Residential Space

This is a short composition by Jean-Dominique Bauby (although I’m sure writing it was intensive) from his rehabilitation hospital in France after he became locked-in from a pontine stroke. Bauby gives a remarkable account of how active the mind remains after the body stops working. He “dictated” the work to his assistant through eye blinking, letter by letter, until he had nearly 140 pages relaying the details of his daily life as one unable to “speak” or move. A beautiful work, and a must-read for all neurologists and stroke victims.

This biography by Kendall Taylor marks my second book read of 2009, and it was a very fascinating and entertaining adventure. The book is well-researched, and I came away from it feeling like I understood so much more about why these two people basically self-destructed. Both intelligent, beautiful, with the world at their feet, they blew opportunity after opportunity, making their lives quite tragic.

My experiences in studying F. Scott Fitzgerald taught me that he was this brilliant author who drank too much, and that his wife, who was crazy and reckless, really dampened many of his chances at further success. This biography argues (effectively, I think) that Scott would not have been the writer he was had he not known Zelda, as he used many of her journals to create the heroines that made him famous. I do think Zelda inspired his writing in his early career (even later, when he wrote about mental illness).

Overall, a great read – highly recommended!

I posted this blog commentary in September 2008, venting my frustration that the war in Iraq and the economy in crisis had been separated by the media and politicians as separate issues. Estimates indicate that anywhere from $1-3 billion (maybe I should write it as $1,000,000,000.00 to $3,000,000,000.00 for emphasis on how many zeros are present in these numbers) is being spent per month on the war in Iraq.

A member of my family forwarded an email that is circulating currently, which is currently sparking a familial discussion about whether the stimulus package is too expensive, whether it will work, etc. The focus of this forwarded message goes something like this: A billion is a huge number. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. A billlion minutes ago Jesus was alive. A billion hours ago no creatures walked upright on this planet. It then went on to outline how unfair this person thought it was that, of the 400,000-plus residents of New Orleans, the region is requesting so many billions of dollars, which works out to over $1 million per household when divided evenly. Then, at the end, there a not-so-poignant remark about how irritated the author is that he/she still has to dial “1” for English. I’m not sure that adding the issue of immigration into the message helped to illustrate the main point (it’s not the fault of immigrants that a billion is a large number, right?), but in any case, it was there.

My first reaction to this is – this is being circulated by someone out there critical of the stimulus package who thinks the government is spending too much. Does this same person recognize that he/she was (likely) in support of an overseas conflict costing $12-36 billion yearly? Many estimate the total cost of the war will near $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00) when factoring in disability payments for veterans, healthcare and psychiatric costs, rebuilding efforts, interest on the loans we have taken to pay for the war in the first place, etc.

At least the stimulus package gives us infrastructure we desperately need. It makes our buildings more energy efficient. It funds education. As someone in Washington state, I’m pleased that it replaces our volcanic monitoring equipment, despite how Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal may feel. My point is – we get something from the use of this money. Tangible things in the U.S., built by people living here. We’re investing in children who will make the country better. The $1 trillion to be spent on Iraq when all is said and done does what? Demolishes and then rebuilds a foreign nation that was never a threat to us? Pays to rehabilitate and care for returning veterans who should not have been sent into harm’s way in the first place? People who support the latter and don’t support the former are using a line of thinking which I cannot understand (unless the one arguing in favor of spending in Iraq is a stockholder in an energy company enjoying a no-bid contract over there).

My son, despite being 18 months old, was able to enjoy Obama’s inauguration as millions of his fellow Americans did on January 20th. He will not remember it, but I hope he appreciates the photos we took.

Please excuse the bump on the forehead. He is, after all, a toddler, and sometimes walls and the floor can be nuisances for him.

Last week, I finished reading Tender is the Night by: F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was supposed to have read it during my Fitzgerald and Hemingway seminar as an undergraduate, but I confess, I did not finish it at that time. After my professor from that course, Dr. Matthew Bruccoli, passed away last year, I vowed to revisit the book soon to pay proper respect both to Dr. Bruccoli and to Fitzgerald.

It is the story of Dick Diver, a physician (psychiatrist) with a bright future who falls in love with a beautiful, mentally ill, wealthy young woman. The book recounts ten years of marriage. I will not elaborate too much for fear of spoiling the story for those intending to read the book, but I came away from this one with mixed opinions. It is interesting how autobiographical Fitzgerald’s novels are, and based on when they are written, they each account for a specific period in his life. By the time Tender is the Night was being composed, his wife, Zelda, had declared herself as mentally ill, and thus this is a strong theme in the book. When he wrote The Beautiful and Damned in the early 1920’s, his main characters were non-stop partier/flapper types, as that is what he as experiencing at the time. The book was a worthwhile read to better understand Fitzgerald’s emotions and perspective about his own life.

However, the story itself began slowly, and really did not pick up speed until the second half to last one-third. There were so many friendships and outings with these friends enjoyed by the Divers, but in the end they seemed a bit irrelevant. Too many players were incorporated without having a specific function. Additionally, Dr. Diver’s alcoholism seemed to stem heavily from the burden of being married to a rich girl and from bearing the stress of her mental illness. It was as if Fitzgerald was attributing his own failures to his having married Zelda. While Zelda was a wild and difficult person with whom to share a life, Fitzgerald was a heavy drinker from very early in his life. Blame only goes so far.

I have heard some Fitzgerald scholars (including Dr. Bruccoli) mention that Tender is the Night was Fitzgerald’s true masterpiece, unrecognized as such by most and overshadowed by the popularity of The Great Gatsby. This is the third of the five Fitzgerald novels I have read (the others being Gatsby and The Love of the Last Tycoon: A Western), and I do still believe The Great Gatsby is his masterpiece. It captures the essence of an era, the characters are all memorable and present with a purpose, and it begins and ends concisely, but not abruptly. While it defines the roaring 1920’s, it is also timeless.

A friend emailed me this morning, stating his surprise that I had not blogged about the inauguration. I suppose there was such extensive coverage of the event that I did not feel I could add much. I will comment that the most common theme from the media was how wonderful it was that an African-American man could be elected president in a country where, as he stated in his speech, his father may not have been served at a restaurant in D.C. 60 years earlier. I agree – that is very cool.

While I am glad the racial barrier to the presidency has been broken, I have a confession to make: I did not vote for Obama because of his race. Oops, there. I said it. I looked at the candidate, his views, his plans for the nation, the articulate way in which he expresses himself. I believe he could restore some of the good will we have lost over the past eight years, and I relished the idea of valuing science over ideology. I think he will be an excellent president, and that is why I am happy he is now the commander-in-chief. To have voted for him purely because of his race could be a form of racism, could it not? No – I believe it transcends race altogether for this country to have truly selected the best candidate, and to have judged him, in the words of Dr. King, not on the color of his skin, but the content of his character.

This is the third of my recent diatribes on conservation recently, and it pertains to something about which we all care: food. In a society where we can easily find desired food items at our local supermarkets, at times we may forget what is required to raise the food, harvest/slaughter it, package it, and transport it for sale. The environmental impact can be huge. Again, if millions of people began to make small changes, the impact could be enormous.

• Try planting a small garden: One of my fondest memories from my childhood is of growing vegetables with my family out of buckets, followed by an upgrade to a garden in the backyard. Bucket tomatoes evolved into a garden rich with carrots, radishes, cucumbers, more tomatoes, and even corn (before the raccoons ate most of it). We all hear arguments about “buying locally” in an effort to avoid the high energy costs of shipping food long distances. While this is a good first step (and I love local farmers’ markets), food grown in your backyard does not require ANY oil to transport. Honestly, this is one reason I am so psyched to move from a condo to a house in the near future – so that I can plant a garden and teach my son the wonders of seeds germinating, flowering, and producing fruits and vegetables. What a fantastic way to teach children about nature and science while producing some locally grown food of your own! In addition, it baffles me that we have millions of acres of land in this country used only for “lawn” purposes – using a lot of water to keep grass growing on land while producing nothing other than an ascetic pleasantness. I’m not advising for people to defy their homeowners’ associations, but considering a small backyard garden is a way to make this land more productive.
• Use the entire chicken: Gabriel’s nanny, Rachel, introduced me to the concept of this, something previously foreign to me. Basically, after roasting a chicken or a turkey, and picking the meat from it, boil down the carcass in some broth, and this produces a chicken or turkey stock. This stock can then be used to make other meals, so it’s double the use. Animals require energy and resources to raise as food sources, so we should probably be using each one to the greatest degree possible.

This may be it for a while regarding conservation posts. As other points arise, I will add them in future writings, but I hope people will feel free to tack on comments with other suggestions. Thanks!

I will continue my list here regarding action items for better conservation. Please refer to this post for the initial conception of this series.

• Reusable bags: When Evan and I moved to Seattle, as we were packing up the old house in the Carolinas, we had, literally, hundreds of plastic grocery bags stuffed into a “bag holder.” It had honestly never occurred to me to: A) reuse any of these hundreds of bags at the grocery store, or B) obtain a cloth, reusable bag for shopping. We are a society of consumption and disposal, and until recently most did not give much thought to what happened to non-biodegradable waste. About a year-plus ago, we purchased ($0.99/each) “green bags.” It started with two, and then of course we forgot them the next time we shopped because we were not used to bringing our own bags to the store. Eventually, we ended up with six of them, and over 2008 it is a habit to bring two bags with us to the store. It’s finally second nature. The Worldwatch Institute estimates that Americans use approximately 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. Some estimates suggest an energy requirement of 430,000 gallons of oil to produce 100 million bags. In addition, while some places are able to recycle them (it is possible, but difficult to do so because of the surface filmy texture), less than 20% actually get recycled, while the rest end up in landfills. Some would argue that paper bags do not carry these problems, but the deforestation would be a concern here. For more information, this is an interesting site, which cites helpful numbers; and here is an article about San Francisco’s efforts to ban plastic bags. Seattle made an attempt recently to begin taxing plastic bags, but some thought it was an undue financial burden on lower-income folks. I suppose I don’t think $0.99/bag for a few bags is a huge expense or burden. The bags we purchased a year ago are still in good shape. If it really is such a hardship, perhaps the city could provide them with their first two bags, and from there out the tax applies.
  • Here’s another thought: for those already bringing their reusable bags to the grocery store, why not bring them to the mall as well?
• Use reusable coffee cups: Along the same lines, why not cut back on waste in this way too? I’ve read arguments over whether the amount of energy required to make a reusable cup really offsets the energy that goes into a paper of foam cup. I suppose my concern is cutting down on the amount of waste. Plus, it keeps those disposable plastic lids from accumulating so quickly in our landfills. Another benefit: Starbucks will give you a $0.10 “cup discount” for using your own cup.
• Try cloth napkins: Keeping with the theme of cutting down on waste, not to mention cutting back on tree usage, try giving cloth napkins a go. Reusable, and usually not dirty enough to warrant washing them more than once each week (for those about to protest – how many times do you use a towel before washing it?). I found this blog post interesting in pondering which napkin is the correct one.

Moving to the West Coast three and a half years ago (has it really been that long?!) altered my perspective on many issues, perhaps the most significant being that of the environment and conservation. I always cared about the earth, of course, and considered myself a good environmental steward, until I realized how much I was not doing to conserve resources, and recognized what I should be doing to reduce the amount of non-biodegradable waste accumulating on this planet. Some of it seems so obvious now, but three and a half years ago it was not intuitive to me.

In the spirit of the New Year, I have compiled a brief list of things individuals can do that, when done collectively, have the potential for a large, positive environmental impact. I will start with a few topics here, and expand to others over the coming weeks, but these are easy-to-implement practices that I am convinced can make a huge difference.

1. Stop drinking bottled water: I have not looked favorably on bottled water for several years now, mostly because I thought it was a rip-off to pay dollars for a liter of water likely the same in quality (maybe worse as the standards are not as strict as the standards cities must meet for their water). Then, I heard an interview with the mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico on NPR approximately six months ago, which sent me reading more about this. He discussed his intention of saving the taxpayers of his city thousands of dollars by banning the purchase of bottled water for city-sponsored events and at City Hall. In my own research, I discovered a study from Geneva citing that 1.5 million TONS of plastic are used each year to bottle water. No difference in the quality or the composition of bottled water and tap water exists. This article nicely summarizes the negative environmental impact of bottled water – that to meet the demand for bottled water in the United States alone, 17 million barrels of oil are used to produce the plastic bottles holding the water. This does not include the oil required to ship these bottles across the globe to their final destinations. Then, one should take into account the amount of energy involved in recycling these bottles; and if they are not recycled, they sit in landfills with nowhere to go. My suggestion: keep a cup or bottle at your desk at work, and refill it during the day from the tap. If you feel so inclined, write to your representatives and senators in D.C. suggesting that bottled water not be supplied with our tax dollars. We’re in an economic downturn at the moment! It makes both environmental and fiscal sense to use common sense here.
2. Get off of junk mail lists: Some may be thinking, Yeah, that would be nice. It’s realistic! Not only would receiving less junk mail annoy you less and waste less of your time, but it will help to conserve our forests. This is an interesting website with stats related to the negative environmental impact of junk mail. Briefly, the site cites that nearly 100 million trees are used each year to produce junk mail, that each American adult receives approximately 41 pounds of junk mail annually, with 44% going to the landfill unopened. The company charges a small fee for getting your junk mail reduced for a five year period. However, with effort and patience, you can also do this yourself. This website explains how. Perhaps the easiest way to start is by opting out of credit card applications. Calling 1-800-5-OPT-OUT is the way to accomplish this.
3. Try walking: If your desired destination is a mile from your home, why not walk there? Not only will this conserve gasoline, but in the age of hypertension, diabetes, stroke, etc, it’s exercise built into your day! Walking the 1.5 miles to work may take me 25 minutes, but it would take 10 minutes in the car anyway, plus time spent looking for parking. Then, tack on the daily parking fee that even employees must pay, and the question becomes – why not walk to work? It’s refreshing, it’s exercise, it’s time spent listening to the Zune, and it leaves the car at home.

Until next week!

So many of us make them, and most of us will break them. Ahhh, the New Year’s Resolution. In the past, mine have always been to run regularly, and then by March I’m finished, until starting again in July, and then losing steam again in October. By then, it’s time to make another resolution to run the following year. I remember one year making my resolution to read 50 books the following year, but who was I kidding? When I read a book, it takes time to finish – I have to be in the right mood, and have to savor every page rather than reading quickly. It takes me weeks, if not months, to finish a book. I have always loved to read, but now that I read so many medical charts, journal articles, and radiology/EEG/EMG reports, when I get home often the enthusiasm is lacking. I do seem to be reading an awful lot of Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman with a certain toddler at home, though!

So perhaps I should be setting more realistic goals for the year. Maybe if they are actually achieveable I will feel more compelled to strive towards meeting them rather than giving up when life becomes stressful and busy. Let’s try this:

• I will shoot to read 12 books next year, one for each month.
• I will aim to exercise for at least a 30 minute interval, three times each week.
• I am currently on lesson 11 of my French podcast series. I will complete through lesson 40 by the end of 2009.

If I were being really manic in my New Year’s goals, one would be to finally finish the “book” I’ve been writing since May 2005 when I first moved to Seattle. Every six months I revisit it, re-edit what I have already written, write another page or two, and then set it aside again for another six months. Realistically, I’m not sure I will be finishing it in 2009, but perhaps someday.

I am pleased that I have been able to somewhat keep my blog up, despite a resident’s schedule and a little boy in my life. This seems to be the creative outlet I have maintained for myself, so I imagine I will continue to return to it until at least into my 80’s, should I be fortunate enough to enjoy that sort of longevity.

From reading the news online and talking to others, it seems most people believe that 2008 has been a very lousy year. With the war continuing and the economy in crisis, the future is definitely uncertain. Yet, I’ve found 2008 quite rewarding, mostly because it was my first full year as the mother to a wonderful boy. I have watched Gabriel grow from a helpless five month old at the beginning of January into a vivacious, passionate, and loads-of-fun toddler who runs through our home to hug me when I walk through the door each evening. How could I complain when I have those moments?

In any case, an early Happy 2009 to everyone!