T-minus five days and counting....

The Ohio primary is only a few days off and the contest is heating up big time. On the Republican side, there's no question that McCain will win Ohio, since he's more or less become the de facto Republican nominee, but there's still a tight race between Hillary and Obama. Some polls here have Hillary leading by double digits, others have the race narrowed to a mere few percentage points, but any way you cut it, it's going to be an interesting primary election day. I've been inundated by phone calls and mailers urging me to vote for Hillary and so far, I've only gotten one Obama call from the local Portage County Obama headquarters, and that was from my friend Judy Kirman, who called me yesterday. I don't know if this is because I've more or less already expressed who I am going to vote for or what, but it seems like Hillary is really desperate to win Ohio to keep her candidacy viable. While I think that she'd be a good President, though, I've not been impressed by her campaign. She seems so disingenuous to me somehow, as if she's acting everything out instead of being a real person. She also had the gall to accuse Obama of lifting lines from another politician when she's done a lot of that herself. For example, at the end of a recent debate, Hillary said, "You know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people. And that's what this election should be about." In a December 13 Democratic debate, John Edwards said, "What's not at stake are any of us. All of us are going to be just fine no matter what happens in this election. But what's at stake is whether America is going to be fine." Stealing directly from lines used by Obama, Hillary has been saying, "We are fired up and we are ready to go, because we know that America is ready for change." Change you can Xerox, indeed! So I have a hard time finding anything really genuine about her when she can't even use her own lines in her speeches and freely borrows from other candidates. That speaks to me of a kind of dishonesty that tarnishes my ability to trust her. On the other hand, when I hear Obama speaking, even extemporaneously, I get the feeling that he's speaking very genuinely and from the heart, like you're seeing the real person. He's funny, self deprecating and inspiring. And that's something I can trust when choosing a candidate. Besides, poll numbers show Obama beating McCain while McCain could easily beat Hillary, so when it comes down to pure electability, we've got to choose the candidate who can win against the opposition.

IS NADER A REPUBLICAN OPERATIVE?
There was a letter to the Editor in today's Akron Beacon Journal wondering how much the Republicans paid Ralph Nader to run for President. It really made me wonder if there might be any truth to that. After all, the "Obamentum" (another nifty little word invented by the media in yet another one of their clever sound bytes) is hard to stop, and polls are showing Obama being able to beat McCain. Somehow, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that the GOP is so afraid of losing power that they're willing to convince Nader to run in order to divide the liberal vote enough to hand the White House back to the Republicans. I just can't trust anybody anymore who claims any ties to the current administration. They have proven to be the most dishonest, corrupt and power hungry administration in our nation's history, and since they apparently haven't been able to find a satisfactory "heir apparent" to Dubya, it seems that they might be willing to settle for anybody, just to hang on to power and to keep their illegal war in Iraq going indefinitely. Somehow, I smell Karl Rove all over this thing. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that there's been an under-the-table deal between Nader and the current administration to undermine the Democratic candidacies enough to hand power back to the GOP. I don't know, call me cynical, but I just don't trust anybody anymore who wants that much power and is desperate enough to resort to any tactic possible. I just hope that I am wrong and that people recall what happened in 2000 that ended up handing the Presidency to Bush. I hope that people repudiate Nader enough to make him irrelevant in this election. Perhaps his late entry into the race will nullify any chances he has of splitting the Democratic vote enough to affect the electoral outcome. One can only hope.......

Nader's Narcissism

It's finally happened. Ralph Nader has thrown his hat in the ring as a Presidential candidate. Why doesn't someone tell this man to just give it up and go away? By his doing this, he's once again displaying his narcissism and his evident desire to throw the election to McCain so that he'll still have causes to pursue. Imagine, if we had a decent President who actually did good things for the country - people like Nader would be out of a job! So it seems like his desire now is to throw this election back to the Republicans so he can keep kicking at the oligarchs who currently run the White House. I just can't believe, after 2000, that he's doing this again! This man seems like a perpetual Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Now, I know that some of you will say that Dennis Kucinich displays some of the same qualities, but no, Kucinich bowed out when it became apparent that he couldn't muster the support he needed to maintain a viable Presidential candidacy, and he did so quite gracefully. And I admire him for that fact. Nader, on the other hand, appears to want to play the perpetual role of campaign spoiler. I just hope that people have the smarts not to fall for Nader's late entry candidacy and that they remember what happened eight years ago and won't vote to him. Whatever respect I had for Nader disappeared long ago and my contempt for his Presidential candidacies has continued to grow. He ought to keep doing what he's done so well for so long now, and that's to be a crusading consumer advocate. Using that as a stump for a Presidential candidacy is folly and foolish at this stage of the game. So my take on this is: Go Away Ralph! Leave it be. Drop it. You're ruining your own good name by your narcissistic actions. I just hope that most folks who've not yet made up their minds don't throw their votes to Nader. That could be catastrophic in this election, which is probably one of the most important Presidential elections in our nation's history.

PETE SEEGER: AMERICAN LEGEND
Last night on the PBS series "American Masters", they profiled the life and work of legendary singer/songwriter Pete Seeger. I grew up singing Seeger's songs that he performed both solo and with The Weavers. I also grew up hearing the singing of Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez, icons of the folk revival movement of the 1960's. I hadn't realized just how influential Pete Seeger was until I watched this program. He gave us our national folk songs that so many of us still sing today, and he also sang songs by legendary songwriters like Bob Dylan and others. One of the things that I also hadn't realized is how much song played a role in the protest movements of the 1960's like the Civil Rights and VietNam war protests. I still tear up when I sing "We Shall Overcome" and other songs of that era. They make me realize just how much power song has to change the world and change people's feelings. As someone who is myself an aspiring songwriter, it amazes me how powerful songs can be. Seeger brought us songs that gave us the power to move people and to change the world, and there's something to be said for that. I wonder why the power of song has somehow been forgotten in these times we live in now, and I keep waiting for new songs to arise to express the angst that so many of us feel about the state of the world now. But I guess times are different now than they were 40 years ago. Still, there's something to be said for how much power a song can wield to express people's deepest feelings. And given the kind of undercurrent of discontent that is roiling throughout our country at the moment, I'm waiting for a new American bard to step forward and lead us in song through these perilous times we live in right now. Having witnessed the power that Seeger was able to tap on 40 years ago and to use it to foment major change, I know that it can happen again. It just takes one person with a guitar, or a banjo, or just a powerful voice to lead our nation in song to express our deepest desires to make a better world. Seeger did that 40 years ago. And that is why he can truly be called an American Master. I grew up hearing and singing his music. For that, I will always be grateful to him.

Oscar fashion: fabulous and faux-pas

Part of the fun of watching the Academy Awards is to see what the celebs are wearing on the red carpet. There are everything from fashion duds to fashion "wow's" and for those who strike out where it comes to their choice of gown, I really have to ask....."What were they thinking?" You'd think that Hollywood people, who are doubtless handsomely paid, could do a better job of dressing themselves on just such occasions. But maybe some of them do the outrageous thing just to get attention. Who knows. But I just can't understand why anyone would be caught dead in some of the clothing I saw on this year's red carpet. Let's start with the image on the left. Writer Diablo Cody, who won an Oscar for writing the comedy film "Juno", wore this animal print gown. Um, why? Sure, it's wacky, it's different, it's eye catching, but it's still not my idea of appropriate red carpet clothing. Oh, and it revealed a rather ugly tattoo on her right arm. Now, call me old fashioned, but I cannot understand the current popularity of tattooing and piercing. It just looks tacky and I predict that within 10-20 years, a booming business in tattoo removal will spring up as these youngsters age and realize that their once fashionable tattoos look hideous on their middle aged, bulging and sagging flesh. Anyway, my vote for one of Oscar's worst dressed women goes to Diablo Cody.

Now, take this number worn by last year's Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. Can you say, clams on a beach? Why on earth would someone with such an ample bosom like hers wear something with an empire waist? Not exactly the best choice of gown to wear if you're on the top-heavy side. I would have chosen something that would have de-emphasized my bust line if I were her, something classy that would work with her body shape. I have no objections to the color. White is always classic, chique and stylish, but this was, simply put, the wrong choice of gown for a woman built like Jennifer Hudson. One can only hope that this can be chalked up to Hollywood inexperience and that in future years, her walks down the red carpet will be characterized by a better choice of gown. Get this woman to a fashion consultant! So this counts as another one of my Oscar red carpet "worst dressed" choices for this year. Sorry, Jennifer, you may have a fabulous voice and are a budding

acting talent, but your fashion sense leaves a lot to be desired.

Helen Mirren has long been one of my favorite actresses. I first saw her years ago playing Morgan LeFay in John Boorman's "Excalibur". She was beautiful then and she's still beautiful now, even as she grows older. As she does so, she grows more regal in her bearing. I simply adored her in "The Queen" and in "Calendar Girls" and there are quite a few other movies of hers that I have not yet seen that are on my list. This choice of gown that Helen Mirren wore on the red carpet is just gorgeous and emphasizes her regal bearing even more. Red is the perfect color for her and she wears it extremely well. Red seemed to be the choice of color for the night, as at least a half dozen actresses chose the bright scarlet color for their red carpet gown of the night. Some of the red gowns were....well, not so great. Everyone lauded Heidi Klum on her red gown but I thought it was ugly and atrocious. This red gown, with its subtle sleeves, is the perfect gown for an older but still very vital woman. It's stylish without being overbearing. It really gave Ms. Mirren the look that draws attention, but so glaringly that it screams to be paid attention to. Congratulations go for this choice of gown that rates as one of my favorites of the night.

By far, this gown worn by Amy Ryan, who starred in Ben Affleck's surprise directorial hit "Gone, Baby, Gone" ranks as my absolute favorite of the entire night. Its midnight blue color is classy, regal and eye catching without being too audacious. It has a classic, almost Greek goddess look about it, with its one shoulder styling and narrow band at the waist. It's understated without being underdressed, but still classy and beautiful. It's a gown that probably would have been my choice of the night had I been chosen to walk the red carpet myself. This style also works beautifully with Ms. Ryan's body type, which is a very important consideration when choosing a gown to wear. Compare this with Jennifer Hudson's obvious fashion faux-pas and you can see that some people obviously went to great lengths to find someone who knew how to dress them and do it well to complement their body type and build. Another thing that I like that works with this gown is the fact that Ms. Ryan has orange-red hair and orange is a complementary color with blue. Her hair color is subtle enough, though, not to clash with her gown. This excellent choice of gown gets my vote for "Best in Show" for Oscar night. This is one stylish, classy, understated but elegant gown that I would choose in a New York minute for what I would want to be seen in on Oscar night.

So there you have it, Oscar fans, my votes for best and worst dressed on the red carpet for Oscar night. I read in today's paper that the television ratings for this year's Oscar night were pretty abysmal, and that's probably because there were no really big name films or big name stars that had been nominated for Academy Awards this year. Mostly they were small films that became surprise hits like "Juno", "La Vie En Rose" and other lesser known films. It's not that Hollywood failed to come up with any big blockbusters this year, it's just that none of them were really Oscar worthy and the smaller films seemed to catch on with very dedicated audiences. And that's probably not a bad thing, either. It speaks well of small movies that they can garner the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences enough to be nominated for awards. Congratulations to all Oscar winners and nominees this year!

And the winner is.....

I watched the Academy Award show last night and I can't say that I have seen any of the films that won any awards, except for maybe "Ratatouille", which was cute and funny and won the Oscar for "Best Animated Feature". Other than that, I can't say that I've seen any of the others that featured award winning categories. The big winner of the night was the Coen Brothers film, "No Country for Old Men", based on a book by Cormac McCarthy. It seemed a night for foreign winners, as the main acting awards went to Brits Tilda Swinton for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, "Michael Clayton" and Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor in his role in the film, "There Will Be Blood", and Spaniard Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "No Country for Old Men" and French actress Marion Cotillard for Best Actress for her role in the film, "La Vie En Rose". I haven't seen any of these movies yet and I suppose if I really wanted to, I'll just wait until they come out on DVD and join the long queue of people wanting to see them. I'm not really sure that I am all that interested in seeing any of these and frankly, there have been very few films coming out that I have either had the time or the desire to see. There have been a few that were on my "must see" list that I missed in the theaters, but those are the ones that I will wait for to arrive on DVD and see them at home when I have a bit more free time to do so. It's just gotten to where I don't seem to have a whole lot of free time these days and on weekends, if I'm not already committed to doing something, I just sort of want to veg about the house in my pj's and do pretty much nothing at all. It is nice, though, to finally have a DVD player so that I can catch up on all those good films I've missed and want to see. I suppose of all the films that were major Oscar winners, the one I will probably want to see is "La Vie En Rose", although, if it's subtitled, I don't know if I want to try to follow those and pay attention to the movie at the same time. I used to speak French fairly well in my younger days, but over time, I've gotten rusty and my comprehension of it is also pretty bad anymore. Still, it does seem like an interesting topic for a film and so "La Vie En Rose" is on my list of films I may just want to see eventually. Other than that, none of these movies made my "must-see" list this year. I'll just pick and choose which of the movies that were made this past year I want to see. Chief among those is "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" with Cate Blanchett reprising her role as Queen Elizabeth I. I do want to see that movie very much and look forward to spending an afternoon curled up on the sofa with my DVD player watching that one.

GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL, DO NOT PASS GO
This morning I had to go to one of our correctional facilities, Oriana Glenwood, to do library service for the inmates. Normally one of my co-workers does it, but he's on vacation this week, so the assignment fell to me to fill in for him. I had done this years ago, but hadn't been back there in some time, so I'm a bit rusty on what to do and how to do it, but it all came back to me quickly once I'd been there a bit. This facility is primarily for substance abuse/DUI offenders, so there are no hardened criminals in the place. The women surprised me a lot - they didn't look at all like the hardened alcohol and drug abuse types. In fact, one woman seemed quite interested in really good literary reading and seems to be quite the fan of books by Barbara Kingsolver. I can't say that I've read any of her works but I did hear her on a radio program last summer while driving to West Virginia on vacation on a book that she wrote about moving to a farm in Appalachia and living only off of what she and her family could raise off the land, a book I have been meaning to read myself someday. The men looked more the types of people who'd led a harder life and some of them were surprisingly young looking but all very polite and respectful. I was a little afraid that some of the men might try hitting on me because of my long hair, but no one did. I was also surprised at how much people wanted to read and how many books everyone took. Of course, when you're holed up in jail, I don't suppose there's much else to do but watch TV or play cards or some other sort of thing. But these men and women were certainly eager readers and took a surprising amount of books, which is encouraging when I consider how few people seem to read anymore. So that was kind of a nice break from my usual work chores and a nice chance to get out of the building and do something different to start my week out.

On turning 50 and other thoughts

Those of you who regularly read this blog probably think that I am somewhat obsessed with health and health care, and you'd probably be somewhat correct in your assertions there. I turned 50 last spring and will be 51 this year, and in the past two years, 15 of my friends my age or younger have died from conditions ranging from heart attacks to diabetes and other preventable diseases. It comes as quite a shock when your friends begin to die at far too youthful ages. I don't know if our generation's sedentary lifestyle compared to that of our parents is a contributing factor, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was. After all, we're living in an age where you can construct a several thousand dollar home theatre system that saves you from having to go to the movies and is every bit as good, if not better, than going to the movies themselves. We have the Internet, cell phones and other gadgets that keep us from having to get up out of our chairs and do something. We have supersized cars with iPod ports, DVD players and other entertainment systems that we use to drive Suzy and Johnny to their overscheduled lives and in which to zip about town guzzling huge amounts of gas. Is it any wonder that when I go to the mall or anyplace else where there a lot of the public can be seen that there are so many overly obese people? You know, people blame the insurance and pharmaceutical industries for the increasing cost of health care, but when you really sit down and do the math, caring for all those obese people and the complications of their health as a result is extraordinarily costly. Our health care system doesn't focus on preventive care, it focuses on disease care. Why not encourage people to get healthy and reward those who do by lowering their health care premiums, co-pays and deductibles? It would prove to be a powerful incentive for all those obese people to consider losing weight and getting their health back if they knew that it would mean lower costs to them.


I saw this cartoon in today's newspaper that says it all about why people are overweight. Although it's funny, it's also too true. Supersized chairs in front of supersized home theatre systems and tons of unhealthy snacks like candy and chips to go along with it all. When I go to the grocery store and I see people's carts filled up with pop and chips and other junk food, I just want to scream at them about what they are costing the rest of us in health insurance costs. I've gone a long way toward changing my eating habits. I snack on soy protein bars and granola bars and have found them to be incredibly satisfying. Yes, I love Cheez-Its and Doritos and other junk like that, but I can do without them. Yes, I am occasionally tempted by candy bars in the staff room vending machines at work, but I remind myself of the cost to one's health by noshing on such junk. I am at the age now where my health becomes an even more important thing to protect. I've long regarded age 50 to be the kind of unofficial entrée into middle and old age, and already, I have discovered that my body is far more high maintenance than it once was. I have to do more to keep my weight down and stay physically fit than I did 25-30 years ago. I can't consume junk food without serious consequences. If I'm going to eat something like pizza or burritos, I make sure to include lots of healthy vegetables on them. Oh, I occasionally overindulge in food, but as they say, everything in moderation. I weigh myself regularly to keep myself honest. Probably the one thing I don't do enough of and need to do far more of is to drink water. That's probably my biggest shortcoming and something I just really need to work on correcting. Other than that, I know that I am somewhere along the right path to staying healthy as I get older. After all, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything.

Let the mudslinging begin!

Now that this presidential campaign is down to three contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democrats and John McCain for the Republicans, the real mudslinging has begun in earnest. McCain's speeches are already assuming that Obama is the inevitable Democratic nominee and is castigating him as giving pretty speeches but lacks the real experience to keep this country safe from terrorism. Hillary is also pitching Obama's lack of experience and is positioning herself as the only one with enough experience to lead this country. She's using the "pretty speeches aren't going to cut it" message as well. And now there is this whole controversy over lifting phrases by both Obama and Clinton and they're each accusing each other of said misdeeds. She's channeling Obama's "change" message and allegedly, Obama borrowed some phrases from the governor of Massachusetts without crediting him, so people are trying to use any tack they can to tear down their opponents. Everyone's got their attack dogs out to try to tear down their opponents. However, I have yet to hear really angry or negative words out of Obama. There are some who don't think he's got the toughness to lead this country as a result, who think he's too naïve, peddles too many false hopes, and that seems to be the main attack against him by both Clinton and McCain. I expect things to get a lot worse as the primary season continues, particulary if, by some chance, Obama wins Texas and Ohio in two weeks, particularly from the Clinton camp. They are nothing if not relentless in their pursuit of a "Clinton Restoration".

And now, there are allegations against McCain regarding some inappropriate relations with a female lobbyist. Supposedly, there was an article in the New York Times detailing some kind of questionable relationship between McCain and this woman. Whether I believe it or not, I don't know, but I expect other political skeletons to be unearthed before this campaign season is over. It's just the way the game is played anymore and everyone loves scandal if it somehow tarnishes an opponent of their favorite candidate. Of course, mudslinging is nothing new. This is not a product of our current era. This practice goes back in time almost to the beginnings of this country. Ferocious presidential campaigns are a part of our history. This one isn't as mean spirited as ones that I can remember going back well into my childhood, and that surprises me in a way, but in a way, it doesn't. Given the angst ridden years we've suffered under the Bush-Cheney years, I think that people are hungering for something different, for change, for an end to the "nattering nabobs of negativity", to quote a famously unpopular vice president. I think people are also weary of all the fearmongering we've had to suffer under Bush. Even yesterday, he castigated Congress because of failure to re-authorize the Protect America Act, some law that gives immunity to the telecommunications companies and gives the government power to eavesdrop on our phone calls and e-mails. Bush is continuing to hark his "evildoers" message and how now, America isn't safe anymore because of this law not being renewed or some such stupid thing. More mudslinging, this time aimed at both Houses of Congress having Democratic majorities by a Republican President. More divisiveness, more negativity, more mudslinging, more anger, more nothing getting done in Washington. Get out your duct tape and plastic sheeting to protect yourself from all the mud being thrown around, 'cause it's only going to get worse before it gets better!

Women's Fitness Class

Last night I went to Jason's new Women's Fitness class and it is just the ticket, just the thing I need. It was a much lower impact class than the one that I have been attending, and although that one has provided me with some valuable benefits, still, it's been tough on this aging body of mine. Jason's class was a perfect balance of lower body, upper body and abs work. We did a tough but excellent strength training circuit that is exactly the kind of thing I need to work my weaker upper body. My abs are shamefully weak and Jason reminded me of this as I struggled through one particular exercise, but I do need to work to tighten up those muscles that will benefit my back as well. I need to get my whole body in shape, not just my legs and feet, so I am glad that this class is now offered at Breakaway. I am going to go to this class from now on unless I have a schedule conflict, in which case I will go to the usual speed and agility sessions I have been going to. But given the choice, I'd much rather work out with people closer to my own age and I'd much rather work with Jason, with whom I have already had a long standing relationship both as physical therapist and fitness trainer and with whom I feel more comfortable anyway. Another nice thing last night was that there was only one other person than me, Alexa Hargett, the wife of one of the co-owners of Breakaway, Jerry Hargett (who I endlessly tease about his wearing University of Michigan gear). Having just two of us means that we both get the individualized attention that we both need, and I deeply appreciate that. It's tough working out with a bunch of kids who are a third of my age and with whom I struggle to keep up. I'd rather work out with other women closer to my age who are facing the same struggles as I am facing keeping my weight down and my body firm and toned. It helps my self confidence to know that there are other women who want the same thing that I want, a strong, toned and healthy body.

OBAMA ON A ROLL!
Well, it seems that Barack Obama's presidential campaign is truly on a roll. Last night he won both the Wisconsin primary and Hawai'i primaries, putting him firmly ahead in the delegate count and making him, at least for the moment, the Democratic front runner. Next up are the big prizes, Texas and Ohio on March 4th. Hillary has enjoyed a large lead in Ohio and endorsements from the Democratic establishment here in our state, including that of our governor, Ted Strickland. I don't know if Obama can cut into her lead enough here in the next two weeks to win this state, but stranger things have happened. It doesn't hurt that Obama's going into these next two primaries on a ten state victory roll. People like winners and they are more likely to jump on the bandwagon of someone that they perceive to be a winner, and if Hillary is perceived to be fading in this presidential primary season, then Obama stands an even better chance of pulling ahead and preventing a nasty back room fight at the Democratic convention this summer. I wouldn't want there to be any kind of back room dealing by the politicos anyway and I don't want to see our party sharply divided. If Obama can keep up his momentum and win clear cut victories in the next leg of this campaign, then it's entirely possible that we'll avoid a nasty fight and a divided convention, which would doubtless result in an election of John McCain as president, and heaven forbid we have that! This is the time for unity, and if we can't muster that in the coming months down the home stretch of this primary season, then this party is doomed come November for its bid for the White House. And we certainly don't want another four years of Bush policies or a loose cannon running this country. That could be catastrophic for the future of our country and the world. I'm just hoping that this nasty divide in the Democratic party can heal itself before this election season is out and that we can forge a united front to take back the White House and the Congress come November.

Healthy aging

As mentioned earlier in this blog, I've been reading this book called "Younger Next Year for Women". I admit, it dispenses a great deal of good advice, much of it that ought to be taken by a lot of folks. Its main thesis that we all ought to be in the gym training heavily for six days a week is a pretty tough prescription for those of us still on the treadmill of the workaday world. I'm lucky if I can work out twice a week, and even then, it can be a real stretch sometimes. Still, I do make the effort, unlike so many I know who are content just to park themselves on the couch and do nothing and then complain about their weight and health issues. And for that, I'm proud of myself for trying, even though some part of me hates exercise and would rather be doing anything but that. I am noticing how much stronger I am compared to this time last year and that can only be a good thing. My stamina is far greater as well, as well as my cardio endurance. I can run up my stairs instead of becoming winded half way up. I can race up the stairs at work as well and not feel like I'm going to die doing so. I know that I ought to make time to workout more than a mere few days a week, according to this book, but I figure that a few days is better than not working out at all. Had I the space for one at home, I'd get a treadmill to do cardio workouts at home, but I lack any kind of significant space for such a luxury. I've got resistance bands, ankle weights and hand weights to do strength training and stretching, but I rarely use them like I ought to. I really ought to make more time to do that and to use a really great yoga tape I bought that is geared toward us older, less flexible folks, especially now that my living room floor has so much more space, the result of getting some new bookcases and a CD tower for Christmas. I was faithfully doing it back in the spring of '06 but then I got hurt, ended up in physical therapy that fall, got hurt again, ended up back in PT and just forgot about doing my yoga stuff as a result. I really ought to get back to doing it again. Goodness knows, I sure could use the extra flexibility.

February Funk

I'm deep into my annual February funk. I don't know what it is about this time of year that plunges me into such dark moods, but it happens nonetheless. Little things that would normally not bother me too much weigh on me far heavier than usual. Frustrations that I can keep at bay rear their ugly heads and seem like insurmountable problems. The joy I normally find in things gets harder to find. Everything negative gets magnified many times and it sometimes gets to where all I want to do is to curl up and sleep the rest of the winter off until spring comes. I become lethargic to where normal tasks that I need to do feel too big to accomplish because I just lack the energy to get them done, and so they don't, leading to even more frustration because there are things that need to be done that I just can't seem to find the energy or the willpower to do. Quite simply put, I absolutely hate this time of year when it's so dreary. By all standards, we're having a relatively mild winter, thank goodness, but this has been and continues to be my least favorite time of year. Part of what has aggravated this in recent years is the fact that I cannot find a pair of boots on to which an inch and a half lift can be built. Oh, I could have a custom pair made, but it would cost me between $500 and $1000 for such a luxury, hardly something I could afford to own. I'd just about have to buy insurance just for them alone if I ever got such an expensive item like that. But since I can't afford such a thing, I'm stuck having to wear a pair of galoshes that fit over my shoes that are not made for winter wear and have little if any real traction to speak of. And they're not good for keeping my feet warm for any length of time outdoors. But for now, that's all I have available and I'm about ready to say, the hell with it, I'll spend the big bucks to have custom boots made if it means that my feet will stay warm and I'll have some real traction to speak of so I don't continue to fall over and over again. At my age, falls can be dangerous because things break and get hurt that didn't when I was far younger. I'm much more susceptible to serious injury now that I'm in the over-50 set. And once I hit menopause, falls will be even more dangerous because of decline in bone density, so that's something I'm becoming more aware of as I age. All of this weighs on me as I grow older and weather Northeast Ohio winters and the inevitable falls I experience each year as a result. Well, the fact is, I'm tired of falling and risking injury, so my greatest wish now is for a good pair of warm winter boots with a one and a half inch lift on the left one. If anybody knows of a good cobbler who can fill such an order at a price I can afford (since my insurance regards such things as medically unnecessary and will not pay for my lifts), please let me know.

OUR CHURCH LIBRARY
Last year, our minister at the UU Church asked me if I would be willing to take on the task of chairing a committee to create a library for our church, since I work in a library for my day job. I agreed to do this and we now have what amounts to a bare bones but functional library. The problem is that it's located in what for years has been known as the "Ready Room", a small room off of the sanctuary typically used to prepare for services. It's still pretty much used for this purpose and as a result, frequently gets cluttered with people's stuff who are involved in the worship service. It's also used to move furniture on and off the raised dais where the pulpit stands, like chairs, the pulpit itself and other worship paraphenalia. As a result, it makes the library partially inaccessible between and after services and people don't seem to know that this room is being used also as a library for their use as well as the service "Ready Room". Had I my way, I would have had the library in what is now the nursery and moved that upstairs to what I have been told is a "performing arts" room, but is rarely, if ever, used during services for the children's religious education studies that go on up on the third floor. The "peforming arts" room is huge and spacious and would make for an ideal library, but it's not handicapped accessible like the sanctuary level of the church is, so we have to keep it on that level. Frankly, I'm eyeballing the nursery and thinking that we ought to talk to someone about letting us have that and moving the nursery someplace else. Granted, space is at a real premium in our tiny Civil War era church, and that is ever a source of frustration for everyone. It severely limits our growth potential but I don't want to have to move out of our historic home. If only we could have a wealthy beneficiary who would leave us a sizeable endowment. That would solve so many of the problems we are facing as we grow as a congregation and we grow in our needs. Right now, I'm frankly frustrated by our library situation enough to have resigned as the committee chair. I'm still on the committee but I gave it over to someone who both has more time for it and is better able to deal with the issues we're facing. But for now, we're stuck sharing our space with an amazing amount of clutter, and that's turning into a real sore spot for me. I just wish there was something we could do to alleviate that problem immediately, but that's just not in the cards right now, unfortunately.

Family stories

My younger sister e-mailed me yesterday regarding some genealogical questions about one particular branch of our maternal ancestry. What is fascinating about this is that it's the same branch of the family that has been very much on my mind of late, and since my sister lives 6000 miles away in Europe, well, I regarded this as more than just coincidence. I think that despite distance, people who are related can think about each other and can think about the same things at the same times. At any rate, it also got me to thinking a lot about old family stories, some of them having been passed down orally through the generations, some of them doubtless apocryphal but making for good tales nonetheless, and some of them the result of direct memory of actual people, places and events. Fortunately, most of our maternal ancestry genealogy and stories were collected by our mother and put down in a little booklet that she put together for us. A lot of the stories were ones passed down in letters or from our grandparents memories or from other sources. We sure have had an interesting family, coming from such far flung places as England, Ireland, Wales, either Haiti or the Dominican Republic (it's hard to say which part of the island our family actually came from - I'm inclined to think Haiti myself because of the fact that it was once a French colony and most of the family who came from there were either Breton or French, and I can't imagine our French family living on the Spanish part of the island, personally, but then, that's just me). They settled in places like Virginia, Alabama, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, Louisiana, Texas and perhaps other places as yet unknown. But I think it's terribly important to be able to have these stories available to pass down to future generations. I'm glad we have at least some information on the who, where, when, and even a bit of why. There are some downright colorful stories of spurned lovers, failed marriages, alcoholics, mill workers, slave owners, Irish immigrants, New England Yankees, photographers, shop keepers and much, much more. It's all quite fascinating and in some instances, sad, but it's our family history, for good or for ill. I just wish we had such a comprehensive history like that on our dad's side. We have a few interesting stories that have been unearthed, but nothing like the collection of tales we have on our mom's side. These are real treasures, and I hope that they survive the future generations to be told again and again.

CSI: AKRON-CANTON

Last summer there was a spectacular crime that made national news. A white 9 months pregnant woman in North Canton disappeared from her home and a whole lot of people turned out to find her. In the meantime, the woman's mother found the daughter's two year old son at home alone and had been so for something like two days in a soiled diaper. To make a long story short, eventually a black cop who was her lover led police to her body which was found in a local Akron park where I have hiked a few times. Turns out he killed her, but in his testamony at the trial, he said it was an accident and he didn't mean to kill her. This cop, by the way, had children with several women and was still married with a wife and family of his own. My co-workers call him a "playa", ghetto-speak for someone who plays around behind his wife's back with other women. Anyway, today was the big day for the verdict, and everyone at work was on the edge of their seats waiting to find out what it was. So here's what we heard on the radio: Not guilty of aggravated murder in the case of the woman, guilty of murder in the death of the woman, guilty of aggravated murder in the death of the fetus, guilty of gross abuse of a corpse in the case of the woman, guilty of gross abuse of a corpse in the death of the fetus, and guilty of burglary for entering the home of the woman by force. Apparently they bought the excuse of the accidental death of the woman so he was found not guilty of aggravated murder in her death and got just straight murder instead. So now comes the sentencing hearing to find out whether he will get the death penalty or life in prison. This story has been prominently featured in the papers daily and quite the topic of conversation around offices and coffee shops everywhere in the area. I don't know why people are so fascinated by these kinds of true crime stories, but people lap this stuff up. It's just all so sad, in my opinion. People's lives have been ruined by one criminal act and a lot of people have been affected. Crime touches more than just the victim. It touches the families of both victim and perpetrator. I just don't think people realize how much. Well, the story continues as the sentencing hearing approaches. And people will continue to discuss this as the stories keep appearing in local newspapers.

Moving to a lower intensity workout

Ever since we moved our workouts to the new Breakaway Sports Training facility in late November, we've had a different trainer for what used to be general fitness classes, but are now high intensity speed and agility classes run by an 18 year old trainer and more geared toward a younger and far more agile crowd. I can almost keep up with the kids but I often have to stop at fewer reps than they can do because I just flat out run out of steam earlier than they do. It's a simple factor of age. I just don't have their stamina, nor is it likely that I ever will, either. It sometimes gets me down that I am the token "old lady" among a bunch of exuberant kids that can beat me, hands down, at just about anything. So what has come as something of a relief is that Jason, my physical therapist, is starting a women's workout class that was supposed to start this past Tuesday, but was cancelled due to our nasty snow/rain/freezing rain/ice storm that hit this week. However, since it starts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday nights, I plan to switch to this lower intensity class come next week and then go to the Saturday noon women's class instead of the 10 a.m. high intensity speed/agility class that I have been going to. This leaves me more time to sleep in and a longer period in the morning to have my newspapers and coffee, a kind of "sacred morning ritual" that is very much a part of my day each and every morning. I am looking forward not only to working with Jason again, who I've missed working with very badly, but I am also looking forward to having people closer to my own age to workout with. I'm also hurting in places that I don't think I should be hurting in, indicating to me that maybe I've been overdoing it a bit, so having a lower intensity workout will be good for my aging body in that it won't push me so hard and yet will still keep me fit and agile. That will be a good thing as I enter my fifties and try to stay as physically fit as possible in my middle years of life.

YOUNGER NEXT YEAR
So I got this book called "Younger Next Year for Women" about how to stay youthful into middle age and beyond. It sounded like a good book, and it's got some wonderful advice, admittedly, but it says that the only way to do this is to exercise six days a week, and by that, they mean going to a gym and doing a full out workout. Fine if you've got the time and are retired, but for us working folks, well, it's all I can do to juggle all the things I do each day. I work full time, have a bit of a commute, then I have stuff going just about every night of the week...OK, so this is a personal choice I've made. I could give up all that stuff and go join a gym and work out six nights a week to the exclusivity of everything else I'm involved in, but I suspect that after a while, I'd become terribly bored with that, especially going at it alone without someone there to kick my butt into doing it. But the fact that I exercise at all I consider to be a good thing, because anyone that knows me knows that I really detest exercise at all. Really. I do. Given the choice, I'd just as soon curl up on the sofa with a good book, or sleep or do anything else but exercise. I've never been an athletic sort to begin with and I just don't like having to do any kind of physical activity if given a choice, but I know that at my age, it's just plain out becoming a necessity if I am to stay healthy into my middle aged years, so I force myself to go and train at Breakaway once or twice a week. It helps to have Jason there, who rehabbed my left knee twice and my right arm once after injuries in the past year and a half, and I really having access to his knowledge when some part of me hurts that ought not to. He can give me exercises to help deal with that issue. He also knows how to make me laugh when I'm having a rough spell and encourages me a lot to keep pushing even when I'm fighting to make it through a high intensity workout with the kids. So that is what helps me to get up off of the sofa and go exercise, period. But six days a week? Maybe when I retire and have more free time! This book is good, though, in that it is teaching me lessons for how to live in an aging body and how to forestall a lot of problems that crop up with aging. If there's anything I do not want to happen, it's to become infirm to the point of having to depend on others. I want to remain strong and independent for as long as I can, and if this book can impart any good advice on how to do that, it was well worth the purchase price.

Snow, rain, slush, mess

Yesterday brought us an ugly mixture of snow, rain, freezing rain and slush, making driving very difficult and slippery. My day started out with a hard fall in my driveway - no damage done, fortunately - and ended with a messy, slushy and slippery drive home from work. Everything was cancelled last night, it seemed, including our Kent Civil War Society meeting. I was grateful not to have to go back out later in the evening as the weather was just too ugly and messy to bother with, so I hunkered down for a nice cozy evening home in my toasty little apartment. Craving some kind of comfort food, I cooked up a can of organic lentil vegetable soup that was among the goodies I got for Christmas from my mom. It was perfect - hearty, filling and healthy - for a cold winter night. I had some nice organic stoneground crackers with dinner that were also part of my "organic goody basket" that I got for Christmas. Who could have asked for a better dinner on a cold, nasty winter night? This is the kind of thing that I like to eat on cold winter nights - good hearty comfort food. I hope it doesn't put too much weight on me, but I've read that this is a natural evolutionary process that is programmed into us - to gain weight during the colder months to both keep us warm and to protect us from what were the lean times for our hunter-gatherer forebears. So I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad about putting on a few pounds during these colder months of the year. I can consider it insulation to keep me warm in this ugly, dreary season. Wanting to consume heavier comfort food is, then, something I should not feel so guilty about because if we listen to our bodies, they tell us what they want and when.

OBAMANIA?
Barack Obama pulled out stunning victories last night in what the media billed as the "Potomac Primaries" (once again, they're at work inventing clever names for things that make for nice sound bytes....). Now he is the clear front runner and ol' Hill is in trouble. Ohio's primary is coming up on March 4th and our state is considered to be a big prize in the primary season because no President makes it to the White House without winning Ohio. Former Senator John Glenn and Governor Ted Strickland have endorsed Hillary, which are big endorsements from such mainstream Dems, but I think that Obama still has a good chance here in Ohio to at least prevail in the more liberal areas like NE Ohio. In the more conservative southern half of the state, Hillary will doubtless win a lot of votes because she does lean more right than Obama. McCain will either tank here or do very well, depending on how well he can turn out the conservative base. There are still a lot of hardcore conservatives, Bible belters, primarily, who won't support McCain because of his maverick record on certain social issues. He also once spurned the Religious Right, although now he's doing his best to cozy up to them. So our primary in March should be a fascinating contest to watch, whether you're Democrat or Republican. It certainly should be something to look forward to. I just hope that the weather holds, because if there is one thing that voters are in this part of the country where we have real winters, it's largely fair weather voters who will stay home even if it rains. Democrats depend on good weather for good turnouts. Republicans don't seem to mind what the weather's doing, they turn out in droves regardless. That's one thing they have over us - devotion to voting regardless of what Mother Nature is dishing out, and that's something that Democrats could do well to learn from their Republican counterparts if they hope to win bigger Congressional majorities and the White House this fall.

Healthy snacking

I've tried this year to change my eating habits for the better, and that includes snacking. It's so easy to fall prey to temptation when I am in our staff room at work. I happen to love Payday candy bars, and now Three Musketeers has a dark chocolate-mint candy bar that looks completely yummy that can also be found in the vending machines in our staff room. It takes a lot of willpower not to just give in and have something really unhealthy, but I'm doing my level best to do just that. What has helped satisfy my sweet tooth is that recently, a co-worker introduced me to SoyJoy bars, and I really love them (I keep a stash of them in my desk drawer at work!). They provide good soy protein and can be found in four really good flavors. I happen to like the berry flavor myself. At first, I had a hard time finding them, but now I find that the new Streetsboro Super Wal-Mart carries them. Yes, I dislike shopping there at all, but since they carry SoyJoy bars, I will probably only go there to get those and nothing else, since I can't really find them anywhere else locally. They make for a perfect snack upon arriving at work, a little early morning healthy protein boost to start my day in addition to my good breakfast of cereal, yougrt and organic free trade coffee. Now, if I could just dissuade my co-workers away from their beloved chips and pop and other unhealthy snacks I see them consuming at their desks. They gripe about their weight and yet don't seem intent on giving up their bad habits. Well, I am making a sincere effort at healthy snacking, so at least I am trying my best to do my part to bring down our health insurance rates, but I'm just one person and not likely to make a big dent in things around work.

Another one of my favorite snacks is a result of having gotten some of these for Christmas, along with a lot of other delicious organic goodies, and that's Kashi Honey Almond Flax granola bars. I also keep a stash of these at work as a mid-day snack for when I feel myself fading a bit. It gives me just enough of a protein boost to make it to lunch time. They're also high in fiber and Omega 3, both of which are good for you, so I am eating snacks that provide healthy nutrients for my now aging body. Given that my workouts are pretty intensive, I feel like I need more protein in my every day diet, and between SoyJoy bars and these granola bars, I feel like I am at least getting some good protein during my workday to give me a little energy to go on between meals. These are also a bit hard to find around the area, but alas, they can also be found at the new Streetsboro Super Wal-Mart, in addition to the Giant Eagle over in Tallmadge, which seems to have a really good organic foods section. Our local Acme used to have a good organic section, but they are under construction as they expand the store due to the closings of other grocery stores in the area. Sadly, as a result of said construction, they got rid of their organic section and don't intend to return it to its former volume. It will return, they have told me, in a greatly reduced size, which makes no sense to me, since I thought that it encouraged people toward healthier eating habits. If there's one thing we do not need right now in this country, it's more obese people chowing down heavily processed foods, but they are cheaper adn Acme largely caters to the college crowd since it's proximate to the KSU campus. Organic foods are more expensive and less desirable for the college aged crowd, but they are the very people who ought to be eating better. Well, maybe the Kent Natural Foods Co-Op, now being the only source of organic foods in Kent, will benefit from being the sole purveyor of healthy foods and will expand accordingly to accomodate a growing demand for organic and natural foods, in the wake of all the tainted foods that have been the subject of so much news of late. One can only hope.

Making music, making peace

Today was an annual tradition in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent called "Music Sunday" wherein the musical talent of the congregation is called upon to provide music as a form of worship. These annual affairs attract a wide variety of talents (and some not-so-talented but well meaning musicians) to perform an entire service of music ranging from the improvisational to classical. It's always entertaining even when the music being performed isn't so good. It's nice to see people being brave enough to put themselves forward and offer some kind of music that comes from their hearts, even if it's not that well done. I've always balked at the idea of public performance, as music has long been a very private pursuit of mine. Our music director is an incredibly talented singer-songwriter who has been performing in and around the Kent area for many long years, and frankly, he's so good that it rather intimidates me at times. Only once so far have I ever performed music for the church, and that was during a service called "This I Believe", which was the culmination of two intense terms of the study of personal theology as a part of our adult religious exploration series. Since music is so much a part of who I am, it was decided that I'd sing a song I wrote several years ago at a music camp in West Virginia that I go to each and every year. Our music director was in the audience and I was thoroughly intimidated putting out something I wrote for the entire congregation to hear. It's one thing when you perform a piece of someone else's music; it's yet another thing to perform your own work. This is a part of you that is being put out there for all to hear, and it's deeply personal. That our music director does this on a regular basis awes me, because it seems like he can write a song for an upcoming service in a mere one week's time and it's always excellent. I struggle sometimes just to write something that at times can take years to craft. Oh, if I pressure myself enough, I can write a song in one week's time, but then I have to go back and do a bit of editing and tweaking before I am actually happy with it. And even then, I'm never fully satisfied that it's good enough. So that is why I've so far never volunteered to perform at Music Sunday. I prefer to see other people submit themselves to the pressure and I can sit back and enjoy the spectacle of it all.

During the first service, I went, as I usually do, to the Adult Religious Exploration class. Today and last week, we worked on the next Study/Action issue put forth by the Commission on Social Witness, the social justice arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Study/Action issues are worked on by congregations around the nation, then brought to our annual General Assembly, where further work is done on them until a resolution is crafted, then voted on. In years past, this process has taken two years, but there was a recent vote to extend that to four years as a way to encourage more congregations to participate in this process. The current Study/Action issue is on Peacemaking, and our congregation has the honor to have been chosen as one of the churches to lead this issue. We are known as an activist congregation, even as small as we are compared to some congregations around the nation. So last week, we looked at some of the proposed categories in the realm of Peacemaking and a description of what those categories involved and encompassed, and today we crafted our congregation's response to them that will be taken to this year's General Assembly in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. What they will do with our responses is anybody's guess, but I think that we came up with some very good answers to what they were seeking from congregations. The thing that concerns me is the fact that this process was changed to four years in order to encourage more congregations to get involved, and Study/Action issues now need at least 25% participation from churches nationwide in order to be viable and to make it to the final vote at the end of four years. If this does not happen, the issue is dead. While this topic is rather broad and occasionally confusing, as a result of spending the past two Sundays discussing this with our District Leader for Denominational Affairs leading these discussions, I have a much greater handle on what the Commission on Social Witness is trying to say by this Study/Action issue. It's tremendously important for this thing to go the distance and to end up on a final vote at GA in 2010. If it doesn't make it, I, for one, will be terribly disappointed. As I am sure others who worked on this will be as well.

No news is good news?

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown...oh, wait, wrong city. Well, for those of you waiting with baited breath to find out the latest goings on here in the Tree City.....well, quite frankly, there isn't a whole lot to report, other than the fact that the City Council seat left vacant by the death of Bill Schultz was filled by a high school classmate of older sister Polly, a prominent black activist named Robin Turner. I think that he will do very well in this position and it must have been a tough choice, as there were 15 highly qualified applicants for the job, any of whom would have been an excellent choice. So Council now finds itself with four new members, which can only be a good thing to have so much new blood to add to the mix. It makes me hopeful that Kent will finally move forward and that the downtown revitalization program will progress in a good way and not fall victim to chain stores that send their profits out of town. I want to see locally owned businesses here that keep the money in our community, not being send to some out-of-town corporate headquarters half a continent away. Other than that, the only news of note is that there was a break-in and robbery on this street in the wee hours of yesterday morning (I didn't even know about it until brother John called me this morning to mention that it was in the paper, and he wondered if my house was involved). The robbers, according to the newspaper article, demanded cell phones and money, leading me to believe that it was drug involved somehow. I wouldn't be surprised, quite frankly. Anyway, police have now said that they will beef up patrols on this street, which is something that they should have been doing all along, if you want my opinion, given how many college rentals are on this street and how many rowdy and noisy parties take place any given night of the week that result in a lot of trash ending up on front and back yards.

HILLARY, THE UNDERDOG?
Well, it seems that Hillary is now trying to campaign as the underdog in the Democratic race for the nomination. She's also trying to pin Obama with the label of being the "establishment" candidate. As if! She's had the long time backing of the mainstream Democratic establishment, so I consider this criticism of Obama to be totally hypocritical. Can you say, pot calling the kettle black? She's already had to loan her campaign $5 million to keep pace with Obama's phenomenal ability to raise money after Super Tuesday. Obama won the most states but she won the big ones like New York and California and it depends on which source you consult, but either she has the most delegates or Obama does, because I haven't been able to find an accurate delegate count anywhere. Every news source seems to have a different count, which perplexes the heck out of me. It's hard to figure out who's actually ahead in this race. But by positioning herself as an underdog, Hillary's trying desperately to pull out some more wins because let's face it, everybody knows that Americans love underdogs. After all, that's about the only explanation that I can figure out as to why McCain seems to have become the default GOP nominee for President. It wasn't long ago that his campaign was all but finished and out of money. But somehow, it came roaring back to life and he's now pretty much got the nomination sewn up. Mathematically speaking, it won't even be possible for anybody to catch up now to McCain's numbers. But Hillary and Obama seem to be running neck and neck, and what concerns me about that is that it seems to indicate disunity within the ranks of the Democratic Party. Some seem more to be favoring the more conservative Hillary, while others are wowed by Obama's soaring speeches, relative youth, 100 watt smile and quasi-progressive message of hope. He's not a true progressive in the model of, say, a Paul Wellstone or a Dennis Kucinich, but he's more progressive on some issues than Hillary. Neither is progressive enough on health care for my druthers, but then, most folks fear a single payer, not-for-profit system as being too socialistic.

But then, what are Social Security and other social safety net programs but basic socialism? Why do people fear the idea of the government doing for people what they cannot do themselves? Some say, well, let people pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, but some folks lack the boots to pull themselves up on. This is where government can - and should - help. But people seem so darn afraid of the idea, yet they forget that social safety net programs have allowed a lot of people to survive who otherwise might not have. I'm a beneficiary of social safety net programs. My father's GI Bill and Social Security survivor's benefits helped to keep our family afloat after his death. It helped to pay my way through college, and this is why, after so many years, I still wear my college class ring, to remind myself of my good fortune in being able to get an education via social safety net programs. I consider this to be my father's legacy to me and my family, for which I will always be grateful. So people forget that some of us are useful, tax paying citizens with good jobs who received our educations basically at government expense, who are now paying our taxes and giving back to the same government that paid our ways through school. I am not a burden on society and I have Uncle Sam to thank for that. I just wish people would grasp the significance of this and not be so critical of socalism. It can, when done right, be a very beneficial thing to society. So we'll see where the chips fall when it comes to socialized medicine. It may never happen or it might, if enough people demand it, but I'm not optimistic that Big Pharma, Big Medicine and Big Insurance will step aside and let the government run things. After all, they have too much to lose by giving up their big profit making machines, their lobbyists and their multi-million dollar CEO's. But then, all I can do is to hope. And that is what this campaign year is all about.

Ledger died of prescription drug overdose

The toxicology reports have come back regarding the cause of death of actor Heath Ledger, and as it turns out, he died of an "accidental overdose" of a number of prescription drugs, among them Valium, OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Restoril and Unisom. Now the question begs, why? These drugs were prescribed by doctors both in England and the US, and this leaves me to wonder if Ledger told his doctors what he had been prescribed and in what amounts. I know that each and every time I go to my doctor, they ask me what, if anything, I am on, even if I am on a medication that my doctor prescribed. For all they know, I could have gone to another doctor for another problem and gotten prescribed some other medication by them. After all, it is incumbent on the patient to know what they are taking and in what amounts and to communicate that to their doctors so that you don't get prescribed something that will interact with something else that you are on. It is also incumbent on the patient to ask questions about their meds to both their doctor and their pharmacist and to read the patient pamphlets that come with each prescription. Sure, this puts a heck of a burden on the patient to be informed, but they should be. Obviously, these medications that Ledger took, when taken together, had a fatal consequence and resulted in his very sad and untimely death.

I don't know whether he simply didn't take the responsibility of learning what to take, when to take it and in what amounts, or whether he was so wound up from his recent movie roles that he decided to try to take as much medicine as possible in order to try to get some badly needed sleep. After all, he'd just jetted in from England where he was working on a film and was probably jet lagged and exhausted and just wanted to get some rest before going on to Vancouver to work on the next segment of filming, and probably thought that taking a whole lot of pain killers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleep aids would let him relax enough to get some rest. I don't know, and I don't suppose we'll ever know what happened and why, but it's just so sad and tragic that such a talented young man died so young basically from "accidental" abuse of prescription drugs. Whenever you are on any medication, you need to know what drug interacts with what and communicate as much as you can to your doctor about your concerns, especially if you are taking multiple medications for different conditions. It's one thing to die of an abuse of cocaine or crack or heroin or some other illegal drug; it's yet another thing to die from accidentally mixing prescriptions. I just hope that Ledger's untimely death provides a kick in the pants and a serious wake up call about the dangers of accidentally mixing prescription drugs.

An occasionally sad, yet fascinating tale

In 2006, a series called "African American Lives" premiered on PBS, which followed the ancestries of some famous black Americans like Oprah Winfrey, Qunicy Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, T.D. Jakes and others. Not only did it trace their ancestry here in America, but it also used their DNA to determine where in Africa their ancestors came from. It was completely fascinating and moving to find out where some of these people's ancestors had been, what they had accomplished and where in Africa they supposedly might have come from. For those folks, whose genealogical information can be so hard to trace due to slavery, it was a truly moving and fascinating experience even for me, a white woman who knows something of her family stories. Now there is a second "African American Lives" series that takes other famous black Americans like Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Chris Rock, Tina Turner and others through their genealogical stories. Last night, we found out that Don Cheadle's ancestors were held as slaves of the Chickasaw Nation and were not freed upon emancipation. We also found out that Chris Rock had a fascinating former slave ancestor, Julius Caesar Tingman, who was not only a black Civil War soldier, but became a state legislator in South Carolina for two terms until the end of Reconstruction in 1877, at which time he was forced to leave his legislative post to become a sharecropper. What a fascinating story that was, and what a roller coaster of a life this man led. Born into slavery, fought for his people's freedom, rose to amazing heights and then was forced into being almost no better than he was under slavery. But he persevered and left an amazing legacy for his family. I think that was perhaps the most fascinating story of the entire night, and I am greatly looking forward to next week's program to find out more about these people and the lives of their ancestors.

After all, it is often said that you can't know where you're going until you know where you've been, and I believe that with all of my heart and my soul. I think quite sincerely that I am who I am because of those who came before me and what they did. Their blood runs through mine, and I firmly believe that there is genetic memory encoded in it of who they were and what kinds of lives they lived. Chris Rock said that all he ever wanted to be as a child was President of the United States. Is that genetic memory from Julius Caesar Tingman's life as a state legislator? I truly believe that this is the case. I think that I love books and reading because of some of my Irish ancestors coming here as illiterate peasants and aspiring for their children and grandchildren to have a good education and to be literate. I think that this comes down partly as encoded genetic memory and partly from the stress our family has always put on education and reading. My love of music also comes, I believe, from the Irish and Welsh ancestors of mine who were no doubt musical themselves, but also because I was raised in a home surrounded by music, which comes to us from our mom, and from her parents who passed that along to her and my aunts and uncles. So I truly think that we are who we are because of our ancestors. That much seemed to be confirmed by watching this excellent series on PBS.

The results are in!

Super Tuesday is over, and the results are.....inconclusive, at least on the Democratic side. Obama won more states, but Clinton won more delegates because she won the big states like New York and California. Obama primarily won states where there were caucuses and seems to have made some gains among whites, but women by and large voted for Clinton. Sure, as a woman I'd love to see a woman break the ultimate glass ceiling and win the Presidency, but I don't want to see a Clinton restoration. I think we need something new, so I'm currently supporting Obama even though critics say he lacks experience. Well, history has proven that experience is not a prerequisite for becoming President. Lincoln had served an indistinguished term in the House of Representatives before he became President, and served during this country's most turbulent period, and did so brilliantly. So I don't buy the "experience" argument one bit. And anyway, presidential candidates can make as many promises as they like, but they can't do a darn thing without being able to work with Congress, so promises that candidates make are mostly empty because without being able to work with legislators, it's all a bunch of bunk anyway. A president can't deliver on promises made all by him or herself, as anybody with any amount of brains knows. So candidates can make their stump speeches and present all kinds of attractive sound bytes, but in the end, it's just words. Call me a cynic, but I've heard these kinds of words and promises made before and I just don't buy that anybody can deliver the goods when push comes to shove.

So the results of who won what are as follows: Obama won Connecticut, Alabama, Georgia, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota and Utah to Clinton's wins in California, New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, Arkansas, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Clinton has 590 pledged delegates to Obama's 603, but Clinton has 193 super-delegates to Obama's 106. Clinton's total delegate count is 783 to Obama's 709, so it's a virtual neck-and-neck race between those two, meaning that Ohio is really going to come into play come March 4th because it's considered to be a big prize in the presidential election. Governor Strickland has endorsed Clinton and she's got a comfortable lead in this state, but Obama is slowly making inroads and needs to court the college aged and young voters if he's got any chance of overcoming Clinton's main base of low-educated blue collar workers. Obama's primary appeal is among higher income and better educated people and he hasn't been able to make the inroads among the blue collar crowd that Clinton has been able to make, and let's face it, these folks have been the traditional base of the Democratic Party.

So anything goes in this election, and all the big prizes are still up for grabs. I just hope that Obama can pull out some big wins in the upcoming primaries, because the only thing that a Clinton nomination will succeed in doing is to push independent voters over to the McCain banner, and let's face it, they comprise a healthy chunk of the electorate these days. There is such utter hatred of Hillary and anything Clinton among some voters, even Democrats, that they will vote for McCain before they vote for Hillary. And that's the one thing we need to avoid, electing McCain by default because of anti-Clinton sentiment. And the only hope we have of avoiding that is to get out the young voters and get them out of their beer soaked parties, off the couches, off their iPods and into polling places. They have everything to lose by a McCain victory, and everything to gain by an Obama victory. I just hope that they realize the significance of this election, which is being called the most important presidential election since 1968. And that's saying a lot.

It's Super-Duper Tuesday!

Today is what some media analysts are calling "Tsunami Tuesday", where 22 states are either caucusing or casting primary votes for Democratic and Republican candidates. It's entirely possible that by day's end, a nominee for the Republican party will have been decided, but for the Democrats, the outlook is less certain. Both Hillary and Obama could come away with significant delegate counts, but the nomination will more than likely not be decided until later. I regard this as a good thing because it means that states that are holding later primaries like Ohio are still going to have a say in who is the eventual Democratic nominee for President. I was hoping that today wasn't going to decide outright who would win and that later states primaries would not be rendered moot. Still, it should prove interesting to see what happens by day's end and who comes out ahead in delegate counts, Hillary or Obama. The Clintons pretty much have the backing of the Democratic Party establishment and the Democratic Leadership Council, but Obama's gains in recent days have been impressive. His recent overwhelming victory in South Carolina should give him a big bounce and plenty of momentum going into today. Add to that impressive endorsements from Sen. Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey and Garrison Keillor and you can see that Obama's got a lot going for him into today. I look forward to the results coming in later tonight when polling places close. I just hope that a lot of new and younger voters turn out and propel this election season forward. I think that the youth vote is crucial to Democrats having a chance to take back the White House. If they get lazy and stay home, then in all likelihood, we may get stuck with a President McCain, and I'd consider leaving the country if it means another four years of Bush policies. I can barely afford to get by now, with high energy prices, ridiculous medical bills and food costs soaring. I can't imagine another President continuing more of the same crap we've been dealing with for the past seven years. Hell, I'll go where the Euro is strong and I have a snowball's chance of retiring in comfort if it comes to it. I have family in Europe, after all. The temptation is strong to pick up and move there if the Republicans regain the White House. I can't afford to live in a country that dismisses its middle class and continues to push us lower down the economic ladder.

The "Obama is a Muslim" rumor

So I got this e-mail from a friend yesterday that claimed that there was concrete evidence that Obama was, in point of fact, a devout Muslim, and it can be found on Snopes.com! The text of the e-mail is as follows:

Who is Barack Obama?

If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts...this is very scarey to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States ...better heed this and pray about it and share it. We checked this out on "snopes.com". It is factual. Check for yourself. Who is Barack Obama? Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu , Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel , Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from Wichita , Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii . When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya . His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia . Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta . He also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school." Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta . Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States , Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran. Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!! Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?...... NOT ME!!!

The thing is, if you go to Snopes.com and scroll down past this screed, you will find that Snopes uses this as a prelude to completely debunk everything in this particular rumor. Why people still send this around is simply beyond me. But I guess it stems from Republican fear of losing the White House to either Hillary or Obama, and the fact that Obama's middle name is the same as the surname of one of Bush's "evildoers", Saddam Hussein, is quite the fodder for painting him as a radical Muslim hiding behind his politically expedient claims of Christian faith. If I were a Muslim, I'd be insulted to think that there are people who think that everyone of this faith tradition is a terrorist in disguise waiting to blow up the US, but then, this is the result of seven years of living in an atmosphere of fear that has been put forth by the Bush administration, who seems to take unusual delight in playing Chicken Little by constantly claiming that the sky is falling. Well, it seems that people have tired of this message and are flocking to Obama's message of hope, even though he hasn't really put forth any concrete proposals on which we can all rally around. Still, you have to hand it to him that he's quite the eloquent speaker and continues to rack up impressive endorsements, the latest from Garrison Keillor, who I admire greatly.

Well, perhaps this shows the desperate tactics to which the right is forced to stoop. They are so afraid of losing the White House owing to the rampant unpopularity of Bush and the liability to the party that he has become, that they feel impelled to find any kind of dirt on the Democratic candidates that they can, even if it's outright false. Of course, their vitriolic hatred of Hillary is enough to where they don't really have to create rumors about her. If she becomes the Democratic nominee, it is said that independents will flock to McCain's banner in droves in order to see her defeated. However, if Obama becomes the nominee, he will have the power to attract those independents who are straddling the fence between him and McCain. Frankly, I'd like to see anything but a McCain presidency, as he strikes me as being way too loose a cannon who speaks of war in the Middle East for the next 100 years, something we most certainly cannot afford to do. Hell, I'd take Romney over McCain if it came to it, but my support is behind Obama because I know what a benefit to the Republicans a Clinton nomination would become, and I'd rather not have a Presidency that looks to the past in a nostalgic restoration of the Clinton years of the 90's, which, if you look at it closely, wasn't all that great from the standpoint of history. About the only good thing that can be said of those years was that the economy was booming, but then it all fell in when the dot-com bust hit. Well, now the housing bubble has burst and we are once again mired in recession and a national malaise over the direction that the country has gone in the last seven years. We need hope like we have traveled through a long desert and have found an oasis to quench our national thirst. And frankly, the only person I hear speaking of that is Obama. Maybe that's what's making the right so nervous that they feel the need to constantly try to label him a closet Muslim. He may well become our next President, depending on what happens tomorrow during "Tsunami Tuesday". Stay tuned.......

Even physical therapists get the blues

The other night after working out, I was cooling off after breaking a good hard sweat, and I had gone to change my clothes out of my sweaty workout stuff. I came back out of the restroom and most of the people had already left, and the only people left were myself, Jason (my physical therapist/fitness trainer) and some guy who, from the sound of it, is apparently a colleague of his, or at least someone who works in the chiropractic office next to the physical therapy room. So I continued to drink more of my water in order to cool down and I also wanted to dry off a bit before walking out to my car on a cold winter night while still damp from sweat. I listened to the conversation between Jason and this other guy and it rapidly became apparent that they were expressing some unhappiness about their jobs. It seemed their main complaints were inattentive doctors, long waiting periods for patients, due often to overscheduling, ridiculous charges for services rendered, patients not getting enough time with their doctors and what they perceived was an overall lack of quality patient care. It rather startled me to hear all of this, but by the same token, it didn't surprise me one bit, given the health care crisis in this country.

I was tempted to butt in and ask their views on the whole issue of health care, but I listened attentively to two health care professionals expressing concern over their chosen career field and where it's headed. It was dismaying hearing their concerns, because I have to admit that there were times when I was one of Jason's physical therapy patients that I felt as if Jason was forced to be overscheduled and having to treat too many patients at the same time, leaving me often to my own devices to figure out what to do next. However, when you're in PT long enough, after a while you know what to do and you don't need some physical therapist standing there telling you what to do and how to do it. But there are times when you're expecting to do one thing and they tell you to do something else entirely unexpected, so it was times like those that I felt a bit frustrated by what I perceived to be a problem of the therapist being forced to divide his attention too many ways. Jason strikes me as someone who really cares about his patients and wants the best care for them possible, and I never knew that he experienced any frustration over his job until now. It makes me wonder if this is part and parcel of why he wants to leave his job to become a school teacher when the field of physical therapy is one that is so very secure and sure to grow as we Baby Boomers age and suffer more injuries. I hate the idea of someone who is so good at his chosen field eventually leaving to do something else, but Jason has to follow his heart and do what he feels is best for him and for his growing family (four kids!).