Once again, I began my gentle morning by being sucked into some knee-jerk internet headline. Today's nonsense story involved some no-name congressional candidate in rural Tennessee, who thought it would be a grand idea to pay for a giant racist billboard!
It stated: 'Make America White Again!' In other words, before those pesky immigrants came trotting in, white skinned folk had no problems whatsoever!!
My goodness.
I always have one simple answer to these white supremacist types:
Please, please spend a week at a white trash trailer park, encampment, or back woods whatever. (Or since it is habituated by the 'awesome whites', shall we call it a resort??)
Lucky for me, I got to spend a few years working with the 'great American white folks' of rural Mat-Su Borough up in Alaska. Yes, with the permanent school bus dwelling, plywood home building, meth lab producing grand Americans.
At first, as a naïve young person, I thought I could help them through social service programs... How about building accessible features to their trailers? Providing teeth (yes, did this with a grant). Encourage job programs?...But no, nothing helped. The sad truth is, that there is an underbelly of society. (Regardless of your skin color!) Those that have been brought up with so much dysfunction, disability, lack of health care, sanitation and disregard for education that it is impossible to even know how to help them.
Can any white supremacist explain, how whole neighborhoods of "white folks" can wind up hooked on Doritos and drugs, leaving babies in diapers for days at a time, living under blue tarps-- all without any interest whatsoever in accessing running water to bathe ? Why the abusers and pedophiles, violent criminals and arsonists were all white, white, white....
Can't blame the job market--Alaska has the most opportunities you will ever find...Or even the immigrants--they aren't exactly taking over the area either...Welfare state? I say "ha", these folks could barely find the office of children's services, let alone fill out an application...
I challenge any supremacist to please figure out how to help the lost white folks, before running around announcing that lack of pigmentation leads to greatness...
Dingo speaks
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Friday, June 17, 2016
You Don't Want to Live Here!
I was thinking about some of the more disgusting tasks that seem to pop up during my day, and felt it was actually "nasty list" worthy:
1- Worm scooping. Nobody tells you that when you get a pool that it is actually an earthworm suicide emporium. It doesn't happen during the summer, but starting in October, lasting through March, every rainstorm brings out the worms ! (I read this is because they fear flooding). So they BOLT from the earth (as fast as worms can do) and leap right into the pool. Something to do with the slope (worm brains after all)--But let me tell you-- in wet, muddy and warmish Oregon--this means you can easily obtain 50 dead earthworms at the bottom of the pool! Added bonus--drowned earth worms project a ghastly white coloring...
2- Bird foot detanglement. In the spirit of morbidity, let me rehash a more recent event. I thought it was a good idea to cover our garden pond with deer netting--hoping to spare the gold fish from certain death by crow...Instead, the netting soon trapped a careless sparrow--tangling it's leg in the mesh and culminating in a violent drowning... I can't seem to keep anything alive at the fish pond!
3- Chicken butts. As my chickens are bantam versions (smallish silkies) I am always worrying about their 'egg vent'. Those small birds can produce some pretty large eggs-!! And thus are constantly at risk for "egg binding" (think baby stuck in birth canal). Needless to say, one of the ways to help the poor chicken experiencing this phenomena, is to insert some KY Jelly, and lubricate the "vent" and egg. Thankfully, I have yet to experience this task-- but hope to pass it on to my husband...
4- Dog Butts. Another theme here. My elderly dog seems to be having difficulty knowing when she needs to defecate and going potty in a timely fashion. As I was reading online for some advice, one suggestion was to place an ice cube on her fecal vent (ha!). Supposedly, this trick would cause instant poop on command.. All I can think of is the poor dog (who would most likely just wind up with an ice cube frozen to her butt) saying : "wtf are you doing to me now??"
Again, I will suggest this task to hubby, right after he lubes the chickens...
1- Worm scooping. Nobody tells you that when you get a pool that it is actually an earthworm suicide emporium. It doesn't happen during the summer, but starting in October, lasting through March, every rainstorm brings out the worms ! (I read this is because they fear flooding). So they BOLT from the earth (as fast as worms can do) and leap right into the pool. Something to do with the slope (worm brains after all)--But let me tell you-- in wet, muddy and warmish Oregon--this means you can easily obtain 50 dead earthworms at the bottom of the pool! Added bonus--drowned earth worms project a ghastly white coloring...
2- Bird foot detanglement. In the spirit of morbidity, let me rehash a more recent event. I thought it was a good idea to cover our garden pond with deer netting--hoping to spare the gold fish from certain death by crow...Instead, the netting soon trapped a careless sparrow--tangling it's leg in the mesh and culminating in a violent drowning... I can't seem to keep anything alive at the fish pond!
3- Chicken butts. As my chickens are bantam versions (smallish silkies) I am always worrying about their 'egg vent'. Those small birds can produce some pretty large eggs-!! And thus are constantly at risk for "egg binding" (think baby stuck in birth canal). Needless to say, one of the ways to help the poor chicken experiencing this phenomena, is to insert some KY Jelly, and lubricate the "vent" and egg. Thankfully, I have yet to experience this task-- but hope to pass it on to my husband...
4- Dog Butts. Another theme here. My elderly dog seems to be having difficulty knowing when she needs to defecate and going potty in a timely fashion. As I was reading online for some advice, one suggestion was to place an ice cube on her fecal vent (ha!). Supposedly, this trick would cause instant poop on command.. All I can think of is the poor dog (who would most likely just wind up with an ice cube frozen to her butt) saying : "wtf are you doing to me now??"
Again, I will suggest this task to hubby, right after he lubes the chickens...
Thursday, June 9, 2016
So Where are the Obese kids ?
As I was reading the news the other day, scanning the headlines about the never-ending obesity epidemic, my son walked by and nonchalantly leaned over my shoulder...
"Obesity epidemic, huh?", he commented.
"No kids like that at my school". Then he casually strolled off...
Hmmm? Could he be right??? I thought to myself, as I tried to visualize the last school assembly at his primary school...
I closed my eyes and imagined all the bobbing heads, the 300 squiggling children...And couldn't picture a single portly one.
Good grief, with all the freakin studies, and health campaigns and blaming genetics or the family dog, nobody has the guts to say: "childhood obesity does not exist in high income neighborhoods!?!" (yes, yes I happened to fall ass backwards into a snooty town). But at least I can admit the town exists!!
So why are we wasting billions on failing health campaigns without admitting the 'inconvenient economic truth' ?? Why not just ask the snobby 'well-to-do" what they are doing differently?
Scanning the research, maybe a few articles here and there mention that "lack of education" plays a role, but it is always treated as an afterthought.. Never, ever as to why the less educated choose or feel they can't choose different lifestyles...
The controversial Mercola website (and Dr. Lustig) blame sugar--and I agree--the sugar lobby is hiding behind its own big butt! Never admitting that the one REAL lifestyle change in the USA over the past 65 years has been a crazy increase in refined sugar consumption...Not to mention it's dangerous addictive properties, and is it changing the gut biome?
Not too long ago, before I moved to "snooty town USA", I too lived in a place with a lot more heavy children. The one thing that really stuck out was their intense desire to eat (and it sure wasn't broccoli they wanted). At the state fair, grocery or shopping mall, I observed that these particular children had a strange preoccupation (and almost crazed excitement) when they saw ice cream, candy, cookies, etc.... And this intense desire always seemed to resonate with the parents, who would quickly hand them a goodie.. (When was the last time you saw a kid chewing on a glazed doughnut while riding in a Whole Foods shopping cart?)
If this epidemic is really hurting so many people, and costing so much money--at the very least people need to start having this honest conversation. Food (ha!) for thought!
"Obesity epidemic, huh?", he commented.
"No kids like that at my school". Then he casually strolled off...
Hmmm? Could he be right??? I thought to myself, as I tried to visualize the last school assembly at his primary school...
I closed my eyes and imagined all the bobbing heads, the 300 squiggling children...And couldn't picture a single portly one.
Good grief, with all the freakin studies, and health campaigns and blaming genetics or the family dog, nobody has the guts to say: "childhood obesity does not exist in high income neighborhoods!?!" (yes, yes I happened to fall ass backwards into a snooty town). But at least I can admit the town exists!!
So why are we wasting billions on failing health campaigns without admitting the 'inconvenient economic truth' ?? Why not just ask the snobby 'well-to-do" what they are doing differently?
Scanning the research, maybe a few articles here and there mention that "lack of education" plays a role, but it is always treated as an afterthought.. Never, ever as to why the less educated choose or feel they can't choose different lifestyles...
The controversial Mercola website (and Dr. Lustig) blame sugar--and I agree--the sugar lobby is hiding behind its own big butt! Never admitting that the one REAL lifestyle change in the USA over the past 65 years has been a crazy increase in refined sugar consumption...Not to mention it's dangerous addictive properties, and is it changing the gut biome?
Not too long ago, before I moved to "snooty town USA", I too lived in a place with a lot more heavy children. The one thing that really stuck out was their intense desire to eat (and it sure wasn't broccoli they wanted). At the state fair, grocery or shopping mall, I observed that these particular children had a strange preoccupation (and almost crazed excitement) when they saw ice cream, candy, cookies, etc.... And this intense desire always seemed to resonate with the parents, who would quickly hand them a goodie.. (When was the last time you saw a kid chewing on a glazed doughnut while riding in a Whole Foods shopping cart?)
If this epidemic is really hurting so many people, and costing so much money--at the very least people need to start having this honest conversation. Food (ha!) for thought!
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