Katrhianna's Blog: Words, Writings and Tidings

Once Upon a Time (us 1)

2011-12-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

by Tracy Dellert

Religious disagreements have caused war since the formation of the second religion by early man; however, a gross imbalance of wealth in society also brings about war. When disagreements cannot be solved by verbal means, war is too often the answer. How long will we allow government to give corporate society more rights than the people?

In our contemporary society our government allows corporations more equality than individual citizens. A corporation is not a citizen, but has the same rights as the people and more resources to exercise those rights. Modern corporatization is killing our people, yet corporations do not go hungry and are never homeless.

The Coleman-Jensen 2011 report states that nearly 15 percent of the people in the United States, (more than 17 million households), were food insecure, and could not afford to feed their families throughout the year in 2010 (the highest number ever recorded in the U.S.). In 2007 estimates of the homeless ranged from 1.6 to 3.5 million people in the United States. Those figures have leaped considerably higher because of the increase in poor economic conditions, joblessness, and growing foreclosures across the nation. Associated Press reports that according to the 2010 census, one in two people are poor or low income. MSNBC News recently announced that half of the people living in the United States are poor.

We often hear people say about the poor and homeless, “They are just lazy,” or “They are mentally ill,” or “They are criminals.” Your head is buried in the sands of ignorance if you believe that the poor and homeless fit into only those three groups. Homeless people come from all walks of life and when the economy is poor and jobs are nonexistent, homelessness soars. A surprisingly high percentage of American families are often one pay check away from being homeless. Many veterans often become homeless. Many of the homeless include children. A little over half of the homeless find shelter or transitional homes while the remaining 44% live on the streets (2007).

How can the “greatest” nation in the world allow so many people to walk the streets without food, medication, and shelter? The homeless are seldom seen in European countries. And if we are the “greatest” country in the world, why is our infrastructure crumbling? The highways in France are capable of sustaining the weight of a jet plane while ours crumble under the weight of a Pinto. We are no longer the greatest nation in the world because we allow corporations more resources for survival than people.

As of December 19, 2011, the U.S. debt clock read $15,098,098,486,788.82. And the Republicans are still pushing tax cuts for not only the wealthiest people, but for corporations as well. Haven’t we learned by now that trickle-down economics do not benefit the majority of the people of this country? The collective memory of U.S. citizens is incredibly short. Yet, among us are individuals, who prefer the great divide in society, primarily the rich and the poor without a middle class. Our United States, once known as a classless society is by no means classless, and actually never was; but the “American dream” was once upon a time possible.

Sources:
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/How_Many.html

http://www.davemanuel.com/us-national-debt-clock.php
http://www.thechicagoalliance.org/homelessstats.aspx

Pandering to stupid

2011-12-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) comment “on Sunday that an agency established to protect consumers from financial fraud ‘is something out of the Stalinist era’” illustrates how much he does NOT care about consumers and/or the everyday common folks in the United States. We call his comparison a false analogy.

God won’t help if someone like Newt Gingrich becomes president. We only have to look at Gingrich’s record and listen to his words of hate to know that he is not competent to hold the highest office in the United States. Not only does he stand by his racists comments, but his tax plan will help the rich get richer and make the rest of us pay, including our children’s children, as his plan would add $1 trillion to the deficit in one year, according to an article published by Huffington Post. He definitely gives me the creeps.

Sarah Palin’s new reality show is not getting any takers. The second season of her Alaska show took a 40% drop, according to Huffington Post. Perhaps, the American public has finally gotten her number. Who cares about her husband’s snowmobile? We are more concerned with buying groceries.

Doe at Dusk

2011-11-21T06:23:00.000-08:00

by Katherine Tracy

She stands alone, untouched,

natural repose of wilderness.

Deep in primeval lull, she meditates.

Her doe-dark eyes contemplate.

In seconds,

she storms the cataleptic swamp,

in timeless passage to the wild.

On traces of dusk,

along cypress, pine and palmetto,

hooves splash the wetland.

In moonlight mist,

her slender body crosses

the ghostly grace of elegance.

Finally, in the quiet fog,

she comes to bed

to wrap herself in wilderness

All for the Taste of Sweet Feed

2011-11-21T05:44:00.000-08:00

by Katherine Tracy

for Kristopher

At sunrise, perched on crooked limbs,

full-feathered wild roosters crow.

The boy stirs in his last moment of sleep

to cock-a-doodle-doo—covers his head,

then kicks warm blankets from his bed.

Stepping barefooted across the cold floor,

he buttons a worn-out flannel shirt.

Whether blind fog, wet chill or cold toes,

horses wait for the boy to slip on his boots.

They anticipate his every move,

from the slamming of the back door

to footsteps across the porch—they wait.

All eyes focus on the boy in overalls

as he carries out his ritual banter.

Horses snort for a whiff, prick their ears

to the boy who canters to the stalls.

In a gesture, one by one,

they nudge the boy who comes every morning

to fill their buckets with sweet feed.

The Essence of Sabine

2011-11-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

11/29/2000

Émile Zola uses characterization in his novel Nana to illustrate the decadence of the upper class in Paris during the mid and the latter 19^th century. Zola explores the moral and social decay of Paris through an allegory of a marriage built upon lust and infidelity. The author creates Countess Sabine Muffat as the most mysterious lost soul in the novel and one of Nana’s many antagonists in search of sexual rapture. Sabine’s unhappy marriage pushes her into an affair without the love and intimacy she so desires, which fails to feed her hunger.

Brought up by separated parents, the countess spends her childhood divided between them. The estranged relationship of her parents offers little guidance of a healthy marriage. Instead, Zola bases the matrimonial union between Count Muffat and Countess Sabine on the social tradition of the upper-class. Sabine marries Comte Muffat de Beuville at age seventeen, “shortly after her mother’s death, probably urged on by a father eager to get her off his hands” (81). Sabine’s father, her class, her gender and the Roman Catholic religion dominate her lifestyle. Like her childhood, the Roman Catholic religion only adds to a deficiency of the love and unhappiness of her marriage.

In the ideal world, marriage is the foundation of love; however, it is less likely that 19^th-century women of the noble class married for love, but for a stability in their social position. Certain families still arrange their children’s marriage for social and financial reasons. Sex or love does not have to be included in the institution of marriage. An ideal world does not exist, and marriage, as a single element, does not lead to happiness.

Allan Hepburn’s research of “The Fate of the Modern Mistress: Nancy Mitford and the Comedy of Marriage” brings forth issues about the institution of marriage. Hepburn’s research of Tony Tanner’s novel, Adultery in the Novel: Contract and Transgression addresses the social traditions of marriage as

‘a means by which society attempts to bring into harmonious alignment patterns of passion and patterns of property’; because it consolidates family holdings through the exchange of women, ‘marriage is the all‑subsuming, all‑organizing, all‑containing contract.’ (361)

Sabine’s marriage is an example of a marriage based on the consolidation of family holdings. Marriages of such collective-contractual natures date back through time and survive today.

In her marriage to the Count, Sabine endured a religious, isolated existence with her devout husband and his late mother, Madame Muffat, for eighteen years. Madame Muffat had reared her son as a God-fearing man in the austerity of the Roman Catholic Church. Zola describes Madame Muffat as “an insufferable old lady always hand in glove with the clergy” (79-80). The Count’s mother possessed “the sort of authoritative gestures which bent everybody to her will” (80).

Théophile Venot, a church warden in the Roman Catholic Church and “a sometimes lawyer,” is a long time family friend (82). He has considerable influence over the family including Sabine. Zola describes Venot as “received everywhere, treated with great deference, and even somewhat feared, as if he represented a might force, an occult power which was felt to be behind him” (82).

Catholic authoritarianism serves to alienate women from activities that were not so-called gentle duties. Religion serves to control civilization, just as the authority of the Roman Catholic Church uses God to control women like Sabine. She lives under the restrained code of Catholicism that attempts to shackle women to the Catholic faith. Linda L. Clark explains the effects of Catholicism ascribed to women during the Pre-World War I Third Republic, yet still relative to the time of Nana. Clark writes that Pauline Kergomard, a French woman reformer, said, “Women must learn new ways of thinking and detach themselves from Catholic authoritarianism, which threatened intellectual and political freedom” (45).

Without an expression of intellectual freedom, an intelligent woman like Sabine is pushed further into personal isolation. Subsequently, Venot’s presence in the family and the Muffats’ piety contributes to the reservations within Sabine’s personality. Even the aloofness and withdrawn manners of Estelle, the thin, flat-chested daughter of the Count and Countess, reflects a stiff confinement within the Muffat family. Likewise, under the pretext of God, the Countess has molded Estelle. The pretext of God further alludes to the mystical shadows that haunt Sabine’s life. Ironically, there is no rationale to God when Sabine is confined by the dogma of Catholicism. Instead, Catholicism is the catalyst that pushes Sabine away from God into promiscuity.

Zola presents the Countess almost as a ghostly figure who slips in and out of the shadows of her husband. Likewise, Zola depicts her with the sensuality of an allusive black cat. Thus Sabine’s air of intrigue attracts Fauchery, the journalist, during their introduction at the theater. Oddly enough, on the same night, the Count meets the voluptuous actress, Nana, who will become the most famous courtesan in Paris.

The Countess shows an interest in the journalist during their first encounter at the theater: “on hearing Fauchery’s name the Countess [raises] her head, and with a few discreet words, she compliment[s] the journalist on his articles in the Figaro” (40). As Sabine compliments Fauchery, her body language resembles the delicate, lithe movements of a cat: “Leaning on the velvet-covered ledge in front of her, she turn[s] half round with a pretty movement of the shoulders” (40). Like a caged feline, Sabine denotes discreet assertiveness as she invites Fauchery to a reception that she hosts in her home for her noble family and close friends.

At times Sabine embodies an element of distance, as if she seeks to be somewhere else. For example, after the performance at the theater, she stands “[i]n the front of her box, very erect and muffled up in furs...and as she wait[s] for the crowd to disperse, she gaze[s] into the darkness” (47). Again, Zola writes of Sabine’s musing during the reception in her home as she looks into the fireplace: “For a moment the Comtesse Sabine look[s] at the fire; then she resume[s] the conversation” (77). The Countess appears lost in the twinkling of a thought.

Fauchery recalls that “some spoke of [Sabine] as a woman of frigid piety, while others pitied her, recalling her charming bursts of laughter and the fiery glances of her great eyes in the days before she was imprisoned in this old townhouse” (78). Fauchery imagines a caged animal as he watches the Countess “perched” in her chair (85). In this instance, Zola contrasts the Countess’ feline persona with that of a tiny bird sitting in its cage: “Fauchery looked at her as she sat quaintly perched, in her voluminous dress of pale blue satin, on one corner of her armchair” (85).

The Muffats’ townhouse unveils a dark, dismal chill that exists in a confined institution. The Count’s celibacy before the marriage and the birth of only one child allude to the probable, practically platonic relationship. In Zola: A Life, Frederick Brown describes the unhappiness in the life between the Count and Countess:

Early along in his unhappy marriage with Sabine de Chouard, they generated enough warmth to produce a child, but since that birth, sexual congress has been

rare, and after more than sixteen years together the unhappy couple present a picture of mutual deprivation.The Muffat mansion on the rue de Miromesnil ... is

a place of muted light, drab color, and pervasive chill in which Sabine’s soft red silk armchair looks sacrilegious. (422)

Zola goes further in his description of their home as he exposes a gloomy religious institution without the light of love.

The street front, in its melancholy, seemed to be asleep, lofty and dark and convent-like, with its great shutters nearly always closed. And at the back, in a little damp garden, some trees had grown up, and were straining toward the sunlight with such long slender branches that they could be seen above

the slates of the roof (74).

The Countess resembles the trees, for after the death of her overbearing mother-in-law, Sabine moves beyond the confines of the house, her religion, her class and her gender. The trees symbolize Sabine’s struggle from the darkness imposed in her environment as she searches for the love and happiness excluded in her life. Rainer Warning describes the novel’s topography of “internal space concretized as buildings which are semanticized as places of unleashed desires” (722). The garden illustrates an internal space surrounded by the religious coldness of the exterior of the townhouse where desires are not released because she is expected to act according to her gender and her position as the Count’s wife. The Muffat townhouse represents an internal space concretized as a building. Despite the four windows in the drawing room, the sun does not shine from the garden area. Instead, the garden area is surrounded by the walls of the house that block the sun from the room. Zola has used color, darkness and light to enforce a visual field for the reader.

Carol Colatrella considers Zola’s interaction with artists by citing William Berg’s argument in The Visual Novel: Émile Zola and the Art of His Times: Berg catalogues that Zola’s contacts with artists, interest in art, and visual personal interests in art and visual sense encouraged him to produce novels utilizing principles of aesthetics and theories of vision (354).

Colatrella writes, Berg contends that Zola’s representation of “color, light and perspective” inspires his opinion of “contemporary painters and his production of literary texts...that are “famous for graphic depictions of seamy life [causing] extreme and visceral reaction in readers

. . .and that visual cues are powerful motivators for subversive ideas” (354).

The dampness from the garden extends a coolness in the bleak, dim drawing room, where Sabine’s modern style red silk chair clashes against the Empire-style mahogany furniture. Fauchery perceives the large chair of red silk upholstery to be “strangely suggestive,” thus “marking the birth of an appetite for enjoyment” (84). The richness of the color suggests an appetite for the passion which Sabine yearns to fulfill, yet holds within. The chair offers a sense of security in which Sabine feels sheltered from the temperance imposed upon her in her husband’s house. Warning notes that “loss of space ... is loss of self, the collapse of that which Freud's metapsychology will describe as the topics of the emotional apparatus” (728). Sabine’s chair in its crimson splendor lets her retain a sense of self-identity as she speaks with Madame Hugon. Sabine speaks about the daughter of Baronne de Fougeray, whose entering of the Carmelite Order, which had “touched the hearts of the whole of Parisian society” (85). The Countess responds, “‘Yes, it’s a terrible thing,’ . . . shivering a little, as if she were cold, and snuggling further down in her big chair in front of the fire” (85). Recognizing the restraints of religion, Sabine expresses a feeling of ease with her guests as she repeats a rumor about the death of the young man whom Fougeray’s daughter had wished to marry.

Zola explores the “gender fable” that Evelyne Ender describes in Sexing the Mind: Nineteenth-Century Fictions of Hysteria:

a division between the sexes whereby woman is defined as affect, passion, emotion, and sensitivity. Denied mind, a property of the masculine subject,

woman is allowed the virtue of modesty, or "pudor" as Ender terms it. But as Ender notes, if la pudeur, hiding behind a veil before a sexually charged male gaze, is a figure meant to restrain and contain woman's profligate susceptibilities, pudor soon becomes . . . itself a gesture of seduction that opens modesty to desire, producing precisely the sexual drama it would suppress. Thus, modesty leads to a proliferating rhetoric of veils and secrets in nineteenth‑century discourse that functions ultimately to pathologize women. Even more, the field of secrets to which woman is confined sustains the social prohibition on her knowing, promoting “a whole edifice of exclusion which prohibits women's curiosity in other domains.” (Kahane 97-98)

Fougeray’s daughter experiences “the taking of the veil” which excludes her from the certain freedoms in society. She will now serve God as the Catholic religion deems; thus the veil confines Fougeray’s daughter and she now belongs to the Catholic Church. Sabine also acknowledges the limitations of the veil.

Sabine lives as the society has intended for a woman of her class—under the religiosity of male control. The ideals of Sabine’s gender, also set forth by men, hold her back from personal happiness. Zola sets forth a study in gender consciousness through the character of Sabine. In Kahane’s book review of Sexing the Mind: Nineteenth‑Century Fictions of Hysteria, she describes Ender’s explanation of the control of gender consciousness by male cultivation of the female mind assimilated “within the male consciousness as a figure of his subjectivity.”(xxx). Ender writes:

The nineteenth‑century project of writing . . . which aims at defining subjectivity in its inner manifestations but focuses on the female subject . . . participates in a process of partitioning and an allocation of knowledge that constantly replays the stakes of sexual difference. (Kahane 97-98)

If Sabine had been born a male, her life would be quite different; however, she lives as society and religiosity has intended a woman of her class. The ideals of Sabine’s gender, also set forth by men, hold her back from personal happiness. Sabine is quite comfortable with her peers; however, Zola illustrates a reservation of emotion as she puts the handkerchief to her lips as if to hide the external emotion of gaiety. Gender, society and religiosity require Sabine’s behavior to be different from that of a man.

The mysterious Countess stares into the embers of the fire as Fauchery and Vaudeuvres compare her physicality with Nana’s. While the two men ponder the visage of Sabine, they discover she has a mole at the corner of her lips like Nana’s, and a slight likeness of the chin and mouth. Mesmerized by Sabine’s sensuality, the men realize that the outward good nature of Nana is different from the ambiguous persona of the Countess. Sabine seems to wander in a paradoxical light of her own, much like a lone candle flickering in the dark. The Countess moves sensually parallel to that of a black cat as she gives “the impression of a cat sleeping with its claws drawn in and its paws stirred by a barely perceptible quiver” (96). The Countess conceals her spirit and her passion for life. Her cryptic mood and subtle sensuality illustrate a part of herself she shares with no one, not even the Count. Sabine disguises any bold gestures of sensuality because such behavior is unacceptable for a woman.

Zola has created a quiet, alluring creature in Sabine; however, the dominant elements of her life inhibit her to the point that she cannot be herself. At this time, the slim dark-haired Countess contrasts with the wild, sexy, blond protagonist, Nana. Nana feeds upon the elements that stifle the elusive Countess. Nana uses her gender to seduce the men of the upper class; whereas, her gender and class shackle the Countess. As an example, the Countess has taken a husband, whom she does not love and whom Nana seduces.

The Countess begins to show a more pronounced personality when she and her family visit Les Fondettes in Orléans. George, Madame Hugon’s son, is the first to notice the difference in Sabine. After Fauchery arrives at Les Fondettes, he finds himself placed next to Sabine at the table, where her “liveliness and gaiety” surprise him (186). Zola distinguishes a change in the Countess: “Then, too, [is] no longer the same woman. Something about her [is] more pronounced than before, and her grey foulard gown, which fit[s] loosely over her shoulders, add[s] a touch of unconstraint to her delicate, high-strung elegance” (187).

While sitting at the table, Sabine shows an unavoidable interest in Nana as she questions the Count, “Isn’t Monsieur Steiner with that singer at the Varietes, that Nana?” (174). Disturbed by the mere mention of Nana’s name, Madame Hugon interjects, “Nana, that’s the name! A horrible creature!” The conversation unnerves the Count, but Sabine seems to lose interest as her eyes wander into the blue haze that stretches into the distance of the park. Quite unconcerned, the Countess contemplates a secret of her own: “With the shadow of a smile on her lips, she seem[s] to be following up a secret thought which ... suddenly occur[s] to her” (174). The Count’s surprising willingness to visit Les Fondettes has begun to make sense to the Countess. Could the presence of Nana have prompted so many men guests? The thought of Nana surely crosses Sabine’s mind during the conversation.

As the Count becomes engrossed with Nana, Fauchery develops a relationship with the Countess during the Count’s absence from Les Fondettes. The Count accepts Madame Hugon’s invitation only because Nana will be visiting her newly acquired country home just next door. The Count’s behavior with the courtesan opens the door for a liaison between Sabine and Fauchery. Zola alludes to this further in the text: “Besides he amuse[s] her with the sort of witticisms that come easily to a journalist, and gently [lures] her into one of those sudden intimacies which are permissible in the country” (196). Zola illustrates Sabine in transition of her new found-freedom with Fauchery: “She had appeared to consent to it from the first, becoming quite a girl again in the company of a young man whose noisy teasing seemed unlikely to compromise her” (196). Hepburn quotes a similar understanding of extramarital sex from Voltaire: “Love, in France, is treated with formality; friends and relations are left in no doubt as to its beginning and its end. Concealment, necessitating confidants and secret meeting places, is only resorted to when there is a jealous husband or wife” (358). However, Fauchery and Sabine see beyond their relationship. Zola writes, “their eyes would meet, and they . . . pause in the midst of their laughter, growing suddenly serious and looking at each other sadly, as if they had seen into the depths of each other’s heart” (196).

Later, after Monsieur Théophile Venot, the Count’s lawyer and advisor, arrives at Les Fondettes, Venot takes the Count by the arm to speak privately with him. Fauchery explains to the others about the origin of Venot’s money, “an important lawsuit which the Jesuits had entrusted to him in the past” (197). In Fauchery’s opinion Venot has his “finger in every priestly pie” (197). The group falls silent when Venot and Count Muffat return to the room. The Count’s red eyes look as if he has been weeping. Sabine overhears Fauchery say, “I bet they’ve been chatting about hell” (197). At this time she steps outside the boundary of the church. In reference to the border of such holy power, religion has an opposing effect on Sabine because of forbiddance placed on her individuality;

[p]rohibition, not power, is primary here, the border between the fane and the profane. The Holy is that which is the object of prohibition but is also open to limited transgressions, allowed excesses, allowed releases of violence; sacrilege, however, is forbidden excesses and transgressions outside of ritual regularities. (Warning 721)

At this point, Sabine understands the source of Venot’s wealth and recognizes the connection between Venot, the Catholic Church and her husband. She is also under the misconception that Fauchery’s remark strengthens her autonomy, thus dissociating herself further from the holy bonds of matrimony. Although, the fallacy of passion and promiscuity seems to offer deliverance from an unhappy marriage, Sabine’s pursuit of passion and love pushes her closer into a life much like Nana’s.

On Sunday afternoon, Madame Hugon and her visitors go for a walk. However, they delay their walk when they stop to watch the five carriages that carry Nana and her guests across the narrow wooden bridge. Undaunted by Nana’s presence, “the wheel of the victoria almost brushe[s] against her, but she [does] not step back” (199). The Countess pretends not to recognize Nana, but “the two women [exchange] a profound glance, one of those momentary scrutinies which are at once complete and definite” (199). The Countess turns to look at her husband, who gazes after Nana before he looks down to the ground to escape the agony of the “sight of Georges nestling among Nana’s skirts” (199). At that moment, Sabine’s suspicion of her husband’s infidelity quietly unravels. Count Muffat’s silent desire for Nana digs into Sabine’s heart like the deep-seated thorns of the underbrush. The Count’s yearning for Nana severs any thread still attached to the union of marriage for Sabine.

When the Countess returns home from Les Fondettes, she begins to redecorate the house and purchase magnificent gowns to feed her starvation of love and affection. The indulgence of her wealth conveys her unquenchable thirst for fulfillment in her life. Attempting to nourish her burning desires, Sabine spends outlandish sums of money to masque her feelings of inadequacy.

As the Count carries on with his Parisian courtesan, Sabine and Fauchery concoct trips to cover the escapades of their passionate love affair. Meanwhile, Nana continues to bleed the Count of his money to feed her lavish needs. Nana urges the Count to reconcile with his wife so he can persuade Sabine to sell her property for the additional funds to feed Nana’s fatuous needs. Since Nana only wants the Count for his money, a reconciliation with his wife would give her more time to be with other men and do as she pleases.

After taunting the Count, Nana tells him about his wife’s affair with Fauchery. Filled with shame and fear, Muffat finally goes to Fauchery’s apartment. Muffat glares through the half-opened curtain of Fauchery’s window throughout the rainy night watching the silhouettes of a man and a woman. The woman resembles Sabine, but the Count does not want to believe what he sees. Although his wife’s possible affair and the effects of sin devastate him, his lust for Nana overrides any virtue left in his soul. Muffat returns to Nana’s until he finally goes home about the time in which his wife returns home. The Count shows up in mud stained clothes and the Countess appear in clothing of disarray. With circles under her eyes, she looks as if she has spent all night on a train. The Count and Countess raise their eyes at each other and say nothing. How can the Count confront his wife about her affair with Fauchery when he has been lusting after Nana? A silent, icy breath that lingers between the Count and Countess symbolizes the cold complication of their marriage.

As a coward and extremely repulsive man, the Count continues his deviant sexual behavior with Nana while she drives him crazy with her illicit sexual behavior. Nana’s demand for money and the Countess’ sudden taste for luxury devours the Count’s fortune. The Count sets his sites on the value of Les Bordes, “a magnificent property valued at half a million, which an uncle had recently left the Countess” (392).

The Paris courtesan controls the Count as she urges him to allow his daughter to marry her former lover, Daguenet. Not pleased by the marriage plans, the Countess shows more interest in her newly renovated house, insisting that “her daughter’s marriage contract [be] signed on Tuesday, so that the renovated house, in which the paint was still scarcely dry, might be reopened with a grand reception” (394). The engagement party turns into an extravagant gala that includes strangers of the family.

Zola stresses the transformation of Muffat’s townhouse that Sabine has embellished in gold and marble. The embellishments within the Muffat townhouse are abstractions of the Catholic Church and Nana’s house. The author sets up a visual field of riches. Chandeliers and crystal scones sparkle in the mirrors of extravagant furniture. Sabine soaks up the forbidden excesses:

It was as if Sabine’s chaise longue, that solitary seat covered in red silk, whose soft contours had seemed so out of place in the old days, had grown and grown

and multiplied until it filled the whole house with a voluptuous idleness and a keen love of pleasure which burned as fiercely as an autumn bonfire. (395)

Madame DuJoncquoy and Madame Chantereau gossip about “that evil woman [who] has bewitched the Count” (400). The crowd at the party and Sabine’s vulgar display of wealth shocks both women: “If people advertised their wealth and introduced the scum of Paris into their houses, it was only natural that such promiscuity should eventually poison their

marriage” (402). The Muffats’ personal affairs open as if on public display when Fauchery bows to the Countess and shakes the Count’s hand. Sabine smiles “before them with downcast eyes” (405). Nana’s ghostly persona hovers into the music and dance of the grand celebration. Although Nana is not present, her evil spirit has consumed the crowd. The Muffat family succumbs to a representation of Nana. Zola illustrates the destruction of the Muffat family during the celebration. He writes, “And this trembling of the walls, the red glow of light,

seemed to mark the final conflagration in which the fabric of an ancient honour was cracking and burning on all sides” (406).

The next evening, for the first time in two years, the Count presents himself in the Countess’ bedroom. Quite astonished, Sabine cringes at first; then an intoxicating smile stirs across her lips. Zola justifies their forgiveness through religion. He writes, “It was religion which required them to forgive each other, and they tacitly agreed that they should both retain their freedom” (406). Both, now aware of the other’s infidelity, come to an understanding. Whether the thought of marital sex went through the Count’s mind at this time, it was not an act of love. However, noticing that the Countess is hesitant, the Count initiates a business conversation. Before retiring, the Count speaks of selling the Les Bordes. The Countess agrees, for “they both needed considerable funds and they agreed to share and share alike” (406). Since the business of Les Bordes completed the reconciliation, passionate sex is doubtful. At that point, Sabine must have thought her affair with Fauchery was at least monogamous.

Little did the Countess know that Fauchery has been seeing his previous lover, Rose, on the side. The reconciliation between the Count and Countess only breeds havoc into the family when Fauchery breaks off his affair with the Countess. Meanwhile, the Count’s lust for Nana becomes increasingly masochistic as Muffat stoops to all fours acting out as a dog during their sexual degradation. Still looking for love and affection that the Countess does not receive from her husband, she immerses herself “into other love affairs” (428). Now in her forties, she is “always hysterically nervous, filling the house with the maddening whirl of her life” (428). Disturbed by a husband who openly lives with the most famous courtesan in Paris, the Countess elopes “with a buyer from a large draper’s shop [causing] a terrible scandal, and all Paris” spoke of it (446).

The marriage is finally over. Before Sabine leaves, she succumbs to the decadence that Nana has showered upon Paris. In effect, Sabine mimics the throng of the social decay in her environment. Sabine bathes in the same scum as Nana, moving from one lover to the next until she returns home to lick up Nana’s leftover scraps. The Count takes Sabine “back in a spirit of Christian resignation and forgiveness” (446). Religion does not save the marriage in which the Countess is virtually a cipher. Sabine finishes off the Count, who prolongs his sickness for Nana “in religious ecstasies” (446-447).

Cora Diamond writes that Henry James criticizes writers like Zola who uses a character, “whom morality condemns,” and explains the character does not “deserve our sympathy, [but] arouses moral outrage.” Therefore, subjects “like love in its capacity to conflict with and even to subvert morality . . . may seem thereby to constitute a possible threat to morality, if not subjected to its authority.” Diamond explains,

the value of any subject cannot be seen in advance of its treatment, of what that treatment may have in it of responsiveness to life. Let us say that there is in the

treatment a sense of the infinitude of character, a care for that; let us say that there is in the account we are given perhaps unexpected intensity of life: there is not

then anything else that needs to be demanded of it. (252)

James does not approve of Zola’s writing approach of sexuality in Nana. “‘It is not the choice of subject that has shocked us,’ James wrote of Nana, but Zola's treatment, which had ‘imparted ... no touch of superior verity’ to his protagonist” (Ingelbien 64).

The Count’s illicit sexual behavior with Nana starves Sabine of any love or affection needed to sustain a healthy marriage. Subsequently, the conditions of Sabine’s marriage increase her hunger for love, passion and intimacy. Sabine’s knowledge of Nana and her so-called devout husband bore an endless hole into her soul. The Count did not give his wife the love and affection desired by most women. Instead, Nana possessed him, disabling any love and affection to his wife. Without love and affection, godliness did not exist. The pious Roman Catholic religion did not bring the love of God into the marriage of the Count and Countess. Love is not a necessary element for marriage, but love and affection are necessary for any sacred union. Hepburn’s research finds

that adultery is compatible with marriage since the ideal of erotic fulfillment supersedes the sacrament of marriage. As Denis de Rougemont

claims, ‘passion and marriage are essentially irreconcilable’ because the cultural myths of ‘love at first sight’ or ‘first love’ or Symposium‑style ‘perfect union of one man, one woman’s conflict with the secular mercantilism and Christian prohibitions against carnality that underpin the institution of marriage. Marriage is a social custom; love is the pursuit of individual happiness. (361)

Sabine marries out of a social tradition demanded by men. As the Count’s relationship with Nana continues, Sabine aspires to compensate for her unhappiness through the excesses of wealth and sex. Finances and the Roman Catholic religion unite the Count and Countess, which does not safeguard either from the evils of those who feed from the rich and vulnerable. The Roman Catholic Church with all its wealth and carnal secrets represents an abstraction of the Count and Countess’ marriage. Consequently, the principles of men establish and slash their marriage, which adds to the motivation of her adultery. However, Sabine is not in love with the Count. Nor, does the Count love Sabine. Her search for passion through promiscuity does not accommodate her and further feeds the unhappiness resulting from her life with the Count.

Works Cited

Brown, Frederick. Zola: A Life. Canada: Harper Collins & Canadal Ltd., 1995.

Clark, Linda L. “Feminist Maternalists and the French State: Two Inspectresses General in the

Pre‑World War I Third Republic.” Journal of Women's History 12.1 (Spring 2000). Pp.

32-59. Muse Project, JHU: .

Colatrella, Carol. “Crossing Disciplines.” Configurations 2.2 (1994). 353-363. 20 October

2000 by Internet through the Muse Project JHU: .

Diamond, Cora. “Henry James, Moral Philosophers, Moralism.” The HenryJames Review 18.3 (Fall 1997). 243‑257. Special Issue: James and Philosophy. JHU Press. 25 November 2000 by Internet through the Muse Project: .

Hepburn, Allan. “The Fate of the Modern Mistress: Nancy Mitford and the Comedy of Marriage.” Modern Fiction Studies 45.2 (1999): 340-368. JHU Press. 24 November 2000 by Internet through the Muse Project: .

Ingelbien, Raphël. “Reversed Positions: Henry James, Realism, and Sexual Passion.” The Henry James Review 21 (Winter 2000). 63-71. Papers from the James-Conrad- Ford

Conference. JHU Press. 17 October 2000 by Internet through the Muse Project:

Kahane, Claire. Book Review The Henry James Review 20.1 (Winter 2000). 98- 99. Ithaca:

Cornell UP, 1995. Evelyne Ender. Sexing the Mind: Nineteenth-Century Fictions of

Hysteria. JHU Press. Accessed 24 Nov. 2000 Muse Project: .

Warning, Roger. Trans. Rosalyn Raney. “Zola's Rougon‑Macquart: Compensatory Images of a

Wild Ontology.” MLN 113.4 (1998). 705‑733. JHU Press. 25 November 2000 by Muse Project: .

Zola, Émile. Nana. Trans. George Holden. London: Penguin, 1972.

THE US CONGRESS GIVES AWAY THE STORE (U S Senate US trade policy) C-Span 2 c-span.org

2011-10-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Pay attention Americans. Your government is giving away the store. The Senate is voting on trade agreements without even reading them. These agreements are supposedly permanent (like treaties) so we need to pay CLOSE attention to see who really cares about us. The following information was compiled from U.S. Senate Committee on U.S. Trade Policy on 12 October 2011.

Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, urges U.S. Congress to NOT support the three new trade policies: South Korean Free Trade Agreement, Panama Free Trade Agreement, and the Columbian Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. Senate has only 48 hours to debate trade agreements (which is ridiculous). This time around, most of the Democrats are against the trade agreements while most Republicans are in favor. The Republicans say the agreements will bring jobs to America. However, special interest groups hover nearby like vampires, licking their lips, waiting for the agreements to pass. Remember the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and all the jobs it was supposed to bring into our country? What about the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)? And the China Free Trade Agreement? Where are our jobs?

Sanders stated that the new trade policies are not designed to help ordinary working people and the agreements are nothing more than an extension of disastrous trade policies of the past that were supposed to add more jobs to America, but instead have had a negative effect on jobs in this country. Workers in the United States cannot compete against countries without environment standards, pay low wages, and little or no benefits.

The South Korean Free Trade Agreement will force American workers to compete against slave labor with profits going to North Korea. Sanders said that North Koreans working at a Hyundai plant 6 miles north of the demilitarized zone are earning 35 cents an hour which is paid directly to the North Korean government.

According to Sanders, the South Korean Free Trade Agreement will also push up drug prices, challenging Medicare and decreasing drug availability for poor people. Our government will be responsible for the unavailability of generic drugs for the poorest people in the world.

According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, stated Sanders, the South Korean Trade Agreement will create a 14-billion dollar deficit over seven years in the United States.

Neither will the free trade agreement with Columbia benefit ordinary working people, according to Sanders, because Columbians do not support unions. Last year alone, 50 trade union leaders were assassinated in Columbia, he said.

Panama has a 26.7 billion dollar output (2/10 of 1% of the American economy) . Panama’s bank secrecy law allows the wealthiest Americans to evade taxes by stashing money which amounts to $100 billion in illegal U.S. dollars. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, Panama has the worst laws that contribute to the loss of U.S. tax dollars, said Sanders.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, said he will support all three trade agreements. Sessions continued by saying that Korea has invested billions of dollars in U.S., noting the Hyundai plant in Alabama. He also said that that the Columbians are our best customers, and under the Indian Free Trade Agreement, they can import with no tariff. Sessions also said that all three of these countries represent decent governments, stating that the signing of these treaties will enhance our economy, although not overnight, but in years to come.

Sen. John McCain, Republican from Arizona, supports ratification of the three free trade agreements, but spoke mainly about more than 2 billion that goes to the American people through the Trade Agreement Assistance program.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said that trade agreements are literally filled with allowances that will NOT create jobs for Americans. Trade agreements do not support the American public because they do not create a level playing field. Special interest line up for these agreements, he said.

Brown continued by adding that the United States now has a 300 billion trade deficit. Many of the rules that govern U.S. policies favor corporate owners instead of workers which are not in the national interest of the United States. Trade Agreements are often permanent and handcuff our government, said Brown. They undermine the buy American policy, he said. Originally negotiated by Bush Administration, the free trade agreements are nothing more but a continuation, although the Obama trade negotiations may be a little better. Obama has actually enforced regulations when China cheats on business. These trade policies, he said, ignore the elephant in the room, which is the trade policy with China. They increase exports, but increase imports more, Brown continued.

Brown noted that 14 million Americans are unemployed, and 15 million Americans are underemployed or have stopped looking for work. He held up a package of paper about 5 inches deep and said, the trade agreements are hundreds and hundreds of pages, benefiting corporate lobbyists, which undermine jobs and public interest. They are complex agreements where the United States Congress is giving away the store, said Brown. In trade agreements, when it comes to food, the country with the weakest safety regulations win out. Trade agreements give corporations a back door to get out of our safety rules and regulations, he said. These agreements affect the flow of goods and services on a permanent basis.

By jamming the trade agreement through in 48 hours, most of them have not read the bill, yet they are fast tracking to pass the agreements. Special rules are available only for trade agreements: No hold allowed on trade agreements, no 60-vote threshold on hundreds of agreements that last forever. The agreements are chocked full of special interest groups, corporations and banks, said Brown.

Where are the conservatives in this country who said, “Don’t give Barack Obama so much power…”? Brown asked. Many of the workers don’t get paid enough to buy the products they make. The companies that shut down in the United States move to Mexico, China, Malaysia, Costa Rico, and many of these countries do not share the wealth.

Brown also told an interesting story about a Midwestern meat packing company that he had visited. Most of the meat packing companies were once safe because workers demanded it and the U.S. Government enforced safety regulations, but now many of the workers are immigrants, and do not speak English. The want to keep their jobs so they speed up the line, double the speed of the carcasses – workers who hurry were more likely to hurt themselves, drop knives and pick them up. On Thursdays they slowed down the line, when meat was packed and shipped to Europe—because Europeans have stronger food safety regulations than us.

We should be ashamed of ourselves, he said, I hope the administration and the house will decide to be on the side of the Americans.

Next Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, spoke about the high tariffs that the United States pays which are often four times higher than import tariffs paid other countries.

Sen. Sanders of Vermont said that we have lost 50,0000 manufacturing plants in the last ten years alone, with that 5.5 million factory jobs were lost—gone, and replaced with low wage minimum benefit jobs like McDonald’s and Walmart. In 1970 twenty-five percent of all jobs in the U.S. were manufacturing jobs. Today only 9% remain, he said. In July 2000, more than 17 million manufacturing jobs existed in American. Today, there are only 11 million.

Current trade policies have failed and hurt working families. Close to 3 million American jobs were lost in the last year because of trade policies with China. “It wasn’t true then, and it is not true now,” said Sanders, referring to past trade agreements. NAFTA has not worked, he said, adding that EPI found that 680,000 jobs were lost.

American jobs are being shipped to countries because of low wages, a lack of environmental standards and no benefits. Ironically, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce advocates trade policies and agrees that sending jobs overseas will boost competition. Instead trade policies slashed nearly 3 million jobs in the last decade, creating 2.4 million jobs in China and other low wage countries.

Walk into any department store in America; practically all goods are made in other countries. Although we developed the Iphone and the Ipad, we do not make them in the United States. Sanders noted that last year, the Iphone increased the trade deficit to China by 1.9 million dollars. “We developed these fantastic technologies,” said Sanders, “and make them in China.”

Most of this information was obtained from the Senate Debate on C-Span on 12 Oct 2011.

Where have all the flowers gone?

2011-10-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Pete Seeger

Greed and power go a long way as building blocks in the United States of America, largely in business and government. Big business and corporate entities buy control of government to ensure profits. And government employees often reciprocate to later score top positions in major corporations and banks. After all, success is often measured by financial gain in a capitalist society. Corporate America owns the American dream, and middle class American is fed up.

As politicians become less ethical, and therefore, less credible, government weakens, and thus an angry society takes to the streets. Numerous polls show that the American people have lost faith in government. A year ago Pew Research noted that 80% of the American public did not trust their government. Recently, John Cohen of PostPolitics for the Washington Post reported that barely one in four are confident that the government can fix America’s economic problems. He further reports that S&P characterizes “U.S. Policymaking as increasingly ‘less stable, less effective and less predictable.’” According to Cohen the finger pointing goes both ways with a growing distrust in the American government as a whole.

David Sirota’s article, “Two Heads of One Political Monster,” points out that both political parties have their monsters: Secretary of State Scott Gessler uses his office (1) to restrict voting rights and also (2) to allow campaign finance rules to serve the Republican Party. And Sirota’s other example, Democrat Tom Strickland, former chief of staff of the U.S. Interior Department (the oil and gas regulator) during the British Petroleum-Deepwater Horizon oil spill, now works for the law firm defending British Petroleum in cases arising from the Deepwater Horizon spill.

With positions of power come responsibility and accountability; however, like the politicians named by Sirota, many top government officials care less for the average person, and basically have no concept of our day-to-day lives. Many politicians continue to protect and serve primarily the rich and powerful. United States Secretary of Treasurer Timothy Geithner, the chief economic/financial adviser, former president for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, along with Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernnke, prior economic adviser Larry Summers, among others, bear some responsibility for the bank bailouts that did little for the common folks. These rich and powerful men are some of the very men who gained money through deregulation, a primary cause of the global financial crisis.

Deregulation gave the financial industry a free pass to perform business without specific government regulations that would protect our country and our people. Although deregulation was not meant to remove certain laws against fraud, it eventually led to unethical practices by corporations, government, bankers and Wall Street that cost the American public and perpetuated the downfall of world economy.

The economic conditions of other countries impact our country more than ever now, just as our economy has a major effect on other countries. After all, according to “Watchdog Panel: U.S. bailout money ended up in overseas bank” by the Associated Press, billions of dollars from the stimulus packages ended up in foreign banks. Whether we want to admit it or not, the bailouts to foreign countries prove we are a global society. Where did we get funds that ended up in banks located in France, Germany, Canada, Britain and Switzerland? Good question! Will that well run dry?

As long as there is a U.S. Government, the government will not run out of money. The funds are part of a gigantic circle to which we all contribute in one way or another. Our dollars are Federal Reserve notes backed by the Federal Reserve which is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States (not gold or silver). Our guarantee to pay our debt allows us not to run out of money; however, when more wealth exists on paper than the Federal Reserve controls, accounts flip upside down, creating a bubble that eventually bursts.

We ship jobs and services overseas for cheaper labor, cheaper goods, and higher profits, thus building a global society. And since we no longer manufacture that much in our country, our economy is based on the banking business; therefore, only one percent of the people in our country are actually making money. The rest of us are either not getting by, barely getting by, or earn wages that remain stagnant.

According to government figures unemployment hovers just above 9 percent; however, Mary Engle of MSN Money reports that realistic figures are probably closer to 17 percent. In all reality, the figure is probably much higher which leads to a loss of faith in the government. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics places the number of unemployed at 14 million. More than 45 percent of those people have been unemployed for more than six months (B. Tracy). “In 1938,” according Alex Tabarrok, “the unemployment rate was 19.1%, i.e. almost one out of five workers was unemployed,” which he takes from the official Bureau of Labor Statistics series for the 1930s. Ben Tracy asserts that “According to Congressional Research Services data from the end of the Depression (1937-onward), chronic unemployment is worse now as a percentage (at 44 percent vs. about 31 percent.).” A jobs bill to stimulate employment has yet to be a priority of the American government. Although President Obama is pushing his jobs bill, he needs both parties to help pass it. And the Republicans are doing their best to be a do nothing party as long as Obama is president. The jobs act appears to be more symbolic than real. Thus, more people will do without as long as the economy continues to slide.

As programs for social service and housing for the homeless were cut in the 80s, the number of homeless Americans increased with many living and sleeping outdoors. According to “Facts and Figures: The Homeless” on PBS, a study by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, published in July 2009, estimated “2.3 million to 3.5 million people experience homelessness.” The amount of homeless Americans have surely increased because of the lack of growth in our economy. Similar to the Great Depression, tent cities have sprung up across America. Many of our veterans live on the streets. Squidoo.com lists the following as causes for homelessness: 1. Crumbling infrastructure, 2. Housing costs, 3. Low wages for skilled workers, 4. Increasing job layoffs, 5. Small business failures, 6. Cost of health care, and 7. Job availability. Other causes of homelessness include mental illness, unemployment, domestic violence, poverty, wars and natural disasters.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not help matters. Although many contractors reap billions, thus far the war cost us more than 7,000 American and coalition casualties. Nearly one million people were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (Unknown News). Congressman Darrell Issa, Republican of California, Chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee reported 30-60 billion dollars were lost due to wartime fraud, waste and abuse (10/08/2011), just another example of wasteful spending by the government of the United States.

Now is the time for Americans to stand together and demand that their government work together for the good of all the people. Not only is it time, it is our right as citizens of the United State of America. Occupy Wall Street, presented as the 99 percent of the people in the United States who have been affected by past (illegal/unethical) activities of the financial sector of the American economy, is a leaderless resistance movement, protesting the greed and corruption found in our government, corporations and banks. The group began protesting on Wall Street on September 17, 2011, and now subsequent groups are rising up across the United States. The first amendment in the U. S. Constitution gives us the right to peaceably assemble, “and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

SOURCES

Associated Press. “More people applied for unemployment benefits last week to leave figures high.” Washington Post. 6 Oct. 2011.http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/ more-people-applied-for-unemployment-benefits-last-week-to-leave-figures-elevated/2011/10/06/gIQARa2tPL_story.html.

Associated Press. “Watchdog Panel: US bailout money ended up in overseas banks.” 12 Aug. 2010. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/08/12/watchdog-panel-bailout-money-ends-overseas-banks/.

The Atlantic. “The U.S. Government Cannot Ever Run Out of Money.” The Atlantic. 27 July 2011. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/07/the-us-government-cannot-ever-run-out-of-money/242622/.

“Ben_Bernanke: Why He Matters.” Ed. Ryan Derousseau. 8 March 2011.

http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Ben_Bernanke

“CNN Poll: Only a quarter of public trust government”. CNN Politics. 14. Sept. 2010.

Cohen, Jon. “Poll: Majority of public has lost faith in government ability to fix economy.” The Washington Post. 10 August 2011. Internet.

Economic News Release. U.S. Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. 7 Oct. 2011. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Engle, Mary. “Real unemployment rate? 16.6%” New Investor Center MSN. 4 June .

2011. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/learn-how-to-invest/The-real-unemployment-rate.aspx.

“Facts and Figures: The Homeless.” NOW on PBS. 26 June 2009. http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html.

Home and Away. Iraq and Afghanistan War. Casualties. CNN. 9 Oct. 2011. http://edition.cnn.com/ SPECIALS/war.casualties/index.html.

“Homelessness in America.” Squidoo. 5. Oct. 2011. http://www.squidoo.com/ homelessinamerica.

Issa, Darrell (Congressman). Republican of California, Chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, CSpan. 8 Oct. 2011.

Sirota, David. “Two Heads of One Political Monster” truthdig., 22 Sept. 2011. Internet.

Taborrok, Alex. “Unemployment During the Great Depression.” Marginal Revolution. 7 Nov. 2008. http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/11/ unemployment-du.html.

“The Greed Creed: The Root Cause of the Financial Crisis.” Why. http://www.whyhunger.org/about-why/the-american-dream/1072-the-greed-creed-the-root-cause-of-the-financial-crisis.html.

“Timothy Geithner: Why He Matters.” Ed. Kelly Blessing. Who runs GOV. 20 April 2011.

Tracy, Ben. “Chronic Unemployment Rate Highest Since Great Depression.” CBS

News. 13 June 2011. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/05/eveningnews/

main20069136.shtml.

Unknown News. http://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.htmlUnknown News.

Yardley, Jim. “In God We Trust. . . In Government? Not So Much.” American Thinker.

22 May 2010. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/in_god_we_trust_in _government.html.

September: Ovarian Cancer Month

2011-09-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

This month--September is Ovarian Cancer Month. Please wear teal to bring awareness to Ovarian Cancer. Last year at this time, I was being treated with chemotherapy for stage 4 ovarian cancer. At the present, I am considered to have no evidence of disease (NED). My latest CA 125 is 22, a slight rise from 17 (which I hope is due to a virus I caught from my beautiful grand daughter). My last chemo treatment was in early December of last year.

Ovarian cancer has long been called silent killer and the one of the least spoken about cancers. The ovaries cannot be seen outwardly like a woman’s breast so it does not get as much attention or donations as breast cancer. However, sometimes both diseases go hand-in-hand, occurring in the same women, especially if the women are BRAC positive. I have maternal and paternal aunts who have passed with ovarian cancer, but I am BRAC negative.

Ovarian cancer can affect any female regardless of age. Symptoms include:

Pressure or pain in abdomen, pelvis, back, or legs
A swollen or bloated abdomen
Nausea, indigestion, gas, constipation, or diarrhea
Feeling tired all the time
Shortness of breath
Feeling the need to urinate often
Unusual vaginal bleeding (heavy periods, bleeding, spotting after menopause)

Jeffrey L. Stern, M.D. reports, “Carcinoma of the ovary is one of the most common gynecologic malignancies.” He reports that “one in 70 women develop” ovarian cancer and “one in every 100 women will die from it.” And therefore, ovarian cancer “is the fourth most frequent cause of death among women in the United States.” The disease is curable if found early enough; however, its symptoms often vague, cause the disease to be widespread by the time it is discovered. According to Stern, “The American Cancer Society estimates that 26,000 cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year with approximately 15,000 deaths.”

Presently a shortage of drugs, including first line chemotherapy treatments, such as taxol , doxil, carboplatin, and many others are reaping havoc across the nation, among oncologists and their cancer patients. The drug shortage list goes on and on, which includes strong antibiotics. See: http://www.ashp.org/DrugShortages/Current for a list of drug shortages. We have no idea of the lives that have been affected, but cancer patients are crossing state lines in attempts to get their chemotherapy.

Cancer drugs are already ridiculously expensive, and naturally many wonder if the shortage is a ploy by major drug companies to raise prices. Who is controlling whether we live or die now? We already pay thousands of dollars for each treatment. ABC News reports that “Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan is paying 3.5 times its usual contract cost for paclitaxel” so that patients can continue their chemotherapy.

The drug shortage issue has been ongoing problem; the FDA noted 110 drugs on the list in 2008. According to Valerie Jensen, R.Ph., and Bob A. Rappaport, M.D., a number of factors can cause drug shortages, one being only a limited number of companies manufacture these drugs, especially sterile injectable drugs. If one of them encounters a problem, the others may not be able to meet the needs of the public. When a company goes into generic production, the company does not make the same amount of money and may choose not to make as much of the original drug. So yes, it eventually, comes down to profits. Drug shortages of sterile injectables have climbed steadily since 2008. The FDA is monitoring the drug shortage by asking drug companies and others to report shortages, but have no control over manufacturers.

Many of my sisters with ovarian cancer are affected by the drug shortage and have mentioned it on the Inspire website where we share our cancer experiences. We ask everyone to write their congress in an attempt to solve the shortage.

Sources:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/01/presidential-proclamation-national-ovarian-cancer-awareness-month

http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp1005849

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/chemo-drug-taxol-shortage-leaves-doctors-scrambling-cancer/story?id=13906891

http://www.fda.gov/drugs/drugsafety/drugshortages/default.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/ovarian_cancer/page3.htm#4whatare

Zero equals Nada

2011-09-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

Zero jobs were established in August which means no economic growth. Without jobs existing wages remain stagnant. Jared Bernstein, a former Obama administration economist states that U.S. economic “growth in the first half of the year was less than 1 percent" (Huffington Post).

Congress should concentrate on creating new jobs, not partisan politics. We are fed up with a do nothing congress and a president trying to appease the Republicans. If President Obama wants to get re-elected, fire up economic growth by rebuilding the infrastructure in the United States.

Rebuilding our own country should be number one on our agenda. Our highways and bridges are crumbling, our sewage system is disintegrating, our power lines, dams and levees are falling apart. Build a high speed rail system in the United States. We want action instead of words.

We are tired of the unnecessary bickering for power and call on our representatives to serve their constituents instead of themselves and large corporation. We have waited long enough.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/august-jobs-report-unemployment-rate_n_946337.html

Perspectives from Chomsky

2011-08-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Chomsky, Noam. “Is the World Too Big to Fail? The Contours of Global Order.” Huffington Post. 21 April 2011. Web. 28 August 2011. Internet.

Many of us do not consider how much of an effect world events have on us. We often go through our lives living in our own little circle until something like 911 occurs. Then we open our eyes for a short time, but eventually we get complacent and forget. The “big boys” are banking on our short memories. We are one global community, whether we want to accept it or not. Economic events have a domino effect which will eventually knock many of us to the ground.

I realize that some people do not agree with Noam Chomsky, but I happen to have great respect for his work, which is always well documented, so I will attempt to point out crucial information worth repeating from his article, “Is the World Too Big to Fail? The Contours of Global Order,” found in its entirety on Huffington Post.

According to Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor emeritus of MIT Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, the United States and its allies will attempt “to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world.” Arabs consider the United States and Israel as “major threats.” Chomsky compares the democracy uprising in Arabic countries to the workers in Madison, Wisconsin, who recently defended their previously granted rights. Both ideas are honorable, although the wealthy do not want a true democracy; besides the United States is not a true democracy, but a republic.

In an authentic democracy the power is the majority; whereas in the U. S. Republic, the power lies with the electorate. We elect officials who supposedly represent the people, but as long as corporations have the same rights as people, and are allowed to financially support candidates, big business will continue to have more power than the people. Thus, government officials are often paid in this manner to look the other way.

Chomsky asserts that the United States, now a “decaying industrial heartland,” and the Middle East, described by President Dwight Eisenhower as “the most strategically important area in the world” will have “far-reaching consequences” in the “microcosm of tendencies of the global society.” Chomsky reminds us that A. A. Berle, Eisenhower’s most influential advisor noted that control of the energy reserves in the Middle East would mean “substantial control” in the world. And thus, loss of control will cause a shift in global dominance. Since the United States could not depend on Europe, NATO was set up in some respects as a “guard” for oil and gas directed for the West.

The Clinton Administration has “clearly articulated” the right of the United States to use military force to ensure full access of natural resources for energy and strategic purposes affecting the security or the livelihood of the United States by maintaining military forces in Europe or Asia (qtd. by Chomsky). According to Chomsky, the “same principles governed the invasion of Iraq.” Therefore, the U.S. and western allies will prevent an authentic democracy (the will of the people) to stand in the countries of the Middle East, and thus support the elite with whom our government can deal successfully. We have seen this occur time after time in a number of countries throughout the world—in Iraq and also Afghanistan, as well as other Middle Eastern countries.

Early on Egypt and the United States were on equal ground “to undertake rapid economic development”; however, Chomsky asserts that the U.S. promoted a work force through “conquest, extermination, and slavery, with consequences that are evident right now in the reservations for the survivors and the prisons that have rapidly expanded since the Reagan years to house the superfluous population left by deindustrialization.” Thus, the free and independent United States sought to gain a monopoly, imposing high tariffs on specific countries, like Egypt, displacing Britain as global hegemon. Adam Smith predicted that dire consequences would follow in the lust for power and greed. We only have to look at the U.S. and British economic situation to understand Smith.

Yet, according to Chomsky the West does not want a democratic Middle East. If Iran were to become democratic nation, they would be a specific threat “that might interfere with U.S. freedom of action in the region.” Chomsky writes, "Seven years ago, Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld wrote that 'the world has witnessed how the United States attacked Iraq for, as it turned out, no reason at all. Had the Iranians not tried to build nuclear weapons, they would be crazy,' particularly when they are under constant threat of attack in violation of the UN Charter. Whether they are doing so remains an open question, but perhaps so."

But, global issues get more complicated by the day, by the hour, and also by the minute. The United States and Europe are united in the stability of the Middle East; however, Turkey and Brazil both voted against the Security Council as Arab public opinion “favors Iranian nuclear weapons.” Then Washington “rammed through a Security Council resolution so weak that China readily signed.” As everyone, especially the Europeans, pull out of Iran, China takes advantage of less competitive business opportunities in Iran. China ignores U.S. warnings and the U.S. refuses to push China, fearing China will refuse the U.S. war ships access off the coast of China, according to the New York Times (noted by Chomsky). The situation becomes even more tenuous when the United States suggests that Israel’s nuclear facilities and activities are exempted. How can that be?

The overall power of the United States steadily declines as the economy continues to weaken. The wealthy top one percent holds the bulk of the wealth and controls the U.S. elections. As long as we continue to bail out corporation and big banks, the middle class will disappear, and the top one percent will gain even more power and wealth. Chomsky continues his article stressing other elements that factor into the economic equation: Mayans fleeing genocide, victims of NAFTA, and racism in the U.S. and abroad.

Like Chomsky says, as long as we remain "passive," and allow the wealthy to dig a deeper hole for their money, and we continue to sit idly by, allowing them to police themselves and make their own rules, they will continue to rule our country and keep the poor and the middle class down.

I also recommend that you read “Wealth, Income, and Power” in Who Rules America by Professor G. William Domhoff of the Sociology Department at the University of South California in Santa Cruz, where the wealth distribution in the United States is fully explained and documented. He states that as of 2007, the top 1% (upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth; whereas the next 19% held 50.5%, “which means that just 20% [of households] owned 85%” of privately held wealth, “leaving only 15% for the bottom 80%” of households in the United States. He also states that the top 1% held 42.7% total financial wealth. Domhoff also reminds us that although, wealth and power are two different issues, wealth can lead to power, just as power can lead to wealth.

Dormhoff further informs us that wealth distribution became even more concentrated between 1983-2004 due to tax cuts for the wealthy and the demise of labor unions. He writes that during that 21-year-period, 42% of it went to the top 1%, revealing that “whopping 94% went to the top 20%, which of course means that the bottom 80% received only 6% of all the new financial wealth generated in the United States during the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s,” noted by Edward N. Wolff’s article, “Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze.”

How many jobs have been shipped overseas because corporations do not want to pay Americans a good wage or supply health insurance? I ask, when was your last raise and how much was it? Have your wages kept up with the cost of health, education, food, housing, and other items so that you can be a productive human being? If not, then you have a justifiable bitch, and as long as you sit back and take it, that top 1% will do their best let us carry them, promoting little or no growth in our country, until we are too weak to fight back.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noam-chomsky/us-global-power_b_851992.html?page=4
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_589.pdf

Fox in the Hen House

2011-08-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t watched the documentary, “Inside Job,” produced, written and directed by Charles Ferguson, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Additional information can be found at their website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/

After watching Ferguson's documentary, I was disgusted by the crooks who control our banking system. To put it bluntly, after deregulation, which began with President Reagan, bankers, economic professors sitting on corporate boards, and financial investment brokers, who are supposed to be ethically investing for their clients, bet against their clients to make a profit on failed or lost investments.

For example, to explain one part of this financial scheme, we need only look at the housing bubble which could have been prevented. Bank officials loaned money to people who could not afford loans because the bankers knew that they could sell the loans to another financial institution. Many of the buyers of these loans speculated that homeowners would default on their mortgages; and therefore, through property derivatives these bankers could gain profits(by hedging or betting against these home loans).

All types of unregulated derivatives exist: interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange derivatives, credit derivatives, equity derivatives, commodity derivatives and others. Basically, they are leveraging the debt in the United States, making it impossible to service real debt.

Deregulation, put into effect by the Reagan administration, actually helped these crooks become millionaires overnight, although deregulation is not supposed to be completely unregulated or an act of fraud. Deregulation allowed Wall Street brokers to buy prostitutes, alcohol, and cocaine—not to mention leasing extravagant vehicles for a night with their $1,000 a night hookers. These expense accounts along with exuberant salaries were covered by investment funds. CEOs were and are paid exuberant amounts that are ridiculous. When the banks and financial institutions were bailed out, almost all of the CEOs and high price officials kept their salaries.

In fact, many of these “so-called” financial experts are protected by our administration. Presidents from Reagan to Obama have hired some of these greedy investment bankers to be part of our government’s administration, including within the U.S. Treasury Department, thus giving these so-called financial experts the ultimate source to protect themselves and others who have gained their millions on the backs of American citizens.

These financial schemes continue to have a disastrous effect on our economy as well as a domino effect on the economies of the rest of world. Stocks along with our retirement funds continue to nose dive. American people are too ignorant to understand, and the wealthy along with much of our government are counting on that ignorance.

Our government is supposed to be trustworthy, like these financial institutions. Instead, these institutions, including our government, have placed a higher cost on Americans by allowing financial institutions, like big corporations, to police themselves. Evidently, they all skipped the ethics course, and really couldn't care less.

Crumblings of the US Infrastructure

2011-08-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Our crumbling infrastructure points to a dark, deep depression much worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. If we do not begin a systematic approach of repair and rebuilding the United States, we will pay a heavier price than the already staggering amount presently staring us in the face. Many experts report that the United States has waited too long, and even as and when we rebuild, we face difficult times. Wasteful spending by the government has only added to the crisis of our crumbling infrastructure.

Pork such as bridges built to nowhere along with favors in the “good old boy” network are an abomination to our country and our children. According to an article by Casey Scudder, approximately 8 billion dollars of pork were included in the March 2009 stimulus package of $410 billion that congress presented and the president signed. We have to ask ourselves if our elective officials are really serving the public.

http://www.investinganswers.com/a/13-most-absurd-pork-barrel-spending-projects-2010-1583

Transportation
Eric Pianin of The Fiscal Times reports that government cuts to infrastructure “will further undermine the economy and add to the country’s unemployment woes in the coming years.” The U.S. Congress is failing to confront necessary legislation (like “the next federal transportation bill”). Massive cuts and underfunding projects to rebuild our infrastructure will impose heavy cost on the American public.

Read more: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/27/Infrastructure-Spending-Gap-Will-Cost-More-Jobs.aspx#page1#ixzz1UMZ9ZBoh

According to an article by Ashley Halsey III, a study by the Urban Land Institute states that the transportation network in the United States is behind much of the world and is less than competitive in the global marketplace. Halsey reports that the U.S. lags behind Brazil, China and India. According to the report, Americans will eventually see nature covering less traveled roads, higher federal gas taxes, tolls on interstate highways, higher water and sewage bills, higher property and sales taxes. She writes that more private and profit-seeking companies will play a larger part in the funding and maintenance of public projects. The state of Louisiana, like others, now uses contractors to do much of their work.

As U.S. Congress debates the debt ceiling, China plans to spend $1 trillion on high speed rail and other means of transportation. India invested 500 billion in highway improvement and “plans to double that amount by 2017” while Brazil plans a 900 billion “energy and transportation projects by 2014” (Halsey). Accordingly, the federal government will push cost to states.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/study-2-trillion-needed-for-us

A high speed rail system that would bring long needed jobs should be a priority in the United States. The high speed rail system has been mentioned many times by the Obama administration, but we are still waiting.

Dams
A 2009 report states that the United States has more than 85,000 dams with an average age of over 51 years. The infrastructure report card noted that U.S. dams earned a grade D (poor) with 12.5 billion dollars needed to upgrade them (www.asce.org/reportcard). The report states, “Dams provide essential benefits, including drinking water, power generation, flood protection, irrigation, and recreation.” The report also notes that “America’s drinking water systems” needs “at least 11 billion to replace aging facilities that are near the end of their useful lives and to comply with their existing and future federal water regulations,” which “does not account for “the demand . . . over the next 20 years,” as well as the “[l]eaking pipes losing and “an estimated 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water a year” (www.asce.org/reportcard).

Sewage System
Our sewage system releases human waste into rivers and streams across the United States. Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith of Gannett News Service report that local governments plan to modernize these facilities (some of which are 100 years old) over the next 10 to 20 years. In the meantime, people and animals will continue to get sick. Hundreds of billions are needed to rebuild and improve sewage treatment plants.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-07-sewers-main_N.htm

Levees
The reliability of more than 85% of the levees or 100,000 levees “locally owned and maintained” is unknown. Many are more than 50 years old. The estimated cost in 2009 was calculated at 100 billion, lacking 50 billion of that cost to repair and rehabilitate U.S. levees (www.asce.org/reportcard). The ASCE notes that the condition of levees places a significant impact on the safety of the people. The condition of levees across our country earns a D- (report card).

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/fact-sheet/levees

Landfill
Landfills have long been a problem in our country. According to the report, “In 2007, the U.S. produced 254 million tons of municipal solid waste.” With electronic waste increasing and a lack of regulations for disposal, high levels of hazardous materials and heavy metals are filling our landfills posing a threat to public safety (www.asce.org/report/reportcard). Furthermore, “Aging systems discharge billions of gallons of untreated wastewater into U.S. surface waters each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the nation must invest $390 billion over the next 20 years to update or replace existing systems and build new ones to meet increasing demand” (www.asce.org/report/reportcard).

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/sites/default/files/RC2009_water_environment.pdf

Electricity
Blackouts will continue to occur across the United States because of aging, straining power grids. With NASA expecting severe space weather by 2013 U.S. “power grids may be more vulnerable than ever.” The interconnected power across the U.S. makes us more susceptible to a cascade effect across the country. Marc Slavo writes that “The loss of electricity would ripple across the social infrastructure with “water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, fuel re-supply and so on.” The response to Katrina and the BP oil spill illustrates the havoc that our citizens will experience across this country (Slavo). Although progress has been made in grid enforcement, hundreds of billions are still needed for improvements.

http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/nasa-plans-for-large-scale-failure-power-grid-is-particularly-vulnerable-to-bad-space-weather_06072010

Energy
The United States uses more energy than any other country in the world. We must practice effective energy use to conserve energy. Energy use continues to increase faster than energy production. U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that 87% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions “are related to energy consumption.” In 2010 we imported 49% of the petroleum that we used (eia). Coal is the largest source of energy produced in the United States (eia).

http://www.eia.gov/

Renewable energy sources vary across the United States. Both renewable and nonrenewable are used to supply our needs. Although renewable energy appears free and non-polluting, the structures that bring them to the public may have a negative or positive impact on our environment (nationalatlas.gov).

http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/people/a_energy.html

Labor
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an unemployment rate of 9.1; however, that figure does not include the unemployed who are not collecting unemployment or those underemployed. The report adds, “Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (9.0 percent),adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (25.0 percent), whites(8.1 percent), blacks (15.9 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed little or no change in July. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted” (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). According to the report, “The civilian labor force participation rate edged down in July to 63.9 percent, and the employment-population ratio was little changed at 58.1 percent.”

IF we continue to ignore the state of our infrastructure, we are asking for more economic woes that will contribute to less jobs and a lost nation.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

What's in the debt ceiling bill?

2011-08-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

According to CNN, “The agreement calls for up to $2.4 trillion in savings over the next decade, raises the debt ceiling through the end of 2012 and establishes a special congressional committee to recommend long-term fiscal reforms.”

The article “House approves debt ceiling bill” by Alan Silverleib and Tom Cohen further states that the republicans are concerned about defense spending and the requirement of a “ balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.” What they do not consider is if such an amendment to the Constitution was passed, what would happen if our country was attacked and we needed funds to go to war? Will the balanced budget amendment list stipulations? Jonathan Allen reports in Politico, that discretionary spending caps are split “between ‘security’ and ‘non-security’ spending.”

Democrats are concerned about “domestic spending cuts as well as the absence of any immediate tax hikes on wealthier Americans” (Silverleib & Cohen). So let’s further divide this country and put everything on the backs of the working class and poor. If the government passes such a bill, they are creating a wider divide between the classes in the United States. The middle class will continue to vanish.

CBS mentions changes to the tax code but does not go into specifics. Lucy Madison reports that the plan calls for a special congressional committee to figure out (by Thanksgiving) what programs will be cut. Madison further states that “Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., called the bill a ‘Trojan horse’ and said he could not vote for legislation that included a ‘series of cuts we don't know.’”

The wealthiest Americans are not contributing to job growth in this country because the unemployment rate of 9.2% remains about the same. Those with jobs have not seen raises in more than four years while the cost of living continues to climb. The cost of groceries and drugs have risen to the point that the elderly are choosing between food and drugs.

Ironically, Allen also reports that “Under the deal, Pell Grants get an extra $20 billion in funding over the next two years, and the bill cuts subsidized loans for graduate students." Meanwhile, graduating students are finding it increasingly difficult to find work.

The vague reporting of what is really in this bill is disturbing because we really have no idea what our government is cutting. Members of Congress can be compared to college students who wait until the last minute to do their assignments. The media should ask the difficult questions and get specifics so that the American public is informed.

Sources:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/01/news/economy/debt_ceiling_vote.cnnw/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20086602-503544.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60380.html

Chemo Curls

2011-07-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Seven months have passed since my last chemo treatment. My hair has always been thin, baby fine, and a little wavy. Now I have a head full of curls. The color came back salt and pepper gray which I really didn’t care for so I colored it blonde. From everything I’ve read, the chemo left behind contributes to the texture of the hair. Some hair is better than none, so I am happy with what I have. I wore my hair long for thirty years, so now I will wear it short. I plan to try a few different styles until I find something I really like. I don’t know if my curls will disappear, but for now I will enjoy them. Since most women with advanced stages and about half diagnosed with no evidence of disease (NED) relapse after their primary therapy, I have decided to keep my hair short.

SOUND OF THE SHADE

2011-07-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Beneath the trees, crusty leaves fall,

forgotten recollections, blending colors

into a cool whisper of light on shaded ground.

Caterpillars crawl, inching about the bark.

Butterflies flutter and flaunt in flight.

Someone has thrown a bag of puppies into the lake.

Time has twisted fate—into another mark,

measuring the smallest sound of a raindrop,

splashing into that dark empty space

where no one will ever look.

Beneath a single blade, a grasshopper

disappears under the green to see

the things that we never see

in the sound of the shade.

To read "What Mama Said: A Child's Memoir"

2011-06-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Go to Apalachee Review No. 61

His Workbench

2011-05-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

My husband’s saw grinds through pine boards,

those which lie no longer as the floor

of a horse trailer recently sold.

Sweat drips from his forehead

as he builds a king’s workbench

with wood that no longer carries creatures,

but provides for them instead,

with window boxes that attract wildlife,

where blue jays, larks and cardinals dine

with doves, pigeons, and red-tailed squirrels.

Wings of Deep

2011-05-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

My bare feet splash the sea,

breaking storm waves, sliding

against ivory grains of sand,

returning to the warm Caribbean.

If only sea could wash away my madness,

with wings I could fly above the breath

of twilight where Angels brush golden lights,

spread dreams of honey, and loll the island to sleep.

I drop my swimsuit on the beach,

walk with Shelley in the valley of the sea

as I succumb all—for inceptive intimacy

and swim among angels deep.

Puppy Love

2011-05-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

I didn’t mean to make you cry;

I was just a little girl. You

Will always be my first love,

And no one can take that from us.

Years have turned into more

Than either of us want to admit,

But we can still be friends.

Private Moments

2011-05-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Children play along the shoreline,

Sliding their fingers, shaping

sand castles, splashing sea water

with plastic buckets and paper cups.

Captured by the waves, I wash

private moments in the roll of the tide.

Hint of Spring

2011-04-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

We barely experience spring in Louisiana,

often missing that silent wind that blows

spring’s quiet warm breeze to land.

So we take advantage, quickly,

before the days turn long and humid.

In the early morning we rake fallen leaves

from live oaks, watch caterpillars drop,

as we fish the bayou for sac-a-lait and bass.

And just before the sun bears down,

in the late afternoon shade

before the mosquitoes come out,

we look up in trees where squirrels play,

chasing each other, jumping from limb to limb.

A Patriot's Ramble

2011-04-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

If you think the downturn for our country has passed, you better think again. Many of the U.S. Senators and Representatives would prefer we go back to the robber baron days. This year’s deficit is expected to hit $1.6 trillion bringing the national debt to $14.7 trillion, according to an article in HuffPost. Instead of having everyone pay their fair share of taxes, including corporations, many members of U.S. Congress prefer that the poor and middle class pay all of the taxes. The rich do not need any more tax breaks. Our country cannot afford it. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.” Pay your freakin’ taxes, people.

As far as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security being called socialism, the bail out of big businesses and banks was also socialism. Many people have paid into Social Security all of their lives, and the government wants to get rid of it? Medicare and Medicaid are for people who need it. Of course, these programs are not perfect, but would you prefer these poor people walk the streets and spread their illnesses to the rest of us? Is that the Christian thing to do?

We need a single-payer system/insurance pool (universal health care) so that we all get the same medical treatment and the insurance companies cannot raise their rates. Some single payers are government run and others are mixed public/private run.

Take a good look at your senators and representatives and make sure you vote for the people who represent our nation as a whole. Do you want your grandparents running around without their social security/retirement? Do you want your grandparents running around without proper health care? Where did these people in the congress come from? Remember they already have the best health care. See: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/health-care-for-members-of-congress/

So as food and gas prices soar and wages remain stagnant, our infrastructure falls apart. Who is wasting our country’s money? Look at all the billions and billions that we spend on war. Look at the billions that our representatives and senators waste on pork. Look at those in our government who do the deeds for big corporations as they line their pockets. Do they really care about you?

It is time for you to stand up for the people, President Obama. Please don’t allow our country to go backwards.

A typical day for a R.N. in the home health care business

2011-04-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Maggie is a registered nurse employed with the home health care industry in the United States. On one of her weekly visits to a patient, she enters a house with broken windows that looks abandoned. The inside of the house is dark; however, the 64-year-old male patient brings a small lamp to a kitchen table that has not been cleaned in days. He and his wife barely read. The couple is mentally challenged.

The couple’s two grown sons in their 40s arise from their single beds in the bedroom and come into the living room. They are probably mentally challenged as well. One of the men draws the phlegm from inside his throat and spits the mucous on the floor, then comes into the room where the others are standing.

The house is filthy and strewed with clothing. Roaches scurry across the table. About six dogs run though the living room as if they belong. The house is literally falling apart inside and out. The family is dressed in filthy rags.

After the visit Maggie notifies a social worker and also assigns two aides who will return and bathe the man (because the man is the patient). The old woman complained about having bowel movements from her urethra which is also reported. Whether the woman will receive medical help is not known because she has a record of fighting with the caregivers. According to Maggie, the social worker will visit the family and make notes, but in all probability the family will remain in the house because there is a lack of places for the mentally ill.

Maggie is surprised that we have people in the United States living in this manner.

English 210: The "Other" Hemingway

2011-04-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Ernest Hemingway wrote short stories, novels, and poetry, but he was also a damn good journalist. He has been called the father of the human interest/feature story. Many people know about Hemingway’s novel Old Man and the Sea, and that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for his contemporary style and his short narrative prose. However, not as many know that his biography is just as interesting as his work, and glimpses of his life can be found in a number of his novels and short stories.

Hemingway's work tell us much about the author himself. He illustrates much of his early years in Paris during the 20s in A Moveable Feast. We learn that he loved Cezanne’s art and felt a connection to him, relating to the starving artist where the best art is created when the artist feels the pain of hunger.He explores gender and sexuality in his novels Garden of Eden and The Sun Also Rises. According to Hemingway, his women characters were a mixture of all the women he knew and some that he never knew. He offers us a taste of his passion as an aficionado of bullfighting in his novel The Sun Also Rises.

Hemingway belonged to the Lost Generation. He introduces the term "lost generation" in A Moveable Feast and The Sun Also Rises. He gives Gertrude Stein credit for the term, although it has several definitions. Supposedly, she overheard an auto mechanic in France describe his workers as “une generation perdue.” The term has been described as an entire generation of men in France lost during WW1. The term also describes expatriate writers like Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others, who lived in Paris after WW1 during the 20s.

According to the biographer, James Mellow, the English reviewer Virginia Woolf “rankled” Hemingway the most with her critical review of Men Without Women and The Sun Also Rises. She said that Hemingway used too much dialogue in his work. Hemingway was associated with writers like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, William Faulkner, and John Dos Passos, among others. Fitzgerald and Hemingway gave each other feedback, and on many occasions Hemingway didn’t like what Fitzgerald had to say. In fact, he bluntly wrote, “Kiss my ass.” in the margin of one Fitzgerald critical letters (Mellow). His writing requires critical thinking. He uses much symbolism and writes in cryptic terms using the 7/8 iceberg theory, for which he is famous, where 7/8 of the story lies beneath the surface.

Some argue that his work is misogynistic and homophobic, but if his subject manner is studied with an open mind, the reader will come away with a bigger catch. He was an avid sportsman of hunting and fishing. He may have been a man’s man, but during his life time he surrounded himself with strong women, including four wives. On July 2, 1961 he placed the barrel of a shotgun in his mouth and blew his brain out.

Writing that first personal essay. . .

2011-02-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

By the time students enter their first year of college, they can usually put a personal essay together. I think of a personal essay as a moment in time that we share with others. In fact, the personal essay is much like a memoir. Too many times, student fall into the trap of spelling out long periods of their lives.

We can share so much of ourselves through a personal essay. For example, what brought us through that sudden realization, a certain period that stands out in our lives, or an event that gives us certain personality traits. Too many times, students write vague essays because they are afraid to share the truths about themselves. They do not realize that we all have skeletons in our closets.

At first, students write in passive voice without specifics: I could smell my mother’s Christmas cooking. Change to: Apples and cinnamon from my mother’s homemade apple pie floated through the kitchen. I also see the word “was” so many times that I actually get sick of the word. Of course, it’s okay to use “was” in a sentence, but after a while readers feel like they are being dragged through an essay instead of placed in a scene. Try to place your reader in the kitchen or where ever the scene may be. Use plenty of description to show your reader. Tell, but show often. Readers enjoy seeing what they read. Use the senses to bring an essay to life.

Good writers read their draft multiple times. They also read their drafts aloud. Often, students find their errors when reading their drafts to other people. Ask someone else to read and peer edit your work. Introduce your readers to the scene—not with an announcement but by bringing them into the scene through description.

Know that good writers may play with a draft numerous times and still be dissatisfied. Revise, revise, revise. In fact, it is not uncommon for good writer to come back to a piece they wrote years later. Naturally, in school, we do not have the luxury of time, but if we begin early, we can return to the essay more than one time. Reading a first draft is less than fun for anyone!