Monthly Archives: October 2018

by

Herd

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: herd.

I am reading Dopesick, newly out this year, by Beth Macy. I am wondering what make people try addictive substances. At what age and why? To be popular? Herd mentality?

I’ve interviewed my older smokers for years, asking what age they started. Most of them say they tried cigarettes at age 9. Nine, you say? Yes. Parents then look horrified when I say that they should start talking about drugs and alcohol and tobacco by the time their child is in third grade. Recently a woman told me that she tried cigarettes at age 7.

It’s not just talking to your kids, either. It’s modeling as well. What do you model for tobacco, for alcohol, for prescription medicines, supplements and over the counter medicines? Do you say one thing but do another?

I am 100 pages in to Dopesick. The most horrifying new information is that more people under age 50 have died from opioid overdose then died in the 1990s from HIV and AIDS. Also the failure of history: we have had morphine available over the counter until addiction swept the country. Then heroin. This round is oxycontin. And I checked the index: no mention of kratom, sold from southeast asia. It is related to the coffee plant but it works as an opioid. It has been illegal in Thailand since 1943. I think they figured out that it too is addictive a long time ago.

I was an introvert, a smart girl, a geek before there was a word. I did not party and was not invited. I went to Denmark as an exchange student. I tried a cigarette there and decided that I couldn’t afford it and it tasted awful. I drank beer there, but was careful. I did go to a party where I was offered a bowl of pills: no. I was cautious and became even more cautious when I returned to the US.

When and what did you try first? And WHY? What makes us try these addictive substances? The evidence is piling up that the younger we try them, the more chance of addiction. And certain substances addict very very quickly.

Who chooses not to be part of the herd and why?

by

Kudos to Kops

The Kinetic Kops do krowd kontrol for the Kinetic Sculpture Race. Mostly to keep spectators, especially spectators with cameras, from being run over. Some of these machines are large and heavy and may not stop on a dime. Some of them went down to the water fast, gathering momentum, with spectators lining the way. People get distracted by the costumes and glitter and forget that these are built to climb hills, go through mud, go on water, human powered.

So Kudos to Kinetic Kops for protecting us all!

by

Mundane Monday 179: without words

For Mundane Monday #179, my prompt is without words.

Let’s see a photograph where the communication is wordless.

Ms. Boa turns 15 as my daughter turned 21. For a cat, that’s approximately in her 70s. She is smaller, has lost muscle mass. She can still catch mice. And she communicates: ok, mom, enough computer for today. Do something else. This was yesterday and I decided she was RIGHT!

Link your blog or send a message and I will list them next week.

From last week Mundane Monday #178 light and dark:

KL Allendorfer: a gorgeous landscape.

 

 

by

mediocre super hero(ine)s

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: plump.Β  This turtle kinetic sculpture is not that plump….

Taken Saturday, at the water part of the Kinetic Sculpture Race. It is all human powered and they have to go out in the cold water, currently around 52 degrees F. Brrrrr. The teams have a brake test down Monroe Street first and then line up to head for the water. The Coast Guard stands ready and various kayaks and sailboats are there.Β  They have to get to a destination and bring back the superhero(ine) mask!

The theme this year is mediocre superhero(ine)s. Lots of glitter and capes and boots. The costumes are wonderful!

To the women and men who are speaking up, there is nothing mediocre about your heroism.

by

tech fan

We went downtown yesterday, walked, to the Kinetic Sculpture Race. They dress like clowns, but I have way more respect for the people at Kinetics than the US Senate.

There is a Maker Fair too, with the Robotics teams out and fundraising. The balls in the caught my eye. But it’s the very small tech fan that I admire. She is fascinated.

DSCN3997.JPG

I hope she has the opportunities. We need women in tech, in the Senate, in the House, in the Presidency.

by

speaking up 4

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: sequelae. We don’t know what the sequelae to the Supreme Court vote is yet. But I am not going to stop speaking up and I hope more women speak up. And girls. So here are two experiences when I was a girl.

I start grade school in upstate New York. I am at the Northeast School. I don’t remember tons about it, except that it has ramps instead of stairs. I am failing to learn to read with phonics, which make no sense to me.

In first grade, I need to go to the bathroom. My teacher gives me a hall pass. This is not a kindergarten privilege.

Outside the girls’ bathroom are two boys. They are older than me. I don’t know them.

“You can’t go in unless you show us your underwear.”

I am wearing a dress. I stare at them.

“Show us your underwear.”

I go back around the corner and wait. Hoping they will leave. They don’t.

I need to go. I go and lift my skirt for a second, humiliation as they laugh. I hurry in to the bathroom.

I go back to the classroom.

I never go to the bathroom during class again. I am careful. I go before class starts and at lunch.

And I’ve never told anyone until now. And this was a grade school. How were the boys acculturated to behave this way already in grade school? And does this still go on? All the girls in my daughter’s school quit wearing skirts by second grade. Jeans only.

We move before fourth grade to another town.

The boundaries for the school districts change before sixth grade and I am bussed to a new grade school.

On the bus, a boy starts harassing me. I don’t know him.

“Show me your underwear.” he says. The other kids are watching.

I don’t answer, glare at him with scorn.

Each day he escalates.

“Show me your underwear.”

I pull a pair out of my bag the fourth day. “There. Now you’ve seen some.”

The other kids laugh, but it’s not enough. He keeps hassling me.

He starts reaching for my skirt from the seat in front of me.

I’ve had it. I play flute. But I also play piccolo.

The next day he starts up, “Show me your underwear.” He reaches towards my skirt from the seat in front. I have my hard piccolo case in both hands. I smash his hand as hard as I can, against the bus seat.

He screams and pulls his hand away, clutching it.

The bus driver looks in the mirror. He doesn’t slow down or stop.

The boy never bothers me again. And neither does anyone else on that bus.

____________________________________

I took the photograph when school started this year. This is our “city” bus. The Redhawks are our football team. I can’t think that football is good for us, but I thank the adults for this support for the high school students…..

Music gives me hope: this.