Last July, I wrote this post about the need for an empathy button on social media.
Amazingly enough, Facebook has recently implemented an expanded menu of option beyond the old “like” button.
Yay!
I realize this has nothing to do with my little post, which did not go viral and lead to a social media wave demanding a change.
Still, I’m hoping that other social media will follow suit.
Okay, WordPress. Your turn.
I haven’t been posting much this week because I have been busy helping my dad, known here as Paco, and my mom, aka Nana.
Paco’s doctors had been keeping an eye on a partial blockage in one of his carotid arteries and his last ultrasound revealed that it had reached 70%, which is considered time to intervene.
So, on Wednesday, I brought my parents to the hospital for Paco to have carotid angioplasty with possible stenting.
After a morning of doing bloodwork, starting IVs, and asking more questions than you would think possible, the team was ready to begin.
Nana and I waited in the coronary care waiting room because Paco’s procedure was taking place in the same kind of catheterization lab that is used for heart vessel procedures.
Not my particular favorite place to be.
After an hour, a nurse came out to tell us that a stent would be needed, which would take another hour.
So, we waited some more…
I was using the hospital’s wi fi to read email and such to keep occupied. A rejection notice came through from a submission that I had sent for expedited review. I should have heard back over two weeks ago and had been anxiously awaiting hearing from the journal. Under other circumstances, I might have been upset by the rejection, but, current priorities and perspective definitely put my reaction in its proper place.
We waited for the second hour we expected – and for most of the next hour, too. Nana was very anxious that something had gone wrong. I tried to be reassuring, knowing that things often take more time than anticipated and that informing the family takes a back seat to caring for the patient, but I don’t think I was very successful.
Happily, a nurse came out and said that he was all set and doing well. We got to see him for a moment in the hall before they took him to his room in the ICU, which is best equipped to monitor the heart and other vital signs after these kinds of procedures. They were supposed to come get us after they got him settled.
After a few more minutes, the doctor came out to speak to us and explain some details.
Then, we waited and waited and waited some more.
When we could finally visit in his room, we waited for his nurse to get back to go over more paperwork and for other practicalities like ordering Paco some dinner.
When Nana and I finally left after having been at the hospital almost eight hours, we were both exhausted.
Waiting is hard work.
Postscript: Paco stayed overnight and was released around 1 PM the next day. We are all still tired and trying to get back on track. And we have to change the clocks for daylight savings time tonight. Goody.
I’ve been quiet on the fracking/methane front lately but wanted to give updates on several local issues.
Two Dimock, Pennsylvania families were awarded $4.2 million this week from Cabot for water contamination caused by methane drilling activities. This is a major victory against an industry that nearly always buys its way out of lawsuits and then seals the settlements so that they aren’t held publicly accountable for the pollution they cause. You can read more about the trial and verdict here and here.
The Constitution Pipeline that Williams is planning to build has been delayed another year, which is heartening to those of us fighting expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in New York. New York hasn’t granted a water quality permit that the company needs to go forward with the project and our attorney general fought back against feeling trees along the proposed route without the permit in place. All trees would have to have been cut down by March 31st to proceed and the company admitted this week that this would not be possible. The reprieve is bittersweet for our Pennsylvania neighbors who have already lost trees to the project, which now won’t be built this year – and may never be built. You can read more about it here, although I will offer the additional information that the Hollleran farm had had their maple trees tapped when the cutting crews accompanied by armed federal marshals arrived and cut down 90% of their sugarbush.
Early in the morning of March 7, Bill McKibben and 56 others, including three friends of mine, were arrested for blockading an entrance to the Crestwood site near Watkins Glen, New York, and Seneca Lake. Crestwood is already storing some hydrocarbons in old salt mine caverns and wants permission to open more caverns, despite known intersecting faults and prior history of cavern roof collapse and leaks. You can read more about that here.
Many of us are still deluging Governor Cuomo with calls and emails to try to stop further build-out of fossil fuels and double down on our renewable energy and efficiency options instead. It’s still a long haul, but we are grateful for any moves in the sustainable direction.
Hold onto your hats, but there has been more in the news on the topic of Tom Brady, the New England Patriots, and deflated footballs.
Despite not being a big follower of American football – or even what the rest of the world calls football and the US calls soccer – I have written about this topic a number of times. (here and here and here and here and here)
The story was back in the news this week because a seventh grader who lives near Boston won a prize at a science fair by showing with science that the footballs would have dropped about 2 psi due to the field conditions of the game.
Weirdly, he shares a last name with the football commissioner who wanted to sanction Brady, even though there is no proof that he or anyone actually deflated the footballs.
And, yes, this does have to do with things like the ideal gas law that I and others posted about months ago.
Will the National Football League finally acknowledge science and admit they were wrong in their report?
Probably not…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “ball.” Join the fun! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-1216/
Time to share another post from Stephanie, who loves science and words and fabulous photos!
This post features the strength of honeycombs, hexagons, and Fibonacci sequences with gorgeous photos of very tiny organisms:
http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2016/03/diatom-beams-naturally-strong-silicious.html
Thanks, Steph!
“Exactly what it is that makes us all the same and yet all different both drives us and escapes us at the same time.”
— Joan Chittister, “The Need for the Feminine in Masculinity”chapter in Between the Dark and the Daylight: Embracing the Contradictions of Life (p. 99)
This post is part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/09/one-liner-wednesday-ive-found-my-calling/ Enjoy our badge by nearlywes.com!
I am listening to a livestream from the Vatican in observance of International Women’s Day. It can be found here: http://voicesoffaith.org.
Although I didn’t tune in as the program began, I was able to begin listening from the start of the program. I’m not sure if it will be archived for later viewing or not, but I hope so.
There are wonderful speakers from around the world, talking about their lives, about faith, about peacemaking, about listening, about mercy, about love, about action, about solidarity.
Wishing all women around the world safety, opportunity, equality, and the gifts of free expression and deep listening.
Update: The video is available from the link above. I think the link will default to the English version, but it is also available in Spanish and Italian. So many powerful voices.
I’ve written before about my support for Bernie Sanders as the presidential candidate whose views most closely resemble my own.
I have not been writing about my opposition to the ideas and the tone of the Republican campaign, particularly those of the frontrunner whose name I use sparingly, if at all, so as not to spread the hatefulness.
This finds me avoiding using a word that I tend to use when speaking and, more sparingly, when writing.
The verb “trump” means “to be more important than.”
I can’t use it without clarifying that I’m not being unduly ironic.
I resent not having use of a perfectly good word, but not as much as I resent the way our Constitution, our values, and common decency are being trampled this election season.
As some of you know, my parents, whom we call Nana and Paco, live in a retirement community near us in an independent living apartment. Last week, there was a knock on their door. Two of their friends came to visit to ask a special request – that they would be the witnesses at their wedding!
Nana and Paco were so happy for them and immediately agreed.
The wedding was yesterday afternoon, with just my parents and the bride’s daughter in attendance. The officiant was an Episcopal minister who gave a lovely reflection on the importance of listening.
To announce the happy news to the retirement community, last night at dinner there were large cakes for the residents and staff that were a gift from the bride and groom. The cakes had a message of thanks written in icing.
Many people were surprised at the wedding announcement, but I think it is a wonderful reminder that love is a vital force at any age.
While I wish the happy couple as many years as possible together, even if their time together turns out to be short, they have already been a great example of sharing love with each other which radiates out to their friends, family, and community.
Love wins!
This post is going to bounce around a lot because it is about this and that.
Someone I know is running for the US Congress! Kim Myers, with whom I served on committees in our school district, is going to run for a seat in the New York 22nd district. She is running for the Democratic nomination; our current Representative is retiring. He is a Republican and considered a moderate – which is what used to be considered very conservative. Kim has served on the school board in our town for 18 years. Recently she has been sitting on the Broome County legislature, where she is the only woman and the minority leader. I’m so hoping Kim will be elected. She is well-known in our part of the district also because she is from the Stack family, who founded Dick’s Sporting Goods. Their original location in Binghamton is still open. She has been involved in philanthropy for years, too.
Unfortunately, this brings to mind presidential election stuff… More primaries and caucuses this weekend. The Republican race has descended further into name-calling and ridicule. At least, the Democratic side talks about issues.
Last night, we got to see a livestream of T’s concert. Her choir, the Hendrick’s Chapel Choir, sang in a choral showcase with all the other Syracuse University choirs. Each group sang a couple of their own pieces and then joined together to sing two spirituals arranged by their guest conductor who had been vising for the week from Temple University. T is a graduate student, not at Syracuse, but at SUNY – Environmental Science and Forestry, which is directly adjacent to Syracuse. ESF students are eligible for courses and extracurricular activities at Syracuse U, so it has meant that T gets to sing in a great choir program, which she loves.
This has been tax prep week. I helped my parents with their taxes earlier in the week and yesterday I plowed through ours and T’s. I am very grateful for TurboTax! I’d hate to have to do them all long-hand, as I used to years ago.
It’s chilly here today, but a big warm-up is in store. By mid-week, it is supposed to get up to 60 F (15 C) which is tremendously warm for early March.
The maple sap has been running early, but there was a maple syrup related tragedy this week. The Holleran family owns a sugarbush in New Milford PA, not that far from here. There is a proposal for a new methane pipeline, the Constitution, that starts in PA, then continues into NY. New York has not yet approved it, but FERC gave permission for tree-felling to begin in PA. The Holleran’s did not want to have their trees cut down; the pipeline route is taking out 90% of their maple trees. The courts allowed the company to take the land by eminent domain, which many of us think is unconstitutional because the land is being taken for private profit rather than public use. At first, the work crews turned away because the trees were tapped and the family and other tree defenders were on the property, which is their land still, even with the court order. The company went to court and then they came back with tree crews accompanied by armed officers and cut down all the trees. The Holleran’s and others had painted American flags on the trees. It was so jarring to see these trees with flags painted on them stacked up. We are all just sick about it. If New York does not approve it, the pipeline will not go in and they will have killed all those trees and taken away part of the family’s farm income for no reason at all.
A happier part of this past week is that I sent in my paperwork and deposit for the Boiler House Poets reunion at Mass MoCA this fall. I am thrilled because one of my poet-friends here is going to come with me. We had a couple of spaces because some of our original group is unable to make the reunion. We are going to be in North Adams for the Fall Foliage Festival and for my birthday. It will be so great!
Well, I could go on writing about this and that for a lot longer, but I think I had better stop before your eyes glaze over. So, that’s that!
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. The prompt this week was “this and that” – a post about this and that, beginning and possibly ending with “this” or “that.” Come join the fun! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-516/
Joanne Corey 