Random Thoughts
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 21:33There are a couple stories I've been following in the news recently that I have been thinking outside the box on. First, there is health care reform.
One of the biggest concerns people have expressed about the Affordable Care Act is the 'individual mandate', that is, the penalty that is imposed on people not getting health insurance. The response is that everyone will eventually need health care, so the mandate is an effort to compel people not to be freeloaders until they need it.
There are various reasons why this is a concern. Currently, health costs are a leading contributor to personal bankruptcies. The costs of uninsured people receiving medical treatment at emergencies gets passed on to all of us. With the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies cannot deny people insurance who have pre-existing conditions. For that matter, people that don't get health care when they need it, end up costing more when they get it, so people without health insurance are likely to drive up the costs of Medicare.
With all of this, are there other ways to compel people to get health insurance? For example, what if once the Affordable Care Act is in effect, medical debts are could not be discharged for people in bankruptcy who have not gotten insurance? What if the changes for pre-existing coverage don't apply to people who fail to get coverage? What if people who fail to get coverage become ineligible for Medicare? Might this be a better way to get people into health insurance than the current penalties?
Moving on to the Trayvon WIlliams case. George Zimmerman was part of a Neighborhood Watch organization, essentially providing private policing of a community. What if he had been a real police officer? Many law enforcement agencies have firearm discharge review boards. Whenever an officer discharges his firearm, there policies and procedures to be followed. In most cases, George Zimmerman's situation would have been reviewed much more thoroughly if he had been a police officer. Maybe we need to apply these standards to any 'Stand Your Ground' case, any case of a Neighborhood Watch volunteer, or similar cases.
Finally, here is Woodbridge, there is talk of a gun shop opening soon. Various members of the community are concerned about this, especially since it is planned to go in very close to a teen center. However, Woodbridge doesn't appear to have any zoning regulations that would prevent this, and you can't put in a zoning change after the fact.
However, could the citizen's of Woodbridge learn from those fighting against abortions? What if, just as there are laws being suggested that women who want an abortion need to have an ultrasound first, how about if anyone wanting to buy a gun in Woodbridge had to get a colonoscopy first? That would probably put a damper on gun sales. It might also improve the health outlooks for people who do buy guns.
Of course, some might ask what buying a gun has to do with a colonoscopy. I'll leave that connection for opponents of gun sales, who wonder where a gun buyer's head must be at, to come up with the connection.
For something less invasive, perhaps a simple blood test for lead levels as well as for hearing would be appropriate. A 2005 report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found elevated levels of lead in various members of shooting teams in Alaska. The CDC has a blog post about Solutions for Preventing Lead Poisoning and Hearing Loss at Indoor Firing Ranges
Dominic
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 19:33Dominic (Black paint on White Canvas) from a poem by e.e. cummings as set to music by Vincent Persichetti.
Recently, I was driving to work, listening to the news on the radio, when a nice turn of phrase caught my ear. It made me think about words as art. Words have always been my preferred media, and much of my writing can be seen as a sketchbook.
When I think of art, I think of form and I think of function. It seems like most words these days are focused on function. Make money online. Try to convince someone of a point of view, or at least preaching to the choir, but where is the form, where is the beauty?
Yes, there is poetry, which is perhaps the closest we get to words as form over function. e.e.cummings was a master of this. It was probably in junior high school that I was in a chorus that performed the poem Dominic by e.e.cummings, put to music by Vincent Persichetti. Mixing media even more, I imagine it as black paint on white canvas.
Today is Robert Frost's birthday, another poet I grew up on. His words have often caused me, not to stop and think, but to stop and ponder, the way I've pondered great paintings in a museum. Trying to use words to describe those words seems to bring us to literary variant of Gödel's incompleteness theorem.
Perhaps the closest I can get of bringing together all of these thoughts is the seventh proposition of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent".
Dominic.
The Hunger Games
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/25/2012 - 13:19I clicked on Google News and found the top Entertainment story today to be "The Hunger Games", raking in over $155 million on its opening weekend. I glanced at other news. The shooting of tribute Trayvon Williams by tribute George Zimmerman was up at the top of the list, followed by the shooting of at least 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Also, fourteen members of the rebellion, err, Occupy Wall Street, were arrested in New York. (Would that be in the 13th district?)
No, I have not read the books or seen the movie. I've just read enough of the reviews and heard enough discussions to mix things up a little bit. Yet this gets to the bigger question, why is The Hunger Games resonating in our society the way that it is? Likewise, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, why is the book being banned by some teachers?
Is it gratuitous violence that is desensitizing tweens to violence, or is there something more pernicious, a strong woman (what Limbaugh would call a slut), coming to recognize oppression and seeking to find ways of beating the oppressors at their own game?
Is it really like the reality television shows that some have compared it to, a twenty first century version of the panopticon? Or, is there something bigger going on, akin to social media where we all become both the watchers and the watched, where our status updates, tweets and blog posts become a performance in which we seek to outwit the oppressors the way Katniss seeks to outmaneuver her oppressors?
RIP Eric Lowen
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 03/24/2012 - 12:38I remember the first time I met Eric Lowen. It must have been at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival back in 2005. He was getting around the muddy fields pretty well back then, just using a cane. But we all knew what was coming. He had told us, thousands of fans sitting on a hill in front of the Main Stage. Eric Lowen had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.
Over the coming years, we watched as it progressed; the wheelchair, his difficulty playing the guitar, and then he stopped trying to make it through the mud. His long time songwriting partner, Dan Navarro still came to Falcon Ridge. He'd call up Eric on his cellphone and Eric would great his friends and fans from afar.
Eric confronted ALS the way any great music or great artist confronts a challenge and worked hard in the battle against ALS as exemplified in the video, Learning to Fall
Last night, Dan posted on his Facebook page,
At 5:13 pm Pacific time today, March 23, 2012, Eric Lowen peacefully ended his nine-year standoff with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease), surrounded by family and awash in love, gratitude and beautiful music. We all appreciate the support and well wishes that have come his way these many years, and will always hold dear the shining example he was, and still is, to us all.
I've written blog posts about family members who have passed on, and while Eric is not blood family, he's family in another sense. He is part of the family of people who love music, get together at places like Falcon Ridge, and work towards making the world a better place.
He's part of the family that sings with Dave Carter,
This is my home, this is my only home
This is the only sacred ground that I have ever known
And should I stray in the dark night alone
Rock me goddess in the gentle arms of eden
Eric is now visiting Dave in the gentle arms of eden, and probably stopping off at the rock and roll heaven as well. The words of one of the most popular songs he and Dan wrote comes to mind,
Close your eyes and try to sleep now
Close your eyes and try to dream…we belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words
We've both fallen under…We belong together
"We Don't Ban Books at Beecher Road"
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 20:01It has been a very long day, and I've gotten plenty of topics to explore writing about. When I finally got out of the office, I headed off to a dinner at Fiona's school. I sat down, and Kim asked Fiona to tell me about what had happened at school. Fiona told me that her teacher had told her "The Hunger Games" was not allowed at Beecher Road School. She was curious about why this was getting such a strong reaction from both Kim and I. At some point soon, we will sit down and talk about that.
There is a lot to talk about in terms of "The Hunger Games". Some may end up in the blog. Other parts might become part of Fiona's Radio Show.
When I got a chance, I walked over to the school superintendent. As a side comment, there is a lot of talk about teacher tenure in Connecticut and the role teachers play in student achievement. There is too little discussion about the role superintendents and principals play. Beecher Road School is a very high achieving school. There are many reasons for this, from the role parents play in the children's lives, to the teachers, and particularly to our superintendent.
He had been looking for me. He wanted to congratulate me on the good coverage that Fiona's Radio Show has received in the local press. He was particularly interested in my comments about encouraging parents to spend more time talking with the children. We talked about this a little bit, and then I passed on the report from Fiona about "The Hunger Games" being banned.
He quickly responded, saying something like, "Oh no, we don't ban books at Beecher Road". I said I didn't think so, and he assured me that he would look into it.
We returned to the underlying discussion. "The Hunger Games" is a book, and now a movie. It has violence. There are a lot of societal issues that can be addressed in discussions about this book. Kim and I will talk with Fiona and determine when we think it will be appropriate for her to read the book or see the movie. It is the sort of discussion that parents should be having with their children. It is not a fait accompli that should be handed down by a school.
So, following the format of Fiona's Radio Show, "I encourage all parents to spend more time talking with their children…" Whether they do it on an Internet Radio Show, or in the car driving somewhere, there are so many different ways a discussion about "The Hunger Games" can be important.
