Archive - Dec 2010
December 6th
Music Monday - Joe Rollin Porter
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 07:17As I started checking over my list of possible musicians to review for this week’s Music Monday, I looked again at Joe Rollin Porter. I had to check over my blog posts, because it really felt like I had reviewed him before. There is something very familiar about him and his music.
On his SonicBids press kit it says
Joe’s fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing and vocals transcend genre and style, viscerally connecting with music lovers of widely diverging tastes. His live performance can bring a room full of loud distracted drinkers to a hushed silence, hanging on every note...
Joe does not attempt to “authentically” replicate old-time music. Nor does he try to modernize the old songs to make them appeal to contemporary commercial tastes. Rather, after years of absorbing and internalizing traditional folk music, the songs flow out as natural self-expression.
Okay. Maybe that is why he sounds so familiar. So many of the press kits say the same sort of stuff. I clicked on play for the first song in his press kit. It was Black Jack Davy. Black Jack Davy is an alternative title to The Gypsy Laddie. It is in number 200 in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads as collected by Francis James Child.
Last may, I reviewed The Sweet Colleens. The first song in their Electronic Press Kit was “Wraggle Taggle”, which is another name of the same ballad. It is two very different interpretations of the same ballad and both stand very well on their own.
The second song that he has is the traditional American folk song, The Cuckoo Bird. Both songs illustrate nicely his “very advanced and unique fingerstyle guitar technique”. I like to listen to folk musicians with great finger style pickin, and Joe Rollin Porter fits nicely in this category.
What makes it all the more enjoyable is that he has a voice that matches his guitar picking. It has often seemed like many of the better pickers rarely sing.
I like to end off my reviews with YouTube videos of the performers, when I can find them, and MyUncleJoe666 has a good video of this song being performed. It is in black and white in what looks like an empty apartment. It switches back and forth between different views of Joe, sometimes cutting off the top of his head. Yeah, traditional American folk singing, performed in a unique way, shot as a YouTube video which is fairly traditional in certain aspect and unique in others.
I still haven’t figured out why the music and the musician seem so familiar. If I did review him already and you find the review, let me know. Maybe it is just because I’ve checked out his music a few times, or maybe it is just some timeless quality to the performances. Whatever it is, you might want to get more familiar with Joe’s music as well.
Here’s the video:
December 5th
Changing How We Talk About Health
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 12:30Today is my fifth day working at Community Health Center, Inc. Well, it is Sunday and a day of rest, so maybe it doesn’t count. Yet here I am, writing another blog post about my job. Some of it is clearly because it is new. I like writing about things that are new to me, and my job still fits in that category. Some of it is because I get my work emails on my cellphone and so I’m on 24x7, or at least as much as I am willing to carry around my cellphone and respond to messages.
There are so many things that need to be worked out. What is CHC’s voice? How does it relate to my voice? Should I set up a CHC blog and put these posts there? If so, on what platform? Should I copy such posts here? Who else would write in such a blog?
Then, there is the classic work/life balance issue. Weekends are time for resting, relaxation, and doing fun things. But what if you find writing about interesting issues, including those where you work, fun and relaxing?
Some of it comes back to an old union chant, our life is more than our work, and our work is more than our job. However, it is really great when all of these things over lap really nicely.
So, for fun, I’ve been participating in discussionx on a mailing list of group psychotherapists. A current topic is about cultural and legal issues that can get in the way of addressing mental health issues. There is a lot packed into that discussion, and I’ll probably not try to unpack it hear right away.
I announced my new job there, and spoke about seeking ideas on how we can use social media to improve communities’ health. Many of the therapists on the list are quite reticent about social media. They have big concerns about privacy as well as things like the addictive nature of social media or the potentially negative effects of continuous partial attention. One pioneer in the use of Internet tools in psychotherapy wrote about his recent experimentation with Twitter which sounds really interesting.
Another person suggested that we need to better understand what it means to improve communities health. I explored this a little bit on Thursday as I visited the Community Health Center in New Britain. The founder and director of Community Health Center, Inc. spoke with me about their efforts to find new ways of providing health, particularly to under served populations. He challenged me to explore ways that social media can be used above and beyond simply enhanced publicity.
Looking at the Google Analytics for the main website, much of the traffic appears to come from job searchers. Indeed, the Human Resources department seems to be making a strong effort to use social media to assist recruitment and this is an area where I hope we can make significant progress. There are the obvious areas of reaching out to people that do not realize they have health care options and of reaching out to professionals to talk about best practices. There are opportunities to use social media to explore how to affect public policy.
Yet perhaps the most exciting area is when we really take advantage of social media and make it a conversation. Can we change the way we think and talk about health care and our communities? I think some of this is happening. Take a look at Blame Drew’s Cancer. At the surface, it is about raising money for the battle against cancer and raising awareness. At a deeper level, it reflects how social media is changing the way we talk about health.
When Kim’s mother was fighting cancer, we joked with friends about how whenever someone talked about fighting cancer, they always said the word cancer in hushed, almost reverent tones. The same applied to therapy or counseling. Drew’s cancer has become a chance to turn it on its head, to talk of cancer in mocking tones.
Then, there is Sarge Charlie. I don’t exactly see eye to eye with Charlie on political issues, but I love his spirit in his battle against cancer. Some of what he and his friends have written reflect a similar shift in how we talk about health.
Back at home, Fiona had a sore throat this morning. So, she has been resting. It seems to be passing. I sure hope so. Every Sunday evening, Fiona and I do an Internet radio show. Since last Wednesday was World AIDS day, I figured I would talk with her about HIV/AIDS. We have an activist or two calling in and it should be a great show also aimed at changing how we talk about health.
Enough for now. It is a day off, a day of rest. Time to visit a few friends’ blogs.
December 4th
Holiday Cider
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 17:06Today, Fiona and I took another drive over to Beardsley’s Cider Mill. Along the way, we counted Christmas Trees on top of the cars. The total we ended up with on the trip was 229. That was partly because Beardsley’s is near Jones Tree Farm.
At the mill, we picked up another six gallons of fresh cider. This batch was about equal parts fuji, macintosh, and red delicious, and a little bit of mutsu thrown in. We also picked up some apple jelly. We then drove over to Maltose Express to pick up some new yeast. I found some Wyeast Eau de Vie strain. This yeast requires a higher temperature than other yeasts, which isn’t great for our house since we keep the house pretty cool. On the other hand, it has an alcohol tolerance of 21% ABV, low flocculation and produces a very clean, dry profile, with low ester formation and other volatile aromatics. It should be good for a dry apple wine.
With the high alcohol tolerance of the yeast, I figured I should really try boosting the sugar content in the cider. I like to stay with local and natural ingredients, so I put in a half gallon of maple syrup that we got from the Hebron Maple Festival this spring. I tried to calculate ahead of time how much this would boost the sugar level, but I figured no matter how much I put in, the yeast would eat it all up.
Last year, Kim got me a hydrometer for Christmas. So, I measured the specific gravity of the cider. It started off at 1.062. This cider has a much higher sugar content than other batches of cider we’ve gotten from Beardsley. Adding half a gallon of maple syrup to the six gallons of cider boosted the specific gravity up to 1.090. Using Dave’s Homebrew calculator and previous experience, I’m expecting this cider should come out to be about 12% ABV.
Doing a few further calculations, I figure that if I wanted to end up with 21% ABV, I probably need about a gallon and a half of maple syrup for a six gallon batch of cider, or put simply, a quart of syrup per gallon of cider. Maple syrup is pretty expensive. A quick check online shows LL Bean selling Grade A maple syrup at $32/quart. Amazon has some syrup as low as $18/quart. That is probably Grade B maple syrup. Grade B maple syrup is darker and has a stronger maple taste. Personally, I think a strong maple taste is really good when making hard cider, and as a general rule, we always buy Grade B maple syrup.
In testing the cider with maple syrup, I siphoned off enough to fill the cylinder to test it. At the same time, I gave it a little taste test. The maple cider was almost like candy. It was very good. I’ve saved a cup for Fiona for when she gets home from a birthday party.
In thinking a little more about it, it seems like this is close to some of the hot mulled cider recipes. However, I’m probably using about twice as much maple syrup in the cider as most hot mulled cider recipes that call for maple syrup use.
Whether drinking some of the apple cider with maple syrup in it as is, or drinking it later when the fermentation is done, maple syrup and apple cider make a great holiday cider combination.
December 3rd
Changing Health Care
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 07:40How do we bring about real change? I’m not talking about something small, a 3% increase in the number of patients seen, tied to a 2% decrease in time spent in the waiting room and a 1.5% in profitability. I’m not even talking about bigger numbers that just amplify an already bad situation, like insurance companies falsely trying to use health care reform as a justification for trying to push through 20-40% premium increases. No, I’m looking for something else, something different.
Yeah, this is all driven by my new position as Social Media Manager for Community Health Centers, Inc. Yesterday, I spend sometime touring the New Britain facility with the founder and we talked about social entrepreneurship and trying to bring transformational change. As much as I like the ideas, I tend to shy away from them as big buzz words whose meaning too often gets lost or diluted.
When I went through orientation on Wednesday, there were several computer based training courses that I needed to take. First on the list was providing culturally diverse health care. It talked about the difficulties of providing health care to people from different cultural backgrounds. There was a section on using medical translators. Another talked about the stereotypical assumptions both patients and doctors might make. Key to this was to try and avoid assumptions and actions that would impede the flow of information. A good doctor needs to have the full story to understand and recommend the best course of treatment. She needs to communicate it in such a way that the patient is most likely to follow the course of treatment.
All of this came back to mind last night as I read John Sealander’s blog post about a recent doctor’s appointment. He started off with this image:
He then went on to talk about what he did not tell his doctor. After the training sessions this week, I would probably, have said something like, “I’m sorry. I was trying to schedule an appointment with a doctor that cares about patients,” and then left.
Yeah, that might be a bit too blunt and confrontational, but I really believe that we need to make major changes to health care and other aspects of our society. Some of this is around changing attitudes around health care, who is assumed to know what, how we treat other people, assumptions about who second class citizens are, etc. There is a lot that needs to be unpacked in all of this, but I need to get going with the rest of my day
December 2nd
Community Health Center
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 07:15So, it’s official. I am now the Social Media Manager for Community Health Center. I’ve held off saying much about it until now while I talked with folks at CHC about what they are looking for, tried to figure out how well it fits with what I want to be doing, started, got oriented, and started developing a sense for how we will go forward with social media.
After my first day, I see lots of great projects to work on and I’m trying to figure out the best way to pull it all together into a quick description. Here’s what I’m thinking right now.
I will be helping CHC use social media to improve community health. It is wide open what that can mean. How do we use social media to reach kids to help them live healthier lives? How do we reach people who qualify for various health care programs in Connecticut? How do we connect with nurse practitioners about a new residency program? How do we reach health care professionals and further engage them in symposia with thought and innovation leaders in health care from around the country? How does this relate to HealthCamp, including the one being scheduled for next year in New Haven?
How do we establish online spaces where we can engage in discussions and listen to everyone involved with health care from patients to practitioners?
On a personal level, there is the question of how all of this relates to my own online presence; my blog, my twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts. I plan on doing much of my social media work from my existing accounts. I think it is is important to have a personal voice, but at the same time, I don’t want to overwhelm my friends and followers with CHC stuff.
There is the time management of how it relates to my writing here and other places, my participation in blogging and other online communities, as well as my personal and family time. I started this blog post last night and am finishing it up in the morning before heading off to work.
How does it relate to my varied interests, such as politics and group psychotherapy? I think there should be some good overlap. Social media and health are both topics that relate to all aspects of our lives.
It looks like it is going to be a lot of fun thinking out all of these things, and I hope it will be fun and interesting for you as well.
As a final note, I want to thank everyone who has sent me warm wishes about my new job on social media already. And yes, I’m open to talking about the details as much as time and confidentiality permit.
Most importantly, any good social media campaign is about conversation and listening, so I’m eager to hear thoughts and ideas from all my friends in social media. How do you think we can all work together to improve communities’ health?
