During the wee hours of the morning on September 25, life happened. I awoke with what I thought was indigestion. Drove myself to the local hospital. And the medical profession and my family began a fight to keep me on this earthly plane awhile longer. A transfer to Albany Med's Cardiac Care Unit; an emergency angioplasty cum stents; an encounter with defibrillators; an anxious watch in ICU as my scattered family gathered to my bedside and an easing of tension as my condition stabilized and my family began to breath easier.
When I emerged from the fog, my older daughter was sitting quietly by my bedside. I apologized to her for being unable to be "sociable"! She calmly announced she was quite happy to just sit there quietly and keep me company.
Later that night my younger daughter and her husband brought my 97 year old mother 200 miles to my bedside. (They wheeled her in - for once she agreed to a wheel chair - her tartan hat in place, favorite earrings and gold pin on, calm and undramatic (that was NOT typical).)
On September 26 my husband arrived after a frantic scramble to get an earlier flight from Austin, TX.
Three weeks later I am finally beginning to process my changed reality. A person who has always HATED drugs, now takes a slew of them. I hadn't been feeling well for some time, but it never occurred to me I had heart disease. Think again - I do. I thought it was time for me to check out. The medical profession and my family disagreed. I am still here. But everything else seems different. I am a nonbeliever. But many, many people prayed very, very hard for my recovery. I thought my cigarette addiction would send me to my grave unabated, but I haven't had one since September 24 (I try really, really hard not to think about them). It seems like I have been given a "second chance", but part of me thinks it is still way too soon to tell.
Today I spoke with a good friend who had a very similar experience in 2008. Vivian and I made a pact - if we live to our 90th year, we will both take up smoking again!
Here's what I think...
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Does Voter IDs = Voter Suppression?
Passing and enforcing voter ID/voter suppression laws across this country appears to be the latest manifestation of the "White Man's Burden."
Should Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and really poor people be allowed to vote? Evidently some think not.
Should Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and really poor people be allowed to vote? Evidently some think not.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Now you see them, now you don't... .
Why do I have this uneasy suspicion that the job of the elected Democrats and Republicans is to use their divisive issues to distract the populace from the activities of the real power brokers working behind the scenes to steal our birthright?
Thursday, August 23, 2012
All Fathers are NOT Created Equal
I recently read that in 32 states rapists have "rights of parenthood" if the rapes they commit result in pregnancy and the women decide to bear the children. This adds an entirely new dimension to the crime against the woman.
Do I believe this happens? Absolutely. For years I watched one of my dearest friends struggle to maintain control of the parenthood of her child. The father was NOT a rapist. He was a deserter who abandoned her to her fate when he learned she was pregnant. He WAS a substance abusing manic-depressive. But family court MANDATED he be given custodial weekend visits.
My friend spent days after these visits dealing with the ramifications of her son's visits with his father. The night terror, the anxiety, the temper tantrums. To this day I do not know how she managed to get through this torturous period of her life.
She never gave up her fight for full custody and after YEARS and repeated failures of her son's father to provide child support, she did achieve it.
Her son is a miracle. A beautiful person because of HER incredible strength and UNFAILING dedication to her own parenthood.
The law, on the other hand, did her no favors and put her and her baby through HELL.
Women's issues are about a lot more than access to abortion and birth control. They are about women's rights to PERSON HOOD.
Politicians like Todd Akin are the tip of the iceberg with his definition of "legitimate" and illegitimate" rape.
This should NOT be a Republican v Democratic issue. It IS NOT a conservative v liberal issue. It is ABOUT THE RIGHTS of 51 percent of this country's population.
We do not live under Sharia Law after all (or do we?).
Do I believe this happens? Absolutely. For years I watched one of my dearest friends struggle to maintain control of the parenthood of her child. The father was NOT a rapist. He was a deserter who abandoned her to her fate when he learned she was pregnant. He WAS a substance abusing manic-depressive. But family court MANDATED he be given custodial weekend visits.
My friend spent days after these visits dealing with the ramifications of her son's visits with his father. The night terror, the anxiety, the temper tantrums. To this day I do not know how she managed to get through this torturous period of her life.
She never gave up her fight for full custody and after YEARS and repeated failures of her son's father to provide child support, she did achieve it.
Her son is a miracle. A beautiful person because of HER incredible strength and UNFAILING dedication to her own parenthood.
The law, on the other hand, did her no favors and put her and her baby through HELL.
Women's issues are about a lot more than access to abortion and birth control. They are about women's rights to PERSON HOOD.
Politicians like Todd Akin are the tip of the iceberg with his definition of "legitimate" and illegitimate" rape.
This should NOT be a Republican v Democratic issue. It IS NOT a conservative v liberal issue. It is ABOUT THE RIGHTS of 51 percent of this country's population.
We do not live under Sharia Law after all (or do we?).
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Pregnancy by Rape or Incest
I hear the stories of Muslim fathers who butcher their raped daughters because these girls have blemished their precious "honor".
I hear American representatives elected by the people claiming there is a difference between "legitimate" i.e. "real" rape and "illegitimate" rape i.e. she said no but meant yes.
My child-bearing years ended decades ago with a hysterectomy. I am well past menopause. But the thought of a woman, any woman, being forced to bear the abomination of a pregnancy inflicted upon her by a rapist's attack still curdles the blood pounding through my veins.
The Church and religion in which I was raised leads the field of those who would insist "punish the rapist, not the child." But what of the victim of the crime? The woman forced first by the superior physical strength of her attacker to undergo the vicious attack upon her very person hood and then by the male-dominated legislaturalists and religionists to bear the hideous fruit of that attack in her body for nine excruciating months?
I speak directly to the Church I abandoned in the 1990s when I finally realized it was a Church that loved men and despised women - This is unacceptable. Your institution protected the rapists of children. Your institution condemned the parents of those children for "attacking the Church" when they protested the violation of those children. Your institution abandoned the nuns who dedicated their lives to your good works or castigated them for not pursuing your anti-abortion anti-birth control agenda and concentrating on serving the poor, the unrepresented, the needy.
A woman, any woman, who is forced by her society's laws to bear the child inflicted upon her by rape or incest has been betrayed by that society. She has been enslaved.
I hear American representatives elected by the people claiming there is a difference between "legitimate" i.e. "real" rape and "illegitimate" rape i.e. she said no but meant yes.
My child-bearing years ended decades ago with a hysterectomy. I am well past menopause. But the thought of a woman, any woman, being forced to bear the abomination of a pregnancy inflicted upon her by a rapist's attack still curdles the blood pounding through my veins.
The Church and religion in which I was raised leads the field of those who would insist "punish the rapist, not the child." But what of the victim of the crime? The woman forced first by the superior physical strength of her attacker to undergo the vicious attack upon her very person hood and then by the male-dominated legislaturalists and religionists to bear the hideous fruit of that attack in her body for nine excruciating months?
I speak directly to the Church I abandoned in the 1990s when I finally realized it was a Church that loved men and despised women - This is unacceptable. Your institution protected the rapists of children. Your institution condemned the parents of those children for "attacking the Church" when they protested the violation of those children. Your institution abandoned the nuns who dedicated their lives to your good works or castigated them for not pursuing your anti-abortion anti-birth control agenda and concentrating on serving the poor, the unrepresented, the needy.
A woman, any woman, who is forced by her society's laws to bear the child inflicted upon her by rape or incest has been betrayed by that society. She has been enslaved.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
How can rape possibly be "legitimate"?
Someone, PLEASE tell me the difference between "legitimate" and illegitimate" rape. In the meantime, please excuse me while I empty my stomach over the toilet bowl.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
The Poor are Spoiled? Really?
I heard someone complain that "poor" people had satellite dishes, flat screen tvs, refrigerators, air conditioners and microwaves. They felt this was inappropriate. But we live in an information age in which you really, really need access; refrigerators keep your food from rotting; air conditioners in cement block inner city blocks that have no shade and no air circulation in 100F+ weather do not sound like a luxury to me and microwaves come in real handy and you can get them pretty damn cheap. I just can't bring myself to resent "poor" people for having what I consider the most basic necessities for any level of comfort for myself.
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