Wordless Wednesday ..... kind of

Normally Wordless Wednesday consists of a single photo that speaks to me. Usually it is one that I have taken and it means something. But today I wanted to share voices .... thousands of them. Voices that speak of pride and strength and passion!

" .... the land of the free and the home of the brave."

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=0&id=240031&cmpid=embed-share-video

Too close for comfort .... another sad day

http://ronsaari.com/stockImages/bosto

As each horrific event in American history unfolds I think to myself .... this has to be the worst. This has to be the one that will harden me, this has to be the one to desensitize me. But here I am again. Shocked and silenced and not knowing what I should be feeling or how I should be reacting.

It was just a normal day .... again the weather was beautiful (that was what I remember most about 9/11 - it was a beautiful day).

www.boston.com/marathon/course

Patriots' Day in Boston is kind of a big deal. It commemorates the beginning of our battle toward democracy - toward freedom from tyranny- toward both independence and camaraderie. It is the day of the Boston Marathon where people climb Heartbreak Hill and come to end of a grueling day to the smiles and embraces of those who love and support them.

For me it was a much needed break from the Monday morning commute. An extra day to spend with my son and my husband (today is my wedding anniversary). School vacation had started, I was home from work, the six-year-old had friends over, and we were just all hanging out in the yard playing, and planting and working on the house.

We all came in when it started getting a little chilly and I got a robo-call from the university I work at in Boston saying that there was very little information about the two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I was once again stunned and silenced. Once again I went to the TV to watch the footage and wait for some news that would somehow make it ok. I went to Facebook to check on friends who live and work in the city. And waited for some news that would make it ok.

The rumors started running wild .... from the number of people injured or dead to the suspects they may or may not have in custody ... to the families of the Newtown victims at the finish line (they are apparently safe thank goodness) to the third explosion at the JFK Library. Then the visuals ..... SWAT teams driving through the streets ..... to ATF agents holding a suspect at Brigham & Women's Hospital ..... to the arrest on the Boston Common .... to the stains on the street. And don't even get me started on the photos of the people being rushed to the hospital.

At some level all of these stories make you feel heartache as in "this is my country and I don't understand why someone would do this." But this time it is my home. The streets I walk on a beautiful afternoon on my lunch break. The places I take my kids to learn about history. The places my grandmother took me. And for me it will be a long time before I think of these streets as mine again.

There were two things in particular about this event that really made me pause, unable to know how to feel.

The first thing were these two photos - one taken at the time of the first explosion and one was taken at the time of the second explosion:



These people were finishing their race. These were not the star athletes of the day. I heard several times that the explosion was set at such a time as to have the most people finishing the race. The middle of the pack sort of speak - the average Joe - the everyday person.



These people were still running the marathon. They had not gotten to the location of the first explosion and probably had no idea what was going on. They were just making it through their race .... proud, sore, tired, exalted .... not knowing that their lives (even if they were not injured) would be changed forever.

It was just a normal day.

The other thing was the realization that one of the spectators who died was an 8-year-old boy. Sitting in the bleachers on a street I have walked down holding the hand of my own child. The senseless death of a child just doesn't ever get any easier and just doesn't ever make any sense to me.

But again .... as we look for a way to accept what we are watching, as we look for some sign that will make it less awful we find it. The heroes. The people who rush in when others rush out. The bystanders who ripped off their shirts to save the leg or the life of a complete stranger. The police and fire personnel and hospital workers who dropped whatever else they were doing this afternoon to go into a city people were fleeing to get the job done. Again for that briefest of moments we are aware of the worst horror that human nature can offer and at the same time the greatest sacrifice and compassion and unity that human nature has to offer. It is this thought .... of unwavering caring and sacrifice that I will bring to bed with me.

I wonder what kind of point was the person who placed these bombs at this location on this day trying to make? What could these people possibly have done to become victims of this kind of rage? The purpose of terrorism (foreign or domestic) is to instill terror. Did these people suffer just for that? Because someone thinks that this kind of event will stop people from living their lives? Do people not learn from history ..... none of the other terrorist events on American soil have ever stopped us from living our lives (at least not for long).

So tomorrow I am planning to make my commute to work. To be there for my students who need a shoulder or someone to yell at. As part of school vacation I still plan to bring my son into the city that I love to experience the beauty and the history and the energy .... because Boston is beautiful and vibrant and it always will be. If the patriots could survive to build a country .... we will survive this.

But I have to admit .... this one was a little too close to home!

"On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats—we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens." —President Obama

Update: above I mentioned that in tragedy we find heros. this is amazing to me .... people opening their homes to complete strangers .... offering rides or showers or just a place to catch their breath. The best that humanity has to offer right here! Boston Marathon Room Listing: http://mashable.com/2013/04/15/boston-marathon-room-offers/

Medical Monday: Zombie Cells ..... Hmmmmm

https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/zombie-cells/

ZOMBIE CELL, first stage -- only moderately heated, the cell is now pure silica and needed a gold coating for a scanning electron microscope to image it.

I am not at all going to pretend I know what any of this means. I have read the article several times and all I can come up with is that scientists have figured out how to take a cell - kill it and heat to get rid of all the protein and they get a shell that can survive almost anything. They can then use this shell as a base for other nanotechnologies (but don't take my word for it, I could be completely wrong).

 

So why am I writing a blog about something I am not even sure I understand .... because it is creepy and kind of scary. And of course the word "zombie" piqued my interest (have I told you I am obsessed with The Walking Dead).

 

But it led me to ask the question, what is it for and when does it stop? The article in the Huffington Post indicated that these cells can be used for things like fuel cells or sensors that we now build from metal and "old-fashioned" technologies. It also stated that these dead cells can perform in a lot of the tests better than the cells did when they were alive. Great you think, ok let me put out some other observations.

 

My curiosity led me to start thinking about stem cell research. According to the National Institute of Health stem cells are unspecific cells that can be used as repair cells because they can become specific and in many cases reproduce without limit - even after extensive periods of inactivity.

 

"Once a stem cell line is established from a cell in the body, it is essentially immortal, no matter how it was derived. That is, the researcher using the line will not have to go through the rigorous procedure necessary to isolate stem cells again. Once established, a cell line can be grown in the laboratory indefinitely and cells may be frozen for storage or distribution to other researchers."

 

Stem cells can be helpful for patients that deal with some very debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. At first you want to say fabulous let's get more of that kind of research - let's save lives. It is really hard for me as someone with a chronic disease to say what a lot of people don't want to hear, maybe these diseases are just part of the natural selection process - should we be playing God? Or is it part of the natural selection process that we as a species are smart enough to be able to come up with the technologies to cure anything that ails us?

 

Then I started thinking about cloning - I was stuck by the fact that the first cloned animal was a tadpole in 1952. I was also kind of horrified that the information stated that hundreds of cloned animals are in existence today, and that 2001 they successfully used harvested eggs to clone skin cells (using the eggs as one would a stem cell - they removed the eggs DNA and then added the skin cell DNA - it was only minimally successful).

 

The other thing that troubled me about cloning was the statement "cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders."

 

So all of this information overloaded my brain ... but I decided to keep looking and I came across the issue of Genetically Modified Foods. This began as a political query after information on a bill President Obama signed into law last week: the so-called Monsanto Protection Act came to my attention. But what is genetically modified food and genetically engineered seed? These are organisms whose DNA has been altered to carry certain characteristics or traits - being insect resistant or having certain nutrients or being resistant to viruses that can wipe out a crop or genetically engineered salmon that grow faster. According to one article they are making bananas that can carry vaccines for things like hepatitis B.

 

I took all this information in and then went back to the word that started all this medical overwhelmingness .... zombie. I would like to state for the record I do not really think that the zombie apocalypse is in our foreseeable future. Having said that .... after my reading for this blog I may start hoarding water and putting together the items suggested by the Zombie Research Society (yes you read that correctly).

 

So my questions remain ... should we be doing all these things and what are the consequences of our actions? Will we create a race of humans resistant to death? Will we create food that we eat from a petri dish? And what are the ethical implications - do we begin cloning people based on only the traits we think are "fashionable" at the time? And what impact does this ability to stave off death as long as possible have on the concept of natural evolution? This is no longer the stuff of science fiction - it is the stuff of science. When will we know when enough is enough - or do we need a natural reset to let us know?

 

I will end as I started (and as I have stated before) - I do not pretend to completely understand all the things mentioned in this blog. I do not claim to be educated enough about the subject to know all the pros and cons or even enough to be able to make a logical argument about whether or not I am for or against some of these technologies. But I just wanted to pose the questions ... and hope that there is someone out there that can answer them before it is too late.

Livin' the Dream

Tomorrow is Easter for the majority of the Christian community and for that I say Happy Easter. I am Greek Orthodox and go by a different calender so this year Easter is not until May 5th.

 



http://www.fullhdwpp.com/holidays/easter/kissing-bunnies

Growing up I always had two Easters. Tomorrow is what my Yia-Yia would call "American Easter" (which I never understood since it is celebrated all over the world). American Easter consisted of brightly colored eggs and the Easter Bunny. I have continued that tradition. Once this blog is done we will be coloring eggs and preparing for the big basket that will make the six-year-old smile come morning.

 

Greek Easter was all about the resurrection of Christ (I will write a blog about those traditions a little later).

 

But my blog today is about livin' the American dream. Sometimes you lose sight of what that dream is all about. But today is one of those days where it is apparent. We are by no stretch of the imagination wealthy. Every month it is a guessing game as to whether or not all the bills will get paid and it is a balancing act of what we can do ... and what we can do without. Having said that we are fortunate.

 

First - it is a beautiful spring day here! And after what seemed like an endless winter this would have been enough to make me smile - but it got better!

 

Got up this morning and felt good (another thing that is always a guessing game). Went and did a little shopping for the arrival of the Easter bunny. Came home and started cleaning out all the winter from the front yard. Cleaned out the strawberry patch, put up the new bird feeder, cleaned out the leaves from under the porch.

 

My husband was cleaning up the back yard. Getting ready for the upcoming house repairs (our house is over 100 years old and was "repaired" by someone who should not have been allowed to fix things so there are always repairs). Our house is "that house" on the street. The goal for the spring is to get siding done and some new windows so our house will be all one color (now it is three - the original color, primer and some unprimed shingles). But we have big plans for a lovely English cottage in the middle of the street.

 

The six-year-old was in the side yard with his scooter and his dog. Then we went for a walk to the park with the dog. Now back at home - the boys are playing on the computer, I am writing a blog and then we will color eggs.

 

This is livin' the dream! Not having the biggest house, not having the newest phone or the most luxurious car. It is about being happy with what you have and enjoying a beautiful day.

 

So happy spring everyone - live your dream .... whatever that may be.

UPDATE:
This year we decided to use the Wilton technique for coloring eggs. Not bad!

 

Wordless Wednesday

What do you think it is?

Literature Tuesday ..... The Rise of the Governor & Lord of the Flies

I am back! It has been a long few months. The holidays and the winter cold I got after the holidays really took a lot out of me. As much as I wanted to write a blog I had neither the time, energy or ambition to do so. I actually just deleted all the posts I had started and failed to finish (since most of them were no longer relevant).

But I am back! I feel the spring coming on - we just set our clocks ahead and it is now still light on my way home from work. The winter blues are fading and everyday I feel a little more energetic. So lets be hopeful and see if I can keep up the momentum and begin to blog more regularly.

So ....... literature (one of my favorite subjects).

What seems like a very long time ago I wrote a blog entitled: What is literature? The purpose of that blog was to just make a statement about the fact that what is junk to one reader (dare I say - 50 Shades of Grey) others think is fabulous.

For my recent birthday my 6-year-old picked out a Walking Dead gift basket .... it included action figures, a tee-shirt, a hand-made birthday card with a picture of Rick Grimes on it and a book. The book is "The Rise of the Governor" by Robert Kirkman. It is not a great piece of literature .... it will not go down in the annals of Tennessee Williams or Kerouac or Steinbeck but it kept me enthralled. I am of course a HUGE fan of the Walking Dead (I think I may have mentioned that a time or two). And the book is a prequel. I am not going to go into what the book is about (I have some Dead fan friends and they have not read it yet) but I will tell you the end stunned me. I find it astounding that in a genre where I have read some of the comics and watched every episode of the television show I was still completely surprised by the unexpected ending of this book. It was so good that I read it in 24 hours, went to the store, purchased the next book "The Road to Woodbury" and finished that in 24 hours (just for disclosure - the Rise of the Governor was better - but both were good).

What makes "The Walking Dead" like crack .... the story. I can't stress enough that neither the comic, nor the show, nor the books, nor the "Talking Dead" (the talk show about the Walking Dead) are about zombies. All of them are about the people and about the human capacity to accept horror and stress and tragedy. I like to compare it to "Lord of the Flies."

Both stories are about what happens to humans when there are no rules. When there is no authority. When there is no governance or structure or hope. Sure, one was written in the 1950s and was about prepubescent boys and one is about the end of the world as we know it because of a zombie apocalypse. But in the end the stories are about power and evil and the ability of good and hope and innocence to overcome.

The Walking Dead it is about how good people lose their sense of self through loss. The hero of our story Rick Grimes goes from a sheriff who would help anyone, anywhere, anytime to someone who won't even help a lone hitchhiker trying desperately to survive (which he doesn't). It is the loss of family and friends that creates a cold hard character who only looks out for himself and his immediate family. It is a lot more complex and deep than that - but this is a simple blog and not a place where I can detail three seasons of a television show (but for some fun take a look at my page Lessons I Learned from the Walking Dead). Rick is still our hero - but certainly not the man he had been. If you follow the Lord of the Flies connection, Rick would be a combination of Ralph and Simon (to the point that Rick hallucinates as well - haunted by his dead wife and best friend).

Now fans of the show know that The Governor is the anti-hero. He is the evil of humanity all wrapped up in one character. Power hungry, violent for violence sake ... a narcissistic, egocentric, sociopath. The book chronicles how he became that way. How a regular guy in real life became evil in the face of the unthinkable. It is the story of anyone of us - we could all become The Governor in the end. If this were the Lord of the Flies, The Governor would be Jack Merridew. And while the television show seems to be about how Rick comes back from the abyss to rejoin humanity I anticipate that good will win and the character of The Governor will not see the light of season 4 (this is not a spoiler - just my opinion).

So while this is not a summary of the "The Rise of the Governor" it is a recommendation. If you would like things a little gory and a little horrific it is worth the price of admission. If you are already a Dead fan it is a must! I am looking forward to more of these novels coming out because I have to admit, as much as I like the story I am not a big comic book fan. But I suggest you read it after you look in the mirror - because The Governor, he really could be any of us.

 

 

 

 

On another note .... as I was looking for photos for this blog on AMC.com I saw a comment that asks the question: "Do you think Rick is still in the coma and this is all a dream?" Interesting question. Dead fans feel free to leave your thoughts on this one!

 

Thoughtful Thursday ... what every child should see

I have come across two things recently that I feel strongly every middle-class American child should see.

The PBS Frontline Documentary that tries to answer: What Does Poverty Mean to Children? and a photo essay entitled: When a Kid's Bedroom Isn't a Room.

I saw the documentary right before Thanksgiving and I sat on my comfy couch - with my big television and my laptop and everything else that I see every single day and the guilt washed over me and I just cried. I went on Facebook and I vented but that doesn't seem enough.

I worked in a shelter for battered women and children for a number of years. I remember they came to the shelter with the clothes on their backs and maybe a backpack. People asked me over and over how I could work in such a depressing environment. The answer always was that there was joy in that house. A sense of hope and a sense of unity that I have yet to find anywhere else. Do not get me wrong - it was stressful and it was frustrating and it was hard. The hardest part for me was leaving my job at the door of the shelter when I went home. But I thought that was my calling - to help others as others had helped me. But I got burnt out ... always with the system, never with the women.

I think this was a good experience for my older son because he would come to the shelter with me and help sort through donations. He would come with me to events and things - he got to see children who were happy with what they had  - and they did not have much.

Now I teach a class on social change to college students. I try to teach them that there is a connection between everything in the world (specifically for this course there is a connection between the government (public) sector, the business (private) sector and society (nonprofit) sector). I try to teach business students about corporate social responsibility - about giving back for all that they receive.

I try to teach social entrepreneurship - let students know that making a difference and making a profit do not need to be mutually exclusive. So maybe this is my way to give back ... I don't know.

But what I can do is make sure that when my children ask for new phones and iPods and video games and action figures they understand that there are children who don't have toys. When the six-year-old complains that there is not enough food he likes in the house I can remind him that there are children who have no food. When they get frustrated that we don't have the money to do all that we want to do or get them all that we want to get them I can remind them of the 10-year-old girl in the documentary collecting cans so her family can have money for food - while they are living in one motel room with no refrigerator.

The world we live in is so insane! The distribution of wealth sometimes makes no sense to me. We work and work really hard to succeed in our own version of the American dream - and then realize that we are really one tragedy away of raising our children in a shelter. It is scary. And what we really want to do is hide from it - because in it we see ourselves.

So pay it forward - one good deed at a time - small bites.

• Teach the lesson at home that you can't judge a book by its cover.
• Teach the lesson at home that being grateful fills you more than material things.
• Teach the lesson at home that bringing a smile to a stranger's face counts.
• Teach the lesson at home that living a comfortable life as opposed to an affluent life is not a failure.
• Teach the lesson at home that there is always someone who has it worse than we do.

http://goodypalmer.tumblr.com/post/16638109651/source

It is only when we start looking out for each other and stop looking out for number one that this world will be a better place for all children to live in. Maybe that sounds socialist - but that isn't exactly what I am trying to say. If you work hard you should do well - and you should be proud of doing well. But do not forget that there is someone out there working equally as hard - who may not have had the privileges or opportunities you had, but never-the-less needs to feed their family. Maybe they clean your office, or pick up your trash or wake up at 4:00 am so you can get coffee on your way to work. Those families should not be valued any less than the people who sit in a corner office making the decisions that will impact the lives of people they will never meet.