And My Beat Goes On

And My Beat Goes On

Two things happened recently. I heard author and rock journalist, Sylvie Simmons talk about her latest book, I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen and several of my poems were included in the anthology, And The Beats Go On, published by Redwood Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club. The combination has brought me to a finish.

• I’ve finished with the questions that may never have answers.


• I’ve finished with the people that can’t understand.


• I’ve finished thinking that everyone else is better.

When I heard Sylvie play the songs of Leonard Cohen, simply and honestly on a ukulele, without amplification; I thought back to the living room, next to the dining room, where, Balanced On The Edge of the Crowd” opens. In that room, I played Leonard Cohen’s first album until I had it memorized. I also carried a copy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s, A Coney Island of the Mind–it too, memorized.

Today Leonard and Lawrence are with me still and:

• I have answers to the questions I was afraid to ask.


• I have people around that understand.


• I am as good as anybody.

Not bad for a day’s work. The part that is Beyond Cuckoo is how long it took to get here.

http://www.amazon.com/Im-Your-Man-Leonard-Cohen/dp/0061995002/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

http://www.amazon.com/Redwood-Writers-2014-Poetry-Anthology/dp/1496094611/

 

And My Beat Goes On

Elizabeth Warren: A Fighting Chance for the Middle Class

This morning, as I sipped my coffee, I caught a TV interview with Elizabeth Warren on CBS news. Her book, A Fighting Chance, launches today—a plea for economic fairness for Middle Class America. Much of the discussion was old news for those of us who work for a living. We pay the taxes, fuel the economy, and lose at a game that’s rigged to support the wealthy.

“Special deals for those who’ve already got money, and the ticket gets paid by hardworking families who are barely hanging on,” is how Ms. Warren described it.

As she spoke about her father’s heart attack, my own heart sank. She was twelve when suddenly her family struggled to pay their bills. I was thirty-six when my husband Blake almost died from a major arrhythmia. She describes her ordeal:

“He was sick for a long time, and he was out of work,” she said. “We lost the family station wagon. And we came right to the edge of losing our home. My mother saved our home with a minimum wage job. But in the 1960s, a minimum wage job would support a family of three above the poverty line. Not today. Not even close.

“I understood right then that people can work hard, they can play by the rules, and they can still take a hard smack.”

I describe my ordeal, as one in which each morning I awoke to the feeling that I was stuck in limbo. Blake’s health continued in an on-again/off-again pattern. Luckily I had health insurance or we would have lost everything. It could all have been gone within a few months. Our finances dwindled and we struggled with debt. I watched as government bailed out huge financial institutions and big business. I wondered who would bail us out. Well, we made it through, but many don’t.

Elizabeth Warren describes it this way in an excerpt from her Prologue:

Today the game is rigged— rigged to work for those who have money and power. Big corporations hire armies of lobbyists to get billion- dollar loopholes into the tax system and persuade their friends in Congress to support laws that keep the playing field tilted in their favor. Meanwhile,hardworking families are told that they’ll just have to live with smaller dreams for their children.

Over the past generation, America’s determination to give every kid access to affordable college or technical training has faded. The basic infrastructure that helps us build thriving businesses and jobs— the roads, bridges, and power grids— has crumbled. The scientific and medical research that has sparked miraculous cures and inventions from the Internet to nanotechnology is starved for funding, and the research pipeline is shrinking. The optimism that defines us as a people has been beaten and bruised.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

A Free Download of the Table of Contents and Prologue of “A Fighting Chance” is available: http://fightingchancebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/AFightingChance-Prologue.pdf

For me the bottom line is that unless the middle class supports senators like Elizabeth Warren, we will continue to live in an economic world that is BEYOND CUCKOO.

Elizabeth Warren: A Fighting Chance for the Middle Class

The Thulani Program - Helping the Most Vulnerable

My Name is: Shaggy 

The e-mail came from my husband, Blake, to me at work, “What do you think about this guy? Click through the link to see Shaggy.”

A double-click took me to The Thulani Program’s website and my first glimpse of our next foster dog. I picked up the phone.

“Hi, this is me . . . are you there?” I asked the voice mail message.

“Here I am,” Blake answered as he picked up his home office phone.

“I’m looking at Shaggy’s photo; he looks on the disheveled side.”

We had recently lost our first Thulani foster, Buddy, to cancer and I wasn’t sure I could handle taking on another dog with too many health problems. I’ve adjusted to the relatively short periods that we have with these gentle giants, but I wanted some quality time before the true hospice care began. Shaggy’s appearance definitely fit his name. The animal shelter’s “mug shot” pictured a sad-eyed, depressed pooch, with a broken heart. He had been recently separated from his companion, who was adopted out, and Shaggy awaited euthanasia. I wondered about his health condition and the challenges that we may face. All I could see was sadness. However, Blake, the eternal optimist, turned my thoughts around.

“Oh that’s just a bad photo. How do you think you’d look in jail? . . . Or first thing in the morning?” he teased.

“Smart alec!”  I bit back, then took another look at the computer screen. I knew this wasn’t a great photo and I had faith that Bob Jachens, at Thulani would honestly tell us, about Shaggy’s condition and disposition.

I kidded, wanting to get even for that early morning comment.

*    *    *    *

Well, it’s a new year and a new life for the Shagster. As I write this, he snores at my feet, recuperating from our early morning game of football and walk around the neighborhood.  He spends his days as ambassador to Blake’s clients that frequent his home office—always welcoming them with a nose-nuzzle and tag-wag. That is until I come through the door in the evening. From that point on, my ‘Shaggy Shadow’ follows me wherever I go. Blake says that Shaggy knows it’s his job to keep an eye on me and keep me from harm. I think we simply connect in some special way.

Shaggy’s been with us now six months. We haven’t seen any significant health problems—only a few signs of old age—extra bathroom trips, a sore hip if we do too much and an upset tummy if Mom gets overly enthusiastic with her treats.  Otherwise, we’ve been to the beach several times and once to the local dog park—where we made friends easily and even had a short roll in the hay. (Not that kind . . . sheesh.) His fur has filled back in; he has the sporadic energy of a puppy and is in no way ready to end his life. Shaggy (a.k.a. Shagster) is a classic example of a dog benefitting from The Thulani Project’s Mission of ‘Helping the Most Vulnerable’—finding good homes for old dogs ready to learn new tricks.

German Shepherds are special in so many ways.  Their intelligence, sense of loyalty, and calm demeanor all shine into their later years—in some ways even more brightly than when they frolicked as adolescents. Blake and I are planning our fortieth wedding anniversary in April. We also don’t frolic with as much intensity as we did in our younger years. However, we like to consider ourselves somewhat wiser with plenty of life left. That is why we love these senior dogs—they relate to all the love and fun we can give them.

Oh and by-the way, regarding our anniversary getaway weekend: We found this great place in Mendocino County with rental cottages that welcome dogs—high in the hills, under the stars, not far from the beach with fenced yards. Do you think Shaggy will like it?

Prematurely putting these old dogs down, is not only unnecessarily cruel–it’s BEYOND CUCKOO!

http://www.gsrnc.org/index.asp

http://thulanidogs.org/2014/04/06/thunder-t/

The Thulani Program - Helping the Most Vulnerable

Snorkelers Care

When time and money is in abundance, my husband Blake’s and my favorite vacation spots are in Hawaii. Too timid to dive, we snorkel—gently hovering over coral reefs and peeking into nooks and crannies. The treasures we find are worth more than the gold rumored to be buried with the many shipwrecks still to be discovered.

Regardless of which island we visit, we often rent our snorkeling gear from Snorkel Bob’s chain of outfitters. As you enter any one of the many locations, you can’t help but notice the information about the company’s foundation which focuses on reef recovery. The 501c3 non-profit recognizes the worldwide global impact of reef collapse. It has been instrumental in exposing the Hawaii aquarium trade and its uncontrolled netting, which decimates the fish populations and creates ecological imbalance. One of the biggest threat to the reefs is algae and guess what controls the algae?—the fish population. The aquarium trade fills 80% of all tanks in the U.S. with Hawaii reef fish, 99% of which die in a year.  In the wild they live for decades.

Today, as a landlubber, dreaming of the ocean, but with only terra firma under my feet, I did some research and unearthed a few facts:

It is estimated that up to 30 million fish, 4 million pounds of coral skeleton and 9-10 million other invertebrate are removed each year from ecosystems to supply the aquarium trade.

Precise quantification of the size and value of the ornamental trade is stymied by the critical lack of monitoring and regulation, which leads to illegal poaching practices, which supplies a sizeable black market for reef-dwelling organisms.

Since the state of Hawaii established a series of reserves on the Kona coastline to protect ornamental fish from collection, aquarium fish are now recovering in these areas.

Cyanide is used to poison fish rapidly. It is squirted by divers from bottles to stun the fish, so it is easy to scoop them into nets. Cyanide fishing is currently one of the biggest threats to coral reefs in areas that supply the aquarium trade.

To increase profitable populations invasive species have been added to coral reefs. A classic example is the introduction of the Pacific Lionfish to waters off south Florida. These invaders are voracious predators and their populations have moved as far north as Long Island and throughout the Caribbean Sea.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. It is beyond cuckoo that this industry continues to destroy our ecosystems. If we are to preserve and respect this earth and all its resources, we cannot discount, even those things that seem innocent—like the aquarium tank that is just so entertaining as you anxiously await that next root canal.

Check out Snorkel Bob’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Snorkel-Bobs/113551378706566

 

Snorkelers Care

Praise The Lord And Pass The Snakes

I’m open-minded when it comes to religion. A mix and match blend of belief and practice is perfectly fine with me. As a child, brought up as a Catholic, I’m no stranger, to scary, gothic and dark ritual. Today, I follow the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. In Chapter 39 of “Autobiography of a Yogi” he recounts the time he spent with Therese Newman, the Catholic Stigmatist, who on Fridays would experience the Passion of Christ and openly bleed from identical wounds. Not my idea of a good time, but she was a saint and I’m not. Maybe someday, I’ll be able to bleed with the best–probably not this lifetime.

However, I think I finally found the limit of my religious tolerance with this practice of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church, which includes poisonous snake handling as part of the service. The recent death of Pastor Jamie Coots has me thinking that this is simply Beyond Cuckoo.

Coots belonged to a small circle of Pentecostal Holiness pastors who take this passage from the Bible’s Gospel of Mark literally:  “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  For some reason, I don’t think Jesus meant that we should antagonize, frighten and exploit reptiles in his name—not to mention that it happens to be stupidly dangerous to the parishioners.

Then there’s the addiction theory–that some folks are simply thrill-seekers. They get a rush from facing death and feel powerful when they escape tragedy. Coots often spoke of the rush of feeling the hand of God.

Regardless, those that study the practice, say that it’s no different to the parishioners, than taking Communion is to Catholics. Hmmm, I knew there was a reason I switched religions.

Praise The Lord And Pass The Snakes

John Steinbeck"s Birthday 2014

According to GOOGLE, today would be John Steinbeck’s 112^th birthday. I like to think that the days of harassment, poverty and fear that Steinbeck describes in “The Grapes of Wrath” are history. Yet today I read about King City, in the beautiful Salinas Valley, where the acting police chief and several officers were charged with selling impounded cars of poor Hispanic residents.

Apparently, there have been on-going reports of complaints, mostly from the Hispanic community, that the police were taking their cars and money and there was nothing they could do. This week investigators finally had enough evidence to arrest six people for bribery and criminal threats.

Interviews with the Hispanic community unearthed the high level of mistrust of the local police. Cars were routinely and illegally towed and impounded. When the owners were unable to raise the storage fees, the cars were confiscated and either sold or given away.

The sad part of this story is that this type of treatment of immigrant communities, is not part of California’s sordid past, but continues throughout the state. We want safe, well-integrated and peaceful towns and the fact that authoritarian behavior is tolerated, is Beyond Cuckoo. I think John Steinbeck would agree. Do you?

John Steinbeck"s Birthday 2014

Bill Nye Meets Marsha Blackburn on Meet the Press

I don’t normally watch NBC’s Meet the Press. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the program, but my viewership goes back to my childhood. On Sunday mornings, the show simply got beat out by cartoons. As an adult, I don’t normally watch cartoons—until this morning.

I became familiar with Bill Nye, when my husband, Blake Webster, interviewed him for his book, “Environmentalists in Action:  Profile of Green Pioneers”. This morning, he debated Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is vice-chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Now, we all agree that lately the weather is Beyond Cuckoo and that there is a general consensus among the scientific community, that carbon emissions play a role in global climate change.  Well, Ms. Blackburn is Beyond Skeptical. To quote, “you don’t make good laws, sustainable laws, when you’re making them on hypotheses, or theories, or unproven sciences.

Mr. Nye offered up some common sense. He pointed out that what Ms. Blackburn called a “very slight” change in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is in fact significant at a 25% increase since 1994. With little air time, the numbers and names tossed about, to be honest, meant little to me. What hit home was Ms. Blackburn’s repetition of the phrase “Cost/Benefits analysis”, which sounded to me like, it’s simply too expensive to look into environmentally clean technology.

Bill Nye made me glad to be American as he pushed back with a more patriotic view. “As a guy who grew up in the US,” he said, “I want the US to lead the world in this….The more we mess around with this denial, the less we’re going to get done.”

You can find Blake Webster’s interview with Bill Nye on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Environmentalists-Profiles-Pioneers-Authorities/dp/1451568282/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392594420&sr=1-9&keywords=Blake+Webster

Bill Nye Meets Marsha Blackburn on Meet the Press