Blank Canvas

I look toward the street

Where the parade will pass by

Its march the beginning again

Of the give and take

Between medicine and creativity

The barter of skills

That all may enjoy

           The O+Festival began in Kingston, NY, my neck of the global woods.  When I heard about it in 2011, I thought it was a unique and potentially very effective way of bringing together two groups of people, namely healthcare professionals and those in the creative arts, who don’t, but should, see more of each other.  It’s three days of synergy, what the festival calls “Bartering The Art of Medicine for the Medicine of Art”.  I didn’t go in 2011 because of my schedule.  I didn’t go in 2012 for reasons that I can't remember now.  But this year – ah, the charmed third year – I plan on being in the middle of it.

Having been somewhere in the healthcare field for most of my adult life, from clerical to clinical and back again, I’ve seen the results of a lack of healthcare due to no insurance and/or funds and it’s not pretty.  I’ve been there myself and I know that you put off going to see a doctor, dentist, therapist, etc. unless or until it’s something you can’t handle.   It’s not the best way to take care of yourself, but sometimes it’s the only way when there’s no alternative.

As a fellow creative soul, I’ve also known the drive of the muse.  Words must be written.  Paint must be applied.  Film must be shot.  Clay, marble and metal must be molded.  Music in all its styles must be made.  It pushes you to pursue your creativity with or without that day job that everybody tells you not to give up.  The last thing you might want to think about is what’s going on with you, health-wise.  But, even that sometimes elusive muse should be saying it’s really a top priority.

Enter the O+ Festival, where those who offer medical skills can enjoy art and music in all its festive splendor, and those who contribute their creativity to the festival can have access to healthcare beyond the basic bandage.  It’s also there for those who aren’t in either category to simply enjoy.  My admission is a sure thing this year because I want to see this cooperative effort, which has expanded beyond Kingston and now has a second anchor point in San Francisco CA, in action. Volunteering to help is never a bad thing and I may be somewhere in that mix.  But, I may also just be audience, paying the price of admission (wristband – tres chic) to help with the costs of continuing this effort in the future.

I’m not sure what to expect to hear or see in terms of music, art, or clinical care offered.  I know that it starts in Kingston with a parade on October 11th and ends on the 13th, with a lot in between, but that's about it. That’s the blank canvas that this entry’s title introduces and I look forward to filling said canvas with answers and fun.

           

Dear C.I.A. - We Knew it All Along

Persistence pays.  Persistent rumors usually have a grain of truth to them and that grain slowly gets harder to ignore/deny - like a pebble in a clandestine's shoe - when you actually know it's not a rumor.

The Central Intelligence Agency declassified some documents which seem to support the existence of a facility which we have lovingly come to know through the years as Area 51.  Yes, Virginia, there really is such a place.

While not all the documents about it were released, and some of what was released is still redacted, the admission that this area in Nevada, which has taken on mythical proportion through years of denial, is something of a letdown in terms of it being a surprise.

The C.I.A. isn't admitting to much being there or going on beyond it being a testing site for some top-secret aircraft, the U-2 to begin with. This, of course, will not sit well with those who believe that Area 51 is the government's hidey-hole for anything they don't want the public to know about.  We can't handle the truth, you see.

Some see this admission, as not so earth-shattering as it is, as an indicator that there's some loosening on the reins by the C.I.A. regarding information on this location.  Doubt it, considering how little documentation was released. Folks, if the trickle of data regarding Area 51 ever turns into a mighty river, it can only mean one of three things:

1.  The C.I.A. has discontinued use of the facility, has moved or destroyed anything sensitive, doesn't care what the public knows about it and will start charging for tours.
2.  The aliens have woken up from their comas (what, you thought they were dead?), have taken over the place and are demanding to know who's responsible for the deplorable condition of their crafts and luggage.
3.  The world is about to end and the C.I.A. wants to purge its collective covert soul before it, and we, go bye-bye.

Believe it or not, I don't care a lot about the existence of Area 51 or its "real purpose".  I don't even care that the C.I.A. has been keeping secrets from us, sometimes not all that successfully.  That's their job.  It's part of what we hired them for.  If you don't like what they do, then get a mandate passed to dismantle them.  You may not like the outcome of such an action, as damn-near impossible as it would be to get, in terms of world peace, etc., but I wish you the best with it nonetheless.

I only have one burning question for the Central Intelligence Agency regarding that bit of desert-land:

Where'd you put the Ark of the Covenant?

A Tribute to My Mom

A Loving Little Ode

She started smoking in her teens

At a time when it was still considered glamorous and cool

She smoked through two marriages and divorces

Four kids from birth on up, losing one along the way

She smoked through her role as a housewife

And even into her new vocation of nurse

In my 40th year, she would have difficulty breathing

And go to the emergency room to be diagnosed with mild emphysema

She quit smoking then and there and never looked back

Two years later, she still had breathing problems

Two years later, an x-ray showed a lung mass the size of a large orange

That wasn’t there two years before

Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung

Also known as smoker’s cancer

She had surgery on April Fool’s Day

She had radiation

She had chemo

None of it mattered, the cancer started to spread

She became unable to breathe on her own

And found herself tethered to a machine to do it for her

Until she chose

And her wishes were obeyed

Not to go back on the machine once off it

Her last day and a half were the longest of my life

And likely hers, too

On a morphine drip to ease her way

She succumbed

Respiratory failure and arrest secondary to pneumonia and lung cancer

Were the words on her death certificate that medically summed up

Her five months from diagnosis to passing

They did not sum up the life of the courageous woman

Who fought and lost the final battle of her life

At the age of 65

Mother, nurse, artist and a thousand things more

She taught me so much in life

Words cannot convey it all

Or my gratitude for everything she did for me in our time together

Fifteen years later

She is still loved and missed

And, hey, Mom?

Cigarettes are still my enemy.

                                                                                                Lauren Swartzmiller

                                                                                                08/05/2013

Is there a Winner in This Battle?

Interesting how both logos are eyes and combined make for black and blue.  Isn’t that interesting?  No?  Never mind, then.

Business negotiations are funny things sometimes.  I worked for a labor union long ago and far away and the “stand your ground, don’t back down” rule was a commonly used tactic when either side wouldn’t budge on one or more issues.  So was the “if you don’t give us what we want, we’re going to do this and you’re not going to like it” rule when the art of compromise wasn’t being used.  Both actions have their place in the game of give and take.


In the present situation, CBS and Time Warner, two business giants, are squared off over a marked increase in fees to carry the signals for the channels that CBS owns.  Cost of living increase?  Doubt it.  More like thinking they’re worth the extra money.  Whether or not they are is in the eye of the viewer. 


Time Warner saying no in this case is not just because that’s one hefty little fee increase which is guaranteed to be passed along to its subscribers.  It also has to do with the fear of giving in and having everybody else asking for the same amount of increase because it was already done for one network.  That’s not an irrational fear, either.

You might think I’m coming down on the side of Time Warner.  Not solidly.  I’m touching a toe down on their side only because they’re my TV provider and I can see where this fee increase would take my cable bill in the not so distant future.  Getting down to it, though, these conglomerates are more like bullies in the schoolyard, squaring off against one another for the right to claim more of everybody else’s marbles.  Makes me want to gather my marbles and find another schoolyard.  Unfortunately, that’s not really an option – or a solution.

At the moment, Time Warner has yanked CBS’s programming in several locations, including mine, with a message as to what’s going on and a few alternatives to dealing with it.  The loss of CBS’s offerings isn’t hurting my feelings much, but I can see where it might bother others.  There will be a loss of revenue for CBS as a result, and the blackout could be extended beyond where Time-Warner has it in place now.  Yes, “hitting them where it hurts – their money belt” is also a time-honored negotiating tool.  It’s been known to backfire, but it’s also been known to work.

So, the the first punch has been thrown in this battle.  Should be interesting to see who actually wins the war.  I’d like to think it’ll be the consumers in the long run, but I think we’re just waiting for them to fight it out and then turn to us for the reward.