only occurs when people are not congregating altogether.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">WEAR A MASK</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, we’ve had conflicting messages from the start. Remember this is called the <i>novel </i>coronavirus. The key word here is NOVEL = NEW. We knew and know very little about this virus and we are still learning. Be open to changing instructions. Remember when we thought smoking improved ones health, cars did not have seat belts, and driving drunk was not unlawful? <i><span style="color: red;">Refusing to wear a mask is like driving drunk.</span></i> We will get to smoking later but the point is, new information does point to overwhelming respiratory spread. Protect your respiratory system.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>But I thought a mask doesn’t protect me; it protects others?</i> Evidence continues to point strongly to spread by respiratory droplet. A mask will slow droplet spread. It will slow inhalation of droplets and it will contain the spread of exhaled droplets. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is a plethora of data including caged mice infected with corona virus adjacent to a cage of healthy mice separated only by the thin barrier of mask fabric. Look East to the very low infection rates in densely populated cities like Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore. Masks are a big part of their successful strategies. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Researchers at Florida Atlantic University, in a study <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/health/masks-homemade-design-trnd-wellness-scn/index.html">published</a> (clic “published” here to jump to best DIY masks) in the journal Physics of Fluids on June 30th, found that bandanas reduced the average distance that coughs traveled from 8 feet to 3.6 feet. A folded handkerchief took that distance down to 1.25 feet. Commercial cone masks reduced the distance to 8 inches, and a two-layer, stitched mask to 2.5 inches.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A picture is worth a thousand words - watch this CNN video clip with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Jake Tapper. The graphics show all you need to know about “why mask”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://apple.news/ALD7IZDdTRXWgPa59eJvsaA"><span style="font-size: large;">https://apple.news/ALD7IZDdTRXWgPa59eJvsaA</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">WE are in a pandemic. Wearing a mask is a tool to keep people safe, to slow the curve, to prevent deaths. Nothing more. A mask is not a political tool or statement. A mask can help slow the spread of a deadly virus for which there is no natural immunity, no vaccine, and no cure. <i>In this, you truly are your brother’s keeper.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A mask is not a muzzle. A mask is not an impingement on personal freedoms. <i>My snarky brain hisses, the dead have no freedoms. </i>If you honor the sanctity of life - wear a mask. If you are pro-life and/or <i>(because amazingly, these two do not automatically coincide) </i>anti-death penalty, wearing a mask is consistent with this belief. If you believe Black Lives Matter or that All Lives Matter, wearing a mask is consistent with this belief. Every religion charges its followers with caring for others; wearing a mask is consistent with all religious beliefs. Ask yourself - WWJD? <i>Darwin would wear a mask. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>I’m healthy; I won’t get it and if I do - I’ll survive.</i> …And you might - do not assume those you might unknowingly infect - will. Let me repeat: <i>in this, you truly are your brother’s keeper.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Follow the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s guiding voice during the pandemic. He seems to have been recently un-muzzled - and he has a lot to say. <i>Follow him.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Want to know what Dr. Fauci and other experts view as permissible behavior in a pandemic? From airplanes to grocery stores and groceries to gyms to house guests to routine doctor visits, read the WaPo article below. How experts are dealing with Covid-19 risk in their own lives:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/how-fauci-5-other-health-specialists-deal-with-covid-19-risks-in-their-everyday-lives/2020/07/02/d4665ed6-b6fb-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/how-fauci-5-other-health-specialists-deal-with-covid-19-risks-in-their-everyday-lives/2020/07/02/d4665ed6-b6fb-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">What about bathrooms; both public and private? </span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ever heard of toilet plume? Like the vapor cloud around ones mouth when speaking (recently named mouth rain), it is the spray that occurs when a toilet is flushed. You might remember around 2000 when toilets got their wings and began flushing with great gusto like airplane toilets. (You would never flush an airplane toilet without closing the lid; would you?) It was found that great-gusto flushing aerosolized bacteria from the toilet into the air and it wasn’t long before great-gusto toilets were de-gusted. During the drought, we went to low-flow toilets and gustatory toilets became less prevalent. Nonetheless - toilet plume is a known problem though there are no known cases of COVID-19 from said contact.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Home toilets have lids. Close the lid before flushing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What about public toilets?</i> They typically do not have lids. Wear a mask - that’s the most important thing. If you can, do all your business, including hand washing, then flush just before exiting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What about automatically flushing toilets? </i>If possible, take a deep breath before standing, wash your hands and exit - pronto.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What about one-holers vs multi-holers (meaning single vs multi-toilet bathrooms)? Believe it or not, in this case, a multi-holer might be safer because they occupy a larger footprint with more airflow for improved viral dispersion into the air and the time allotted for droplets to go-to-ground. One-holer (private) bathrooms are smaller spaces with less air circulation and thereby decreased viral dispersion. Concentrations of viral particles can build in small, enclosed spaces (hence the new discussion of viral aerosolization, which will be mentioned briefly below). If possible, let the bathroom stand vacant for 1-minute before entering. In my own workplace, theoretically it is safer to use the public bathroom than the private ones for staff. Public restrooms and toilet plume:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://apple.news/ANbBuk3c-Trun1oHryP72-g"><span style="font-size: large;">https://apple.news/ANbBuk3c-Trun1oHryP72-g<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Want more information on viral dispersion? Read the paragraph called <i>Outside versus Inside</i> in my previous blog.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What about using another’s home toilet?</i> Here are the rules we have established for our outdoor, 4-person, ukulele rehearsals. Wear a mask, sanitize hands before entering the home, use bathroom, wash hands, close lid and flush, return to the outside lanai without touching anything inside the home. Easy-peasy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are going to be doing this for a while. <i>Get schooled and get good.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">MODIFIABLE RISK FACTORS: we call them modifiable because you can actually modify your lifestyle and impact your risk factors.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, doctors caring for hospitalized COVID-19 patients are successfully treating them with steroids = powerful anit-inflammatory medications. In retrospective, observational studies, looking back on fatalities in New York City and the UK, people with <i>pro-inflammatory (inflammatory causing) diseases </i>like diabetes and being overweight had worse outcomes of critical illness or death. Smoking and vaping also causes inflammation in the lungs. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What can you do to lower inflammation? Stop smoking or vaping. Lose weight. Get diabetes under control (A1c<7.0). While your working on that consider an anti-inflammatory diet - start with reducing meat intake. Meat = anything that had a mother, a father, and face. Meat includes: fish, pork, beef, poultry, wild game, reptiles, amphibians, in short, any animal. I encourage patients to start with meatless Mondays and grow that to 3-4 days/week. A vegan diet is highly anti-inflammatory.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Finding ways to improve health:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Stop smoking and/or vaping:</b> Get help, get patches, pills, gum, support, and get smoke-free. I tell my patients - to stop smoking is the single, fastest change you can make to improve your health. There is no better time - and your life may depend on it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lose weight: </b>with over 66% of American adults deemed medically overweight or obese, contracting COVID-19 could lead to dire consequence.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Being overweight is the second biggest risk factor for serious illness, behind age. Overweight causes systemic inflammation and hypoventilation (decreased oxygenation of body tissues). The connection between weight and increased risk of severe or fatal infection with flu-like viruses, was first identified during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which killed 284,000 worldwide.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Weight is rated according to body mass index (BMI) — a BMI under 25 is considered ‘healthy’ while 25-29 is classed as ‘overweight’ and 30 plus is ‘obese’. (Find your BMI on Google. Of note: the Asian BMI scale is significantly lower than the common, Caucasian BMI scale. Anyone of <i>Asian continent </i>descent should be aware and beware.) U.S. research published last year also found vaccines are less effective in overweight people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) data has shown three-quarters (75%) of critically ill UK COVID-19 patients were overweight or obese.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Similarly, a study of 4,103 seriously ill COVID-19 patients by New York University, showed while age is the biggest, single risk factor for serious illness, obesity is a close second. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>If it were easy - you woulda done it.</i> Losing weigh is obviously easier said than done. Get help and find support. Choose among a myriad of online tools. Your healthcare system assuredly offers a selection.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Get diabetes and hypertension under control. Weight loss can drive both diseases into remission but in the meantime - work with your doctor. This is not a time to cut yourself slack and give in to stress eating or reason du-jour. If ever there was a time; this is it. This is the time to take on the challenge and possibility of a healthy body - like your life depends on it - because it may.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Do I need to stay indoors?</i> </b>No - going outside good. My ex-mother-in-law thought she was trapped indoors and missed a month of walking. Walking is good; just give passing people a wide berth. Ride your bike. My yoga studio is offering online classes. Yoga on my lanai no ka oi (da bes)! Keeping yourself healthy, both mentally and physically, keeps your immune system strong. Get some exercise!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Want to support your favorite restaurant and see your friends? I meet my bestie for lunch in a park, where we sit at opposite corners of an 8-foot picnic table, eating take-out from our favorite haunt. A beer with the neighbors? Outside, in appropriately spaced lawn chairs works.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Any activity that you might want to engage in will be infinitely safer if you move it outside. A Japanese study<i> says 20 times safer.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">WHO (World Health Org) just announced the possibility of aerosol spread. <i>What is that? </i>Aerosols are tiny bits of virus that hang in the air. Do you remember the measles outbreak a few years ago? Every case was traced back to a particular weekend at Disneyland. (That was testing and tracing at its best.) Measles can hang in the air …making it highly contagious in those long, snaking, indoor queues (think Pirates of the Caribbean). Aerosol infection is why researchers think choral singing (inside) has resulted in many infections while protesting outside has not.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is no economic recovery if our workforce cycles in and out of illness and workplaces become incubators for disease. There is no paying my mortgage if I get sick. There is no retirement in 9-months if I die. <i>Lets get serious people!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This will take mental toughness, emotional intelligence, and emotional discipline. This will require physical discipline. Many economists are predicting global recession if not depression - so this may require economic discipline as well.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This just might be a defining moment, a sentinel moment for the USA. Look again at my opening graphic. The US is number 1, but this time it is nothing to crow about. We are not recovering, we have not even turned the corner. And no other nation is following our lead - which means, if we want their results, we must follow their lead. If as a nation, we continue to behave like wild-west cowboys, then we who lack the yahoo-gene will be required to be even more vigilant and more careful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One last thing, here’s one for the team because most of my colleagues are far too polite to say anything like this. Dr. Daniel Summers, MD tweeted this and he speaks for many, “No amount of clapping or cheering or calling healthcare workers heroes meant a damn thing if you undo all our work with your shi__y, irresponsible behavior now.” <i>Touché!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Additionally, we can’t take care of you if too many of us get sick.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">To a large degree, my health & life depends on my savvy and the health of my coworkers, my friends, and my family. Our actions reflect our commitments. I have a commitment to myself and my community - to keep us well. <i>What’s yours?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Footnotes:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">1 https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/07/trump-orders-the-cdc-to-change-its-school-guidance/</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2 Washington Post, 7/3/2020</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">3 Johns Hopkins Univ https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">4 Yale Alison Galvani, PhD https://whdh.com/news/silent-spreaders-may-be-responsible-for-half-of-coronavirus-cases-study-finds/</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">5 Face mask construction, materials matter</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-06-mask-materials-droplets.html"><span style="font-size: large;">https://phys.org/news/2020-06-mask-materials-droplets.html<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">6 https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTLfophQRfU44Afwo2nIlQ?p=propublica+az+positivity+rate+chart&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_011&hspart=iry&fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_011&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Ai%2Cm%3Apivot&stype=web</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">7 By <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Lois+Rogers+For+The+Daily+Mail"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">LOIS ROGERS FOR THE DAILY MAIL</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>PUBLISHED:</b> 17:08 EDT, 20 April 2020 | <b>UPDATED:</b> 03:08 EDT, 21 April 2020</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">8 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0625-update-expands-covid-19.html"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0625-update-expands-covid-19.html</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">How to Read Obama’s Pandemic Playbook</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/read-obama-pandemic-playbook-pdf/"><span style="font-size: large;">https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/read-obama-pandemic-playbook-pdf/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Obama’s) PLAYBOOK FOR EARLY RESPONSE TO HIGH-CONSEQUENCE EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASE THREATS AND BIOLOGICAL INCIDENTS</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6819258-Playbook.html#document/p2"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6819258-Playbook.html#document/p2</span></a></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-79401109981686938312020-05-25T21:04:00.001-07:002020-05-31T08:48:20.034-07:00From the trenches #4 Memorial Day 2020<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">From the trenches #4 Memorial Day 2020</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As we start reopening, what have we learned about living with COVID-19 and how might we think about this? Just my view <b>From the Trenches.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stay-at-home orders and shuttering businesses are blunt tools. Its a strategy from the Pandemic Playbook, (yes, there really is one) employed when testing and contact tracing are not available. (Still not available… since January…) So stay-at-home effectively flattened the curve - sparing our hospitals from overwhelm, gave us time to learn about the coronavirus, sew masks, and get our testing and contact tracing programs in place. <i>Blew dat last one “bigly” - as one might say. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As businesses start to open and we creep from our homes; how do we assess which activities are high-risk and how or can we make them safer? What kind of information is useful and what should we pay attention to?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Look East (China, S. Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong). The East precede us in the pandemic waves. The first wave hit hard, they locked down to get things under control, started to reopen, and they are now experiencing flare-ups. Secondary to new infections, China recently locked-down another city and closed all movie theaters throughout the country after reopening just 600. We will experience flare-ups too. Watch the East; they are our crystal ball.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, coronavirus will not “go poof” and miraculously disappear. The virulent virus is still alive-and-well amongst us, and we’ve learned that hand-washing, physical distancing and mask wearing will help keep us safe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hand-washing (or sanitizing):</b> Well known surgeon and medical author Atul Gawande weighs in on hand washing guidelines. “Behave as if you are the one with the virus,” he says. Yes, 20-seconds and about 10 times a day (if you are not working in a high-risk environment.) Wash before you go into a new place (to insure you are not the vector bringing virus in), wash or sanitize when you leave (in case you picked up virus there) and before you touch your car keys.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My FAVORITE hand-washing PSA from Viet Nam:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owcdxs_7dWw </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Little kids might also really like the Rock hand-washing with his daughter to Moana’s, You’re Welcome.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvHtcYHy4eI</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Physical (social) distancing:</b> notice that it really is PHYSICAL distancing, not social distancing. CA’s Governor Gavin Newsom has also changed his verbiage, swapping physical for social. During the Black Death or Bubonic Plague of the 14th century, doctors prodded patients with a long stick. While they did not know of bacterium spread by fleas, they did learn that keeping their distance increased personal safety. Why? Because their stick kept them beyond the range of jumping fleas. Later, the Pneumonic Plague was spread by respiratory droplets.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">With nearly 100,000 dead over a 3-month period, this is hardly a hoax nor similar to our annual flu. Do you really want to tempt fate when simply keeping your distance might save your life? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I’m healthy,” you say, “I have a strong immune system.” …so did many of our dead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gang canny is a departing salutation from Scotland; it means go carefully. One of my patients recently shared it and methinks its apropos. Those in high-risk groups should go carefully. CDC still maintains those most at-risk for death are 65 years and older with a mortality rate of 1.3%. Next most at-risk for death are 50-64 years; mortality of 0.2%. (Flu mortality is ~ 0.1%) Experts believe the common and somewhat reversible diseases of diabetes and obesity - because of systemic inflammation, also put people at increased risk.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Can one golf safely? What about going to parks, rivers, and beaches. Yes, of course! Outside is safer than in; adding physical distancing and hand washing makes it infinitely safer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bowling? Movie theater? Churches? Gyms? Not until we figure out how to make them safer. They represent places where people gather or congregate (congregate spaces) with surfaces that are frequently shared and touched.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Masks: </b>to wear or not to wear, that is the question. “The challenge is that our culture, our discussion in American life right now is about freedom versus safety, leave me alone versus keep me safe,” Atul Gawande said. “We overcame this in the healthcare sector by saying, ‘I want to come to work every day never wanting to infect anybody else.’ I never want to cause someone else to be in the morgue.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We have learned that coronavirus is primarily spread through droplets. We now know that up to 35% of infected people have NO symptoms and can spread the virus. We call them “asymptomatic spreaders”. <i>A simple cloth mask will interrupt most of that. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In our society, it is reflexive to cover a cough or sneeze, most frequently with one’s hand. And that is one way droplets move to surfaces: door knobs, elevator buttons, handrails, etc. <i>A simple cloth mask will interrupt most of that.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Don’t touch your face,” they say. Touching one’s face is unconscious and reflexive. <i>A simple cloth mask will interrupt most of that. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I know <i>I’m not sick</i>, so why should I wear a mask?” Because we now know that up to 35% of infected people have NO symptoms and are capable of spreading the virus. <i>That could be you.</i> Wearing a simple cloth mask demonstrates that you care about those around you. Not wearing a mask also sends a message.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Outside vs Inside: </b>Virus is dispersed into the air. Outside, the virus dissipates quickly, sunlight kills it, and inhaling a large concentration of virus becomes less likely. In an enclosed space, say a choir loft or doctor’s exam room, the concentration of virus builds up over time - making time in an enclosed space more risky.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Think of Easter egg dye in water. If you put 20-drops of red dye (represents virus) into a coffee cup filled with water (represents small, enclosed space), you will concentrate the dye and have red water (= lots of virus in small space). If you put 20-drops of red dye into a 5-gallon bucket of water, the dye dissipates and the water will look clear. And that is what makes outside safer than inside. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Want to visit with friends? Do it outside. There has been plenty internet shaming of people having cocktails in their front yards with friends and family. But evidence shows - that’s the way to do it. My own cul-de-sac hosts 6 sets of grandparents visiting their grandkids in similar fashion. BYOF picnics: bring your own food and set up 6 feet apart.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Haircuts? Last week, a Springfield Missouri hairstylist, working sick X 8 days, exposed 91 known people - and they in turn, exposed hundreds. Haircutting is a recipe for close physical contact and lots of conversation. Wear masks. Minimize talking. Hold your mask to your face when the elastic around your head must be removed for haircutting. No talking when shampooing; a time when a gabbing hairstylist towering over an upturned face can <i>literally be a viral shower. M</i>ake it even safer by having a dry cut outside.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Time:</b> short vs long. Time = exposure. How long are you going to be exposed to others? A longer time increases the possibility of viral spread.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">If someone jogs by - breathing heavy - holding one’s breath is a reasonable strategy while they jog away. What about singing or loud, slobbery talkers? Move away, add physical distance as all three activities are known to produce more droplets.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My own ukulele group KaBang! is back to in-person rehearsals - we are outside and spaced 6-8 feet apart.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">What should we pay attention to?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember asking one of my ED physician mentors about using a drug “off label,” that is - using it for an unapproved, often unproven purpose. Kinda like using a drug for Lupus to prevent coronavirus… . What my mentor said has been with me for 20-years. He said, “I never presume that I am smarter than the team of experts who read all the studies and created the guideline.” All that to say - follow the science from vetted sources. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Watch local stats:</b> Keep tabs on the number of local confirmed infections and deaths. If numbers increase; up your game. Stay-at-home, decrease activities involving others, use more caution. Instead of continuing to open up, reverse direction and start closing down - like China is doing right now. We KNOW these starts and stops are coming. For us to survive a virus for which there is no vaccine and no natural immunity, ignore science at your own peril.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where do we get good information? Find your local stats.</span></span></div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sacramento Coronavirus Stats (website below). California currently has 2405 cases/1M (million) = 2.4 cases/1000. These are <i>cautious-open-up</i> stats. If cases rise - pull back in your activities and lifestyle. Don’t wait for Gov Newsom’s announcement.</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Watch for the impact that opening up on Memorial Day weekend has on our area. New cases will increase in 7-14 days if we have not been sufficiently careful. </span></span></li>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">US Coronavirus Stats</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01vEpxuRmL4JZhGUXGtC53kVTr8Uw%3A1590342463540&source=hp&ei=P7PKXp34HuzF0PEPg6i60AQ&q=sacramento+county+coronavirus&oq=sacramento+County&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgBMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADoHCCMQ6gIQJzoECCMQJzoFCAAQkQI6BQgAEIMBOgoIABCDARBGEIACUOEhWKBFYLF9aAFwAHgAgAHtAogBog6SAQgxNC4yLjAuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXqwAQo&sclient=psy-ab"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01vEpxuRmL4JZhGUXGtC53kVTr8Uw%3A1590342463540&source=hp&ei=P7PKXp34HuzF0PEPg6i60AQ&q=sacramento+county+coronavirus&oq=sacramento+County&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgBMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADoHCCMQ6gIQJzoECCMQJzoFCAAQkQI6BQgAEIMBOgoIABCDARBGEIACUOEhWKBFYLF9aAFwAHgAgAHtAogBog6SAQgxNC4yLjAuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXqwAQo&sclient=psy-ab</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Navigating the website:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">See upper right corner dialogue box: <i>Case Overview</i>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the bottom middle of that box, go to: </span></span><img src="blob:https://www.blogger.com/d38709bd-63a1-4fca-bb73-0c94d13ddd44" /><i> </i><span style="font-size: large;">more locations and statistics. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Choose: United States then look for California, then Sacramento. It currently reads 2405 cases/1M (million) = 2.4 cases/1000 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sacramento Epidemiology maps - search by zip code</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://sac-epidemiology.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=ad477bb955dc49e78d0a19b78bbd09dd </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">3) <b>CDC Coronavirus (COVID-19) site:</b> While I personally think the CDC has been sidelined, muzzled, and their website scrubbed, I am not confident that they would actually publish false data. So while their website is not as thorough and complete as in years of yore, I still believe that the information posted is accurate. Methinks you can use them as a reliable source of accurate data.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">On 5/25, CDC did post their long awaited detailed plan for opening businesses, churches, schools, etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">4) Other useful articles: </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>We are not yet done with COVID-19</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.jonbarron.org/build-immunity/we-are-not-yet-done-with-covid-19/&source=gmail&ust=1591019565782000&usg=AFQjCNERIQ4q4I9qCNbEXOUb0utgzXUefw" href="https://www.jonbarron.org/build-immunity/we-are-not-yet-done-with-covid-19/" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">https://www.jonbarron.org/<wbr></wbr>build-immunity/we-are-not-yet-<wbr></wbr>done-with-covid-19/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">From Camping To Dining Out: Here's How Experts Rate The Risks Of 14 Summer Activities</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/23/861325631/from-camping-to-dining-out-heres-how-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/23/861325631/from-camping-to-dining-out-heres-how-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://apple.news/AfPU5Gg3ZS1uTxKjSxMCV3w"><span style="font-size: large;">https://apple.news/AfPU5Gg3ZS1uTxKjSxMCV3w</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Social Distancing is not Enough: The Atlantic 5/22/2020</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/how-will-we-ever-be-safe-inside/611953/</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Atul Gawande on Handwashing</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/04/01/doctor-atul-gawande-coronavirus"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/04/01/doctor-atul-gawande-coronavirus</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Much love and aloha to you all and Gang canny = go carefully. ~ Lorin</span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">ps - feel free to share my blog.</span></span></div>
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-32931797617042012812020-03-26T08:41:00.003-07:002020-03-27T11:17:11.799-07:00From the Trenches <div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">From the Trenches</span></span></div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I want to share with you how seriously people in the medical field take this virus. I have several friends who work in the Emergency Dept. (ED). When they return home after a shift, they strip down to underwear in the garage. Clothes go into the washer or into a clothes hamper. Shoes do not enter the house. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_c9iJS-D261wNyQwZktBWEPUEwvLMHC2HMecSdxm4juQJdmYZcMBfxSMbRVCtr6U2gnjehEeR8IOipQO48n79S8GIgRsbTmcVnRfs5jMiBXXUbqPDbCdSywT40OtU3zdymmIIZ09t79I/s1600/shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_c9iJS-D261wNyQwZktBWEPUEwvLMHC2HMecSdxm4juQJdmYZcMBfxSMbRVCtr6U2gnjehEeR8IOipQO48n79S8GIgRsbTmcVnRfs5jMiBXXUbqPDbCdSywT40OtU3zdymmIIZ09t79I/s320/shoes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Some dip the soles of their shoes into a light bath of Clorox and water. Why? Because we know that live virus can live on paper and clothing for some hours. If you leave them for a day, any attached virus will be dead. I do not work in an ED. Nonetheless, we have been instructed to do the same with our clothing each day. My shoes are shed at the door and I switch into house slippers.</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What advice do I have for those of you not hanging out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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with sick people everyday? Your home is your fortress; keep virus out. Have some hand sanitizer in your pocket and clean your hands before touching your car keys or door knob. </span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Leave your shoes at the doorway and switch to house shoes. Then of course, all the other stuff: social distancing, hand washing, cough/sneeze into your elbow (its a dance move called the Dab), etc. Do get outside and walk everyday - for at least 20 minutes. Check on someone who is elderly and/or lives alone - offer to grocery shop and deliver their groceries to their front door. They are precisely the people we want to keep out of the grocery store!</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">China was on complete lockdown for 2 months and they have just recently experienced several days of no new cases. So they are turning the corner. Do NOT be lulled into hopefulness that everything will return to normal in a few weeks because Trump says so. Notice that the medical experts are no longer at his side when he pontificates.</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve included this article by Dr. Larry Brilliant, an unconventional epidemiologist who speaks of past outbreaks and oversaw the eradication of all polio on earth in the 90’s. Of course, it has reemerged in the US secondary to anti-vaccers. He’s been there, done that. The first part of the article is stuff in which you are now well-schooled. Pay attention to the last part of the article, “How will we know when we’re through this?” There is also a link to his Ted Talk of 14-years ago, where he describes the next pandemic. Now that we’re here, his talk is prescient. Given that, I urge you to listen to doctors and politicians willing to heed their counsel.</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/the-doctor-who-helped-defeat-smallpox-explains-whats-coming/"><span style="font-size: large;">https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/the-doctor-who-helped-defeat-smallpox-explains-whats-coming/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hand Sanitizer Recipe:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a31265105/coronavirus-diy-hand-sanitizer/"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a31265105/coronavirus-diy-hand-sanitizer/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Leave your shoes OUTSIDE:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8153619/Infectious-disease-specialists-warn-COVID-19-survive-soles-shoes-five-days.html?ITO=applenews</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stay safe y’all. Lotsa Aloha and virtual hugs ~ Lorin</span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-13520314039667408632020-02-09T08:37:00.000-08:002020-02-09T08:40:17.158-08:00Happy 2020!<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, Gung Hee Fat Choy, and Happy New Year! </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sm shark moving thru feeder fish</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">December was so full of ukulele gigs that thoughts of getting my annual letter done swirled away in a whirl of activity. I hope your Holidays were grand and the New Year joyous. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My 2019 in recap:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I journeyed to India with friends in February and spent my 63rd birthday in the Maldives. What an interesting trip. India is both puzzling and unique. The food was fantastic and, unlike in northern Europe, vegetarian food was more common than not. Pictures do not do the Taj Mahal justice. Gandhi’s grave is gorgeous. Shopping for Indian clothes is an event! (We westerners have NO idea…)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">But India is not for those with respiratory illness. Seven of the world’s ten most air-polluted cities reside in India. I returned sick, on steroids, and with an appointment to meet my new Pulmonologist. (YIKES). Sadly, I will not return to India in my lifetime; I doubt they can clean their air sufficiently in the next three decades.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The Maldives are predicted to be the first island nation to submerge secondary to climate change - so we put it on our list. Each island desalinizes its own water and generates its power. The </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: line-through;">island</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> sandbar we visited, Coco Bodu Hithi, could not have been six inches above sea level. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I attended yoga school for 1-week during the summer. THAT WAS FUN. I’ve been working toward a “full lotus” position for many years and at the end of the week, I felt particularly flexible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In early October (brrr), I coerced my hiking buddy Bill to fly out from Tampa and volunteer with me in Yosemite. We worked on various projects in Yosemite Valley until fire broke out about 10-miles west of the main (middle) park entrance. Smoke poured into the Valley, carried by the prevailing winds. Some volunteers left; I foolishly stayed. They moved our work to Tuolumne Meadows (LOVE meadow restoration projects) but we returned to the Valley each night to sleep. And while air quality improved steadily, I returned home to another protracted course of steroid and antibiotic therapy for asthma. This second, severe asthma exacerbation (finally) confirmed that when air quality drops, I must skedaddle. (duh!) </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of our Chun Clan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, I returned home to Honolulu for New Years. Mom requires lots of help now for bathing and dressing. She has profound hearing loss and that affects her interest in participating. Her memory is declining, as it is wont to do when hearing loss affects one’s ability to even process words. She toddles with her cane around the public spaces of her building and attends some of their bigger events like movies and performances. I’ll return in April for her 95th birthday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Aunt San and Aunt Corny are doing well. Still living independently in their home, attending Sunday night, Ohana (family) dinners, and shopping weekly in Chinatown with devoted nieces. (The Energizer bunny’s got nothing on this family.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My band, KaBang (Kaneko, Bacon, & Yang, get it? KaBang!) played a few paying gigs this year. We added a bass player, Wade. So now we are KaBang and the Boy. We rehearse weekly, though sometimes less so as we are avid travelers. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">See and hear us perform at the winter kanikapila here:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF7W_c-gcqU" target="_blank">KaBang performance</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">How’s work? Work is fabulous. I work with a wonderful group of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, clerks, housekeepers, etc. My office mate Royal, is an exceptional nurse practitioner whom I call Dr. Gee (he knows everything). I am a mere 14-months from retirement and look forward to it more with each passing day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My 2019 recommended reads: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> A hillbilly makes it to Harvard and takes a look back at the barriers in Appalachia that keep people stuck.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> Do you know an angry, white, disenfranchised person? Most of the world’s denizens would trade places with any American in a <i>hot nano-second.</i> I’ve often wondered what angry, white men are angry about. This book lends some insight into their world - one so different from my own.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Warmth or Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> I didn’t know there was a great migration in the US; did you? This book follows several families who flee north and west from the Jim Crow South. It is a heart wrenching and moving recount of US history, not taught in schools.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism. </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Teddy Roosevelt is the father of our National Parks; to him we owe a great debt. And he was a bully, overly confident, braggadocio, and egotistical. Despite his failings, he accomplished grand works because the gracious workhorse Taft, was at his side. These men exchanged beautifully supportive, affectionate, even sweet letters - all archived in the presidential library. This is a worthy, Pulitzer-Prize-winning tomb for those who love history.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> You’ve seen the Ken Burns documentary (and if you have not: STOP, do not pass go, do not collect $200 until you see the documentary!) The book contains a few more juicy details. If you are, as I, a lover of our National Parks. The movie and book bring them to life in living color when you cannot be immersed in their holy environs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Michael Crichton from Andromeda Strain to Sphere. I believe I read or re-read every MC novel this year. He was one of our most riveting authors and died much too young. I love his body of work - you have seen many on the big screen. As usual, the books are better!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s on tap for 2020? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have reservations for the Spring Gathering in Yosemite Valley at the end of March. My volunteering friends say it is a wonderful event that updates volunteers on the progress of our multi-year projects and our focus for the coming season. I plan to camp in my van though winter may linger. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camel rides in Dubai</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Planning a possible fall trip to the UK. I believe that Brexit offers a uniquely beneficial, financial opportunity to visit the UK, as I expect the pound to plummet. We’ll see if I’m right. Tentative itinerary: 1 week in London, a day or two in Liverpool for proper homage to the Beatles, then on to Scotland and Ireland. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My traveling companion is John, of course. John and I became the best of friends on the first day of Nurse Practitioner training. I call him my adopted little brother; he is family. We find we travel well together, sharing small spaces w/o struggle. Lucky us. We’ve been all over the world together and this year will be no exception.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I do hope that you and yours are well and thriving. I would love to hear from you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m a firm believer in blooming where you’re planted. Git yer flower on!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Much love and aloha ~ Lorin</span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-1977882204401002052018-12-29T20:27:00.000-08:002018-12-30T08:02:31.087-08:00Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! 2019 New Year Letter<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year to you and yours. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">LB and the Duke @ Bishop Museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I pray thee well and hope the new year finds you in good health and spirits. Barring that, I wish you vitality at every stage and any age. As I age myself, I find that “health” resembles moving target more than bull’s eye. I’ve turned my focus to vitality - the state of active, energetic, life with <i>chi</i> - which seems more a state of mind than body, such that vitality can be had from a hospital bed or dialysis chair. Such are the machinations of my mind in 2018.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I began the year by taking BAM (Baconz Adventure Mobile) to Redwoods National Park on the northern California Coast. The weekend was stormy, the rain incessant. I backed into my campsite, opened the sliding door, reached into the refrigerator, popped a beer, put up my feet, and watched the rain thinking, <i>normally I’d be setting up my tent in this mess. Glorious!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">En route to my volunteer week in Yosemite, I overnighted in Fresno to visit friend and fellow hiker, Leslie. Yosemite was engulfed in smoke and fire, the north-south corridor through the park was closed to all but firefighters. We drove to the Mariposa Sequoia Grove adjacent to the southern park border, newly opened after a four-year restoration project - the very grove protected by Lincoln’s pen, the very grove in which I had labored the previous summer. I gave Leslie the tour, highlighting the work that had been done to restore the wetlands and meadows within the grove. Work that would hopefully ensure the longevity and survival of the grove. During the two years that I volunteered in all three of Yosemite’s sequoia groves, I learned so much about sequoias and it was immensely satisfying to see the fruits of our labor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The next day, I drove a circuitous route into Yosemite and to my volunteer week in <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Budd Creek Sunset, Tuolumne Mdw by S Dunleavy</span></td></tr>
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Tuolumne Meadows - where a multi-year restoration project was in year three. “I’m checking in for my work week,” I told the ranger at the campground kiosk. His eyes rose to take in BAM, “I thought you were moving in,” he laughed before directing me to our Yosemite Conservancy campsite. Meadow restoration is sooo interesting and the siren’s song to return to Tuolumne in 2019 is strong. Go to Volunteering in our National Parks 8/8/2018 to read more about meadow restoration and my volunteer workweek of 2018 at <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com/">http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">As you know, California’s fires get bigger, hotter, and more destructive. Years of drought have left buku (beaucoup, like uber-plenty) dead fuel on the ground that can ignite a maelstrom from a flicked cigarette, a downed power line, sparks from the rim of a flat tire, a dragging haul chain or mower blade. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">My internal fire-bell began clanging in the wake of the Santa Rosa and Redding fires - cities not too dissimilar from my own. I finally made lists and packed “go-bags;” one for me and one for the cats. I had many discussions with my neighbors - we live against an oak-studded greenbelt after all. “Be not lulled into complacency,” I said, “Because the knock on the door seldom comes with more than minutes to evacuate.” When a “red-flag alert” was called for Sacramento County during the recent Paradise fire, I packed BAM for evacuation. For more on my own fire readiness and national recommendations for disaster, see my blog dated 8/4/2018 entitled Ready or Not - GO! at <a href="http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com</span></a></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">NP Ranger Betty Reid Soskin</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">Sarah (ex mom-in-law) and I recently spent an afternoon at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter/World_War_II_Home_Front_National_Historical_Park"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park</span></a></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">,</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;"> located at the former Kaiser Richmond Shipyard #2.</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> We went to hear Ranger Betty Reid Soskin speak. At 97 years, she is the oldest, serving ranger in the NPS. Employed as a clerk in the shipyards during WWII, she speaks of racial segregation and opportunities provided to all by Kaiser. A self-described “absolutely ordinary extraordinary person,” she says she took every opportunity to better herself and her situation. Now she keeps a vigorous speaking schedule and her lectures at the park are RSVP only. I found her inspirational and insightful.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Methinks: Leia, Alanna, Cora, Ayla<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">About the fam: Mom will turn 94 in April. She is definitely slowing and her deafness can be frustrating as well as isolating. Gina has spent most of 2018 in Newport Beach, CA helping Lael with new triplet daughters. Born in March, they are starting to take their first steps - triple-trouble for keeping them in sight! My nieces and nephews seem to be doing well. Collin will soon finish a 5-year electrician apprenticeship. Great-nephew Davin is 15; great-nieces Jaydalyn just turned 6 and Alanna will be 3 in a few days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">About me: I am 2 years and 3 months from retirement - yes, I’ve begun the countdown. I continue working in an adult medicine clinic and recently noticed that I am feeling much more comfortable in that role. Initially, I was so uncomfortable. It took me many months to realize that my career has been spent in a hospital, where I could order a test to justify the discharge of a patient and make myself feel more sure and comfortable. That is not how it works in a clinic. I am responsible for a thorough assessment that paints the picture for stable or not, urgent or emergent, discharge home or send to the ED - you get the picture. So while I have always enjoyed my work, this job is increasingly enjoyable as I feel less stress over mistakenly sending a very sick person home. I continue to do some insulin management for my docs: pre-op tune-ups, patients on chemo, dialysis or immunosuppression meds secondary to transplant. Their drugs make blood sugar management extremely challenging. It takes time, thought, careful calculation, and continues to be one of the most interesting tasks I perform. My docs are super appreciative.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I also continue to lecture to the graduating UCSF NPs on inpatient-outpatient diabetes care. To that end, I was bestowed with the title: Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF. No pay but... <i>I’ll take it! </i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">KaBang! Kimi, me, Malia</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The most fun thing I’ve done this year was put together a girl-band called KaBang! (a mashup of Kaneko, Bacon, and Yang). We met through various ukulele groups and are now performing as a trio. <i>Suuppah fun man!</i> Hear us sing Soft Green Seas for Mace’s 61st birthday here: https://www.facebook.com/lorinz.muze/videos/10213452230643275/?t=15</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">I’ve included some of my more interesting reads of 2018: I’d recommend them all. </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Fascism: A Warning</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> (2018) by former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright. To label her a highly intelligent and worldly writer is an understatement. </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Becoming</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> (2018) by Michelle Obama inspires one’s humanity and goodness. </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Fear</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> (2018) by Bob Woodward. If half of it is true (it is - meeting transcripts were obtained through FOIA requests) …OMG it IS insanity in the White House - of the undiagnosed and under-medicated variety. </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</span><span style="color: rgba(26 , 28 , 29 , 0.65098); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration: underline;">-</span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> (2015) by Marie Kondo. Sigh, my house is a work in progress… </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Hero with a Thousand Faces</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> (1949), in this book Joseph Campbell, discusses the journey of the archetypal hero found in all world mythologies and religions. I found this a fascinating juxtaposition to my Christian upbringing. </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Plot Against America</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">, (2004) a prescient novel by Philip Roth in which “America First” nationalists and Nazi’s win the Presidential election of 1940, thereby allowing closeted racism to reemerge. <i>Did I say prescient? </i>I am currently reading </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">What the Buddha Taught</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> (2017) by Wapola Sri Rahula. It is considered one of the best introductions to Buddhism - a philosophy that resonates in me. Oh, and if you saw and loved the movie, </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Notorious RBG </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">- the book is waaay good! A tireless warrior for women, I for one, keep Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in my prayers.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kittens: Koa and Kea</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">What’s on tap for 2019? I travel to India for 3-weeks starting 2/16. Traveling with workmates who speak the language, visit often, and invited me, and honorary baby-brother and best travel buddy John, to tag along. So most of my 2018 vacation days have been hoarded for this trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I plan to be home in April for Mom’s 94th. I hope to get picked for a fall workweek in Yosemite. I’d love to attend a week-long yoga teacher-training this summer but will have to see if the dates work with the vacation schedules of my fellow NPs. I hope to take ukulele lessons from an excellent teacher originally from Oahu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The rhythm of my life moves at a very predictable pace. I work and in the evenings I either attend ukulele rehearsal or yoga. It’s uncomplicated and follows my simple recipe: meaningful work, significant relationships, exercise, art: music and writing. These are the five components that dominate my calendar and are colored in green. If my calendar is lacking in green - I know I will soon feel out-of-sorts and work to put more green in my calendar.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpNeiFgUoYOHlqE2XcEI_Bl6NCGPf3Qqi2zXBt0VeAzcFXXRHrndy_Xr_yx-wJvARzMEv3z-bNqZ8hfekvpdv-WpDHyzzWvoVZRbKs9SGoEF2_uurXl1DIK2pTlsU7LTMVKhwnubrnAbK/s1600/silhouette-3309171_960_720.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="960" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpNeiFgUoYOHlqE2XcEI_Bl6NCGPf3Qqi2zXBt0VeAzcFXXRHrndy_Xr_yx-wJvARzMEv3z-bNqZ8hfekvpdv-WpDHyzzWvoVZRbKs9SGoEF2_uurXl1DIK2pTlsU7LTMVKhwnubrnAbK/s200/silhouette-3309171_960_720.png" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">How you? I would love to hear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Do Aloha, Be Aloha, do-be-do-be-do-</span><span style="font-size: large;">Aloha ~ Lorin</span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-59324690249657278172018-09-08T10:19:00.000-07:002018-10-06T06:49:32.653-07:00Volunteering in our National Parks<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Volunteering in our National Parks</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I just returned from my volunteer workweek in Yosemite National Park. It's my third summer of volunteering and I’m hooked. My last two years were spent in all three of Yosemite’s sequoia groves; working up-close-and-personal with the world's largest trees.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last year was spent in Yosemite’s largest sequoia grove, the Mariposa Grove, during its restoration and while it was closed to the public. <i>Can you imagine wandering quietly amongst nature’s giants?</i> The very storied trees protected by Lincoln’s pen? The same that shaded Teddy Roosevelt and his guide, John Muir? From whom did they need protection? From foolish, white men felling them for toothpicks!</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wawona Pt - zenith of Mariposa Grove</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Mariposa Grove re-opened to the public in June, after a 3-year, intensive restoration. The Park’s Ranger-botanists noticed few young sequoias in the grove. Further studies revealed that young’uns are a thirsty brood and that the surrounding hardscape directed water away from the grove.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">All hardscape was removed. <i>No longer shall hardtop misdirect water. No longer shall the tram run atop their shallow root systems.</i> The land was re-contoured to mimic the contour of old, as seen in old photos, to improve hydrology in the grove and reestablish a meadow. <i>No longer shall water be directed away from thirsty, young’uns. </i>Ground penetrating radar was used to minimize root damage when placing posts for the new, elevated boardwalk. <i>No longer shall human feet trample and damage their roots. </i>Jute netting was laid upon the soil and native, hydrophilic plants from nearby storm drains were transplanted. <i>No longer shall their toes struggle in barren soil.</i> Flow of the year-round stream was redirected back into the meadow. All new surfaces are porous, allowing every, precious drop of water to permeate soils in the grove.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only rangers and volunteers worked during our last day in the grove. At day’s end, after receiving permission, half of us hiked the four miles through the vacant grove to the Wawona Hotel. Really, c<i>an you even imagine wandering quietly amongst nature’s giants? </i>I re-photographed the botanical icons without homo sapiens loitering at their base. <i>Wonder why I return annually to volunteer in the park?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This year, I visited the Mariposa Grove the day before I was to report for duty. For those who know the grove, all familiar landmarks, aside from the trees themselves, are gone. It’s a little disorienting. While working there I learned of an Indian grinding-stone, literally 30 feet from a parking lot. I visited the stone and thought of those who came before, of their hardship and tenacity. My eyes swept over the forest, imagining bark dwellings and the ancients who ground acorns in the hole at my feet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Yosemite Conservancy (YC) is the non-profit, fund-raising, and volunteer companion to Yosemite’s National Park Service (NPS). They partner in project-planning, fund and personnel matching. I volunteer through YC. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">YC sponsored nine summer-2018 projects in Yosemite NP. Many were cancelled due to fire. Everything between Yosemite Valley the Mariposa Grove was closed to the public; to give firefighters full run of the roads. Smoke obstructed views and poor air quality drove people from the high-country, which remained open. I received daily emails from the volunteer office during the weeks of the fire and was notified that my workweek would be held as scheduled, just 9-days before my report date.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Budd Creek Sunset, TM by Steve Dunleavy</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">I was slated for work in Tuolumne Meadows - reportedly the largest meadow in the country. Tuolumne Meadows (pron. “t</span><span style="font-family: "lucida grande"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">ū</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">-wä-l</span><span style="font-family: "lucida grande"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">ū</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">m’-ny”) is a granite-dome-studded, sub-alpine meadow along the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuolumne_River"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">Tuolumne River</span></a> in the eastern section of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">Yosemite National Park</span></a>. Its approximate elevation is 8,619 feet (2,627 m). The meadow vegetation is supported by shallow groundwater. The water comes from 1,000 mm (39 inches) of precipitation annually, predominately in the form of snow. Water arises from snowmelt and hill-slope aquifers, and flows through the Tuolumne River, Budd’s, Delaney, and Unicorn Creeks. In spring, as soon as the snow melts, it is not uncommon to see large areas of the meadows flooded, practically transformed into lakes.1</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our report time was 2pm on Sunday 8/18, at Tuolumne Meadows, group campsite-G. When I arrived, the commercial kitchen was already set-up beneath several canopies, two long picnic tables had already been abutted together, covered in NPS-green tablecloths (identical to DOD green for you military-types), and shaded by canopies. Other tables had been moved to ring the fire-pit. Team members were busy erecting tents and ferrying gear from their vehicles. I pulled BAM (Baconz Adventure Mobile) into a nearby spot and with nothing to unpack and no tent to set, helped in setting up our dish/hand washing stations.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The team gathered for pupus (Hawn for hors d’oeuvres), introductions were made, greetings delivered, and we learned of our tasks for the week. Every year I am struck with the preponderance of teachers and nurses on the team. This year’s team included 4 RNs, 1 PA (physician’s assistant), and 2 teachers. Notably, a soft-spoken, bearded fellow turned out to be Newberry award-winning author, Paul Fleischman. <i>Boy does he have a way with words.</i> His father, Sid Fleischman, also an award-winning, children’s author, wrote </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">By the Great Horn Spoon!,</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> a book about the gold rush, still used in California’s 4th-grade curriculum. It was later made into the movie, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin. Word spread amongst the rangers and crew and I was asked repeatedly, “Who’s the author?” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I LOVED that book!” our ranger Allie shouted when she learned the connection. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not to be outdone, Paul has himself penned approximately 50 children’s books. “I used to think book awards were frivolous and doled out without thought. But having received one, I can see they are given only after careful deliberations,” he said with a wry smile.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One night over dinner, I asked Paul to write a book explaining the roots of daylight-savings-time and the arguments for keeping it. “It’ll be an adult best-seller,” I insisted to nodding heads. <i>But I digress…</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2018 marks the third year of the Tuolumne Meadows Restoration Project and there are three areas currently under restoration.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Day 1 - Weed Warriors</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bull Thistle - Cirsium Vulgare</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bull thistle is an aggressive, invasive species battled throughout Yosemite. Typically it is found in the lower elevations but ONE was found in Tuolumne Meadows to much consternation. I’ve seen them 6-feet tall with thorns that pierce the best of garden gloves. We knock them over, removing the taproot from soil, and collect the florets and deadheads into heavy garbage bags for incineration.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our first day involved weed-warrioring in the meadow.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Long ago, there was a road (now footpath) that heads straight across the meadow from the Tuolumne Mdws (TM) store to Parsons Lodge @ Soda </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">Springs. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parsons Memorial Lodge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Parsons Memorial Lodge is a quaint and beautiful building erected in 1915 by the Sierra Club at the northern end of Tuolumne Meadows. It was one of the earliest stone-built structures in a national park. Of interest, it was designed by architect Bernard Maybeck, whose homes are well-known and equally well-priced in the bay area.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nicknamed the Soda-Store project - the road was apparently built by scooping mud and meadow from each side and piling it up in the middle. That left trenches on both sides of the road, as deep as eight feet in some places, causing major disruption to the hydrology of the meadow. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the first stages of the project, they filled the trenches and leveled the road to <i>level the meadow</i>. They had "clean dirt" stockpiled in the valley but it was used for another project. So they acquired other dirt, which was not so clean, thereby introducing invasive species into the meadow. The tainted, fill-dirt was only used in the first 6-8 feet on either side of the crushed-granite footpath that runs into the meadow. So, Day-1 was spent "weed-warrioring" along the path. The first half was rich in weeds, the second half - not so much. Teams of volunteers will be after these invasive species for several more years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“My neighbors are going to die laughing when they hear I spent my first day weeding in the meadow,” I exclaimed, for I am well-known for my avid weeding.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We lunched at the riverbank, under shade trees. I noticed something circular - winking and blinking at me from the middle of the river. I removed my boots, rolled up my pants, and waded out to retrieve a pop-top (soda can pull-tab). I held it high in triumph and ignited the argument for leaving it - or not. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anything older than 50-years is considered an “artifacts” and is left for historic value. A pop-top was garbage then and now - <i>but does its age make it an artifact?</i> I slipped it into my pocket while some rangers instructed me to put it back and others debated its age and value as an artifact. Had we been able to consult Dr. Google - we might have been able to establish the date when cans no longer had removable pop-tops. But there is almost no cell-service and no wifi in TM, more on that later. So the debate raged on - even into the dinner hour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In agreeing to work for the NPS, I sign an agreement “to follow the instructions of the rangers.” But the rangers themselves were not unified in their consideration of this ancient piece of refuse. I waded to shore and placed the pop-top in the easily-retrievable shallows.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pause in thimk (an expression used by my math prof. as "an aside”): Dr. Google says, “These problems were both addressed by the invention of the "push-tab". Used primarily on Coors Beer cans in the mid-<b>1970s</b>, the push-tab was a raised circular scored area used in place of the pull-tab. It needed no ring to pull up.” <i>So pop-tops are indeed 50 years old BUT does that make them artifacts?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tourists walking the trail to Parsons Lodge stopped to ask about our labors. As we explained - many thanked us “for our service”. <i>Can I just say that as a post-Vietnam vet, this expression seems a little odd, whether it refers to my military service or weeding? But it IS nice to be acknowledged for one’s service so perhaps I need to get over it.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then one person asked quite earnestly, “Why do we care if invasive species move into the meadow? It’s all plants, it’s all green; what difference does it make?” Our ranger Molly explained that Yosemite is interested in preserving biodiversity and that keeping the meadow plant species pure supports all the other creatures that live in TM. You know the butterfly effect? The phenomenon whereby a minute, localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere? No butterflies - which is in and of itself, another tragic story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the end of our workdays, we head for hot showers before returning to camp. Showers are usually located at the ranger’s community showers. TM campgrounds have no electricity: no lights, no showers and certainly no hot water.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Each evening, we stopped at the TM store for a 6-12 pack of beer for our 15 person crew. We gathered around the fire pit, awaiting our pupus, and discussed the day. On that night, the new Yosemite Conservancy Volunteer Program Mgr, Mark Marschall was in camp. Mark is in his first season as Volunteer Program Mgr and replaced the beloved, long-time, and supremely capable Susie. Mark brings 40-years of park ranger-ing experience to the job; he is knowledgeable and capable, with tremendous people-skills.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I broached the soda can pop-top. “I heard about that,” he said, “It was refuse then and its refuse now.” <i>THAT gave me license to return to the river and retrieve it! </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We built a fire and spent the evening talking about Yosemite, the Conservancy, their vision, the projects, the challenges, stewardship/ownership, how/why we serve. My heart was full when I crawled into my sleeping bag.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Days 2 and 4 - Trail Restoration:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp87rw-Ta_3Ck_C_5Mjlg-dMDjAcTMbnwi0xxmUQeE6km48lXaUytCGWjXNinsBsYhd9d5WlMqWHsWIwIh4FWAee1u33tGvN_clJDh7YX9XPpr8nYfEK2kAjDUXHWmIOfHd1RyTcAUNpus/s1600/Geoff+de-compacting+soil.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp87rw-Ta_3Ck_C_5Mjlg-dMDjAcTMbnwi0xxmUQeE6km48lXaUytCGWjXNinsBsYhd9d5WlMqWHsWIwIh4FWAee1u33tGvN_clJDh7YX9XPpr8nYfEK2kAjDUXHWmIOfHd1RyTcAUNpus/s320/Geoff+de-compacting+soil.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geoff jumping onto de-compacting shovel</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Throughout the park, trails have been moved off the meadows and into the forests. Surely you have seen how deeply rutted and compacted foot trails can become. Ultimately, rutted trails channel water rather than allowing it to dissipate over the meadow, thereby disrupting the “hydrology of the meadow.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two TM trails are under restoration. The first is a trail that runs perpendicular to the Soda-Store footpath. The second is a trail at TM’s western edge, skirting the base of Pothole Dome.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9_TVu8Y0tPSljYkEhSiyJbvFq69RdHtk8-VBU2SYgf3_8Rzut2T3VLSA_TpNyjZude_-ag_Ie5rUv5No2fOiFC-dgpL6_ZJQB0l8rTfcsJYpYX9BYnPxfUDcX24cowh3NkwiswcKT60p/s1600/Geoff%253Ahole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9_TVu8Y0tPSljYkEhSiyJbvFq69RdHtk8-VBU2SYgf3_8Rzut2T3VLSA_TpNyjZude_-ag_Ie5rUv5No2fOiFC-dgpL6_ZJQB0l8rTfcsJYpYX9BYnPxfUDcX24cowh3NkwiswcKT60p/s320/Geoff%253Ahole.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our jobs included: soil de-compaction, soil reclamation, lobing, planting, duffing, and watering. When complete, the meadow will be replanted, making the old trail invisible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">De-compaction: De-compacting shovels look like huge trowels with foot pedals. We literally balanced on the shovel, stepping up onto the pedals, using our body weight to drive it deep into the soil. The soil is loosened and compaction reversed. I often jumped on my shovel up to five times to drive it deep. The bigger guys? One time.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvgvYinrmUrpwUO1lp2KpuXM3OaxaHB01ywsR1qfwWQZ9QlYunq0EQsQ9JSa0i3AoTgX6_dOLafIf06XK7eFpCHbaW0ql14zkSylGjibCbbAj_djbJdsi8REst_SqIk8uhpXQXwIsZ5CF/s1600/Log.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvgvYinrmUrpwUO1lp2KpuXM3OaxaHB01ywsR1qfwWQZ9QlYunq0EQsQ9JSa0i3AoTgX6_dOLafIf06XK7eFpCHbaW0ql14zkSylGjibCbbAj_djbJdsi8REst_SqIk8uhpXQXwIsZ5CF/s320/Log.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soil reclamation</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Soil reclamation: Not wanting to bring in soil from elsewhere, deep holes were dug into the meadow, logs were put into the holes (which over time will compost into dirt), and the displaced dirt was used for surface planting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lobing: a section (or lobe) of meadow is removed from the trail’s edge. These lobes are about 12” deep and 18” in width and length. The lobe is turned and planted in the middle of the trail “in a mosaic fashion”, thereby disrupting and camouflaging the straight lines of the old path edges.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrHGYEnsOOwWLCBtICBWIqKSXdUYNvT1u0E-mQnbYDZoaYhG02lcXY8O-HI7lCtwAGhn1IsWKsBdQ4bbRGWT7ckawrajZ35gi9JCsUSV0siQiAsD2CgG_LELE3nIJHrJP4kSAwTnKkTrjS/s1600/Lobes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrHGYEnsOOwWLCBtICBWIqKSXdUYNvT1u0E-mQnbYDZoaYhG02lcXY8O-HI7lCtwAGhn1IsWKsBdQ4bbRGWT7ckawrajZ35gi9JCsUSV0siQiAsD2CgG_LELE3nIJHrJP4kSAwTnKkTrjS/s320/Lobes.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Placing "lobes"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reclaimed dirt was used as </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">fill between newly planted lobes. Lastly, it is duffed and watered. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Duffing: we raked the wild grasses of the meadow to collect organic material (duff) to cover the newly planted lobes. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Watering: a solar-powered-pump pumped water hundreds of feet from the river to our location and the new lobes received a thorough watering. We walked along parts of the trail that were restored 3 years ago; it is nearly invisible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Day 3: Day Off to explore the park. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy4isL5nUP59ogoiICt0d0ep61gcEd9DpnDreLWANGzpn1pExCIQIA3cTte2etdY5XL-lJEx1tXNBkathOnBF04ldDi0fUPt39WiGF6w06tUP5BlfTwIk2IWwZm0nkKVDrqbPod0wdPCK/s1600/Cathedral+Peaks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy4isL5nUP59ogoiICt0d0ep61gcEd9DpnDreLWANGzpn1pExCIQIA3cTte2etdY5XL-lJEx1tXNBkathOnBF04ldDi0fUPt39WiGF6w06tUP5BlfTwIk2IWwZm0nkKVDrqbPod0wdPCK/s320/Cathedral+Peaks.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cathedral Peaks</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Chin’s and I hiked up the Cathedral Lakes trail. I remembered it as a trail with expansive views of Cathedral Peaks, Tressider Peak, Echo Peaks, and the Cockscomb. This trail had none of that, it was deeply buried in the forest and I walked miles before realizing that the trail had been relocated out of the meadow. At upper Cathedral Lake, we veered off-trail, up and over the shoulder of Cathedral Peaks. Two climbing teams were several pitches from summiting and we sat to watch them. Their voices echoed off the rock and bounced down the valley.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5TnGettc4Z0Q3CHxiqBccoIid4TBSOPvOLyZsncInVnNni1rAIFFExuBvU64XW8ia3K4POSxvoKspefPogmvBRiB1shjxzJpWMe51mH0Pur48RWukjJzVcnE5fGZWCbo51FG_73zALYBF/s1600/Budd%2527s+Lake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5TnGettc4Z0Q3CHxiqBccoIid4TBSOPvOLyZsncInVnNni1rAIFFExuBvU64XW8ia3K4POSxvoKspefPogmvBRiB1shjxzJpWMe51mH0Pur48RWukjJzVcnE5fGZWCbo51FG_73zALYBF/s320/Budd%2527s+Lake.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Budd's Lake - best photo of the week</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our ultimate destination was Budd’s Lake a high mountain lake with chilly, clear water. A gill net stretched across the lake. Lakes that were once stocked for fishermen are being restored to a more natural state, including the reintroduction of endangered frogs. As fish and frogs do not coexist in a small lake, the fish are being eradicated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Day 5: Seed Collection</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">On our last day, we collected seeds from several meadows near Tioga Pass. We spent an hour or two stripping seeds from a particular plant. They were combined, geo-marked, and labeled. Later, they will be cleaned, dried, and chilled to keep them in a dormant state.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tioga Road is being re-paved and improved, to include a wifi cable in the utility corridor of the road. As the road project is completed, the collected seeds will be used to re-seed the new road edges in their exact “collection location”. The NPS has a "seed shack" in El Portal where they store 3-years of dried, cleaned, labelled, and chilled seeds. When El Portal was evacuated for fire in July, the seeds were high priority evacuees.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tioga Road Project:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Water collects in the storm drains and is dumped into TM via large culverts. The prevailing plan is to install many, wide, box-culverts that will spill water into the meadow in a more natural way. Again, this is about restoring the hydrology of the meadow. Conifers are encroaching into TM, as they are wont to do when meadows dry. When the meadow is wetter, conifers will naturally die off. Then projects will include restoring those parts of the meadow that are now eroded waterways created by the current round culverts beneath the road.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mark Marschall - New YC Volunteer Program Coordinator</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We spent several mornings and evenings with Mark because he camped with us. He asked many questions, our opinions on everything from the application process to how the workweeks were run. Six of thirteen in our group were brand new, on their first workweek. Obviously, YC wants to broaden their base without alienating their old-timers. Mark was delightful. He is very open, has terrific listening and people skills. He was willing to hear anything. Any non-English speaker overhearing our conversations would have thought his name was HeyMark. My gut says he is a wonderful and apt replacement for Susie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">New/Future Projects:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Shared bikes are coming to the Valley! The first 90-minutes will be free - to transport people to meals and stores without their cars. This is apparently Simon’s (works for YC) idea and baby that he will shepherd into reality next summer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I thought we should work on the group campsite at Wawona - which has not ONE level campsite. It needs restoration too, maybe gravel paths to each campsite and replanting between campsites.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We had new cooks this year - Dawn and Kearey run Willowcreek Catering out of Oakhurst. They are highly skilled chefs and fishermen, bringing back fresh fish to supplement our meals. They live in an intentional community and have rental cabins and campsites available. Their cabins will soon be available through AirBnB. Located 15-miles from the southeast corner of Yosemite Park - ’tis a good jumping-off spot for exploration there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In my evaluation to the NPS I wrote, “Lastly - thank you for being the guardians of our most valued national treasures. You have been the shining example of "what's possible" as emerging countries divvy up their lands. How Europe wishes they had a "do over" for public, national parks. Thank you for fighting the noble, honorable battle to protect our National Parks. I love and honor you for it and I stand with you in fighting the good fight.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Many of you know I have become a “legacy member” of the Yosemite Conservancy. What does that mean? It means that Yosemite NP is a beneficiary to my estate - should there be anything left when I slide into home plate. I invite you to think about donating to causes greater than you and your family, to the National Parks - created, as inscribed on Yellowstone’s Roosevelt Arch, "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Footnotes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1 Wikipedia</span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-76590450912634000152018-08-04T18:34:00.000-07:002018-08-07T21:32:47.135-07:00Ready or Not - GO!<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ready or Not - GO!</span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray; I went for a walk…,” the Mama’s & Papa’s crooned in 1965. “I’d be safe and warm,” they continued, “If I was in LA. California dreamin’…” California’s dreams are in flames.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The skies over Sacramento <i>are</i> gray - smokey gray - and sometimes smell of smoke. The Ferguson Fire burns in Yosemite NP, causing the largest closure of the park in decades. Starting July 13th, the cause of the fire remains unknown. Its ash and soot drifted one-hundred miles north to Lake Tahoe. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Immediately, persons with sensitive airways began to feel its effects in Sacramento, 100 miles west of Tahoe. Patients flowed into our clinic and stuffed our email inboxes with requests for inhalers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">On July 23rd, a trailer on Hwy 299 got a flat. As the driver pulled over, sparks from the wheel rim against roadway ignited what is now the sixth-most destructive wildfire in state history = the Carr Fire near Redding. Redding is approximately 160 miles north of Sacramento.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_QdJ4qFGeXcS31gQZaDEYstToF9sOT1X3smLPrZU1hKQXr-s8jERCRPzGxyxBXRlPpGbxZtOSGMgEKYB5aZnWx6qazCwPgFcHju2Gwhp6-RdK3PorM7AetwuGXRsQKI-OhZ3_QpotkKj/s1600/Firenado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="540" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_QdJ4qFGeXcS31gQZaDEYstToF9sOT1X3smLPrZU1hKQXr-s8jERCRPzGxyxBXRlPpGbxZtOSGMgEKYB5aZnWx6qazCwPgFcHju2Gwhp6-RdK3PorM7AetwuGXRsQKI-OhZ3_QpotkKj/s320/Firenado.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Firenado - hot air rose so quickly, it produced tornados of 160 mph, uprooting and tossing burning trees, spreading fire that jumped the Sacramento River. Fire moved into the city of Redding, causing immediate evacuations. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In fifteen seconds, this link shows the day by day, explosive growth or the Carr Fire.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/04/us/carr-fire-week-wrap/index.html</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two fires near Clear Lake, an area 90 miles west of Sacramento and plagued by fire in recent years, began Friday 7/27, turning off our sun.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NASA infra-red pic Oakland Fire</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In retrospect, the harbinger, the proverbial canary in the coal mine, may have been the Oakland Hills fire of 1991. The Oakland firestorm was a large suburban, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildland%E2%80%93urban_interface"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">wildland–urban interface</span></a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflagration"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">conflagration</span></a> that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, CA, and southeastern Berkeley over the weekend of October 19–20, 1991. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The 1,520 acres destroyed included 2,843 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The economic loss was estimated at $1.5 billion (1991 USD).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember the day distinctly. We returned home from a full workday to multiple messages from my mother-in-law, each sounding more urgent than the last. Sarah lived in the Berkeley Hills with two schnauzers and no car. Outrunning the erratic, all-consuming fire proved impossible and for some, fatal. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We drove through the Oakland Hills two weeks later. It looked like a war zone. Excepting an occasional house or chimney, everything was reduced to rubble, literally leveled. Not one bird sang, not one leaf rustled in the cool, bay breeze stirring ash and soot into the sky. Long before our drought problems began, post-mortems pointed to fuel on the ground, fuel in the hills, and eucalyptus trees that burn hot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Southern California has long been plagued with fires, most notoriously in the canyons of northern LA where steep terrain make firefighting impossible. But the fires of northern California - burning cities - that’s new.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Santa Rosa fire of 2017 - now that hit close to home in many ways. Santa Rosa is a beautiful community north of San Francisco. Seventeen small fires started, nearly simultaneously, during a single evening in October 2017. I thought arson but Cal Fire now attributes it to ferocious, hot, dry winds that snapped overhead, electric lines and fanned flames.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dubbed the Tubbs Fire, it was the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning parts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_County,_California"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">Napa</span></a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoma_County,_California"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">Sonoma</span></a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_County,_California"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 69, 173); color: #0645ad;">Lake</span></a> counties. At one point, eight contiguous, northern California counties were fighting fires simultaneously in what was called the “Northern California firestorm.” The fire incinerated more than 5,643 structures, including more than 2,800 homes in the city of Santa Rosa, with damages estimated at $1.2 billion. Forty-four people died.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kaiser Permanente has a hospital in Santa Rosa. I know people who work there. Both Kaiser and Sutter evacuated their hospitals as flames licked at their campuses. Employees evacuated patients in their personal autos as firefighting resources were stretched beyond capacity. With a singular focus on safety and with no hope of fire containment, people were rooted from their beds by sirens and first-responders pounding on their doors.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The podcast Reveal did a fascinating narrative on the many failures that hampered firefighters, fueled flames, and kept people from evacuating. Entitled, </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">More to the Story: Wildfires</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">, it aired on May 9, 2018. Check it out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Santa Rosa was my wake-up call. <i>If Santa Rosa could burn, Folsom can too. </i>And now the Carr fire in Redding, where people have died because the erratic nature of the fire left them no time to evacuate. My eyes are fully open and I am in action. I can no longer think <i>it won’t happen here. It IS happening here, in a neighborhood near me.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Below, I’ve outlined my preparations for immediate evacuation. I live in an urban area, I can expect to evacuate to an urban area except during earthquake, when all services could be disrupted. Each area has its common threat, consider that you should prepare for the most common threats in your area: tornado, hurricane, fire, flood, earthquake, landslide and debris flow, etc. My disaster du jour will likely be fire and/or earthquake.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">First, let me say that every year I reinforce and widen the defensible space (fire barrier) around my home. I am very proactive in the greenbelt behind me, moving fuel away from trees, laying down a thick layer of pre-emergent each winter to prevent vegetation from growing to my property line. That being said, should the oak trees in my backyard ignite - my house is toast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">1) Place a pair of boots under your head of bed. You won’t get far barefoot or in slippers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2) Have valuables in one location for scoop and run.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">3) <b>Baconz Go-Bag:</b> rolling duffle bag</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">3 days of quick dry clothing. (recommend camping/hiking clothes)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">warm clothing layer</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">rain jacket/pants</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">N95 mask/respirator</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">medications</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">flash drive w/medical, financial info. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">headlamp (w/new batteries)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">flashlight (w/new batteries)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">phone/iPad charger</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">3-liter hydration bladder</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">water filter</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">water bottles X2</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">hand sanitizer</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">sleeping bag</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2 micro-fiber towels</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">First-Aid kit</span></span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> toiletries</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Duct tape</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ramen, bowl, chopsticks </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Foodbars</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cat Go-Bag: </b>a large, rolling duffle bag contains:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">small litter box, 2 small bags of litter, and scoop.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2 small bags of food.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">2 cat carriers stocked with blanket, toys, water/food bowls, harness, leash.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pet medication and records.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have a plan for your pets. We will make better choices in-a-pinch if we have a plan. I heard an interview this week by a woman in Redding with four dogs. She refused to evacuate because, lacking a plan, she did not want to abandon her dogs. Such a decision puts many lives in danger - including first responders. Have a plan!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">If I can evacuate in BAM (Baconz Adventure Mobile) I’ll have 20 gallons of potable water, solar power, and a propane stove.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">People mourn the loss of family photos more than anything. Trusting souls store this stuff in the cloud. Untrusting souls (me) put them on an external hard-drive. I keep one in the office and one at home - and swap them monthly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Be not lulled into complacency. Ignore not the signs: gray, sunless skies and the scent of smoke. Climate change is upon us! Live as though the day were here. ~ Nietzsche</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">RESOURCES:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK) can help you identify the records you will want to keep safe. This document is available at www.ready.gov/financialpreparedness.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For more information about how to prepare, visit <a href="http://www.ready.gov/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">www.ready.gov</span></a> or call 1.800.BE.READY.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Fire Adapted Community: www. readapted.org</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Forests and Rangelands, Community Wild re Protection Plans:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">www.forestsandrangelands.gov/communities/cwpp.shtml</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Home Builders’ Guide to Construction in Wild re Zones,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Technical Fact Sheet Series (FEMA P-737, September 2008): www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/15962?id=3646</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Inter-Agency Wild re information: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); Ready, Set, Go! Program:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">www.wildland rersg.org</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): www.nfpa.org</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- NFPA’s Firewise Communities Program: www. rewise.org</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- National Interagency Fire Center: www.nifc.gov</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- National Weather Service Fire Weather: www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge2/ re/</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Ready: www.Ready.gov/wild res</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Disaster-Specific Resources: Annotated Bibliography: www.samhsa.gov/dtac/dbhis/dbhis_speci c_bib.asp#disaster</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">- U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service: www.fs.fed.us/ re/</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #222222; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">U.S. Fire Administration (USFA): <a href="http://www.usfa.fema.gov/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">www.usfa.fema.gov</span></a></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Footnotes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 Captain Donald R. Parker (January 1992). Oakland Office of Fire Services, </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 <a href="http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #222222;">"Top 20 Most Destructive California Wildfires"</span></a>. <i>CAL FIRE</i>. Retrieved October 20, 2017. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf</span></div>
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-40004018635209820182018-01-14T13:27:00.000-08:002018-01-16T06:39:01.061-08:00Words Matter<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Words Matter</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: x-small;">To enlarge, double click picture. Click X upper right corner to return to blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Words are like matches - useful - but if they are crafted badly or handled carelessly, they can spark and make you flinch. ~ Brooke Gladstone</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I was out for my daily constitution = exercise. It was a sunny new year’s day, 2018 in Honolulu, so my daily constitution consisted of two, brisk laps around Ala Moana Beach Park and Magic Island, a total 5.12 miles. Bordered by ocean on three sides, small waves lapped at the beach in languid, holiday fashion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The park was filled with revelers, families with chairs beneath their canopies. Children screeched and splashed in the shallows with water-wings inflated around their tiny, brown biceps. The smell of charcoal briquets and teriyaki chicken rose from hibachis; coco palms bobbed in the north-easterly trade winds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">One large group was encamped beneath a larger shade-cloth. I passed cases of bottled water and blaring Hawaiian music. Balloons bounced on the breeze, tethered at the tent’s corners. As I rounded their encampment I saw the Happy Birthday Luau banner and men tending a pig on a spit. It <i>was </i>another perfect day in paradise, where islanders head for the beach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Like other parks in Honolulu, Ala Moana has been known for its homeless population. What with access to free showers and toilets, it beats living on the literal streets by a long shot. The city has worked to move the homeless out but some remain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">In my experience, our nation’s homeless are often under medicated and sometimes undiagnosed. Their behavior can be so bizarre that they alienate their families and have nowhere to go. (Such is the plight of those without access to healthcare - but that is another story for a different day.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">A young man whizzed by on a skateboard, highly animated with grand gestures, speaking loudly. A man crossed my path, he paused, his narrowed eyes following the skateboarder. “Satan hides in plain sight,” he announced loudly to his surrounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I stopped abruptly and stared with alarm bells clanging in my head. He was of a stocky, muscular build with closely-cropped, graying hair. He carried a camouflage-patterned backpack that lent to his US Marine look. I slowed my stride to keep him out front. His backpack was over-stuffed; I wondered what it contained and I began feeling fear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Was he a Marine? Or a wanna-be? What’s in his backpack? A semi-automatic weapon in a beach park on new year’s day would cause an unprecedented mass-casualty event. Ala Moana’s massive lawns were studded infrequently with gargantuan trees offering scant defensive cover. He plodded on alone, deeper into the park with all its new year celebrants. I followed from behind, watching his movements, memorizing his dress. He wore a turquoise t-shirt, <i>that’s easy to spot.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I thought about leaving, of driving to Kapiolani Park to finish my walk. I thought about an immediate about-face, to walk to Kapiolani Park and back. I thought my thoughts were ridiculous, that he was probably an upstanding pillar in his Christian Church, a loving father, maybe even a grandfather. I thought how I trusted him less than the boy on the skateboard that had triggered his comment. I thought how I resented him for causing my fearful feelings, all the while knowing that only I was responsible for my feelings. I found my reaction to him curious, that current events of white men with guns and his overtly judgmental assessment had sparked fear in me. I thought of a declaration by my mother, “A pox on all rich, white men,” spoken like a true outsider. It made me smile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I continued my walk and crossed his path thrice more, the last as he drove from the park. I wondered… if he knew my thoughts, would it make a difference? Would he be horrified to learn that someone found his simple declaration threatening? Or would he justify himself, his thoughts, his bold remarks from a place of God-given righteousness?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Later that same day and concurrent with a radio public service announcement, sirens blared across the island in a ballistic missile attack warning drill. I felt deeply saddened that our perfect paradise and island life had devolved to this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">How had this happened? Words.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">On Saturday, January 13th, those sirens blared again. Only this time - it was no drill. Electronic billboards over the highways read: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. E-v-e-r-y cellphone “detected” in Hawaii simultaneously received those same words via text. People had 20-minutes …and for the next 38-minutes, Hawaii held its breath.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">My 92.75-year-old mother was offered one of two options. Shelter in place or shelter in the basement. She chose to stay in her unit. “There’s no point fussing about things I have no control over. If we are going to be hit, the basement won’t save us.” She’s right, I concur, better to die in the initial blast than slowly of radiation poisoning. <i>Go to the beach; watch the show.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">In the end, it seems a shift change “push of the wrong button” was responsible. I’m sure someone will take the blame and lose a job. But this is NOT about the wrong button being pushed. THIS is about words and <i>this </i>a failure of leadership. Had our President not taunted Kim Jung Un with name-calling (Rocket Man), had he not threatened him with the unleashing of “fire and fury the likes of which have never been seen”, had he not escalated his rhetoric with schoolyard comparisons of “mine is bigger than yours”, the sirens, texts, and billboards might not have seemed as credible, as ominous, or as downright terrifying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">THIS is about words and <i>this </i>a failure of leadership. We (used to) have a diplomatic corp to seek diplomatic solutions to fractious international interests but that seems to have devolved to name-calling and threats. <i>Who knew diplomacy could be so complicated?</i> … er, almost every mature, thoughtful person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Let me harken back to my blog entitled: This is Political, posted February 2016. (You can scroll to this earlier posting from the sidebar to the right.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Prior to the presidential election, I stumbled upon an article by Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hurtling, former Commander of US Army Europe and 7th Army. In his article, </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Judging our Candidates as Leaders</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">, he says candidates should be carefully evaluated on character, presence, and intellect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">He points first to character; do they have the right stuff? Do they understand others; would they apply moral principles in serving our citizens? “The key question one should ask: Do we as a nation trust this leader to do the right thing, for all people, in the toughest of situations?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">In light of the last year, I daresay Trump hardly meets this first test. He consistently disparages those who are different. The litany is long and well-documented, no need to reproduce it here but if you are doubting, I can send the list. We typically hold our President to a higher moral bar. We would like him to put America’s best foot forward. If the man’s words exemplify his moral character than his use of “grab them by the pussy”, “shit-hole countries”, Mexicans are “murderers and rapists” are quite revealing; no?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Second, Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hurtling turns to presence, “confidence, not arrogance. Presence generates a positive perception from supporters. More important, it garners support and generates respect -- not fear -- from foes and sworn enemies.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">One need only to look at the opinions of our international community to see that Trump fails spectacularly in this criteria for confidence, not arrogance, and a presence that generates respect. One can hardly generate respect when one denigrates others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Lastly, he points to intellect, defined as a profound understanding of critical issues. (Insiders are stunned by Trump's inability to or disinterest in grasping the issues.) “Great presidents, continuously faced with complex national and global challenges, need to be able to build strong teams to assist them in generating sound strategies, and thus require phenomenal interpersonal skills.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Intellect is rarely found in those who consistently and exclusively seek their own counsel. A stable genius? Perhaps in his own head; which proves my previous statement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hurtling closes with this, “As a nation, we have just a few short months to determine who will be our 45th president, so I'm hoping others join me in evaluating that leader with the most potential in these three critical areas.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: large;">Read his exposé in its entirety here: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/opinions/judging-our-candidates-as-leaders-hertling/index.html"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(23, 87, 120); color: #175778;">http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/opinions/judging-our-candidates-as-leaders-hertling/index.html</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Words matter, they have the power to heal, the power to hurt, and when spouted carelessly from the office of POTUS, they can have dire consequence. Words are one window, revealing the stuff of our heart, the mettle of our soul. Don’t miss the irony of Trump defending himself on MLK Day with, “I am not a racist.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The deed is done. I contend we have a seriously deficient, non-leader in the White House. What do we do now? </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Here is January's shortlist:</span></div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); color: #262626;"></span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626;">Pay att</span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-kerning: none;">ention. Get active. Raise your voice. I do not uniformly oppose Trump but on the issues that I do - I engage.</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-size: large;">Write your peeps in Congress to voice your opinion and concern. </span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: "shree devanagari 714";"><span style="font-size: large;">Find them here: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-size: large;">Call the White House - they have someone who actually answers the phone! (202) 456-1111</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-size: large;">Interested in liberty and justice for all? Attend the Women’s March, Sat, January 20, 2018 (It will be FUN!)</span></li>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Sacramento’s March info:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">10:00 AM – 3:00 PM PST</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Southside Park</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">2115 6th Street</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Sacramento, CA 95818</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now... Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: Too late. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.</span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-63097504091542110172017-12-25T07:54:00.000-08:002017-12-25T07:54:01.269-08:00Mele Kalikimaka e nei (my dear)<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mele Kalikimaka e nei (my dear)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope this letter finds you and yours in good health, spirits, and enjoying vitality at every age and stage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">How time flies when you’re having fun! Another year has passed and this year, I seemed focused on retirement. (Three years left and yes, I <i>am</i> counting.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The biggest piece of that was the acquisition of my new van. I have long aspired to tour the USA in my Chevrolet, visit every national park, drive Route 66, and the Alcan, see the fall colors of New England and the bears of Katmai. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I began to focus on vans: eliminates the purchase of both trailer and truck, better gas mileage, no need to tow, easier pull-in, set-up, tear-down, and drive-off. Vans seemed more conducive to traveling alone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">During my summer forays into Yosemite and Sequoia NPs, I’ve accosted every owner of every travel van. They are typically retired, talkative, and readily volunteer tours of their vans, recount trips and packing tips. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hence, I purchased a Mercedes cargo van in late summer. It has been converted into BAM = Baconz Adventure Mobile. I’ll plan some weekend trips nearby to work out the bugs before hitting the road - for I have miles to go before I sleep.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another focus this year was ukulele. The Chinese Community Church has a very active ukulele and hula fellowship. Our very own kumu hula hails from Moloka’i and a few players are from Oahu. Chinese Community reminds me of my home church in Honolulu, the United Church of Christ, not in the least because their many Chinese parishioners lend a familiar feel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The uke group who plays at L&L Hawaiian BBQ on Fridays is mostly retired, mostly from the isles and star-studded with a handful of pros. Between the two groups, I feel found and known. We talk story from small-kid-time in pidgin-English, and crack-up-laugh. <i>These are my island peoples.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ukulele community in Sacramento held a kanikapila (typically a backyard jam session though this was planned) in November. A dozen groups came together for a potluck lunch and 15-minutes performances. <i>Good fun bruddah!</i> Someone made chicken luau in a crockpot! <i>Ono! </i>My circle of Hawaiian friends expands through these groups and I am singing and strumming like I haven’t in years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our Clan continues to grow. Niece Lael is expecting triplets - yes - triplets. Darth converted their garage into a playroom and they seem quite calm. I suspect sister Gina will be visiting SoCal more frequently. My Mom and her siblings seem to be doing well and dine together weekly. “The Girls” (Mom & twin Milly) will turn 93 in April. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I added two kittens to the family this year. Koa & Kea are Turkish Vans. They have been quick to learn their names and come when called. They are busy wearing harnesses and dragging leashes in the preliminaries before learning to “heel”. I hope to turn them into travel companions for BAM. So look for me in PetSmart - I’ll be the crazy lady walking cats.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Summer found me volunteering for the restoration of the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite and camped in Sequoia NP. You won’t recognize the Mariposa Grove! Spending time in the world’s most famous sequoia grove sans tourists was a near-Holy experience, coz - you know - my church is outside.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s on tap for 2018? Nurse Practitioner national convention in Colorado with my NP classmate and travel companion, John. I hope to tack on a side jaunt to Nashville and visit dearest friends Eddie & Trish. Another week of volunteering in Yosemite (fingers and toes crossed). A September camper caravan with neighbors Marcie & Kurt. A few long weekends testing out BAM at the coast (maybe I’ll go see the condors again). Cat training at PetSmart. More strumming and singing and LOTS of yoga. Oh yeah - and work at Kaiser - which is gratifying and challenging.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My favorite read of 2017: A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren - whom I consider a renegade Christian (my favorite kind). In our very polarized world [democracy vs oligarchy vs (the not-so-new US) plutocracy, free vs oppressed, haves vs have nots], country (cities vs rural, costal libs vs interior conservatives, north vs south), states (red & blue, oil producers vs oil consumers, water sufficients vs insufficients), neighborhoods (segregated or diverse, economically blighted or not, food deserts or not), religions (each with its unique and ubiquitous message “we are going to heaven and you’re not” — yawn), churches, (synagogues, temples, houses of worship, parks, mountains, ocean); this book preaches one unifying message of God and me… and us… and all of us. Tis a message I find resonating liked a plucked heartstring. Read it and let me know what you think.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My simple recipe for a life that rocks: meaningful work, nurturing relationships, art (includes music, reading, and writing), exercise, and you. What about you? I would love to hear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mele Kalikimaka e Hau’oli Makahiki Hou. ~ Lorin</span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-38177834937441779052017-09-23T08:04:00.001-07:002017-09-25T23:11:38.991-07:00My past is in my future...<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626; font-family: "Shree Devanagari 714"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My past is in my future - and it’s a good thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">September 21st marked, what would have been, my Dad’s 88th birthday. My Dad was many things: a bootstrap kind of guy who rose from abject hunger and poverty to homeownership and sending his kids to college. He was quiet and steady and full of practical know-how. He taught me to balance a checkbook, to “always save 10%” and to live within my means. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Dad loved the outdoors; in describing him I sometimes called him “Mr. Sierra Club”. I learned to hike with my Dad - day hikes in Hawaii then overnights in the mountains </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">which graduated into multi-day trips in Haleakala and such.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> My love for the wilds is my Dad’s greatest gift to me, his legacy </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">in</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> me, manifest in the world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is fitting that on the day of his birth, I would buy BAM = Baconz Adventure-Mobile. The purchase of this van is the first step in my plans to tour the USA, every National Park, and Europe in my post-retirement era. With 3.5 years to retirement, I will have time to pay for the van and the conversion to BAM.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">These plans are the culmination of a lifetime yearning that has taken shape and form in the last few years. The numbers of people who have tried to dissuade me is… stunning - so I no longer talk about it with certain people. My friends who backpack and camp - totally get it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">During my last three summer forays into our National Parks, I accosted nearly every camper-van owner. They tend to be an older group with a willingness to give tours, sharing their stories and tips. I did meet a young family who had converted a short, tangerine school bus - fascinating. A big mahalo to all for the inspiration they provide.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unbeknownst to me, the military owns private campground peppered across the US. I hear they are wonderful and I have access to them - thanks to the US Army Nurse Corps. Woo-hoo!</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the immediate future, I will complete the conversion from cargo van to BAM; then plan weekend forays to work out the <i>kinks</i>. Then I’ll try longer trips in the US. I have friends in Nashville, Louisiana, and an Aunt in Florida. I’d like to see the fall colors of New England and then ship BAM to Europe for travel the following year. We’ll see how far I get. Stay tuned - Adventure Girl is on the move. Thanks Dad!</span></span></div>
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-3498860900992698802017-07-15T21:32:00.001-07:002017-07-17T20:17:00.106-07:00Civics 101 - CliffsNotes<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Civics 101 - CliffsNotes</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So it is written: <i>When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So it shall be: On July 4, 1776, with 56 signatures and the stroke of many quills, these British colonies declared themselves the independent United States of America, separate and equal to the Crown of England. <b>(1)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Talk about <i>the Resistance</i> and an act of civil disobedience - Five signers were captured by the British and brutally tortured as traitors. Nine fought in the War for Independence and died from wounds or from hardships they suffered. Two lost their sons in the Continental Army. Another two had sons captured. At least a dozen of the fifty-six had their homes pillaged and burned. Originally men of means, many died in poverty.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why am I writing about these foundational documents? Because they are in the news and I find myself puzzling; which document declares that we <i>are all created equal</i>? What specifically are <i>states rights</i>? It's all right here boys and girls. Civics 101 - CliffsNotes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The United States Constitution </b>was written by the provisional government and second Constitutional Congress, in 1787 and ratified in 1788. These are the <i>laws of the land</i>, greatly limiting the powers of the government and ensuring freedom for its peoples. It begins, “We the people”, declaring at the outset, that it is a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” though <i>those specific words</i> were codified later in the Gettysburg Address of 1863.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The second Constitutional Congress had two parties and each proffered a constitutional plan. The nationalist majority, soon to be called <i>Federalists</i>, put forth the Virginia Plan, proposing a bicameral Congress based on proportional representation by population, thusly favoring more populace states. The "old patriots," later called <i>Anti-Federalists, </i>advocated the New Jersey Plan, a unicameral Congress providing each state with one vote, thusly favoring less populace states. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our government is a combination of both: a bicameral Congress with the House having representation by population, and the Senate allotted two representatives per state.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Related story? While I would not dismiss recent White-House-speak of abandoning Census-2020, the Census IS protected because it measures our population. And we have a Constitution that provides for <i>representation apportioned by population.</i> That's why you may hear hubbub about the Census. Budget cuts may render less information and scientists are loathe to lose the opportunity to fully engage with every household each decade. But presently, draining the swamp will seemingly include flushing some monies for our Census. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The LGTBQ crowd is currently lobbying for questions regarding their community to remain in the proposed Census-2020. Why? They say, “If you’re not counted, you don’t exist.” Meaning, there is no awareness and no federal acknowledgment. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The issue of forcing boys who identify and dress as girls into the boy's bathrooms (the gender designated on their birth certificates) or vice versa, may be more prevalent than we know. Pretending it does not exist is not a powerful way to engage with the truth. Census-2020 could put a finger on that pulse… er… probably not. But I digress.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers"><i>The Federalist</i> Papers</a> provided background and justification for the Constitution. Some states agreed to ratify the Constitution only if the amendments that were to become the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights">Bill of Rights</a> would be taken up immediately by the new government.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As an aside, <b><i>The Federalist</i></b> (later known as <b><i>The Federalist</i></b> <b>Papers</b>) is a collection of 85 articles and essays written (under the pseudonym Publius) by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the Constitution. They were serially published in the Independent Journal and the New York Packet during a ten-month span in 1787-1788. They pre-date Constitutional ratification and are comprised of philosophical debates “…whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.” The arguments for <i>a republic versus a democracy</i> and the protections from <i>the tyranny of the majority</i> are contained within The Federalist Papers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our newest Supreme Court Justice, Justice Neil Gorsuch describes himself as a Federalist and indeed holds membership in the Federalist Society - for they whom adhere closely to the written word of The Constitution. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Constitution of the United States Preamble (2)</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ARTICLES:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article I - establishes the Legislative Branch of government, House & Senate, their responsibilities, and duties. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article II - establishes the Executive Branch of government, The President & Vice President, their responsibilities, and duties. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article III - establishes the Judicial Branch of government and its power.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article IV - The States; establishes the rights of states. (When you hear “states rights,” think Article IV.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article V - how Amendments are made to The Constitution.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article VI - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Article VII - Ratification.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">AMENDMENTS:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 3 - Quartering of Soldiers. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses. Ratified 12/15/1791.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 7 - Trial by Jury in Civil Cases. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 8- Cruel and Unusual Punishment. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. (12/15/1791).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 11 - Judicial Limits. (2/7/1795).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 12- Choosing the President, Vice-President. (6/15/1804).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 13 - Slavery Abolished. “Emancipation Proclamation.” (12/6/1865).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights. (7/9/1868). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 15 - Race No Bar to Vote. (2/3/1870).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 16 - Status of Income Tax Clarified. (2/3/1913).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 17 - Senators Elected by Popular Vote. (4/8/1913)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 18 - Liquor Abolished. (1/16/1919). Repealed by Amendment 21, (12/5/1933).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 19 - Women's Suffrage. (8/18/1920).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 20 - Presidential, Congressional Terms. (1/23/1933).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 21 - Amendment 18 Repealed. (12/5/1933).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 22 - Presidential Term Limits. (2/27/1951).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 23 - Presidential Vote for District of Columbia. (3/29/1961).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 24 - Poll Tax Barred. (1/23/1964).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 25 - Presidential Disability and Succession. (2/10/1967).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 26 - Voting Age Set to 18 Years. (7/1/1971).</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philadelphia</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Separate but Equal</i>. Articles I-III establish our three, equal branches of government: the Legislative Branch (the bicameral Congress), the Executive Branch = the President of the US (POTUS), and the Judicial Branch comprised of the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) and other lower courts. This brilliant <i>separate but equal</i> form of government was a reaction to the tyranny of the Crown and protects us from <i>tyranny from within</i>. They are the means to check any branch of government from lawlessness (i.e. clandestine meetings with foreign governments or profit and gifts from foreign governments) and tyranny (i.e. Executive Orders that might be unconstitutional or the overstepping of the Courts). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">You may have heard it said that we are facing a Constitutional Crisis. When one branch of government (legislative, judicial or executive) tries to usurp power from the others, <b><i>that </i></b>constitutes a Constitutional Crisis. No “nothing burger” here, I am demonstrating the basis for why it matters and is newsworthy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Articles lV-Vl entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relation to the federal government. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The dissenting voices of the healthcare debate fall out along the lines drawn by <i>state’s rights</i>. My over-simplification will demonstrate. The Tea Party and ultra-Conservative Right want each state to have ultimate authority and autonomy in healthcare distribution. The Far Left wants Obamacare bolstered and improved for all citizens = bigger federal government = the antithesis of states rights.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I see healthcare not through a state’s rights lens but from a “promote the general welfare” (Constitutional) and a social justice view. Here’s my take: 100% of us will use healthcare in our lifetime so 100% of us should have healthcare insurance. It’s like car insurance - required. There are a number of ways to do this and thus far, the US has chosen the most expensive and least accountable methods. There are many functioning models throughout the world. None is perfect but many are better than what we currently employ. Both Medicare and Medicaid are also very viable models.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am vehemently opposed to high-risk pools and exclusion by pre-existing conditions. We will all, sooner or later, have a pre-existing condition and the older you get - it's guaranteed. We’ve been down that road - it left the sickest amongst us uninsured and seeking care in the Emergency Department at the highest price-point possible. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fiscal Conservatives argue the federal government can’t pay for healthcare because if they lower taxes (disproportionately on individuals who earn greater than $200K per year), the money to pay for healthcare disappears. That’s why you hear the Bernie Sanders’ camp calling Trumpcare the biggest transfer of wealth in years. The current tax levied on individuals earning above $200K has partially paid for Obamacare subsidies and the expansion of Medicaid.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The last military budget request was $639 BILLION - with a B. Each Presidential weekend at Mar-a-Lago or another Trump Resort costs the tax payer $3 million. Do you think we could figure out how to get our citizens covered with comprehensive healthcare?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">And WHY are we trimming women’s health and birth control from plans to make them cheaper? OVER half the population is FEMALE! I notice we’re not trimming men’s health, prostate care, Cialis and Viagra from any plans. …<i>just sayin’. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is obviously what happens when you cloister 13, mostly rich, mostly elderly, mostly white with one Hispanic, men (and no women), in a room and charge to them compose a healthcare bill. A New York Times headline says it all: 13 Men and No Women Are Writing New G.O.P. Health Bill in Senate. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">God help us - GIRL you lis’nin? </span></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCo7baO6YuK-aAyq3pK2xuyS0EJDPYy0O7e0dZHx_wQf-dJpbP_xLPWy1Oudke70zL2yitpm9yZ2QMrjC1mDOeyjXoUNA1WlBGRcJx1LhOSl4AQOIyiYGGfjSZjhYRKqE4MYFs4Zaw4jCp/s1600/Bill+of+Rights.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="876" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCo7baO6YuK-aAyq3pK2xuyS0EJDPYy0O7e0dZHx_wQf-dJpbP_xLPWy1Oudke70zL2yitpm9yZ2QMrjC1mDOeyjXoUNA1WlBGRcJx1LhOSl4AQOIyiYGGfjSZjhYRKqE4MYFs4Zaw4jCp/s400/Bill+of+Rights.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The <b>Bill of Rights </b>is composed of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. Written by James Madison in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection of individual liberties, it was a condition of Constitutional ratification for some. The <b>Bill of Rights</b> was ratified in 1791 and lists specific prohibitions and limitations on governmental power.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The first twelve Amendments were crafted by our Founding Fathers excepting the few who predeceased their composition. There is no denying the brilliance of these men; indeed history holds them in esteem.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Prescient as our Founding Fathers were - a few things are self-evident. When they asserted “all men are created equal”, they indeed meant men and only men. The Preamble’s, “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” applied to rich, white guys - others need not apply. Conspicuously excluded from the blessed were the majority of the young country’s denizens: women, slaves, and indigenous peoples - for they were considered chattel, er… personal property or worse.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The word <i>suffrage</i> comes from Latin <i>suffragium</i>, meaning "vote", "political support", and <i>the right to vote</i>. Universal suffrage consists of the right to vote without restriction due to sex, race, social status, education level, or wealth though generally, restrictions on age and citizenship exist.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a government “of the people, by the people and for the people”, there is no <i>OF</i> or <i>BY</i> without the right to vote.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A striking feature of the Constitutional Amendments, listed thusly and hence more apparent, are the number of Amendments that specifically address the right to vote. Consider and review Amendments 14, 15, 19 and 24. <b>(2)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For temporal context, Amendment 13 abolished slavery in 1865. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1868, Congress amended the Constitution with the 14th Amendment, asserting “all persons born or naturalized in the United States … excluding Indians not taxed” … are citizens of the United States and entitled to its privileges. Amendment 14 goes on to grant voting rights to males only, of 21 years or more.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nineteen months later, Congress addressed the right to vote, yet again in 1870, because former slaves (males over 21) were being denied the right to vote. Amendment 15: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged … on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FIFTY years later, in 1920, women were finally granted the right to vote. (I see a major girl-party and women’s march in the offing.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lastly, in 1964, Amendment 24 forbids other barriers to voting including quizzes and additional poll taxes - methods used in the deep South to bar the poor, colored vote.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">How many Amendments are required to protect a citizen’s right to vote? Apparently many <i>… but wait - there’s more!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Public Law 89-110, the <b>Voting Rights Act of 1965</b> is a landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson during the height of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Movement">Civil Rights Movement</a> on August 6, 1965, Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;"><sup> </sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments, penned100 years prior, the Act secured voting rights for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted in our country. <b>(3)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The South has consistently found ways to block the black and minority vote and have thusly been strictly monitored since 1965. But in 2013, SCOTUS struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. In a 5-to-4 vote, it freed nine states, mostly Southern, to change their election laws without advance, federal approval. The court divided itself along ideological lines. At the core of the disagreement was whether racial minorities continued to face barriers to voting in states with a history of discrimination. “Our country has changed,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">United States Attorney and head of the DOJ, Jeff Sessions hails from Alabama. When the Supreme Court gutted the single most effective provision of the Voting Rights Act - the most important statute in getting African-Americans the right to vote in this country - then Senator Sessions called that “A good day for the South” and Southern states immediately enacted voter ID laws.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The latest versions to disenfranchise black and minority voters - because clearly, discrimination at the ballot box is unlawful - are gerrymandering and voter identification requirements.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What is gerrymandering? A Mother Jones article explains: The Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina congressional map that packed African Americans into two districts and reduced their voting power elsewhere. The ruling was a decisive blow against the use of race in drawing district lines and a victory for voting rights advocates who argued that the map violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. But it also shed light on the court’s thinking about an even more politically consequential issue, and one that the court is likely to consider soon in multiple major cases: gerrymandering aimed at boosting a political party. <b>(4) </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">You’re going to hear much more about gerrymandering - a means of neutralizing or minimizing the votes cast by specific groups. A means by which some say, Republicans have systematically garnered Congressional seats despite Democrats casting more ballots. Why should you care? Because when freedoms are curtailed for one group, we’re next.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">And WHAT is the issue with voter ID requirements; you ask? It's an issue for the elderly. Why? Because many, like my Mom and Dad, were born at home. Record keeping was shoddy and state sanctioned birth certificates were not always available. My own father’s birth date was in question. For some, births were entered into the family Bible, which was subsequently lost. The requirement for a state sanctioned ID disproportionately disadvantages the rural, poor (usually minority) and home-birthed. In this day and age, it is difficult, if not impossible, to get a state sanctioned ID without a birth certificate. This issue may die with the Greatest (WWll) Generation but they’re not gone yet and they deserve the right to vote.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstBM-HomT3IMwnLFtIig49TUgVeyHehdHGcfSXKxYA6bjjfcmOQ7bAH_vnC45yS8roewrvN4xxry8NBtySzj5xIsQ-athna2IcU3kyw0GAAc2uLI9NkrLPOoNUmj-Iq4Ue-gneZxGYP7J/s1600/Voter+ID.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="832" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstBM-HomT3IMwnLFtIig49TUgVeyHehdHGcfSXKxYA6bjjfcmOQ7bAH_vnC45yS8roewrvN4xxry8NBtySzj5xIsQ-athna2IcU3kyw0GAAc2uLI9NkrLPOoNUmj-Iq4Ue-gneZxGYP7J/s400/Voter+ID.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The argument for voter ID requirements is to ensure the security and integrity of our elections. <i>Makes sense; right?</i> But look at the map of states who have enacted voter ID requirements. <b>(5) </b>They are heavily weighted in the South. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">With little evidence of voter fraud, except within a few delusional minds, and in a culture requiring multiple Constitutional Amendments to guarantee voter rights for its citizens, one wonders. As the old adage goes - if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck… Said another way, racial discrimination by any other name is still discrimination.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQx_1lZuhtsMhjvSwrCXkGaGismx94Sy-Dk7DBUW5NwUmah1y2GrLxDw205gy_063q0LgYjbFHqgoRTpOndlTGTdOGzGww9i-GlitaxXoVmqvBm3y7EdGrQ6eYzAmrQrov2UcIh0KWds1a/s1600/Kamehameha+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQx_1lZuhtsMhjvSwrCXkGaGismx94Sy-Dk7DBUW5NwUmah1y2GrLxDw205gy_063q0LgYjbFHqgoRTpOndlTGTdOGzGww9i-GlitaxXoVmqvBm3y7EdGrQ6eYzAmrQrov2UcIh0KWds1a/s1600/Kamehameha+3.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kamehameha lll, no heathen he.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As an interesting aside: King Kamehameha lll and the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawai'i granted universal suffrage to all male and female adults. In 1893, when the Kingdom of Hawai'i was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the rich, white guys of a more “advanced” society, women lost the right to vote. <i>Go figure.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amendment 1 - protects our freedom of speech, more specifically “Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression.” Pay particular attention to the First Amendment as it is getting lots of air-time. It protects my right to write and express my opinions. It protects your right to attend a place of worship of your choosing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Importantly, it protects a free press: from Huffington Post to Breitbart and everyone in-between. Threats to sue and lock-up journalists are threats to the free press. Make no mistake, a free press keeps the powerful in check. You know who murders journalists <i>en masse</i>? Mexican cartels and the Russian government. <i>What do they have to hide? Plenty!</i> Who imprisons and tortures journalists? China and Saudi Arabia. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Threats directed at our press corps are a threat to our Constitution. Some of our own press has been harassed and beaten following inciting remarks and Tweets by others. When Trump singles out specific members of the press corp in an arena full of sycophants, its a threat and reporters worry for their safety. NO ONE should be threatened - no matter how much we dislike them - because we are not lawless people and this is not a lawless land. We count on our Constitutional laws and freedoms.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lastly, watch for challenges to <b>Roe v. Wade,</b>. the landmark, 1973 decision by SCOTUS allowing a woman’s right to abortion - and death by back-alley, coat hanger abortions became a thing of the past. The decision was passed by affirming a “right to privacy” - a right that appears nowhere in the Constitutional text. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Back in the day, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg felt the decision for Roe v. Wade was premature and she took a lot of heat from women’s rights groups for her position. She felt that a decision for Roe based on “the right to privacy” was weak and might not withstand vigorous challenge. She preferred a statute based upon individual liberty - which is a Constitutional guarantee.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Enter Justice Neil Gorsuch - a federalist who argues eloquently and adheres closely to the written word of The Constitution - where no “right to privacy” exists. <i>If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen baby - it's gonna be a scorcher. Macadamia-pineapple pancakes anyone? ...it's my specialty...</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The injustices creep and crawl, niggle and gnaw, clatter and clang in my cranium, go bump in the night and keep me from sleep. Perhaps now that it's steaming out my ears and streaming from my blog, I can let go, just a bit. …and you can take up the worry beads… or not.</span></span></div>
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<ol>
<li style="font-family: 'shree devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence#/media/File:United_States_Declaration_of_Independence.jpg</span></li>
<li style="font-family: 'shree devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">https://constitutioncenter.org/media/files/constitution.pdf</span></li>
<li style="font-family: 'shree devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://library.clerk.house.gov/reference-files"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://library.clerk.house.gov/reference-files</span></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"> PPL_VotingRightsAct_1965.pdf</span></li>
<li style="font-family: 'shree devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/supreme-court-north-carolina-racial-gerrymander-case-voting-rights/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: black;">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/supreme-court-north-carolina-racial-gerrymander-case-voting-rights/</span></a></li>
<li style="font-family: 'shree devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: black;">https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state</span></a></li>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-64396224737887522502017-05-29T06:13:00.000-07:002017-05-30T18:54:10.845-07:00We Too, Shall Pass<div style="font-family: 'shree devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We too, shall pass.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unless you work with the dying or in a hospital, CA Senate Bill 128 (SB-128) likely passed with little notice in June of 2016. With it, California became only the sixth state in the union to enact an aid-in-dying law.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had keen interest in this law for I have been witness to many deaths both in and outside the hospital. Further, I had a friend dying of breast cancer that had metastasized to her bones - a notoriously painful death - and she was hoping to avail herself of SB-128 and its cocktail. Just in case SB-128 failed to pass or she didn’t live until it did, she was stockpiling pain pills, informing me she had “an exit strategy” if the pain became too great. I applauded her courage, convinced I’d do the same.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">You may remember Brittany Maynard, a beautiful, vibrant and young Californian, who at age 29, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. She suffered from debilitating headaches and seizures as her cancer grew. She moved to Oregon to take advantage of their Death with Dignity law, all-the-while advocating for California lawmakers to get their act together.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Brittany wrote, <i>““I considered passing away in hospice care at my San Francisco Bay-area home. But even with palliative medication, I could develop potentially morphine-resistant pain and suffer personality changes and verbal, cognitive and motor loss of virtually any kind.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Because the rest of my body is young and healthy, I am likely to physically hang on for a long time even though cancer is eating my mind. …an end-of-life option for mentally competent, terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live. …I could self-ingest to end my dying process if it becomes unbearable.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>When my suffering becomes too great, I can say to all those I love, “I love you; come be by my side, and come say goodbye as I pass into whatever's next.” I will die upstairs in my bedroom with my husband, mother, stepfather and best friend by my side and pass peacefully. I can't imagine trying to rob anyone else of that choice.””</i> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Brittany died in 2014 and testified for SB-128 before the state legislature in 2015 from beyond the grave, in a message recorded prior to her death. “Every one of us will die. We should not have to suffer excruciating pain, shame or a prolonged dying process. The laws in California, and 45 other states, must change to prevent prolonged, involuntary suffering for all terminally ill Americans,” Maynard said in the video.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Robert Olvera, a bill supporter, described watching his daughter with leukemia, fight the disease for 17 years. “I watched my daughter decompose,” Olvera testified.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christy O’Donnell, a 46-year-old Republican lawyer and ex-L.A. Police Department sergeant who was featured in People magazine, said she had terminal lung cancer and expected to die within months. “I do not want to see my daughter watching me gasp for air,” O’Donnell said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“It gives me a great peace of mind to know that I will not be forced to die slowly and painfully," said Wallner, a 52-year-old single mother from Sacramento with advanced colon cancer and metastasis to liver and lungs. "The agonizingly traumatic image of me suffering will not be my family's last memory of me."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The argument is over the right to die with a doctor’s help at the time and in the manner of your own choosing. To date, only a handful of European countries, Colombia and seven American states allow some form of doctor-assisted dying. But draft bills and ballot initiatives are progressing in 33 states and several other countries. (1)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">For some, the argument is moral and absolute. Deliberately ending a human life is wrong - because life is sacred and the endurance of suffering confers its own dignity. For others, doctor-assisted-dying is the first step on a slippery slope where the vulnerable are threatened and where premature death becomes a cheaper alternative to palliative care, nursing homes, long term care, board and care and institutions.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">These views are deeply held and deserve to be taken seriously. But liberty and autonomy are also sources of human dignity. “In a secular society, it is odd to buttress the sanctity of life in the abstract by subjecting a lot of particular lives to unbearable pain, misery and suffering.” (2) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Opponents fear the laws would be used to pressure the sick into killing themselves, “widespread euthanasia” they cried, labeling it <i>physician-assisted-suicide</i>. Right-to-Die has been lawful in Europe for decades and in Oregon since 1994 = decades. Many checks and balances are put in place to prevent patient coercion and suicide. The evidence does not reveal a slippery slope toward cavalier killings. Rather, the evidence leads to the conclusion that most laws for assisted-dying should be bolder and broader.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Modeled after Oregon’s law, let’s first examine what California’s law requires.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">To be eligible to request a prescription for the aid-in-dying drugs, an individual must:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Be an adu</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">lt (18 years old or older).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Be a California resident.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have a diagnosis from his/her primary physician of an incurable and irreversible disease which will, within reasonable medical judgement, result in death within six months.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Be able to make medical decisions for themselves (be of sound mind) as determined by health professionals.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Voluntarily request a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug without influence from others.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Be able to self-administer (eat, drink, and swallow) the aid-in-dying drug.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The request must be made solely and directly by the patient to the attending physician, and cannot be made on behalf of the patient through a power of attorney, an advance health care directive, a conservator, health care agent, surrogate, or any other legally recognized health care decision maker. (3)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">People with neuromuscular diseases tend to be excluded from using SB-128 as many lose the ability to <i>“self-administer”</i> long before their final six-months. Those with dementia are absolutely excluded by the requirement to <i>be of sound mind</i>. This <i>sound mind </i>requirement then, also excludes all with cognitive disabilities: mental retardation, psychiatric illness, traumatic brain injury, autism, etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At Kaiser, we created voluntary teams of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and others to guide patients through <i>Gentle Passing </i>with knowledge, respect and sensitivity. Because these requests are relatively infrequent, it was thought that designated teams could become expert in the process. It was also agreed that this responsibility should not fall solely upon our Hospice and Palliative Care teams.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Based on the Oregon experience, Kaiser’s northern California region anticipated:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">207-414 patient inquiries</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">103-207 requests for End of Life (EOL) cocktail</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">67-119 cocktail administration</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not yet one-year into Gentle Passing, I am unaware of the actual numbers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Back to my girlfriend dying of metastatic breast cancer; let’s call her Jill. Jill was beyond her 5-year, cancer window: she had completed breast cancer therapy and close monitoring for 5-years with no recurrence. Some years ago, we attended a weekend workshop in Pacific Grove. Our group made a short walk through Asilomar, to the Pacific. Jill’s back hurt and as we continued, her pain grew, forcing a retreat. She saw her doctor the following week for what seemed like unusually severe back pain. Subsequent tests revealed metastatic lesions on her spine. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jill’s ensuing battle with cancer lasted another four years; it gave her lots of time to think and plan. She held a party, more than a year before her death - to celebrate with friends while she could. Unbeknownst to attendees, it was a memorial party, a living wake. Jill emceed her party, asking friends to say the things they might say at her funeral. Her friends rose to acknowledged her and reminisce; the event was filmed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jill put her affairs in order and appointed a “death squad”, close friends to help her as her time drew nigh. They helped with bill pay and meal prep and in the end - reading friendly, supportive messages sent via Facebook. Facebook became her means of remaining connected to her community once she could no longer leave home and then - bed. She was very open with her feelings and sensations. “I feel weird today. This dying thing…” Sometimes she had sooo much pain - and nothing helped to ease it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jill picked a “kick the bucket day” that was widely publicized. She asked friends to join her in rewatching her memorial party. At the appointed time, she drank her cocktail and slipped into sleep - then death, surrounded by her loving death squad. They posted a message on Facebook when Jill had passed. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jill’s death was the most transparent death I’ve ever experienced. I appreciated sharing in her thoughts and emotions. In contrast, I tend to hole-up when things are not well or right. Jill lived out loud. No going quietly into that good night - she went with a bullhorn, sharing her view of the path ahead. <i>That takes courage and a commitment to stay connected.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In their own words: Listen to the reflections of two women who were interviewed before their deaths on Insight with Beth Ruyak of Capitol Public Radio. In the broadcast, retired Hospice Chaplain Ellen Robinson Haynes asserts, “We put a lot of effort into planning births and into planning weddings and all kinds of transitional moments. Planning an assisted-death is an exquisitely intimate and beautiful process. This is not suicide… this is a rational, well-grounded choice to make for somebody who is already dying.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-size: large;"> (5) Link below.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">No matter your view of right-to-die laws, patients with terminal illness agree that they want autonomy (like most of us) - over their lives and deaths. People hope to die quietly in their sleep, to drift off. Statistically, only 10% of us do that, so… hope all you want. 30% of us die quickly by catastrophe du jour: accident, suicide, sudden cardiac death, massive stroke, etc. But 60% of us have the dwindles, where we slowly dwindle in our abilities and capacities until we die by some chronic disease. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A small percentage of people suffer with unrelenting, intractable pain OR shortness of breath so severe that they can’t even lift an arm to feed themselves (patients say this kind of air hunger is terrifying) OR complete paralysis (including breathing) while the brain remains active and aware OR like Brittany Maynard - disabling headaches and seizures OR any number of horrific maladies that we cannot imagine enduring.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">SB-128 is for them, for that small cadre for whom living has become an unbearable torture and who want out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Notice that the demented are excluded by this law - and appropriately so. Many of you know my father died with Alzheimer’s disease - HE was gone years before his body gave up the ghost. Eventually, he no longer recognized those who loved him. He thought he lived amongst strangers and tormentors. Simple requests and bodily functions made no sense to him. In the end, without the ability to understand words or their meanings, he became reactive, defensive and offensive - like a threatened, cornered animal. Those were difficult years in which the kitchen knives were hidden - a consequence of just one of many horrors.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When he stopped swallowing, the deathwatch began. A hospital bed was rolled into the middle of their living/dining room, the only place their small condo could accommodate its bulk. There, he tossed and turned and mumbled and moaned and eventually became still, and breathed, until that too slowed and finally stopped. Ten days… TEN DAYS… </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Have you ever watched someone die for ten days? Why is this okay?</i> </span><span style="font-size: large;">I wouldn’t do that to my dog! In fact, that might be considered cruelty to animals. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Honestly for me, his passing was long overdue and a relief. He would have never wanted to live that way and I would never wish it upon anyone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Brittany Maynard’s Oregon physician, Dr. Eric Walsh says, "When somebody is facing the end of their life, shouldn't they be in control? Shouldn't I be able to help them when they're suffering and the burden of their suffering becomes intolerable to them?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is my hope that future Advance Directives can be even more proactive. That I could direct my medical team to “administer the cocktail” when certain conditions are met. i.e. if my Montreal Cognitive Assessment Tool score is so low that my cat would do better? Time to go bye-bye. A little too Soylent Green for you? I get it, obviously your choices will be different. The important part in all this is that the patient gets to choose; the patient has a say.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s husband Marty, himself a lawyer and suffering with metastatic cancer wrote to his wife:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">June 17, 2010</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">My dearest Ruth,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">You are the only person I have loved in my life, setting aside a bit, parents and kids and their kids. And I have admired and loved you almost since the day we first met at Cornell some 56 years ago. What a treat it has been to watch your progress to the very top of the legal world. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>I will be in JH Medical Center until Friday, June 25th, I believe. And between then and now, I shall think hard on my remaining health and life. And whether on balance, the time has come for me to tough it out or to take leave of life because the loss of quality now simply overwhelms. I hope you will support where I come out but I understand you may not. I will not love you a jot less. Marty </i>(4)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Marty died on June 27, 2010.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you Marty, for getting to the heart of the matter. I don’t expect to change any minds with this blog. But I do hope to stir your deepest thoughts and bring you to some place of compassion for the dying - to give them voice and honor their choice. For we too, shall pass.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #444444; font-family: "shree devanagari 714"; font-size: large;">P.S. - please excuse my absence. My bathrooms have been remodeled and/or refurbished. By necessity, I've had many boxes strewn across the house and furniture shoved into corners. I find it impossible to write amongst the chaos. But that all ended approximately 1 month ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Footnotes:</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;">1) <a href="https://www.deathwithdignity.org/take-action/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">https://www.deathwithdignity.org/take-action/</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;">2) <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21656182-doctors-should-be-allowed-help-suffering-and-terminally-ill-die-when-they-choose"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21656182-doctors-should-be-allowed-help-suffering-and-terminally-ill-die-when-they-choose</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;">3) Coalition for Compassionate Care of California <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="http://coalitionccc.org/tools-resources/end-of-life-option-act/">http://coalitionccc.org/tools-resources/end-of-life-option-act/</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">4) I Carmon & S Knizhnik, </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Notorious RBG,</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> Chap 7.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;">5) Choosing the End of Life Option on Insight w/Beth Ruyak on Cap Radio. </span></span><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large; text-decoration: underline;">http://www.capradio.org/85513</span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-54924990444930930512017-01-07T20:03:00.000-08:002017-01-11T22:41:20.167-08:002016 Recap<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>Tap the photo to enlarge, click X to return to blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope this letter finds you and yours in good health and spirits. Chinese salutations commonly include wishes for good luck and good fortune, prosperity and happiness. As I age, I value good health above all and barring that, vitality at every age and any stage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Self indulgent - that describes my 2016 filled with new adventures and fabulous friends.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I started the year by completing my Family Trust documents with a local trust attorney. My impetus was two calendared trips to Europe, where random acts of violence are becoming more commonplace. (Funny how American gun violence, its scale of human carnage exceeded only by war, did not move me to get my Trust documents done.) And while I felt tearful and uncomfortable putting my final wishes in writing, I concurrently feel content knowing my estate will flow to the people and causes I care for most. I highly recommend getting this done - contact me for an excellent trust attorney.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Things accomplished on the home front: 1) I had a gargantuan shed built for yard tools, bicycles, etc. 2) exterior painting in “happy” colors, 3) kitchen facelift, 4) master bathroom remodel underway (out with the plastic shower/tub insert and in with walk-in shower, senior friendly fixtures allowing me to age in place). ALMOST done with all the beeeg home projects.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Celebrating Sixty: a catered birthday party at my home with friends and neighbors. Most were pleasantly pleased with the Asian-vegetarian menu. I dressed in a Mamo holoku with leis sent by my sister and cousin. I really had a wonderful time and plan to hold a 70th - so get your mu’u mu’u, Aloha shirt and slippahs ready! And if you no moh, I can fix that at Hilo Hattie’s, though you may sincerely regret it.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bill, me, John</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">July found buddies Bill, John and I traipsing through the Dolomites in Italy, floating in Venice, <i>museum-ing</i> in Florence and <i>archeology-ing</i> in Rome. Fantastic trip, hugely educational, instrumental in sorting and sifting through random datas learned in school. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">WWI was fought in the Dolomites as Italy reacquired land from Austria. Austrian influence continues in language, excellent apple strudel and a beverage called a <i>radler</i> = 50% lemonade and 50% beer. <i>DELISH and sooo refreshing. Try it!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">For more details of this trip you can read my blog entitled, </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Church</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> at https://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com. You will need to scroll to the earlier posting.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Dolomites</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The run-up and aftermath of the Presidential Election left me in a blue funk. I have more than serious reservations regarding Donald Trump and sincerely hope he does well for our country. Fingers crossed, prayer flags flapping. Seriously - he needs our prayers - every US President does.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two weeks before Christmas, John and I flew to Paris (John and I met the first day of our Master’s/Nurse Practitioner’s program at UCSF and have been fast friends since) - to take in the European Christmas markets (yes, the very ones Homeland Security advised to avoid), the Louvre, the d’Orsay, the Eiffel, Versailles, and Disney Paris. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We knew crowds would be lighter - but we had no idea. Crowds were basically nonexistent. The typical 3-hour-line to view the Mona Lisa was 30-seconds. No filing by, pushed by the crowds. There was time to linger - even for a selfie. The spacious galleries were unencumbered; priceless and famous works, easy to find and enjoy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The size of Le Louvre - I had no idea. Did you know it is touted to be the largest building in the world? We visited the bowels of the building, where parts of the original castle keep and dungeons survive. Bones of the secondary palace are also still visible.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTlEWjvVvpwR8mihSl3coAFY-Q29dheeWsNWViYw4Ck7WzOMfKhMHY1ZLjmfhppQw-9NOvM4gIHUB1OQtBYL_fJt6h7ZyV_g5AYGG-PvYyXngyqoJvf678Bn4SG8ECr5B4cd85Rilb8hy/s1600/Venus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTlEWjvVvpwR8mihSl3coAFY-Q29dheeWsNWViYw4Ck7WzOMfKhMHY1ZLjmfhppQw-9NOvM4gIHUB1OQtBYL_fJt6h7ZyV_g5AYGG-PvYyXngyqoJvf678Bn4SG8ECr5B4cd85Rilb8hy/s320/Venus.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A less famous but by far the loveliest Venus.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The d’Orsay Museum is a beautifully restored and repurposed World’s Faire, train depot that houses the works of famous French Impressionists. You know their names: Monet, Manet, Degas, Rodin, Gauguin, Toulouse-Latrec, Cézanne, Renoir, Picasso, Van Gogh, Sisley. It was fascinating for me to detangle their names and works in my mind. And with the advent of smart phones - photos sans flash allowed!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We were unimpressed with the Christmas Market. Once a showplace for local artisans, it seems to have been usurped by China’s supply chain. And of course, security is a problem. Uniformed, armed, security forces prowled en masse. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYODe-1lSkDhF3MoRyD9MGc4nlvs5WvKkkIp8hwT5-h6ULonYeMH7gQn48qdn7HKMRUV2hQec5oYBE30XnwfB9kAMJkGP9I2IgHD0E-L9ZhLVIDMxeTrlURjisLpNwoLfTq64uB3UzjQ7/s1600/Picasso.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYODe-1lSkDhF3MoRyD9MGc4nlvs5WvKkkIp8hwT5-h6ULonYeMH7gQn48qdn7HKMRUV2hQec5oYBE30XnwfB9kAMJkGP9I2IgHD0E-L9ZhLVIDMxeTrlURjisLpNwoLfTq64uB3UzjQ7/s320/Picasso.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picasso</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Paris’ Christmas Market straddles Avenue des Champs Elysées. Naught but a flimsy, white picket fence separates the Market from the traffic. We moved along the edges - where we could duck and run - a horrifying reality. I said they would be better served by closing Avenue des Champs Elysées and moving the market into the street, where they could block the whole thing off. Two days after our return, the attack in Berlin proved me right.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">About the family:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mom has rebounded from two setbacks and like an old Timex, she just keeps on ticking. She will turn 92 in April and I plan to be in Honolulu to celebrate. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sister Gina has been instrumental in assisting Mom and the Aunties. She and husband Michael continue to live in Kaneohe and enjoy watching their grandkids grow.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Niece Lael and husband Darth had their first baby: Alanna Quinn Kalea. She turns one in January and I plan to attend her party in SoCal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nick and Lindsey’s daughter, my great niece Jaydalyn Ui O Nalani is four and started school at Kawaiahao Church. Before Christmas, they made a snowbank so the kids could play in snow. I receive a steady stream of photos on Jayda’s photo stream and I love feeling more included vs being the auntie way over on the mainland.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Collins son Davin Kekahi Ho’omaluhia (whew!) plays in the band, surfs and fishes with his Dad, and snowboards when they make it to California.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s on tap? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are experiencing the largest mass extinction of animals - EVER. A photo safari may be next - before they become extinct. 2018. Saving my pennies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am taking weekly and monthly ukulele lessons. Monthly, classical Hawaiian lessons with Uncle Saichi - who used to play back-up for Iz, Gabby and others. He speaks full-on pidgin-english and is full of island stories. <i>Good fun! </i>(I really can't fathom how the English speaking students understand a word he utters!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Work at Kaiser continues to be interesting albeit a bit challenging. Still LOVE the people - and that’s everything; isn’t it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some thoughts for the new year from Khe Hy (billed as the Oprah of the Millennials):</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">1. Have more compassion -- for yourself and others.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">2. Do the "Uncomfortable Introspection."</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Get comfortable with stillness.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Live your truth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sounds like a sound plan. I’ll take it on. <i>You?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here’s wishing you and yours a fabulous 2017. Be well, keep safe, and do keep in touch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Much love and Aloha to you always in all ways ~ Lorin</span></span></div>
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-78347295552276358462016-11-13T08:59:00.000-08:002016-11-14T05:39:02.635-08:00Now What?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Harrington; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now What?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: red;">To enlarge, double tap picture. Click X upper right corner to return to blog.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What was your first reaction to the Presidential election results?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnqcmOLYU8HUflsU4ZVi_giiW4CAla4TwgjeSzw3JUH8li41-p6GAn5uGTdKjbtz2NVfybFcYVisOMvpdiGQQ2QOK-jALzd6-um1BSEdVaNFQyumgHOul0ILNvDHzFpdCgOvJjQwKUmXm/s1600/Trump+Cake.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnqcmOLYU8HUflsU4ZVi_giiW4CAla4TwgjeSzw3JUH8li41-p6GAn5uGTdKjbtz2NVfybFcYVisOMvpdiGQQ2QOK-jALzd6-um1BSEdVaNFQyumgHOul0ILNvDHzFpdCgOvJjQwKUmXm/s320/Trump+Cake.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By cartoonist Damien Glez</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Florida had fallen before I retired near midnight. I slept fitfully and arose at 0425. The news was sobering for one with an intense </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: line-through;">dislike</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> disdain for Trump. I am unable to excuse, justify or overlook his hateful spew. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">His comment about Senator (and former POW) John McCain, “I like people who weren’t captured,” is unconscionable. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">And while he claims to be a Christian, Trump admits he has never asked for God's forgiveness. "I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don’t. …When I drink my little wine and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness.” <i>Um… yeah - maybe. I wonder if he knows what the little wine and little cracker are about?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I wondered why my Christian friends voted for him; so I asked. My Aunt said it was simple. “We stand for the sanctity of marriage and life. That’s it. God can use any vessel and we will pray for Trump.” <i>Clear - I can respect that.</i> Another evangelical friend said, “She was more of the same. We want change. But I am a little uncomfortable with the thing he said about John McCain.” <i>A little uncomfortable? I’m outraged! Are you? </i>When I asked my Dad’s remaining sibling and devout Baptist about it she said, “Well I can’t vote for a Socialist, I won’t vote for Hillary so whose left?” These are people I know and love. These are people I trust.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">His Twitter tirades are sophomoric, a one-sided dress-down of the Pope, </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">current and former </span><span style="font-size: large;">US Presidents, Governors, Congressional members, journalists, newspapers, actors, private citizens, people with disabilities, people of color, in essence, anyone who has breached his very thin and chemically tanned skin.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"> <i>Why doesn't his total lack of civility matter? Character matters.</i> Temper tantrums and tirades, by-the-way, are behaviors of the emotionally immature. Ask yourself - what is the developmental age of children who tirade? Two to… eight?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieF-FddW6uxRwHaUEauo8XdJXtkIlC3NKV8QaB0f0V9y8sYNuDPUByH_8mn69L1nqzYbzNIpeGD9xYKa1ac7cU8VgS_0tyUIIEaiaako7sPAziP33HPi4EcYiD_IAqgEuVoopc6HTw32L2/s1600/Putin.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieF-FddW6uxRwHaUEauo8XdJXtkIlC3NKV8QaB0f0V9y8sYNuDPUByH_8mn69L1nqzYbzNIpeGD9xYKa1ac7cU8VgS_0tyUIIEaiaako7sPAziP33HPi4EcYiD_IAqgEuVoopc6HTw32L2/s320/Putin.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By illustrator Thomas McClure</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">When he was caught on tape - the braggart boasting about “grabbing women by the pussy” - I was not shocked. It is completely consistent with his public persona. And 100 hours after airing his closing ad - a blatantly antisemitic, national ad - he’s inviting us to come together and heal?<b>2</b> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">אױ װײ </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">= Oy vey!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is Trumps list of <i>On the First Day</i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"> To-Do’s</span><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Repeal every Executive Order enacted by Obama.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Obamacare: repeal and replace.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recognize Israel: the days of treating Israel like a second-class citizen are over.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US Embassy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Constitutional amendment to impose term limits for all members of Congress.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Announce plans to renegotiate NAFTA.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Label China a currency manipulator.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">NATO has to be re-jiggered… for the better.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Make sure the middle class gets good taxes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A five year ban on congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Withdraw the US from the TransPacific Partnership (TPP)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Begin swiftly removing criminal, illegal immigrants from this country.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Day one - we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Muslim ban …has morphed into a extreme vetting from certain areas of the world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A special prosecutor to look into Hillary Clinton.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A complete ban on foreign lobbyist raising money for American elections.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We’re gonna get rid of ISIS. We’re gonna get rid of them fast. <b>3</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">A pretty ambitious list - with some real pearls we are likely to see him walk back in the near future.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Now what?</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The proletariat rose up and spoke</i> - they did and they didn’t. Voter turnout hit a historic 20-year low with only 55% of voting age citizens casting a ballot. Clinton won the popular vote so when Trump claims to have a clear mandate - he doesn’t, he has just under 27%. He got the electoral college but he did not get the majority of voting Americans - and clearly - he did not get me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>A righteous rebellion against elites.</i> I agree; citizens are tired of a system that enables the rich to get richer while the middle class foots the bill. Most of us can support that change but Trump’s hateful rhetoric also made a home for racists, sexists and xenophobes of every color: homophobes, Islamiphobes, immigrantaphobes, etc. …and that scared many of us/me.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By cartoonist Michel Kichka</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">We on the Left tend to paint Trump supporters with a broad brush as racist and xenophobes. In this post election week I have come to realize that people were drawn to Trump for many reasons.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are those hoping he will make good on his promises and bring back coal mining jobs. With the rise of fracking, a (theoretically) cheaper and cleaner source of fuel, only the uninformed would hold that pipe dream. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some look toward his promise to renegotiate NAFTA resulting in the return of industry and factory jobs to the rust belt. Experts say that job loss in recent decades was due to automation, not Mexico, and that to claim otherwise is naive or deceitful. AND, if we got serious about renewable energy, the rust belt and its machinist workforce could rise again. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Others hope he will “drain the swamp” as promised. <i>How would he do that?</i> The President has very little power to fire elected officials. Further he will need those alligators because, if he hasn’t noticed, the President can get very little done without Congressional swampees.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">True conservatives hope for smaller government. Trump’s proposed federal hiring freeze and attrition could kickstart that movement.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Evangelicals aligned with him out of truth to their faith tenets. <i>I get it.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Still others hope he repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA was a start, not a final product. It needs many tweaks. 100% of us will use healthcare in our lifetimes. Citizens need access to affordable healthcare without exclusions for pre-existing conditions that allowed insurers to cherry-pick insurees to keep prices down. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s difficult for people to understand is that we pay for people who don’t have health insurance through our taxes. And we pay at the highest price-point - when they are in crisis and seek care in the Emergency Department. Healthcare is not cheap but the absence of healthcare can forebode financial ruin.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">By cartoonist JJ McCullough</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter, will support Trump saying "It's very important that the American people coalesce behind the president.”<b>4</b> He also says we “owe him our respect”. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>I beg to differ</i> - respect is earned. Trump has disrespected large swaths of our population and others around the globe; he will need to make amends to earn my respect. <i>An sincere apology would be a good start</i> and I’m not holding my breath. <i>That</i> would be inconsistent with his public persona. <i>…surprise me Donald.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dave Chappelle, the African American host of SNL said in their first post election show, “I’m going to give him a chance. And we, the historically disenfranchised, <i>demand</i> that he give us one too.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Van Jones, CNN commentator, spoke of <i>Whitelash </i>in an impassioned address during the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Later that day, he was more circumspect. “More empathy and understanding can keep us from needlessly inflaming one another, and this should create the conditions for a better understanding of our differences. Deeper insight can only help all sides.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">“</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Talk (and listen) to someone with whom you <i>don't</i> agree. Ask questions about anything that doesn't sound right to you. But don't just fight back. Try to listen. In fact, before you respond at all, carefully repeat back what you hear -- just to make sure you truly understand the other person. Then share your own views and feelings. Be passionate. But be compassionate, too.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the week preceding the election, Van Jones went to Gettysburg and met with Trump supporters. He invites everyone to watch <u>The Messy Truth</u> and converse.<b>5</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I know families torn asunder by this election. To them I say, neither candidate is worth it. Do not let an outsider disrupt the sanctity of your familial circle. Apologize, acknowledge your differences, agree to disagree, express support and get back to love. Find a way back to love.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ll leave you with a posting from Rick Hanson, a psychologist who teaches essential inner skills of personal well-being, psychological growth, and contemplative practice. This from his blog:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last, I've found it really helps to have perspective. Without minimizing one bit of whatever is awful, it is also true that humans like you and I have been walking this earth for nearly 200,000 years. I see the trees, the land, the ocean - all of it here before me and lasting long after me. Empires rise and fall. Sometimes the center does not hold - in a body, marriage, or nation - and still. And still people love each other, go out of their way for a stranger, and marvel at a rainbow. Nothing, nothing at all can change this. We keep putting one foot in front of the other one, lifting each other up along the way.<b>6</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I will personally continue to live true to my core values: spreading Aloha in the world, striving to find grace and graciousness, filling my time with music, writing, daily exercise, key relationships and meaningful work. You?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 - For the ongoing and updated list of Twitter insults, go to: </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html?_r=1">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html?_r=1</a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 -Trump Rolls out Anti-Semitic Closing Ad - </span><a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-rolls-out-anti-semitic-closing-ad" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714';"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-rolls-out-anti-semitic-closing-ad</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">3 - <a href="http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2016/11/10/donald-trump-20-campaign-promises.cnnmoney/index.html">http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2016/11/10/donald-trump-20-campaign-promises.cnnmoney/index.html</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">4 - To watch Buffet’s 20-minute, post-election interview: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2016/11/11/warren-buffett-election-donald-trump-cnnmoney.cnnmoney?iid=ob_video_vr2"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">http://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2016/11/11/warren-buffett-election-donald-trump-cnnmoney.cnnmoney?iid=ob_video_vr2</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">5 - The Messy Truth by Van Jones. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/12/opinions/van-jones-messy-truth/index.html"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/12/opinions/van-jones-messy-truth/index.html</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">6 - <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.rickhanson.net/">http://www.rickhanson.net</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">7 - Cartoons </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/opinions/gallery/cartoonists-around-the-world-react-to-the-american-election/index.html</span></div>
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-82914059024022191172016-10-30T06:48:00.001-07:002016-10-30T07:04:24.739-07:00Teenagers<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Harrington; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Teenagers</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">To enlarge, double tap picture. Click X upper right corner to return to blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This piece is from my private journals and was penned nine years ago - shortly after I moved into my Folsom house and before I knew my neighbors well. When I shared it with Marcie and Kurt some years later, they laughed until they cried. It is reproduced here with their expressed permission. Be advised it contains profanity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Teenagers</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The teenagers next door are enigmatic and fascinating creatures to watch. Both Mom and Dad are runners and appear to have a commitment to healthy eating and fitness as evidenced by a collective BMI below 105 for the entire family of five ...or maybe its just good genes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Weeks before Christmas, I sat backwards on the top rung of my sixteen-foot extension ladder, coffee-breaking during the annual stringing of festive lights, when Mom and Dad returned home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lorin!” Marcie hollered, “Congratulate Kurt, he just ran the CIM!” She was his biggest cheerleader; their bond seemed easy and mutually acknowledging.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Wow Kurt; that’s awesome! How do you feel?” I called down from my perch. I was genuinely interested having completed several marathons myself. We chatted briefly, me staring down from roof’s edge, he shading his eyes to peer up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The covalent bond of DNA bequeathing a long, lean frame dominated their union and left little doubt that all three were their father’s children. The eldest, a girl, was long, lithe, lovely like her mother and tipping twenty. She sourced a constant stream of handsome, young suitors and drove with the reckless abandon of youth. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The boys might be handsome beneath their veil, an unkempt, dirty-blonde, crop of curls. They appeared equal in height and age though one <i>must</i> be older lest they were… twins? Santa had previously delivered boxing gloves with which they pummeled one another in the front yard -amid the cheers and jeers of their friends. Avid skateboarders, they jumped curbs, lifts and rails in our cul-de-sac well into the night. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IdocxZsEX4TLqoiTYovlQDIzzULlNH_NDBHl70AlallvIx3ftJ6Dnf7cTLGqu3Q_Au1n-KFhpsgxQMo91lZfiJczYquxHGz86WwUQPlX9BbA4yhGiSp_bALitJhxfZIhj1m-r5MZhiuK/s1600/Blk+Honda.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IdocxZsEX4TLqoiTYovlQDIzzULlNH_NDBHl70AlallvIx3ftJ6Dnf7cTLGqu3Q_Au1n-KFhpsgxQMo91lZfiJczYquxHGz86WwUQPlX9BbA4yhGiSp_bALitJhxfZIhj1m-r5MZhiuK/s320/Blk+Honda.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">That is… until one son inherited a car. It had been his sister’s until she bought one, now it was his. He spent hours parked outside my kitchen window — loving his car. And when I mowed, I gave him the opportunity to move, sparing a dusting of yard debris on its polished paint.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One day, I emerged from my house to find Number-1 son washing his car and spewing profanities across its roof at Venerable-father.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Get out of my f___ face!" he roared, "I don’t want to talk to you right now!” I froze. Venerable-father’s voice was low; his words inaudible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I told you to get out of my f___ face!” Venerable-father retreated into the house and I followed suit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was shocked, appalled and contemplated my varied reactions and responses. <i>What would I do if my 17-year-old said that, SHOUTED that at me?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“He shoulda beat the living shit outta him!” one of my co-workers offered vehemently.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I don’t think so,” I countered, “That only teaches him to resort to violence when he is frustrated and angry. No, I’m sure that is not the answer.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“He was wise to avoid a Jerry Springer moment,” Lucia said. She had raised three exquisite children, one of whom, between pre-med semesters, wiled away his working hours in the Emergency Department with us. Lucia had earned the right to weigh-in on this subject. “Nope, get him where it hurts; restrict his car.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I noticed his car lovingly parked, stationary …for weeks.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit37iXSaFkJSCS-QdR9gwggg_w8iDrVDmDAldMvkRgTP0bgv0KZqc5acimjF3E-NM7s5ZWCZtg-oj056OtcW64AOFSkWrmej4PtD4L1JQdt_bTBD9NQ9mvsVWq4M01hkMNcqrJ3NEh4n31/s1600/Kokapelli.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit37iXSaFkJSCS-QdR9gwggg_w8iDrVDmDAldMvkRgTP0bgv0KZqc5acimjF3E-NM7s5ZWCZtg-oj056OtcW64AOFSkWrmej4PtD4L1JQdt_bTBD9NQ9mvsVWq4M01hkMNcqrJ3NEh4n31/s1600/Kokapelli.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One afternoon, having regained privileges, he drove in with his twin and two friends. I watched through my kitchen window as they loitered affectionately around his Honda, stroking it, petting it, caressing it — loving it. It was then, in the last lingering rays of daylight that they turned up her radio and let her rip:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Why? I wanna fuck a dog in the ass.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">I wanna fuck a dog in the ass. Why?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">They pranced and danced, encircling the Honda in a single-file, Kokopelli line - laughing, singing, pausing to rear up and shout in unison, “Why?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">I wanna fuck a dog in the ass.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">I wanna fuck a dog in the ass. Why?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">I wanna, I wanna…</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A small smile seeped across my face. “Teenagers,” I shook my head and whispered in the immortal words of Mr. Spock, “Fascinating.”</span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-84707561747184984432016-08-07T10:45:00.000-07:002016-11-14T05:55:57.614-08:00The Church<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">To enlarge, double tap picture. Click X upper right corner to return to blog.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Catholic Church is arguably the largest church and curator of art in the worlds - both old and new. They include acquisitions accumulated over millennia, the crown jewels of which reside within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica (SPB) is breathtaking with its soaring ceilings decorated in mosaic murals and larger than life, marble statuary. The Vatican Musei is filled with tapestries, paintings, carvings and curios to delight and enchant. Collected from every continent save Australia and Antartica, one could argue few were spared the sticky fingers, sleight of hand, and long reach of the Catholic Church.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdfzcMC9OwMnl5Ghb96Db2p4SXpR9c2O1E2Vq7NYhxJKK78ebMDe_EF6JRXcGkrgro5TfwymhrfpfUNBLCDITQ25iqKSlTzbRnzeru4-f2uTcA3LG_7D1YannFSDOfXHtis12f7pu8Szb/s1600/Obelisk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdfzcMC9OwMnl5Ghb96Db2p4SXpR9c2O1E2Vq7NYhxJKK78ebMDe_EF6JRXcGkrgro5TfwymhrfpfUNBLCDITQ25iqKSlTzbRnzeru4-f2uTcA3LG_7D1YannFSDOfXHtis12f7pu8Szb/s320/Obelisk.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Egyptian Obelisk</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">While the unmatched pillars of St. Peter's Basilica point to different quarries, they also tell the tale of booty, the pillage and plunder of other temples. Egyptian obelisks are the smooth, vertical stone columns that taper as they rise to a pyramidal top. Some are intricately carved, others are smooth as glass. Rome contains more obelisks than all of Egypt. They stand in silent testament to the human cost, carnage, enslavement and suffering of others.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bernini's David - Borghese Galleria</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The coveting Cardinal Borghese </span><span style="font-size: large;">(nephew of Pope Paul V)</span><span style="font-size: large;"> used position and power to take what he desired. Extortion and death were his modus operandi; trust blood was shed in the conveyance of his priestly duties. He used church tithings to commission and “acquire” works for his personal pleasure.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: large;">This tale was recounted at the gallery - </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-size: medium;">"Pope Paul V willingly assisted his nephew's efforts to obtain the art works that aroused his interest. Through the influence of his uncle, Borghese secured the cooperation of the parish priest in arranging to have Raphael's famous Deposition stolen from the Baglioni family chapel in San Francesco, Perugia, for which it had been commissioned a century before." </i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">When the chapel in San Francesco protested, Cardinal Borghese sent them copies - not one but two. The original Raphael however, remains in the Borghese collection.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Villa Borghese was built to house his collection and continues to do so as a enviable, modern day museum. Perverse justice prevailed later as the family was forced to sell part of the collection for pennies on the Lira during the Napoleanic Wars. When Napoleon was defeated the art was not returned because justifiably, it had been <i>sold not stolen.</i> Some Borghese pieces must now be enjoyed in the Louvre.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelangelo's David - Musei Academia</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Medici family rose to power as merchants in Florence. Their family spawned two Popes and countless Cardinals. They too amassed great fortune and wealth through powerful and papal position. The family held sway over Florentine politic for hundreds of years. The last known Medici was a barren woman who bequeathed the family fortune to the city of Florence with two stipulations barring the sale and/or movement of their treasures. So the extensive collection now occupies every square inch of the four-story Galleria degli Uffizi, for all to enjoy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Its difficult for me to reconcile the opulence and splendor of The Church with the squalor of the tithing peasant. I thought the same two years ago when visiting the lavish churches of northern Europe. Of these private art collections amassed by The Church; some works were commissioned, many were taken by force, coercion and extortion. It's difficult to stand in awe and overlook the human cost of these collected works. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelangelo's Pietá. SPB, Vatican City</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time, I acknowledge we must thank the Catholic Church for patronizing the likes of Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, Caravaggio and more. Without patronage these masters may not have nurtured their proclivity or perfected their craft to produce in abundance. Had the Catholic Church not subsumed the “pagans” and their Pantheon, it would surely have been dismantled for parts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of my friends asked if I was <i>spiritually</i> moved by my Vatican tour. Sadly, for many reasons, I was not. It was easy to admire the work of the Masters, relishing their gifts and simultaneously difficult to dismiss the Church’s many means of acquisition. One can point to the times - that is how it was. We too, after all, are not without sin. Some of our own founding-fathers owned slaves and treated them harshly. We can hardly judge them or the Roman Catholic Church by today’s standard. But what of more modern and continued abuses of power?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What of the Nun run mother-baby homes in Ireland: thousands of babies sold, and unmarked mass graves?</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><sup></sup></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today, a headline would read: Nuns Trafficking Children to US.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> What of the double perpetration of pedophilia within The Catholic Church - the physical perpetration and subsequent denial and protection of perpetrators lasting decades? I laughed heartily when, in the early years, a papal spokesman had the audacity to call it “an American problem”. (I confess I resorted to obscene name calling; perhaps including even his mother and horse.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">What of the Bishop of Bling Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, Germany accused of renovating his residence and other church buildings to the opulent tune of €38,500,000 (almost $43 mil) in 2013?</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: normal;"><sup></sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">(To his credit, Pope Francis acted swiftly, dismissing Bishop Elst and preaching against a Roman Catholic Church hierarchy he accused of being "overly insular and too often led by narcissists." <i>Bravo!</i> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">But I ask; has the power structure within The Catholic Church changed?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lest I sound completely disgusted and cynical, I harken to a recent conversation with one of my youth pastors. Pastor Grant retired last year. We sat on a lanai just yards from the pounding surf of Oahu's north shore and discussed my absolute disillusionment with organized religion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Christ was very inclusive," I said, "And my experience of the church is not. Each sect harbors exclusionary criteria and their own special brand of <i>we're going to heaven and you're not.</i> It’s tribalism, pretty ironic and downright hypocritical. And how does one follow a doctrine when there is evidence of atrocities, secreted by leadership, that continues into the modern day?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wise man he, Pastor Grant spoke of the organization of the church versus the good people that comprise the Body of Christ - a distinction I found helpful. Admittedly, there are good and faithful people who are the flesh, blood and bone of every church. That being said, doctrine that excludes, dismisses and diminishes others is not my cuppa and I believe is against Christ’s own teachings. <i>And aren’t those offending nuns, priests, bishops, cardinals and Popes also part of the Body of Christ?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">What is the practical application of one’s spiritual beliefs? How do we live consistent with our inner faith - and do we? <i>Do I?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Am I kind and compassionate? Or do I use harsh words and knowingly cause upset? Am I thoughtful? Do I treat others with respect and dignity? Do I allow for their world view and self expression - even if it differs from my own? Do I apologize when I hurt others? Do my loves feel loved or judged?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">In his book </span><span style="font-size: large; text-decoration: underline;">Generous Orthodoxy</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">, Brian McLaren </span><i><span style="font-size: large;">draws you toward a way of living that looks beyond the "us/them" paradigm to the blessed and ancient paradox of “we." He rates ‘orthopraxy’ (right behavior) over ‘orthodoxy’ (right thinking)<span style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: normal;"><i><sup></sup></i></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ah - me likey! The Chinese extol 'wu wei' (right action).</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I point fingers and cast aspersions at The Church, I notice the three fingers pointing back at me and think…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">My support of Roe v Wade and a woman’s right to choose is perhaps <i>ultimately</i> no different than the cruelty of nuns in Ireland’s mother-baby homes albeit justifiable by todays standard. While I do not consider myself a single issue voter, when it comes to Roe v Wade - I am. I will defend a woman’s right to choose every - single - time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not every woman wants to be a mother. Not every man wants to be a father. Because we can (for which their is GREAT societal and biological pressure) does not mean we should. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Societal inequities are unjustly foisted upon mothers. Did you know that on average, women earn <a href="http://nwlc.org/resources/the-wage-gap-for-mothers-state-by-state-2016/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 101, 152); color: black;">79 cents to a man's dollar. But mothers earn only 73 cents</span></a>. And according to the National Women's Law Center (with numbers drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau): "Compared to white, non-Hispanic men, mothers of color fare even worse: African-American mothers make 53 cents and Latina mothers 47 cents compared to white, non-Hispanic fathers.” Not that the reasons to remain childless are economic - though they could be; and why not? Who are we to judge? Why should we foist motherhood upon those who don’t want it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Women spend decades and 3/4 of their reproductive lives avoiding pregnancy. By age 45, more than 1/2 of all American women experience an unwanted pregnancy.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><sup></sup></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“It wouldn’t force them to be mothers,” says a male friend, vehemently opposed to abortion. “It would force them to give birth.” And then what of the unwanted child and the rise, yet again, of backstreet abortions? Its a very complicated issue; I don’t pretend to have answers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">As an aside - during his highly entertaining albeit offensive (meant in every definition of the word) campaign, Donald Trump said to a breastfeeding mom “You’re disgusting.” <i>Really Donald?</i> With two words, he demonstrates his disdain for women, mothers, and his absolute cluelessness to the commitment of mothers to get them and their “screaming babies” to his rallies. Rather than applaud their Herculean efforts on his behalf; he derides and ousts them. <i>Bigly interesting; donchya think? </i>But I digress.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am not childless by choice though I am infinitely happy in my circumstance. (Sometimes this seems important to disclose as I have felt judged for my childlessness.) <i>Oh - you’re one of <b>those </b>women who chose career over family. How selfish. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">I am a barren woman - it seems we comprise about 10% of all women - and form what Elizabeth Gilbert (of </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Eat, Pray, Love</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> fame) calls the Aunty Brigade. I like being part of the Aunty Brigade, it has afforded me many opportunities. And Aunty Brigade is a far more powerful context than blaming, shaming, even amputating a woman’s hands, no less, for a barren womb.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then why do I support Roe v Wade? Because notice that in all societies, women are the primary parent, they raise the children. I think they should have a say in the matter. Men certainly do. We have a long history of valuing the lives of men over women and we are at the tip of the iceberg in understanding what it means for women to have full authority and autonomy over their bodies and lives.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Last Supper tapestry, Musei Vatican.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Having just returned from the Sistine Chapel and standing in awe before Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement, I admit my take on Roe v Wade may be flawed. Yet, I am immovable, implacable, entrenched and happy to remain so.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I recognize the harshness with which I judge organized religion and the Roman Catholic Church, and I appreciate my dilemma. Its an uncomfortable place. Hence - I write. I write to disentangle, to unpack and pull apart. I write to examine its parts and hope to find clarity. I write to understand - as if knowing will make a difference.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ultimately, I see that my likely path is to accept that - this too, is so.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #351c75;">1 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipione_Borghese">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipione_Borghese</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #351c75;">2 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Secours_Mother_and_Baby_Home">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Secours_Mother_and_Baby_Home</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><u><span style="color: #351c75;">3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/28/how-the-bishop-of-bling-spent-43-million-renovating-this-house/</span></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #351c75;">4 <a href="http://www.jmm.org.au/articles/19626.htm">http://www.jmm.org.au/articles/19626.htm</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">5 <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/2015/publicly-funded-family-planning-services-united-states">https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/2015/publicly-funded-family-planning-services-united-states</a></span></span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-89736643540002240202016-05-21T09:49:00.000-07:002016-05-23T21:52:43.452-07:00Baconz Trust<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; text-indent: 18px;">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">In a two-hour appointment with my attorney this week, I finalized my trust. As we reviewed the codicil, tears welled and spilled over. Um… you know me, I’m clinical and controlled. I was surprised, even embarrassed by the display; apologizing as I requested a tissue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I know, I know; I’m a little behind the power curve here. My contemporaries completed this onerous task years ago. But you know, sans kids - who really cares about my stuff anyway? While I enjoy it; its just schtuph! Give it away - throw it away. The cold, hard facts are, having failed in my biologic duty to extend the genetic thread, memories of me will pass in a generation. <i>So it goes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">However, in the years following my divorce, I’ve actually amassed an estate worthy of dispersement. Begs the question how much more I might have, had I not squandered 20+ years in a marriage but… <i>I digress down a tunnel with no cheese.</i> And since I have no direct descendants, no lawful heirs and am flying to Europe not once but twice this year… it was time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">…My sister, my niece and nephews; their inheritance flows to their children should they pre-decease me - and the Yosemite Conservancy.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">@ his 96th BD Party</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">My Uncle Bill threw down the gauntlet and set the example. He was a tiny, quiet and unassuming man, and he set a high bar. In the weeks preceding his death, he called each of his family members to express his love. “I never told you that I love you, how much I love you and that you have been the best family.” A single man without children, when he died on Super Bowl Sunday in 2011 </span><span style="font-size: large;">at 96 years,</span><span style="font-size: large;"> he left a generous inheritance to each of his 58 siblings, nieces, nephews, greats and great-greats too. (To read of my amazing Uncle Bill, scroll to my blog entry of March 2011.) His gift was magnanimous, unexpected, and generative for me in looking beyond my first and second degree relatives, turning an eye toward the greater good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. ~Joni Mitchell</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnO9jd-S53m0CEvIicps5tHL5T_7RPOkM7MXPeNFCnOK9MvExD07Av-XYIscVzUdMrhPpWkmWNh4pZ8UZ1UGyuO0_xex0UzknQjtpAlhaUSk8Fy-_zlnQxd7CM1yKhiAjxsHbPE22dQP_n/s1600/Muir%2526TR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnO9jd-S53m0CEvIicps5tHL5T_7RPOkM7MXPeNFCnOK9MvExD07Av-XYIscVzUdMrhPpWkmWNh4pZ8UZ1UGyuO0_xex0UzknQjtpAlhaUSk8Fy-_zlnQxd7CM1yKhiAjxsHbPE22dQP_n/s320/Muir%2526TR.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">T Roosevelt and J Muir @ Glacier Pt, Yosemite</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><i>Why Yosemite?</i> Because its breathtaking beauty inspires and invites and encourages and beckons and allows and delivers and coaxes and wants and calls and gives and deserves. If we allow, these wild places tap within us that which is real and primal and free. In Yosemite I quickly remember myself and the true nature of my life. Bless Teddy Roosevelt for his love of the wilds and crafting their protection “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people” as inscribed on the entrance gate at Yellowstone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The Antiquities Act of 1906 allows the President to protect America’s wildlands and historical sites as national monuments. It has been used by sixteen Presidents from Roosevelt to Obama. Only three Presidents did not use the Act, they were (no surprises here) Nixon, Regan, HW Bush. You might be surprised to learn that Bush 43 did utilize the Act in the last weeks of his administration to establish three marine monuments that protect some 125 million acres of habitat, history, and beauty in America’s Pacific territorial waters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><i>The Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands, and Rose Atoll marine national monuments are a treasure of coral reefs, whales, sea turtles, dozens of bird species, hundreds of varieties of fish, the deepest spot one can go without burrowing into the planetary crush, and weird thermal formations that support the toughest life forms on Earth.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">"W" penned the the largest endowment since the Act’s inception. Congress too has the power to declare national monuments, and has done so 40 times. Congress has also redesignated 32 national monuments as national parks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">More recently, we are discovering these places of enormous and enduring value are not so big and while preserved, they are like island unto themselves. They do little to protect the migration corridors of the animals who inhabit their surrounds and are encroached on all sides by people and pollution. Yet, it never fails that every time a President protects a wilderness, there rises a great outcry from corporations and people poised to fillet it wide for exploitation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">President Roosevelt's words, though uttered 100 years ago, remain relevant and true. "It is high time to realize that our responsibility to the coming millions is like that of parents to their children, and that in wasting our resources we are wronging our descendants."</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Uncle Sonny in 2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">On the eve of his birthday, it is fitting to remember my Uncle Sonny. We had a conversation over pig's feet (as we were wont to do), in the last year of his life. In many ways, I was closer to him than my own father - and I adored him. “I’m looking for ways to build wealth for my family," he said. "I have plenty of money but I’m looking to build a legacy of wealth that renews itself and lasts well beyond my lifetime.” I was struck by his generosity and long look toward the future. His words continue to inspire me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">And so, with a stroke of my own pen, I, like Teddy Roosevelt and most US Presidents that followed, add to the sacred lands and rich endowment entrusted for all Americans. I join the LeConte Society, that cadre designating Yosemite Conservancy in their estate. While it is not so great a gift, Yosemite will share equally in my estate - as a rightful heir.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Those who know me, know my love for our National Parks. In my retirement and before I retreat to my home in the middle of the sea, I intend to visit the half upon which my eyes have yet to gaze. I am missing large swaths of the midwest and northeast. Having lived in Alaska, I’ve covered much of that ground. <i>Lucky me!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">I recently hosted a group of single, childless friends to remember a single, childless and fallen companion. We shared remembrances, discussed aging alone, community connection and involvement, and creating a life that supports healthy aging. Without the common defaults of spouse, kids and grandkids, I see healthy aging as a deliberate and created act. Visiting National Parks is part of my healthy aging strategy. Adopting a National Park catapults me into something much larger than my small, everyday walkabout.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">Within National Parks is room - glorious room - room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve. ~ Enos Mills, naturalist and force behind the Rocky Mtn NP</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">What are your healthy aging strategies? I’d love to hear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">ps ~ contact me for an excellent and economic trust attorney.</span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-33933956688008138092016-02-21T10:21:00.002-08:002016-02-22T21:30:33.126-08:00This is Political<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: #fefefe; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is Political</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The best thing that ever happened to the Democratic Party is Donald Trump,” one of my friends guffawed last fall. Everyone laughed; they are not laughing now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After South Carolina’s primary, Timothy Stanley wrote, Who does Donald Trump have to insult to lose a primary? Jesus? Stanley is a conservative, historian and columnist for Britain's Daily Telegraph. He says time is running out for conservatives to come up with a strategy to defeat a man at odds with their philosophy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am both interested and repulsed by politics. I am interested in the process of change and particularly keen on health policy. Like many, I am repulsed by partisan politics, the status quo, the old crony (seemingly wealthy, white) society and the new Jim Crow. I want our Congress(wo)men to negotiate and compromise, to run our country with transparency and <i>justice for all. </i>I doubt I’m alone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To that end, I have watched every debate and every town-hall meeting of both Republicans and Democrats. I’ve talked to my friends and sought editorials and opinions from news agencies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Following the New Hampshire GOP primary, Huffington Post writer Ariel Edwards-Levy attacked voters and Trump. “Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>After Trump’s win in South Carolina, the Huffington Post declared in big bold letters: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">THE PARTY’S OVER </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">GOP’s Moderate Wing Officially Dead…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While I am no Trumppet, clearly the Post is attached to an outcome and not the best at reporting with neutrality. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">CNN took a different tact, researching the border wall "Mexico will pay for.” Its a fascinating 2.5-minute exposé worth watching. They estimate construction costs of $10,560,000,000 or just over 10.5 BILLION dollars with construction time of four years. <i>WHO is footing that bill?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">Watch it here: </span><span style="color: blue;">http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/donald-trump-mexico-wall/index.html</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In my search for perspective, by far the most helpful article I stumbled upon was by Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hurtling, former Commander of US Army Europe and 7th Army. In his article, <span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">Judging our Candidates as Leaders</span>, he says candidates should be carefully evaluated on character, presence and intellect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He points first to character; do they have the right stuff? Do they understand others; would they apply moral principles in serving our citizens? “The key question one should ask: Do we as a nation trust this leader to do the right thing, for all people, in the toughest of situations?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Second, he turns to presence, “confidence, not arrogance. Presence generates a positive perception from supporters. More important, it garners support and generates respect -- not fear -- from foes and sworn enemies.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lastly, he points to intellect, defined as a profound understanding of critical issues. “Great presidents, continuously faced with complex national and global challenges, need to be able to build strong teams to assist them in generating sound strategies, and thus require phenomenal interpersonal skills.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He closes with this, “As a nation, we have just a few short months to determine who will be our 45th president, so I'm hoping others join me in evaluating that leader with the most potential in these three critical areas.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">Read his exposé in its entirety here: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/opinions/judging-our-candidates-as-leaders-hertling/index.html"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(22, 88, 120);"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/opinions/judging-our-candidates-as-leaders-hertling/index.html</span></span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">His analysis has given me another tool in evaluating candidates; one I find valuable and one I wanted to share. I hope you too find it useful. When I look out across the globe filled with civil wars, public beheadings and stonings, coups, executions and the like - I know that the American experiment in democracy, while still in its infancy is neither to be dismissed nor diminished. Despite our foibles, there are reasons people seeking freedom flock to our shores and borders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Take not your responsibility to be an informed voter lightly. People are literally dying for the privilege and duty.</span></div>
Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-19411776292969155652015-12-11T21:24:00.001-08:002015-12-16T21:45:35.747-08:002015 - Its a Wrap!<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">2015 - Its a Wrap!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-indent: 18px;"> As 2015 ends, I hope this holiday season finds you in good health and spirits. That is always my hope and wish for you. Often victimized by our circumstance, we easily fall into despair when ego or body experiences discomfort or dis-ease. In recent years, I have focused on vitality at every age and any stage. I realize that my body is the aging vehicle that carries me through this life</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-indent: 18px;">. On my ever changing canvas, finding brilliant sunsets, shooting stars and glorious sunrises that herald the day is more intentional than circumstantial. I have turned my focus there and my recap of 2015 exemplifies that intention.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mom and twin Milly celebrated their 90th birthdays in April. We had a party in Honolulu that was <i>good fun</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also in April, I started a new job at Kaiser South Sacramento - a pilot program to bring Nurse Practitioners (NPs) back into primary care medicine. Over the last two years, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) brought 14 million uninsured US citizens into the ranks of the insured. (2015 enrollment figures are not yet released but I’m sure we can add another few million.) Every healthcare system is struggling with the influx of new members and is forced to re-think their care delivery models. Kaiser Permanente (KP) is no different. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Long the largest, local employer of NPs, they slowed and stopped hiring NPs in the Sacramento metro area more than a decade ago. And while KP was gloved and scrubbed to deliver the brand-spanking-new ACA-baby in Washington DC, they seemingly did little to prepare for the primary care onslaught. While other systems hired and trained NPs ahead of the delivery - I guess KP thought they could hire enough docs. <i>Beeeg mistake.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A circuitous route to: I am one of six NPs hired in a 1-year pilot to train NPs in primary care. I see the walk-ins (so all those years in the Emergency Dept. are more than helpful), manage all the blood pressure medication adjustments [our medical assistants check about 40 hypertensive (high blood pressure) patients each day], and help cover appointments, phone calls and emails of vacationing docs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve had to immerse myself in the books again - to bone-up on joint assessments, procedures, rashes and common ailments. I continue to do some insulin adjustment for my docs - after five-years in Diabetes Management I am skilled, I have more time and I enjoy it. They find it tremendously helpful. <i>Dats da goal baby! </i>The people, of course, make it worthwhile; I love the people. So it follows that I love my job but then… <i>Have I ever held a job I didn’t love?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>My</i> goal is to say, “Yes!” as much as possible. “Yes, I can help you. Yes, I can do that. Yes, add them to my schedule.” I have to be more flexible than ever - its good training for aging - a time that seemingly brings inflexibility to many facets of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While our doctors love the help, the numbers must show that we positively impact patient care. If we succeed, our program will spread throughout the northern California region and several <i>HUNDRED</i> NP jobs will open within the Kaiser system. I am keenly interested in that. I can’t tell you how many NPs I know still working as RNs in the Kaiser system - awaiting NP positions. I saw this pilot program as a way to impact something bigger, much bigger. … fingers crossed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I own a Kamaka ukulele - one I begged for and received on my 10th birthday. (Yes, Jake Shimabukuro plays a Kamaka.) Two years ago, it returned home to the Kamaka factory in Kaka’ako for a well baby check. I began taking ukulele lessons this year. I walked into my first lesson carrying my battered case.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Is your ukulele as old as the case?” someone asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Yep.” I opened my case and people gasped. Kamaka ukuleles are feather light and cost a cool $1000 dollars now. They call my Kamaka <i>vintage. I wonder what that says about me?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“You better buy a new case,” they advised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some of you may remember that I was actually offered a music scholarship to the University of Hawaii. I’ve always thought of music as my <i>gift.</i> I love music and practicing was never a chore. So I’ve really thrown myself into my ukulele lessons - much to my enjoyment. It nurtures the kāhoaka (spirit) in me that is anchored to my heart/home in the middle of the sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As you know, California is in the midst of a multi-year drought, nine years by my reckoning, interrupted by the storms of 2011. If you’re <i>reeeally </i>interested, go to my blog at: <a href="http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com/2015/05/water-is-new-oil.html"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(22, 88, 120); color: #165878;">http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com/2015/05/water-is-new-oil.html</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(22, 88, 120); color: #165878;"> </span>for the first in a three-part series on the drought. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oaks of our cul-de-sac</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Oak trees, notoriously adverse to summer watering, began dropping yellowed leaves and showering the gr</span>ound with <i>Hail Mary</i> acorns in May - as if it was fall. All our trees are stressed after multiple years of drought and dry winters. I wondered about watering oaks and searched online. I found a study conducted by the University of CA in a nearby regional park. Their conclusions: Under periods of prolonged drought, supplemental irrigation of established oak trees may prevent their decline and death … if irrigation water is applied well away from the tree root crown area but within the tree rooting zone, even frequent summer water application may not be detrimental to established oak trees. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So I began watering the Blue Oaks out front in the study’s very prescribed manner and under the cover of darkness. After several months and only when they clearly seemed improved, I contacted the city arborist, confessed by oaky sins, and we formulated a plan for keeping the oaks around my home alive and thriving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“<b>They</b> should be watering the oaks,” my neighbors protested, “Not you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I agree but clearly, they’re not going to. And you must admit, if those oaks die, our cul-de-sac will look very, very different.” <i>Uh… like crap - but I didn’t say that. </i>Hence, I stopped watering my lawn and diverted my water to oaks.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">LET'S DO THIS! Watering greenbelt oaks.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The greenbelt behind me is heavily studded in oaks - some that were severely stressed. After more research online, I found a formula for <i>how</i> and <i>how much </i>water. Here, each bucket has twelve 1/4 inch holes punched through the bottom - they deliver water slowly so it seeps in versus runs off. Five 5-gallon buckets = 25 gallons. Its a lengthy process; my goal was to gimp them through the summer - and so I did. The rains have started again and I think the oaks are safe for now.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yosemite Conservancy work group</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2t97qpLn_Csr-paJZ8MzYWajCce84_BBKoFVVQB7Z_pKo8nuUMZZB0gB7v64i_5b4LDuf4XIjLeow42-oo4QECO2ka3wA6rGGkHZXH2KiZX85ouHHesDrqVf7GWbD-YlwsqTnTAQGs6wi/s1600/Yosemite+Consv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">In early August, I went to Yosemite for a week of volunteer work through membership in the Yosemite Conservancy. <i>OMG - what a blast!!! </i>AND-and-AND - we had a vegan cook from Italy!!! I ask you - could LB be any happier? <i>Nay, nay!</i> Camping in Yosemite during the summer with an Italian (certified dietician) chef preparing vegetarian and vegan meals for me? <i>Heaven!</i> We worked in the two, little known sequoia groves just inside the northern park entrance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Mariposa Grove is currently closed for a two year restoration project. I would normally avoid projects on the Yosemite valley floor, much preferring the highlands. But I’m hoping to work in the Mariposa Grove next year. Can you imagine working amongst the giant sequoias of the Mariposa Grove while its closed to the public? <i>Heaven with whip cream and a cherry!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I met fantastic, like-minded people. I met people who volunteer year after year and those who arrive in their motorhomes and volunteer all summer. <i>Can you see my little gears turning?</i> Retirement is but five years and two months away - <i>but who’s counting?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Two close friends have suffered catastrophic illness this year. It makes me appreciate my own good health and the abilities/capacities of my body. It has also provided an opportunity for spiritual and emotional growth. I understand, in a new and profound way, that life is too short to be stingy with my love and approval. For the full story, visit my blog at:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: medium; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com/2015/11/click-once-to-enlarge-pictures.html">http://lorinzmuze.blogspot.com/2015/11/click-once-to-enlarge-pictures.html</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlfiMtUOiL1Fe-0ONGXwnEV7gY0ssr2e1q7-n-ezxT8Qt2KhXob0-NTYStq2a16wUDGEqfULtLsM8BuLmzV6KxjikHmu7WpUVTpqr6Svp2b8j9lYdRruTNQK6_c9w2se5-1W-CEDoPWFT/s1600/Cranes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlfiMtUOiL1Fe-0ONGXwnEV7gY0ssr2e1q7-n-ezxT8Qt2KhXob0-NTYStq2a16wUDGEqfULtLsM8BuLmzV6KxjikHmu7WpUVTpqr6Svp2b8j9lYdRruTNQK6_c9w2se5-1W-CEDoPWFT/s320/Cranes.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1WojoUqQxzZBBfvbzz_ulvlrZARO13OqrZ3YCkudY0f6fBIKUSGM2K1f25Wf86tfOdWWc8wuGn2jdELUqwQ24ivuEuLmZWCp4bVMyJ_qYKQNWW_dPEWNSC75-iIK_gwNFPGxYJ1rzwUru/s1600/Cranes+vid.m4v" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">I recently traveled an hour south to see Sandhill Cranes during their winter migration. Some of their habitat is clearly rice paddies flooded to support the Pacific Flyway migration. Their calls and coos are captivating and part of my “nature that nurtures” life strategy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I said at the top, I have focused my energies toward heartstring strummers. They are: meaningful work, key relationships, daily exercise, writing and music. <i>No-matchy? - No calendary. </i>It makes for a life that is simple, aligned with core values and imparts a tremendous sense of peace and prosperity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What’s on tap for 2016?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Niece Lael will shortly birth a baby girl. I plan to visit my new, grand niece in Los Angeles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I will turn 60 and plan to party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Friends John, Bill and I hiked in the Swiss Alps last year and plan to hike in the Dolomites (Italian Alps). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mom will turn 91 and I will reliably return to Honolulu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I will fill the rest of 2016 with </span>meaningful work, key relationships, daily exercise, writing and music. <i>What about you? </i>I would love to hear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll leave you with this last verse from a Country Western song <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "shree devanagari 714";"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "shree devanagari 714";">- where typically the dog and wife are on the lamb, he laments the loss of his best friend - the dog, the corn needs picken’, and the beer is chillen' on his ex’s cold heart. However in this verse, Lee Brice seemed to get it right:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Be a best friend, tell the truth</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And overuse "I love you"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Go to work, do your best</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Don't outsmart your common sense</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Never let your prayin' knees get lazy</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And love like crazy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prefer Ram Das? Tell the truth and love everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mele Kalikimaka é Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Me ka manao hoihoi I ka mau a mau loa aku (with love infinitely) ~ Lorin</span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788070979655346714.post-59852620912010408102015-11-15T14:53:00.000-08:002015-11-22T15:18:51.149-08:00In Thanksgiving<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Shree Devanagari 714'; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: red;">Click once to enlarge pictures. X at top, right corner to close.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve been researching for a blog on guns: gun violence in America, gun control and the Second Amendment. Convoluted doesn't even being to describe… and the research is time consuming. Mere discussion seems to ignite tempers. So as Thanksgiving nears, I thought a turn toward the genteel was in order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll start with the tale of two men and who they are for me. (Both have granted permission for this posting.)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Aw comon' Eddie, just PRETEND you love me!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "shree devanagari 714";"><span style="font-size: large;">Eddie Joe was a surgical resident and Army Captain in the large teaching program at Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC). Our paths collided during my first days in the Army Nurse Corp. I stood tall (well, relatively speaking), straight and starched in a long, white dress with deep pockets and gusseted sleeves, white cap, white hose, white shoes - seemingly straight from the photos of WWII Army nursing. Eddie wore the drab brown that all uniformed services seem to employ. My Lieutenant’s rank collar bars were highly polished. His? Um… not so much. Eddie is from Arkansas, he speaks in the slow, soft drawl of the south. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Lets go change a dressing,” he said, “I’ll show you where the supplies are and how to get it done.” We quickly fell into a friendship that endures to this day. After Honolulu, Eddie was stationed at MAMC (Madigan) near Seattle. I landed in Anchorage, AK and finagled my reserve duty at MAMC. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Their girls were in grade school and I remember the back of one bathroom door covered in ribbons and bows and elastic bands and things that sparkled. </span><span style="font-size: large;">“How do you want to wear your hair today?” Trish asked before braiding (with or without ribbons braided through) o</span><span style="font-size: large;">r pony-tailing or head-banding or beret-ing, fulfilling any number of requests. <i>Me sporting my pixie-cut? Me fascinated.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Military obligations fulfilled, they settled in Nashville and I in Sacramento. Over the years, I’ve dropped in whenever my travels crossed the country. You wanna know southern hospitality? Eddie and Trish wrote the book, opening their home and hearts to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some years ago, Eddie was forced into an early retirement by Parkinson’s disease (PD). “I could feel it in my hands,” he said answering my queries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Learning of his plight, I vowed to visit frequently and regularly. In June 2014 he was stooped and shuffling; his exercise program somewhat erratic. I gently scolded, reminding him that walking is key to maintaining mobility for people with PD.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In September 2015, he was remarkably improved, so much so that I stopped mid-sentence to inquire. We walked daily for 60-90 minutes and joked about finding me a home in Nashville. Eddie is tall with long legs; I could barely keep up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We reminisced over large bowls of popcorn. “Besides my family and a couple childhood friends, I think Eddie is my longest friend,” I asserted. “We’ve been friends since I was twenty-three. What is so curious to me is that you never know who will be your friends for life. I never expected that it would be you two and I’m so thankful. Thankful that you let me tag along and watch your girls grow - and share in your lives.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eddie fell in mid-October, breaking a hip. It has since been surgically repaired and now physical therapy and rehab continues from home. And I wonder what friendship and support looks like from 2300 miles away.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIE8TCcADNT0gZX2IE8tbzhLHMaFOCM2GXVoRkJIixEkStdM1o7JIxxJ2Xa86sPnu_J9pbiCx5-4PE5UFsluw2yQG_srFO1id7h_oqM6_WFfbsLsDrq0fII-Oi1USkN3lrsWtMO9SXZpRa/s1600/MGGM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIE8TCcADNT0gZX2IE8tbzhLHMaFOCM2GXVoRkJIixEkStdM1o7JIxxJ2Xa86sPnu_J9pbiCx5-4PE5UFsluw2yQG_srFO1id7h_oqM6_WFfbsLsDrq0fII-Oi1USkN3lrsWtMO9SXZpRa/s320/MGGM.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Michael - post transplant</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Michael is a doctor at Kaiser. We became friends during Landmark’s Advance Course. Our work locations and schedules did not allow for hallway run-ins so our friendship was built slowly and deliberately through coordinated lunch breaks on the hospital campus, an occasional beer and joining his family to hike a 30-mile section of the John Muir Trail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some years ago Michael was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that scars his lungs. After a long remission, it flared again - only to march inexorably toward his demise. Watching his decline up-close-and-personal has been sad and disturbing. He stopped surfing then hiking, stopped skiing then cycling. Much to my utter dismay, he gave away his backpacking gear. He lost weight, his color ashened, his energy waned and life ultimately became circumscribed by the tethering of a 100-foot oxygen tube. Secretly, I loathed his doctors and accused them of negligence for not doing more - <i>as if there was more to do.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Early in 2015 he was evaluated for lung transplantation and in June, was hospitalized until death or transplantation. <i>Most people awaiting transplant die</i>, I thought, because Americans are generally adverse to organ donation. And I was not incorrect in that thought, statistics overwhelmingly favor death over transplantation. <i>Most </i>people die awaiting transplantation - not Michael.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Like mana from heaven, a pair of lungs arrived<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(255, 45, 34); color: #ff2d22;"> </span>in a cooler and he underwent double lung transplantation. Friends and family breathed a collective, albeit premature, sigh of relief. His recovery continues to be complicated and protracted… and life will never be the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I examine my friendships with these men, I ask myself, <i>What does it mean to be a good friend now?</i> By necessity, the nature of our relationships has changed and here is what I noticed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the immediate post-operative period, Michael was sequestered in a home near Stanford to facilitate multiple visits to the transplant and rehab teams each week. Los Altos is easily a 6-hour roundtrip from Sacramento. Friends and family streamed to Los Altos on the weekends in love and care. And after a 3-hour drive, none want to take their leave after just a few minutes; right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Avoiding the weekend treks meant I didn’t visit as often. <i>There’s the rub. </i>How do I show my love and care without adding to their to-do list? How can I ensure my visits are not burdensome? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I called to check-in. Sometimes Michael cancelled my scheduled visits. In my upset, my conversations with myself turned “young.” <i>Well how come they got to visit and I didn’t? When is my turn?</i> I noticed that I angled for <i>my-fair-share</i> as if he were a commodity at auction. I’m not proud of these inner conversations but it <i>IS </i>helpful to notice them. Noticing prevents me from pressuring an ailing friend to assuage my fears.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I confessed these juvenile conversations to Michael. “We have rules and agreements about how our relationships work. By necessity, you are breaking all the rules and everyone has to adapt. I notice that my inner conversations about your rule breaking are sometimes very young. Like I’ll think, <i>Well how come they got to visit and I didn’t?</i> I’m sure I’m not alone in this. And I notice that I still want my-fair-share-of-Dr.-Michael-GM-thank-you-very-much!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Oh my God,” he said, “Thank you for saying that. I’m sure you’re right; that you are not alone in this.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m positive I am not alone. In putting my attention toward what would be helpful,” I continued, “You get to tell me what that would be. You get to say; not me - and I get to deal with it. But I have to tell you, it takes something to be in a conversation beyond <i>What’s-in-it-for-me?</i>”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wisdom Course instructor Joan Bordow says, “When you get really straight with how much your life is all about you - something else is possible beyond your small, selfish, little life.” <i>Whoa!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So for most of 2015 I have planted myself in generosity and a conversation bigger than myself, looking for what could be supportive and what might be helpful, asking for input and fulfilling upon requests.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saturday, I drove to Berkeley to take ex-mother-in-law Sarah out for her 85th birthday. She loves sports cars, so I retrieved her in one. She loves cut flowers, so I brought a vase filled with them. We dined at Chez Panisse, a swanky Berkeley fixture that is known to be one of the finest eating establishments in all of northern California. Chez Panisse tops her list. Not how I would choose to spend my birthday but… <i>its not about me</i>. Sarah said it was her best birthday ever. <i>Mission accomplished.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m lucky that I can be generous with my money, my time, and my attention,” I told Michael. “I can blame that on you. You are teaching me to move in the world with graciousness and grace. Sad that my friends must suffer catastrophic illness for me to shift my focus… nonetheless I am ever grateful.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It makes me wonder about all the people I shut out, all the people I ignore and pass over. In looking there - my attention is drawn to those we collectively and justifiably exclude - the homeless are one such group. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A few years ago, I was in San Francisco for a long weekend. San Francisco has so many homeless and they are everywhere: holding signs on street corners and straddling intersections, lurking in doorways, laying along walkways, loitering near ATMs, sleeping in parks, lingering near public bathrooms, like e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before embarking to the city, I stopped in my bank and withdrew fifty one-dollar bills. As a practice in generosity, I decided to give $1 to every beggar until my cache was exhausted. In the gloom of that early Sunday morning, I found a sizable roll of cash in a crosswalk. It was more money than I had gifted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now I keep an unobtrusive pencil case in each car, stuffed with $1 bills. (Mahalo Shea GM for the conversation that inspired this.) Fireman were passing-the-boot at Costco over the weekend; I had money for them. A man held a sign at a freeway off-ramp; I gave him a dollar. Its not much but its something, and it allows me to engage in a way that is comfortable for me. I acknowledge their humanity and they are no longer invisible to me. My sonar seeks and pings on them now. Its not much - its a start.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We never know who will touch us in ways that change our lives. I would have never put money on Eddie or Michael - and yet, each man has touched me deeply and altered my path.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reflective and thankful for their touch. I am thankful for the ways my life opened with their input, friendship and love. I am thankful they allowed me to tag along and watch their families grow. I’ve been moved by sharing in their wins and losses, their struggles and disappointments with disease. Each has left an indelible print on my heart and opened me to my Mother, my family, to Sarah, to friends and coworkers, to fellow yogis, the homeless on the street and to you. I opened to you - and you opened me more.</span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWndiIfm648s83i41jrA80tQkOKniXx6eujd33OxUUi7bttbIAqjYd2EVf4kRO04f2pUJIdWEKdcKE_j0r05J1J7nvKDMsrapB8xFRkBhoF8Q8q5_70aUkJzRuBQ8yZblByhfu1c-dVHvb/s1600/coconut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWndiIfm648s83i41jrA80tQkOKniXx6eujd33OxUUi7bttbIAqjYd2EVf4kRO04f2pUJIdWEKdcKE_j0r05J1J7nvKDMsrapB8xFRkBhoF8Q8q5_70aUkJzRuBQ8yZblByhfu1c-dVHvb/s200/coconut.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A heart broken open that spills forth in love is a beautiful thing. Thank you all for cracking this hard coconut open. In Love and Thanksgiving ~ lb</span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Will you allow your heart to be broken open?</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oluolu ka hoaloha’loha ana = Happy Thanksgiving </span></div>
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Lorinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153569981447970915noreply@blogger.com13