Quote of the Day

This is the first time I've posted a quote of the day, and I can't promise I'll ever post another one. But here it is:


"I cannot understand a society that is more afraid of a man in a dress than a man in a soldier's uniform."

--Joan Nestle

Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV)

This is a story with a happy ending, so please continue reading!  One Sunday last November, my cat adoring partner, Brutus, and I went to a Los Angeles County animal shelter to adopt a kitten. When we arrived, there were very few people there, and there were very few cats though there were many cages.  We were told that most of the cats and kittens had been taken to an adoption fair at the La Brea Tar Pits, and they only had room for a certain number of animals.  So we looked at the cats and kittens that were left behind.

I was immediately drawn to a tiny kitten, a tuxedo kitty, making a lot of noise and who was very active.  She was around eight weeks old, and I requested to hold her. When I did, I could feel her ribs and spine, and she was covered with fleas.  I could also tell she was stressed because she had lost whiskers and eyebrows on one side of her tiny black and white face.  But when I tried to hand her to Brutus, she wouldn't let go of me.  When that happened Brutus asked me what her name is.  I named her Serena, and since Serena didn't weigh enough to be spayed, we were able to take her home right away.

The next day we brought Serena to our veterinarian who couldn't hide her lack of enthusiasm for this sickly kitty who weighed 15 ounces.  The vet wouldn't do the routine blood work on her because she hardly weighed anything and because Serena had started sneezing.  Yep, she soon developed a bad cold; she was breathing through her mouth, had a runny nose and discharge from her eyes. And she started coughing.  It was the first time I had heard a cat cough.  She also had diarrhea, and so she started taking antibiotics.  But for her cold, I also started giving Serena lysine.  Her cold didn't completely clear up until the beginning of January.

In January, she was well enough to have a blood test, and that's when a faint line appeared-- positive for FeLV.  They had done this test in the office, but then sent blood out to a lab.  That too came back positive.  So the veterinarian gave us a poor prognosis for Serena and told us there really wasn't anything that could be done.  I tried not to freak out, and instead I decided to boost Serena's immune system because I had read that there was a chance that she could fight off this nasty virus.  I kept giving her lysine twice a day but also added Omega 3 fatty acids, Probiotics, and Chinese herbs.  (I didn't choose the herbs to give her.  A doctor who practices Chinese Medicine did that for me!)  I took Serena to another veterinarian for another opinion, and he said that with kittens you can't tell if the virus has taken hold until they are around a year old.  He suggested we have her re-tested then.  So we made sure Serena had a very calm, stress-free environment, fed her high quality food, and kept giving her supplements.

When she was one, which occurred recently, we had her re-tested.  The blood was sent out to a lab, and it came back negative.  The veterinarian said he was pretty sure that she'll remain negative for the rest of her life. To say the least, we were thrilled.

Serena is strong and muscular with soft and shiny fur.  She has clear eyes and is  very playful! Please don't give up if your kitten has tested positive for FeLV.  Here's Serena:

Driving in Los Angeles

"People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles."  So says the narrator of Less Than Zero.  I recalled this famous 1980s line as I drove this morning from San Pedro to Beverly Hills and back and noted that I hadn't observed anyone having merging difficulties, even at that glommed up section of the 405 north near the Santa Monica Boulevard exit where they've been doing construction forever.  And although I didn't observe any fearful merging, I did get annoyed with people who didn't use their turn signals. I understand that being allergic to turn signals is a common affliction whose symptoms no pharmaceutical company has been able to suppress with expensive little pills; however, I would like to tell those who are ailing from this allergy that to let others know where they are going just makes sense when there are two trillion cars on the road.

Another freeway pet peeve of mine is when people drive too closely to the car in front of them.  How can being six inches away from the bumper of the car in front of you be good for your nervous system?  The strange thing is that when these impatient drivers change lanes when they become frustrated by the slow driver in front of them, they either end up far behind the car they were tailgating, albeit in a different lane, or they end up just one car ahead of the car they passed.  I don't understand.  Anyway, merging too slowly onto freeways is just plain dangerous, but the first line of Less Than Zero is a metaphor, my dear readers, and it works.

However, here's a peaceful scene of the Four Level near downtown LA in 1954:

Isn't it Romantic?

I'm curious about the popularity of romance novels, so I did a little searching and found Janice Radway's Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature.  I hope it'll help me gain a better understanding of this phenomenon.  I remember that my grandmother devoured this genre well into her old age, and I also remember that she wasn't a particularly happy person.  Anyway, I'll let you know what I discover!

Merry Christmas from Mother Jones

Kardashian Kollection

I didn't spell Kollection wrong.  That's the way it was written on the front page of yesterday's Los Angeles Times.  Oops.  I mean that's how it was written on the full page advertisement that was on top of the front page of the LA Times, but if you looked quickly or not carefully you might have thought it was the front page.  What was on that full page/front page ad?  In case you missed it, here it is:

Yes, I  heard a few LA Times readers, those who actually read the news on paper, heard some of them grumble about this front page double take on Thursday morning, heard some grumbling across the 502 square miles of the city (4083 square miles if I include the grumbles across LA County), but is this really surprising in our glittery City of Angels? Actually, on some days the sun is so glaring it's hard to see, and that may explain a lot.

Anyway, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe have a new clothing line called the Kardashian Kollection, and this new kollection was kreated for Sears.  Kan it get more American? Kan those Kardashian women be more American?  They aren't just celebrities, but they're socialites, reality television personalities, entrepreneurs, models, actresses, and Khloe has been described as a celebutante.  Wow!  And to have a deal with Sears, Roebuck and Co, a store right outta America's heartland, means they've really made it. They've achieved the American dream.  And those of us who live in Los Angeles can see these three dynamos at the Sears in Cerritos this Sunday.  I can't wait!  Hope they show up!

Meanwhile, the LA Times is trying to remain in business, selling wraparound ads and succeeding in losing its dignity and so on and so forth.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Just finished reading this for the first time.  Beautifully written.  Painful.  The sexuality isn't controversial anymore.  However.  For anyone who has felt alienated or for anyone who wishes to feel what alienation feels like, highly recommended.

"The Americans have no sense of doom, none whatsoever.  They do not recognize doom when they see it."

"Americans should never come to Europe.  It means they never can be happy again.  What's the good of an American who isn't happy?  Happiness was all we had."

This post was carelessly uttered though respectfully well intentioned.  I don't feel that terrific today.

Regulating Reproduction

There's a healthy debate going on over at The New York Times about "Making Laws About Making Babies." Many people have opinions about this after an outrageous example of Reproductive Technology Gone Wild was reported last week:  one sperm donor produced 150 kids.

Beth Littrell, a staff attorney for Lambda Legal, wrote about bias against gays and lesbians regarding fertility services. [Me: Of course there shouldn't be any bias against anyone seeking fertility services-- if they can pay for it, they can buy it-- and sperm and egg donors are presumably healthy individuals or they shouldn't be permitted to donate anything of theirs-- except money, of course.]  Ms. Littrell states:  "Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people wish to have children and form families for all the same reasons that heterosexual people do."  I have no reason to doubt that statement, but I hope they don't want to start families for all the same reasons heterosexuals do because some heterosexuals have children for the wrong reasons.  It's the word "all" that's troublesome.

46.2 Million Americans

That's how many people live in poverty in the United States.  Shame on me for wondering in my previous post where my Twitter followers went.  Hopefully, they're tweeting the poverty news, spreading the word about the number of poor people who call America the Beautiful home.  What do the millionaires and billionaires in the United States think about those 46.2 million Americans? What are the people who run our government thinking?  What are we going to do?

Twitter

Blogging about Twitter.  Ten years ago that phrase wouldn't have made sense.  Now, well, there's no need to explain it unless you live in a place that is digitally deprived or digitally denied or digitally depressed.  Many, in fact, do live in parts of towns that have fallen into the digital divide.  Sort of like living in a grand canyon where not many people have access to the internet.  (There's a chunk of area in Los Angeles like that, by the way.)  Anyway, some of my Twitter followers have abandoned me.  Oh, I shouldn't say abandoned. Abandoned sounds too psychologically damaging.  I'll just sigh instead which, according to Chinese Medicine, means my kidney energy is stagnating or blocked or something like that.  But actually I don't sigh very often.  My liver is the organ I need to be more concerned about, being careful not to let the energy stagnant there.

Anyway, so I tweet things that apparently some people don't care for.  Perhaps I upset people with my politics or my sense of humor.  I just see how screwy many things are, and I like to point them out.  I also like to point out non-screwy things like Nissan's Leaf in my previous post.  Nothing wrong with not wanting to use gasoline, right?  So where are the people who are entertained by radical ideas, dangerous ideas, or downright logical ideas?  For instance, we can't have everything.  Pretty obvious, right?  Limits are imposed upon us, and we freak out.  Why?  Oh, yes.  The American Dream tells us we can have it all.  In fact, many of us believe we're entitled to have it all.  But does The American Dream really say that?  The stereotypical American Dream used to be to own a single family house with a white picket fence around the perimeter of the property that keeps strangers out and keeps the dog and kids within.  It says we can have a couple of cars in the garage too.  Probably gasoline powered cars.  What is The American Dream now?  But I digress, again.

Where did my Twitter Followers go?  What do they want to hear?  I'm an optimistic person, and I also have eyes and ears and a brain.  I question, and I wonder.  I care about the future, and I don't even have children.  However, I'm trying to be patient because we're in the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, and transitions can be difficult.  Blogs and Twitter are helping us become more Aquarian, and I think that's a good thing because if World Peace is ever possible, it will come about during the Aquarian Age.

Leaf: Zero Emission

I took my first ride in a Leaf, and it was fun!  Quiet too!  The ride was comfortable, and in addition to not spewing pollution everywhere, most of the car is made from recycled materials including home appliances, fabrics, bumpers, and plastics.  Yep, a lot of the Leaf is made from Pet 1 plastic which means it's made from soda and water bottles.  Hooray!  So here are some pics:

Monopoly of Desperation

News Announcement:  Humans aren't an endangered species!

This isn't news to doctors who specialize in reproductive technology.  What these MDs know is:  Reproductive Technology is Big Business.  As Debora Spar (President of Barnard College and author of "The Baby Business:  How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception") writes, "harsh as it may seem, we need to view reproductive medicine as an industry with all the commercial prospects and potential foibles that other industries display."  Oh, and what foibles there are!  Just this week it was reported in the NY Times that one sperm donor produced 150 children.  Wow!  What is our society doing?  We're crazy!

The NY Times also had an article in the Styles section recently that asked:  Are You as Fertile as You Look?  The answer: No.  Gasp! The effect: Millions of New Yorkers were compelled to make appointments with their gynecologists this week because being pregnant is in style, at least according to the Times.  But let's face it.  Being pregnant has always been in style though perhaps not quite like it is today thanks to Reproductive Technology.

Reproductive Technology is disturbing for many reasons, and Angela Davis has articulated one reason very well:  "The politics of reproduction hinge on the social construction of motherhood [and] the new developments in reproductive technology have encouraged the contemporary emergence of popular attitudes-- at least among the middle classes-- that bear a remarkable resemblance to the 19th Century cult of motherhood... it is as if the recognition of infertility is now a catalyst, among some groups of women, for a motherhood quest that has become more compulsive and more openly ideological than during the 19th Century... the availability of the technology further mythologizes motherhood as the true vocation of women."  Chilling and creepy.

So now we have many women who are in their forties and fifties questing after motherhood, feeling desperate to have a child.  This desperation is an important part of the reproductive technology equation according to Charis Thompson, author of Making Parents:  The Ontological Choreography of Reproductive Technologies.  She says that "a prominent aspect of the experience of reproductive technologies for infertility is their 'never enough' quality... this desperate, private compulsion to motherhood doesn't just propel activism but also plays a role in the market of assisted reproductive technologies in the United States.  That is, it imposes what I refer to as a 'monopoly of desperation.'"

How dare the marketers of reproductive technology encourage a "monopoly of desperation" among women!  How dare they use a marketing strategy that aims to convince women, in Victorian fashion, that to be a woman is to be a mother.  This message to women in general is contemptible, and to send this message to women who are infertile is cruel.

Although the article in the NY Times makes it clear that to get pregnant by conceiving naturally in your forties is very difficult and almost impossible in your fifties, the article doesn't address this desperation to have children after age forty.  It comes close to saying something about the psychology of this issue when the article mentions our society's fixation with celebrities who get pregnant in their forties, but it doesn't delve into why we're fixated.  Are we afraid to ask?

Many Supermoms are Sad

A Wall Street Journal blog reports that supermoms are sad.  I don't doubt that for a minute, and there are a million things I can say about this issue.  What I'll say for now is this:  society's structure needs to change.  The women's movement helped women change, but society's structure didn't change.  That's a problem.

The Great September 11 Novel

The title of David Ulin's article in yesterday's LA Times about literature after 9/11-- "A Compelling Narrative from an Unlikely Source:  Looking for the transformative literary work on the terrorist attacks?  Try the official government report"-- gives his story away.  Ulin says that the government's report "may be as close as we've yet come to the great Sept. 11 novel."  That doesn't surprise me.  I didn't stop writing fiction after 9/11, but until recently I hadn't been able to write a story that takes place after 9/11.   Anyway, Ulin asks:  "where, though, is the transformative book about Sept. 11, the one that, like Erich Maria Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front' or Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried,' evokes its emotional resonance?"  Ulin goes on to say, "...it's useful to remember that both Vietnam and the Great War involved elaborate, if contradictory, narratives, whereas Sept. 11 seemed to defy narrative altogether-- just as it has defied perspective because it was without prior context in our lives."  My question is this:  Was September 11 really without prior context in all of our lives?  I don't think so.

Bougainvillea

The beginning of my bougainvillea effort:

Notre Dame Football

I was sure Tommy Rees would start because of the way he played last year, but as we know Brian Kelly had his reasons for starting Dayne Crist: mental toughness (but is he alert?), maturing as a player and leader (but does he win?), and he has a stronger arm (but he gets injured).  Notice how Brian Kelly didn't mention winning?

Listen up, Notre Dame Administration, here are couple things I'd do to fix your embarrassing football program:  I would start recruiting second and third tier high school kids.  Forget the ones who feel entitled to play at so-called "important" football schools-- because my feeling is that those second and third tier kids would play to win-- no matter what.   I'd also recruit the players from interhall football.  You'd get an excellent team.; they'd want to win, and they'd be smart.  You can't afford to laugh at my suggestions because the football program is too embarrassing.  There's a big problem.   Fix it!

Free Public Libraries

We need free public libraries.  If you're not sure why, you haven't been to one lately.  Please visit your local free public library and see what it has to offer.  You'll be amazed.

He that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter

Major League Baseball Loves to Hate Pink

If you're wondering whether women in the United States are second class citizens, wonder no more. We are, and Major League Baseball is helping to perpetuate our second class status by sending a very clear message: it's humiliating to be a girl.  As reported in the NY Times, "Rookie relievers are being forced to wear schoolgirl backpacks-- gaudy in color, utterly unmanly-- to transport gear." Mets' pitcher Tim Byrdak said, "You have to walk all the way across the field to get to the bullpen, so you make the rookie carry this pink bag, and you can kind of humiliate him."  Oh, it feels good to be dressed in pink, doesn't it?

So how would these professional athletes feel if they wore a blue bag or a bag that boys would like to wear, such as an R2-D2 (Star Wars) bag?  Erik Hamren did have to wear an R2-D2 bag, and how did he feel about that?  "I've grown to love it." I'm not sure he would have grown to love a Hannah Montana, Dora the Explorer, or Hello Kitty bag.  Or the pink feather boa that Michael Stutes was forced to wear.  (Wouldn't it be great if he did love wearing that boa?)  Trevor Hoffman (retired relief pitcher) said, "I think it's amusing for the fans to see [the rookies wearing these bags].  It's kind of a way of pointing out who's the low man on the totem pole."

Yep, the low man on the totem pole is a woman.

Major League Baseball "has no issue with the bags, as long as they maintain a spirit of innocence."  Aw gee, it's so much innocent fun to be coerced into feeling like a girl!

Fig Update

They're ripening:

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Many articles have been written over the past week about Steve Jobs, and that's understandable. He's not an ordinary person; he's a risk-taker. Some of us jabber a lot about risk-taking and how the United States is a country that encourages it, but how many of us actually take risks? I suppose every time we drive we take a risk, especially in Los Angeles. But how many of us are curious? How many of us experiment? How many of us ask questions? How many of us are continuously learning and seeking real-life experiences? How many of us risk failing?

But do the people in power really want us-- their minions-- taking too many risks?

Anyway, our country is proud that we have the freedom to do almost anything we want, but I'm not sure how much encouragement there really is to do almost anything. Yes, Nike had an ad campaign that told us to just do it, but what that meant was just go ahead and buy our sneakers and then while wearing our sneakers you'll magically be able to try to do anything imaginable. (But the key is to consume our stuff.) But let's look at Dorothy, the young lady trying to get back to Kansas.  Yes, she's fake, but let's see what kind of risk taker corporate America really adores. Why didn't she stay in Oz and try living somewhere other than Kansas? Ok, she was supposed to be a kid though she looks a lot older than one. I wonder what would have happened if she did what Steve Jobs recommends-- that is,  what The Whole Earth Catalog's recommends: Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

How many of us will actually take this billionaire's/catalog's advice?