Orient Lodge

Existential Politics

Aldon Hynes — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:28:48 +0000

This morning, I surfed through Facebook, and found I had been invited to the "Celebration of Hope" Spring Gala for the Beth-El Center, an organization set up "to alleviate homelessness and hunger in the Milford area". They have a story of a guy struggling to get by who found self-sufficiency through their program. I'm currently helping with the Meriden-Wallingford Coalition on Housing, and at work help promote the activities of our "Wherever You Are" program, which provides medical care to the homeless.

At work, one of my co-workers was discussing an athletic event that some of the staff are participating in. They are working to raise funds for a nine year old boy who has brain cancer. The boy has been working to raise funds for the Make A Wish foundation.

It's these sort of things that make you stop and take stock of life. What are you doing with your life? What is the meaning of life? Is it to help a person develop self sufficiency? Is it to help bring joy to the lives of kids facing horrible struggles?

How does this relate to the political process? Are the politicians you know running to get elected to help those around them, or to hold on to a job and protect the interests of their friends?

Is the political process, itself, making a difference in people's lives?

To get elected, I"m going to have to convince between six and seven thousand people to vote for me. I'm going to work hard on that, but along the way, I'm going to work hard on getting people more involved in their communities, finding more opportunities to help others, whether they be fighting homelessness, cancer, or whatever hurdles.

Ultimately, politics should be about helping make the lives of the people around us better, but if we aren't doing that along the way, maybe were missing the biggest opportunity.

Campaign in Free Verse

Aldon Hynes — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:12:16 +0000

It's evening and the chance of scattered thunderstorms has passed. So has much of my energy. I was up late last night for the convention that nominated me to be the Democratic Candidate for State Representative. I was up early to get a little campaign work done before heading off to my day job.

Back home, at the end of the day, I feel I should be reaching out to voters; potential supporters or donors. I should be writing my campaign biography or some issue statements.

My wife and daughters are off at various events, and I take a few moments to relax. Friends online are tweeting about idol on TV. Me? I play some YouTube videos of poets reading there works.

Then, it strikes me; a campaign in free verse. No, I can't talk about the issues in the style of Billy Collins or Ted Kooser. Or can I?

What are the issues? That the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation? That the best minds of our generation are being destroyed by madness, looking for an angry tax break?

At church the other week, the preacher talked about cultivating joy, not the artificial saccharine Hallmark Card happiness that gets pasted on the face of every politician when they say how happy they are to see someone they can't remember, but the sort of joy that is hard to grow, that comes from a minor victory in the face of a major struggle.

Yes, making sure that money is spent appropriately and effectively is important, and that no one has to pay too much, or more than their fair share, but what is it that really matters?

Helping people cultivate joy in a rocky garden and share a little kindness. Maybe that is more the task of the poet but maybe we need a little more poetry at the capitol.

It's evening and the chance of scattered thunderstorms has passed, for now.

Coming Down After the Convention

Aldon Hynes — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:40:45 +0000

Well, the Democratic 114th Assembly District convention in Connecticut is over and I'm the Democratic nominee. Its almost time for bed, but I want to share a few thoughts before I crash . The past few days have been a slow crescendo of excitement, building up to the convention. Now, the convention is over, and I look to the five months ahead. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Over the past few weeks, there have been discussions about who would run as a Democrat in the 114th district. When no one else accepted the task, I stood up. It is important that there we don't have uncontested seats, and I do think I've got something important to say.

Around twenty-five people showed up for the convention. I would have liked more, but it happened on very short notice and I don't have a campaign fully set up yet. I was very pleased with the comments that my friends made when they nominated me and seconded the nomination. It was my first time giving my stump speech, and people said it was good. I'm glad I got a chance to deliver it to a friendly audience, but I need a lot more work on it.

You can read my speech, as prepared for delivery here.

With my late start, now I have to raise $5000 in donations from five to a hundred dollars. At least 150 of the donors need to come from the town of Woodbridge, Orange, and Derby. It is going to be a lot of work to raise this money, and fundraising has never been my strong suit. There were a few donations, mostly small, which was good.

Then, there is the issue of getting to know all the people in Woodbridge, Orange and Derby that I need to ask to vote for me. That is going to be a challenge as well. Yet this is one of the things that can make the campaign a lot of fun. I need to go to as many civic events as possible. They should be fun and already Fiona is speaking excitedly about some of them. I hope it will give me good material to blog about.

Most importantly, my goal is to encourage others to get more involved in their communities. At least one person at the event had never been to a political convention before, and introducing them to this world is one of the early small victories. I hope to have many more like this over the coming months.

But now, it is time for bed. Tomorrow, I'll see what is online. I'll talk to more reporters, and resume the long trek to November. Wish me luck everyone

Character Development

Aldon Hynes — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:42:07 +0000

" riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay".

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about character development. It is one of those traits you look for in good writing, but is it something you see in blog posts? In other words, how are the bloggers you follow changing, how are they developing as characters?

I look at myself, as a blogger, as a person; how much have I changed? How does it affect the relationships I'm in? How are the people around me changing? What are the underlying constants in all of this.

In the political realm, we here criticism of Romney flip-flopping and praise for Obama evolving. Does evolving show character development and flip-flopping show a lack of character? Are we, as an American people, ready to elect leaders that are capable of changing?

"To wound the autumnal city. So howled out for the world to give him a name."

I started this blog post with a reference to Finnegans Wake. I continue with Dhalgren. Both have a cyclic nature to them. How does character development fit in a cyclic story? Perhaps it is something that T.S. Eliot points to in his poem, "The Four Quartets":

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Today was a normal sort of day. At church, they are starting a choir. I sang with choirs years ago, and I've returned to sing again, knowing the place for the first time, as my character has developed, or perhaps evolved. At home, I talked politics with friends; again something old and something new, reflecting changes, at the same time. My relationship to home has also changed as we settle into our new house. My relationship with each abode carries certain consistencies and certain changes.

"I've looked at life from both sides now…"

#colonoscopy recap

Aldon Hynes — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:39:08 +0000

At quarter of ten on a sunny Friday morning in May, I arrived at the gastrointestinal center in the neighboring town for a colonoscopy. I looked around the room. Except for my wife, and some nervous looking woman sitting alone, I was the youngest person in the room. All of a sudden, I felt old; old enough for an AARP card, old enough to get a colorectal cancer screening.

I've done a lot of reading about colonoscopies, polyps, stages of colon cancer. I had a pretty good idea at the odds. Yes, my odds were perhaps a little higher, due to family history. The occasional aches in the gut, were probably stress, gas, or from pants that were too tight, and not something I normally worried about. I hadn't notice changes in stool size or color, but I must admit, I don't normally look closely at my stools.

The procedures seemed very efficient. 10:02, I was in the first room, where I put on a hospital gown, signed some forms and got hooked up to different machines. Blood pressure was fine. They triple checked the medications I was on, as well as any food allergies that I have. I've heard that a shellfish allergy, like I have, rules out certain medications that somehow have shellfish related to their preparations. I later found out that the anesthesia that I would be having is sometimes prepared with soybean oil and egg emulsifier.

They put in an IV, another first for me, and I admired the curved steel sculpture holding up the the bag of saline solution. 10:14, I signed more forms and waited for the anesthesiologist. 10:22, the anesthesiologist arrived, described the sedative they would use, its effects and warnings. Then, it was time wait to go into the room where they would do the actual colonoscopy. The background music was "Girls just want to have fun".

At around 10:40, I was walked into the colonoscopy room. I laid down on the hospital bed and got my wires reconnected. They hooked up oxygen, another first for me. It had a sweet but metallic smell. My blood pressure was still fine. I rolled over on to my left side, moved my left leg forward, had the blankets arrange and the railings adjusted and it was just about time to start. My blood pressure climbed a little at this point.

There was a safety check to make sure everyone was on the same page, and that I was the patient they though I was. The anesthesiologist injected what looked like a think white syrup into my IV. The propofol, or "milk of amnesia" took effect almost immediately.

I was groggy as I emerged from the propofol fog. I was in a different room and my wife was sitting next to me. She told me the time, and let me know that it was the third or fourth time that I had asked that. We talked a little bit and the doctor came in with the results.

I had one polyp, which they removed. It was around 5 mm. Such polyps are not unusual and are rarely cancerous. I was not surprised to find that I had a polyp, but relieved to hear that it was small. They are doing a biopsy to be sure that it wasn't cancerous. I also have diverticulosis. While I wasn't expecting to hear that, it wasn't surprising. Diverticulosis runs in the family, and is a good explanation of abdominal pains I sometimes experience.

The one unexpected result was erosion of the terminal ileum. That is where the small interesting joins the large intestine. It may well have been caused by the baby aspirin regimen that I've been on for years, and the doctor told me not to resume the baby aspirin for another two weeks. Another possibility is Crohn's disease, which does run in my family, but is fairly unlikely. Again, a biopsy was taken and I'll learn more later.

After I was given the details, along with some patient education materials about diverticulosis, I headed on my way. Kim and I went to a small local restaurant for brunch. I had a turkey burger that tasted really good, and Kim and a mushroom omelette.

So, I've cross the threshold for people over fifty by complete the colonoscopy rite of passage. If there were properly gamified personal health record systems, I could add the IV badge, the anesthesia badge, the colonoscopy badge and the polypectomy badge.

Perhaps, more importantly is returning to Joseph Campbell's monomyth. As I return from my adventure, I need to tell others. So, if you are over fifty and/or have a family history of polyps or colon cancer, go out and get the screening done. The prep work the day before the colonoscopy isn't fun, nor is having the tape that removed the IV, but they are all minor compared to knowing what is going on in your digestive track.

Intestinal Fracking

Aldon Hynes — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:09:25 +0000

I pour clear fluid from the small brown bottle into the large white cup. I add water, and pause for a moment to look at it. My mind wanders. Here is the poison. In this case, it will kill off ecosystems, entire macrobiotic worlds as it clears my intestines for my colonoscopy. I think for a moment of people on chemotherapy, pumping poisons into their veins to kill the cancer. I put a positive spin on the comparison. This poison will help the doctors detect if I have precancerous polyps and potentially prevent the onset of cancer.

The first gulp of the grape flavored brine goes down easily. The second is a little harder. Soon, I find each gulp getting smaller, drinking half the remaining fluid each time. I know that at this rate, I'll never finish the whole cup, so with one final gulps I swallow the last of the fluid.

My stomach rumbles as it starts to take effect. Soon, I will be expelling gases and fluids, not unlike the rocks of Pennsylvania after they receive their fracking fluids; intestinal fracking.

For the next hour or two, I will sit in my makeshift office, my laptop sitting on the sink as the solution takes effect. I'll pour fluids in one end, as they rush out the other. A few hours later, I will be sedated as a medical team explores my insides.

Thoughts before a Colonoscopy

Aldon Hynes — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:10:06 +0000

On Friday, I am scheduled to have a colonoscopy. I'm at an age with a family history where this is recommended. Since I work for a health care organization, I figure this is a good experience for me and I've spent more time than most researching colonoscopies.

I've looked at the relative prices of different facilities; searching information from my insurance provider as well as from online sites. I've read up on the procedure and possible outcomes.

According to the American Cancer Society, "Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is about 1 in 20 (5.1%)". The survival rate for colon cancer depends on the stage it is detected. For Stage I, it is 74%, for Stage IV it is 6%. The numbers are pretty compelling. One in five chance of sometime developing colorectal cancer, but if it is detected early, you have over twelve times the chance of survival.

I've read all the details about the preparations for the test, and am not especially excited about the preparations, but I'll be fine. I've picked up little tidbits here and there. For example, my primary care doctor had suggested I take daily aspirin years ago. However, aspirin can increase the chance of bleeding, so I was told to stop taking aspirin at least a week before the procedure.

Another person I know, passed out after he began his preparations. In his case, it was dehydration. The instructions talked about drinking a lot of fluids. That's why. In my case, I've also been on a diuretic, which I've been told to stop taking shortly before the procedure. Yet I can and should keep taking a different blood pressure medicine.

I've read about the different types of anesthesia and the pros and cons of each. I'm not positive which anesthesia they will use, but have been told it won't be one that I had expressed concern about.

As to what is likely to happen, the University of Iowa reports 30% of people over 50 have polyps. So, I would not be surprised to have a polyp. The odds are much less that there will be anything cancerous, but if it wasn't a possibility, I wouldn't be having this test.

Hopefully, I'll write a blog post about the experience at the end of the week, and be done with it for several years.

The Tale of Two Conventions

Aldon Hynes — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:28:41 +0000

Monday evening, I managed to get to two Democratic U.S. Congressional Conventions and they were very different events. In Connecticut's Third Congressional District, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is running for re-election. While I don't know the official campaign slogan or talking points, the unofficial one which seemed to summarize the convention was, "Everyone loves Rosa". There were the kids saying the pledge of allegiance, the local high school chorus singing the Star Spangled Banner, and there was food.

Unlike other conventions where you wait until it is over, everyone arrived, started eating, and then the convention started, over half an hour late. As much as everyone loves Rosa, they really love Italian pastries, and the pastries are perhaps a great symbol for the campaign. I rushed out before things really got going and headed up to the Fifth Congressional District.

This was a very different affair. It is an open seat with several candidates vying for the nomination. The clear front runner was Chris Donovan, and the questions were, how large a percentage would he get and would the other candidates get enough votes to qualify for a primary without having to gather petitions to be on the ballot.

In the end, Donovan got 64% of the vote. Esty got 20% of the vote and Roberti got 16% of the vote. They all qualify to be on the primary ballot, although it was touch and go for Roberti for a moment. He only had four votes to spare, and during the vote swamping at the end, he briefly dropped below that threshold.

(For details see this spreadsheet).

With these conventions over, it looks like their will be a primary both for the U.S. Senate and for the Fifth Congressional District. The top line will be held by Chris Murphy and Chris Donovan. Murphy, being from the Fifth, is likely to draw out a lot of voters who may vote the line, boosting Donovan. Likewise, Donovan being from the Fifth may draw out more voters who are likely to favor Murphy.

The second line will have Bysiewicz for Senate and, because candidates are alphabetized who don't have the nomination, Esty will be on the same line with her. Again, these two candidates could compliment each other.

Roberti will be on the third line, by himself. That is, of course, if no one drops out or no one else petitions to be on the ballot. Also, it doesn't get to the issue of primaries at the State Legislative level, which we won't know for another week or so.

So, while the Third Congressional District was a well tempered celebration, the Fifth was a raucous contest. The food in the Fifth was going to be at some restaurant after the convention, but I didn't have the energy for it.

Both conventions were fun, and I reiterate my encouragement for others to get out, get involved, and perhaps even go to a political convention.

The Fowler Street Shootout

Aldon Hynes — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:01:43 +0000

It was a warm sunny Saturday evening in May. I was running a quick errand to the store to pick up some stuff for Mother's day. As I headed down Fowler street, I saw three black males, I would guess there ages were around thirteen. They were shouting, running around, having a good time. All of a sudden, one of them jumped into the middle of the road looking straight at me as I drove my black 1997 Nissan Altima down the street.

He put his hands together, palm to palm, fingers interlaced, except for the index fingers. Those, stuck out straight towards me, like the barrel of a revolver. All of a sudden, they jerked upwards, as if receiving the recoil of a gun. He resumed his aim, and pumped off a few more imaginary rounds at the on coming car.

I reached out the window and pointed my left hand at him, a smaller, but just as effective imaginary gun. I fired a few rounds, and he clutched his chest, as if he had been hit. His friend laughed and waved, so for good measure I pumped a few rounds off towards them as well, and they scattered.

The only thing missing was Peter Gabriel's "Jeux sans frontieres" blasting from the car radio.

I am a 52 year old white man, driving a beat up old car through a mixed neighborhood. It felt good to join in the games of some kids on the street on that fine spring evening, but I paused to wonder.

The boys weren't wearing hoodies. The way they interacted with an unknown white male on the streets indicated that their mothers probably hadn't had "the talk" with them; the talk how their actions might be misunderstood, how they could end up following in the steps of Trayvon Williams.

New Haven is not a stranger to youth being killed, and the kids were playing half a mile from where a new gun shop is slated to open in Woodbridge.

What went through those kids minds as they interacted with me on the street. We're they playing out the scene from their favorite video game? We're they processing the fears and concerns of their families about shootings in New Haven. Will they go on to join the military, the police, or some gang? Are they celebrating a Happy Mother's Day with their families?

And what role did I play in the drama. I wish I could stop and talk with them. Most likely, they'd run away. If not, they'd probably roll their eyes the way my kids have so often done.

Now, I sit on the deck. I hope people have a happy Mother's Day, especially the mothers of black youth in our country.

Random #ctdems #ctsen thoughts

Aldon Hynes — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:41:02 +0000

Running about half an hour behind schedule. Lots of old political friends schmoozing. Martha Aasen from Westport leads the pledge of allegiance, and gets cheers from the Westport delegation.

Lots of pictures going up on Twitter, with the #ctsen and #ctdems hashtag.

Checked in on Foursquare.

Sure could use some more coffee.

Having a fun time. Bit of a rush, trying to chat with friends, blog, tweet, etc.

Mayor Tim O'Brien welcomes everyone to the convention. Does a plug for Capitol Lunch and jokes about how good the food in New Britain is, and how he has the girth to show it.

After that, many people seem to be tuning out his speech.

Rumors are that Rosa has about 20% of the delegates coming in, and the question for Team Murphy is whether he can peal off 5% to deprive Bysiewicz the 15% she needs to get on the ballot without petitioning.

The list of dignitaries brings various levels of applause. From my seat, it sounds like Murphy and Courtney got the most applause, followed by Malloy.

Chris Donovan comes next on the applause metter, followed by Kevin Lembo and Brendan Sharkey. Next on the applause meter are Larson and WIlliams.

Various municipal leaders get some level of applause.

About half a dozen events before the Nomination of Candidate for United States Senate.