Monday Morning Musings

Happy President's Day. I almost forgot it was a holiday. I liked it better when we celebrated Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday on separate days. It gave us an opportunity to remember the contributions each made to our country. Here are some interesting facts about George Washington.

Now that the frigid weather has gone away here in Texas, I took the opportunity to get my plants out for some fresh air and sunshine. My daughter and her husband came to help with that and some other chores, and we had a great time working together. Even my dog, Poppy, wanted to help.

These are only a few of the plants that "wintered" in my sun room.

Two big debates are going on in Texas right now - legalizing marijuana and the fallout from the Missouri football player, Michael Sam, stepping out of the closet. Dale Hansen, a Dallas sports announcer, came out in his own way in support of Michael Sam, defending the young man's right to play ball and not be banned because of his sexuality.

Response to Hansen was immediate and viral, with a mix of positive and negative. What bothers me is the tone of the negatives, spoken or written with strong does of "disgust" and "fear". One letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News asked how Hansen, a heterosexual, might feel "in the shower with a homosexual man."

I guess that is a fair question if you think every gay man is always looking for the next sexual encounter. But wouldn't the football players have a lot more on their minds than that?

The fear and disgust associated with homosexuality have influenced public thinking for centuries, and it is past time for the focus to stop being on sexual intimacy. I don't care what gay men and gay women do behind their bedroom doors, nor do I care what straight men and women do. Maybe if we stop obsessing about that, we will discover we have nothing to fear from our gay neighbors or coworkers.

Regarding the "Reefer Madness", Mark Davis, a Dallas Morning News columnist came out strong against legalizing marijuana, challenging readers to name one, just one, "societal benefit" that could come from legalization. The readers didn't disappoint and here are just a few:

Legal markets eliminate the violence associated with the illegal sale of drugs.
Legal markets could be controlled for safety.
Legal markets generate tax revenue.
Legal markets greatly reduce prison populations and allow police to focus on more serious crimes.

And I will add one of my own. Legal markets make it easier for people to purchase marijuana for medicinal purposes. People I know who have suffered terribly during cancer treatment were forced to break the law for relief. That should not have to happen.

What do you think about legalizing the sale of marijuana? Did you know it is not as addictive as alcohol? The Committee on Drugs ranked marijuana 8th.  on the list of most dangerous drugs. More facts can be found via the Drug Policy Forum of Texas.

Book Review - Don't Tell Anyone by Laurie Boris

Don't Tell Anyone
Laurie Boris
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 9, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1481152092


Right from the beginning I connected with the central character in this story, Liza, who is awakened in the early hours of morning after partying half the night and she wonders if her husband, Adam, "...is still dancing with Cara Miller's breasts."

When she manages to get to the phone, it is to discover that her mother-in-law, Estelle, is in the hospital with pneumonia. Estelle and Liza have had anything but a close relationship, with Estelle considering her daughter-in-law a "godless hippie raised by wolves", yet Estelle asks Liza to do something she would not ask even her own sons. Estelle has cancer and has hidden that fact since she first discovered the tumors in her breasts. She was raised in the era when people talked in hushed whispers about the dreaded C disease, and after watching her grandmother and mother die painful deaths from cancer, Estelle wanted to keep her cancer secret. Now she wants Liza to help her die when living is no longer an option.

This is a wonderful, multi-layered story, and the reader gets to see how it all plays out from several points of view; Liza's, Estelle's, Adam's, and his younger brother Charlie. Relationships are strained as they all deal with the challenges of a terminal illness, and this all comes across as true and believable. There are moment of extreme anger, sadness, and yet enough humor to lighten that load. I could relate to Liza's no nonsense irreverent approach to the situation, and even understood Estelle's desire to go out on her own terms. I also loved her humor, and you will get a full serving of that when she visits here on Wednesday to have a chat with Laurie about the book. In the meantime, here is just a taste of her acerbic wit. 

"You father," Estelle said, "may he rest in peace, he couldn't drop dead on the golf course like everybody else? He couldn't go quietly in his sleep? No, he had to have a massive coronary in the middle of synagogue on Yom Kippur and make the newspapers and scar the entire communtiy for life."

"I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose, Mom. Although if you have to go it might as well be memorable."

"Adam could have gotten married anywhere. A catering hall. Or that beautiful park on the river. But no, he had to pick Temple Beth Make-the-rest-of-your-mother's-hair-fall-out."

"You need more Valium?" Charlie said. 

Please try to come back on Wednesday and meet Estelle and Laurie. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer. She has been writing fiction for over twenty-five years and is the award-winning author of four novels: The Joke’s on Me, Drawing Breath, Don’t Tell Anyone, and Sliding Past Vertical, due out in September 2013. When not playing with the universe of imaginary people in her head, she enjoys baseball, cooking, reading, and helping aspiring novelists as a contributing writer and editor for IndiesUnlimited.com. She lives in New York's lovely Hudson Valley with her husband and the ghost of her mother-in-law. 

Ranting Again

Okay, I thought I could maybe go a whole week or so without a rant, but a story on Sixty Minutes this evening got to me.

The story was about an oncology clinic in Las Vegas that was closed because of the tough economic times. The hospital CEO was interviewed and she said that the state budget is decimated because of the loss of tax revenue from gaming and construction, and the hospital lost millions of medicare funding.

That wasn't what was so upsetting. What was difficult to watch was the interviews with patients who were no longer going to be able to receive chemotherapy. They all said that without treatment they will die.

The people featured in this story have no insurance. Many of them have lost their jobs and therefore their health coverage. Yet, they do not qualify for some kinds of social assistance since they are not among the poorest of the poor. So they are out there in some terrible medical limbo with no hope in sight.

I'm not faulting the hospital for having to make this tough decision, but I do wonder if that hospital CEO and other administrators have taken a pay cut to help balance their budget. And what else have they done to streamline costs before taking this drastic step? Like any other business, there is so much administrative waste in a large hospital, that a couple of million dollars could be found so a few more people don't have to die.