Our new President-Elect

   Thank you, citizens of the United States of America.  I can start hoping again. 

“Nation,” by Terry Pratchett

  Terry Pratchett is my favorite author.  He writes novels, and only with fiction can you present people who are so real.  Most of his books are in the fantasy section of book stores, but the characters in his books, whether they are werewolves, witches, trolls, or whatever, are the sort of people you deal with on an every day basis. 

Most of Pratchett’s books have taken place on Disc World, a place where magic is a regular part of life.  Some time ago, Mr. Pratchett let it be known that he has been diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer’s Disease.  His fans felt badly for Pratchett and his family, but we also felt badly for ourselves.  His wonderful fiction has become a part of our lives.  Pratchett pointed out that he wasn’t dead, and still felt quite capable of writing for a while.  However, he put off the next Disc World novel he was considering, because he’s had this other book in mind for some time, and decided now was the time to write it.

“Nation” is set in what appears to be the South Pacific, after a massive tidal wave has destroyed most of the people living on those tiny islands.  It has also beached an English ship, with one survivor.  The story is about choosing life, and asking hard questions (such as “Why did I survive?” and “What did we do to make the gods angry?”), and doing what needs to be done.  Pratchett excels at presenting characters who are ordinary — they get afraid, they worry about doing the right thing, etc. — but who do what is in front of them because there is no one else to do it.  In this book there are two “ordinary” heroes: Mau, a boy-becoming-a-man, whose village has been wiped out; and Daphne, whose life hasn’t had a lot of training in practical activity, and now must learn about things like delivering babies and making beer.   At one point a story teller is telling the small group of people on the island about something Mau did, and how very brave he was.  In the midst of it, as he builds tension, he mentions that Mau wet himself.  One of the listeners thinks, What?  That’s not the sort of thing you say about a hero!  But it is exactly the sort of thing you reveal about a hero who inspires the people around him.  This is the sort of person you want as your leader, because he is still human, and he fears, and he does it anyway.

It seems to me Pratchett is very fond of strong female characters, the sort who know what they want to do with their lives, and can be very firm about doing it.  His Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany (from the Disc World series) are two of my favorites.   Now Daphne is one of them, too.  Yes, she’s afraid, and she cries.  But she learns to deliver babies, and cook, and chew food for an old lady, and saw off a diseased foot, and that’s not all.  She uses her intelligence, and notices things.  And she learns to die, and to bring someone back from the land of the dead. 

“Nation” is a wonderful novel, appropriate for anyone about 12 years old and up.  It is funny, and suspenseful, and will make you think.  Thank you for writing it, Mr. Pratchett!

NOTE: This entry rambles a bit, but “Nation” really is a good book.   Read it. 

A not-quite-voyeur of Hunter S. Thompson land

Long ago I read the “Rolling Stone,” and discovered Hunter S. Thompson.  If you don’t know about Thompson, there is a pretty decent article about him at Wikipedia.  The stuff he wrote fascinated me.  I kept thinking, “Is this guy for real?”  Years later I finally got around to reading his books, after my son gave me a copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1971).  Again, there was that same horrified fascination.  Reading the book was dangerous . . . I had to put it down after each chapter, and reconnect with what was real in my life.  And yet, in the midst of the twisted, drug induced descriptions and (possible) paranoia, Thompson would make commentaries on life that rang true.  He wrote things about what the counter-culture members of my generation had hoped to create, and how members of the status quo set out to squash that. 

So I read everything Thompson wrote that I could find.  Some of it was as “unique” as Fear and Loathing, and some of it was a bit more mundane.  I certainly can’t say I agreed with his life view; sometimes I felt like a sociologist, exploring an unknown culture.  But he made me think.  And he continued to fascinate me. 

In 1980 they made a movie about stories from his life: Where the Buffalo Roam, starring Bill Murray as Thompson and Peter Boyle as Carl Lazlo, his Samoan attorney.  It covers highlights from Thompson’s writings, and tidbits from his life, but it’s a little . . . tame.  Am guessing we can blame that on it being done in 1980.  Societal mores were still rather tight back then, and they didn’t have the CGI capabilities to really do some of the stories justice.  Murray does a good job, but Peter Boyle’s Lazlo is more manic than seriously whacked out.  The DVD is rated R and runs 96 minutes.  Yahoo movies gives it a B; I’d give it more of a C. 

Then in 1998 they made Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with Johnny Depp as Thompson, Benicio Del Toro as the Samoan attorney, and Terry Gilliam directing (with bit parts played by other name actors, such as Tobey Maguire, Carmen Diaz, and Christina Ricci).  Wow.  This one captures the twisted, this-can’t-be-real essence of the book, including an excellent scene in the hotel bar where Thompson sees everyone as reptiles.  I read somewhere that Depp got so into the character of Thompson, that it took him six months after the filming was done to feel like himself again.  It shows.  Don’t watch the movie just because Depp is in it, because instead of handsome Johnny you see what Thompson looked like.  (Thompson actually plays a cameo in the film.)  This movie comes far closer to conveying the feeling of Thompson’s writing.  I couldn’t get my husband to watch the bonus features on the DVD with me immediately after the movie, because he had the same “lets connect with real life” reaction I had with the book.  The DVD runs 2 hrs and 8 minutes, and is rated R (but a harsher R than the other movie — really).  Yahoo movies gave it a B+, while I would give it an A-. 

Hunter S. Thompson died in 2005 at the age of 67 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  He was known for his drug taking, love of firearms, and gonzo journalism.  The weekend before John Belushi died of a drug overdose, he spent time with Thompson, and finally left because he couldn’t keep up with Thompson’s drug taking.  Thompson was an interesting mix of educated, Southern gun freak and whacked out druggie.  When he wrote, you never quite knew what facet of his personality you would read, but it was rarely boring.

Moving a bridge on Hwy 199

My husband is out on the roads at night, which means he occasionally gets to see some pretty cool things.  Last night he saw some of the process as CalTrans workers moved a new bridge on Hwy 199 into place.  There are two main roads into Del Norte County (California): Hwy 101 (from the north and south) and Hwy 199 (which comes southwest down from Oregon).  Hwy 199 gets a lot of traffic.  It also runs along the Smith River, which is one of the cleanest rivers in the continental United States.  Bit by bit, they have been trying to improve the road — a difficult undertaking, because in some areas it is very narrow, carved out of the rock above the Smith River.  Over the past year they have been working on the Vic Meedom Bridge (named after a former police chief and local character), which crosses Hardscrabble Creek.  (Yes, they once did gold mining in this area.)

Last night, from 10 pm to 6 am, they closed Hwy 199 so they could move the new bridge into place.  Apparently they built the new bridge on a track that jutted over the Smith River.   They extended the track to go under where the old bridge was.  Last night, they carefully destroyed the old bridge, and then moved the 15-ton concrete bridge along the tracks to fit into the slot where the old bridge was.  Voila!  Hwy 199 was open again this morning.  My husband said it reminded him of the sort of thing they used to do in ancient times, with thousands of slaves.  This time they used hydraulic engines and far fewer people.

Cats

I’m a cat person.  I’ve had/lived with dogs in my past, and there have been some I’ve been genuinely fond of, but for some reason I bond with cats better.  My Significant Other had two cats when we got together, and shortly thereafter one of them gave birth to four more at the foot of our bed, so we had six cats.  We never did have the heart to find other homes for the kittens, though we did think about it.  Eventually one cat died of old age, two others had unfortunate encounters with cars, and two succumbed to a genetic disease.  We added a young cat at one point, but one of the neighborhood dogs who was illegally running loose killed her in our own yard.  So we were down to one aging cat, who really missed his siblings.  We were unsure about getting more kittens, because the last time we tried that the three male cats . . . well, let’s just say we had to rip out the carpet.  Fortunately, one neighbor had cats, and they often came over and visited, so our aging cat didn’t get too lonely . . . until they moved.  The meowing made it obvious he was lonely.

We decided to take the plunge.  A co-worker had been talking about having kittens to give away.  They were all females (which is what we wanted), and were a lovely tortoise color.  So we invested in 1) kitten food, and 2) Comfort Zone by Feliway.  Comfort Zone is a scent diffuser (like Glade plug-ins) that emits a scent similar to the pheromones cats produce on their faces to comfort each other.  I couldn’t smell it (and I have a sensitive nose), but the idea is that it helps calm cats when they have to go to the vet (they make a spray version), or for cats who are nervous at home, or for when you introduce kittens into a new environment.  I bought it at a PetSmart or PetCo for around $50, but am told you can get it much cheaper on-line.  We plugged it in about 24 hours before we brought the kittens home, and it worked!  The older cat did not spray, and the two kittens we brought home adjusted easily. 

This one is Ginger.  She got named that because she has more orange in her fur than the other one.  The photo below is of her sister, Susan.  (I know — very original names.)  Susan got her name from a Terry Pratchett book we were re-reading at the time, featuring a no-nonsense character named Susan Sto Helit.  When we first brought them home, Susan was the more assertive of the two, and Ginger seemed more shy.  HA!  Once both of them got used to their surroundings, it became obvious they were both very assertive, just in different ways.  It took Ginger and the older cat about three days to get used to each other; it took Susan almost a week to get over her initial “Halloween cat” reaction.  The older cat was disdainful of them for a while, but at least he stopped meowing for company at 3 a.m.   When we saw him bathing Ginger on the ninth day, we knew things were going well.  Lately the kittens have taken to climbing into the attic, where our older cat can no longer follow.  If they are out of sight for a few hours, he starts meowing with concern (“What have you done with my kittens?”) until they eventually come down again.

I don’t remember the kittens who were born at the foot of our bed being quite this energetic.  Am wondering if it has something to do with their build — three of those cats had the bulkier “forest cat” body type, while the older cat we still have has the leaner “Egyptian cat” body style of the kittens.  Am also wondering if those kittens born at the foot of our bed were better behaved because their mom was around.  I keep telling our older cat he needs to talk with the kittens about behaving, and he gives me this “Huh? You brought them home” look.  Susan and Ginger practice what we’ve taken to calling Kat-Fu — running and leaping at each other and meeting in the air at 2-3 feet off the ground.  They run through the house like it’s a race track, and make daring leaps to hang from the curtain four feet off the ground.  (For that last action they are rewarded with a squirt of water from the handy spray bottle.)  They are learning about NOT playing with the spider plant or getting up on the dining room table or kitchen counters (spray bottle again), and that even if they are only on the bed for half a second while bounding down from their perch on top of the bookcases, it STILL counts as being on the bed (also off limits).   We are still working on how close they are allowed to get to the bird cages. 

Ginger and Susan are a welcome addition to our family.  The older cat is much happier (even if he does escape outside to get away from them at times), and so are the humans.  (Suspect the Birds still vote “No!”)  Yes, I get frustrated with what they’ve done to a couple of the plants, and with getting woke up at odd hours when they race around the house.  But they make us laugh and smile, and there’s nothing sweeter than the purring of a kitten on your lap.  Besides, they look so cute when they’re asleep.   

A couple knitting novels

I love to read and I love to knit, so recently I combined the two and read a couple novels about knitting. 

This first one, The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs, was sent to me by a friend.  We both agreed it is not likely to win a Pulitzer Prize or be studied in English classes (despite the “Readers Guide” at the end of the book).  But . . . it is a very good book.  It is a people book, the sort where you really get to know the characters, and you find yourself caring about their lives.  The primary protagonist is Georgia Walker, a single mom in New York City who owns a knitting shop.  We also get involved in the lives of the women who create the Friday Night Knitting Club, and of the people we meet through them.  We see a slice of their lives, and how they handle love, victories, and defeats.  It is a book about friendship and relationships that matter.  Even though there are sad things, this is a feel-good book, and one I very much enjoyed reading.  Jacobs gives loving descriptions of yarn and the knitting projects of the characters, but they are presented in a way that engages your emotions.

The second book is Death by Cashmere, by Sally Goldenbaum, and as you may have guessed from the title is a mystery book.  It is billed as “A Seaside Knitters Mystery,” so I assume there will be more to come.  Goldenbaum is not quite as good at characterization – we get told a variety of bits and pieces about the characters, but even by the end of the book I did not feel as if I knew them.  However, she handles the mystery very well.  There are enough clues and red herrings to keep you guessing until toward the end of the book, though I had an idea who it was by two-thirds of the way in (just not all the details).  Goldenbaum also gives vivid, dazzling descriptions of the knitting shop, the yarn, and the creations of the knitters, in a way that engages your visual sense.  And it is obvious this is an author who loves food, because meals are not just a setting for scenes, but are lovingly described down to the ingredients and the wine served. 

Publishers tend to be very aware of niche audiences and how to sell more books, and it is obvious they’ve realized knitters will buy more than just books about patterns and how to knit.  I suspect authors such as Stephanie Pearl McPhee (the Yarn Harlot ) gave them a clue about that.  Am sure there are many other knitting novels out there, and I will keep my eyes open for them.   If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the Comments!  Thank you. 

Autumn Equinox tarot spread

Last year I wrote an entry about how I like to celebrate the Autumn Equinox.  This year I wanted to do a tarot spread that addressed the concept of balance (since the Equinox is the balance between dark and light), and to play with the idea of harvest and seed planting.  So I created my own simple tarot spread.

Cards 1-4 are in a horizontal line.

Card 1:  What can I do to restore balance in my life on a Physical level?
Card 2:  What can I do to restore balance in my life on an Emotional level?
Card 3:  What can I do to restore balance in my life on a Mental level?
Card 4:  What can I do to restore balance in my life on a Spiritual level?

Card 5 is above the four previous cards.
Card 5:  What should I be harvesting at this time?

Card 6 is below the first four cards.
Card 6:  What seeds should I be planting?

Cards 1-4 are about helping a person’s life to be more in balance.  Card 5 carries the idea of what is coming to fruition in a person’s life (the results of effort over the past year, several years, or a lifetime).  Card 6 suggests activity over the next few months, the ideas or efforts we need to ponder and begin initial work on, so the project or thought can be ready to grow in the Spring and Summer.

Thanks to my recent lay-off from my job, this spread addressed my desire to regain balance in my life, plus to think about where I’ve been and where my life may be heading.  Turned out half the cards were Major Arcana, which suggests there are psychological issues underlying these changes.  I suspected the question of my thesis would show up with Card 6, and it did:  the Knight of Swords, which (among other things) I associate with energy expended on mental pursuits. 

Curious about the balance in your life?  Give this spread a try, and let me know what you think.

Site link to “The Story of Stuff”

Okay — if you’ve got high speed internet, you really need to watch “The Story of Stuff,” with Annie Leonard. 

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

Annie Leonard is the live action person surrounded by cartoon images, and she explains how stuff is created, consumed, and discarded.  Even more important, she discusses the Real Cost of stuff.  I’ve just discovered the site, but apparently there is a blog that goes with it, and ideas about things we can do.  Check it out!

Good News, Bad News

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog entry are from me as an (almost) private citizen.  They do not in any way reflect the views of the (unnamed) agency I have been working for.  There.

Let’s start with the Bad News.  Actually, you already know the basis for the Bad News — the U.S. economy is not doing well.  That means there are a lot of people out of work, or barely making enough money to get by, and that creates stress.  Stress is a factor in depression, anxiety, and pretty much all forms of mental illness.  These barely-getting-by people can’t afford private therapy, so they go to public agencies for help.  Unfortunately, thanks to various political administrations (you know who they are, on the federal and state level), funds for health care are lacking.  So you’ve got more people seeking help, and less money to support the services to help them.  An equation that spells disaster.

The agency I work for (at the moment) has made some hard choices, because the money isn’t there.  They are laying off 6+ people.  The focus is shifting to working with clients in groups, and to crisis management.  While drop-in services will still be available during working hours, they will no longer be able to offer one-on-one long-term therapy.  This is Bad News for some clients.  The groups they offer are very good, and am happy that option exists.  They’ve been making a real difference in the lives of many clients.  However, not all clients are ready to trust, or they need more individual work, and that is going to be difficult to provide on a drop-in, see-whomever-is-available basis.  I hope I’m wrong.  But I suspect the changes are Bad News for some of the clients.

It’s also Bad News for most of the people who continue to work for the agency.  There will be fewer coworkers to help with clients.  They’ve had to discharge clients that some of them have worked with for many months.  You don’t get into the mental health field because you want to make money or wield power (well, at least not public health on the working-with-clients level).  You do it because you genuinely care about people, and you want to help them make a success of their life.  You build healing relationships with them.  And now that is ending for many before there is a real sense of resolution.  Also, the shift to crisis management is stressful.  There is pressure to find solutions for the clients on a local level within tight parameters.  So this change is Bad News for the people who continue to work there.

And it’s Bad News for most of the people who are being laid off.  Even if they are able to find new jobs, there is the stress of change, and money problems, and the sleepless nights of wondering how all this will turn out.  Even though you are told “it’s not personal,” losing your job IS very personal, because so often our jobs are tied up with our self-worth. 

Imagine by now you are wondering, Where is the Good News?  Hey, the Good News is I am one of the people being laid off!  I won’t be one of the mental health workers struggling under impossible constraints.  I’m not (yet!) one of the clients no longer able to get the personalized assistance I need.  And I have a significant other who can still support me (though things will get a little tight).   I’ve written before about needing to complete my thesis, and figure this is a kick-in-the-pants from the Universe to go ahead and do that.  I will finally have time for housework and yardwork, and more time for knitting, blogging, reading, and watching movies.  Being out of work will be temporary for me, but for now it is not a bad thing.  Inconvenient, yes.  And I will very much miss my clients.    But all things considered, I think I got the better end of the deal.

Anger management workbooks

Many of my clients come in with anger problems (and even depression is often anger turned inward), so I’ve been doing some research on healthy ways of dealing with anger.  While there may be other fine workbooks on anger out there, the two I stumbled across and am very impressed with are The Pathways to Peace Management Workbook by William Fleeman (2003) and The Anger Workbook For Women by Laura J. Petracek (2004).

 The Pathways to Peace Anger Management Workbook was developed by William Fleeman based on twelve step programs for addictions.  Fleeman has an anger problem of his own (as with other addictions, anger is something you control, not eliminate), and devised this system as a way to overcome his anger addiction.  However, these techniques have been “road tested” with a variety of people, and is beyond the “if it worked for me it can work for you” variety of self-help book.  It includes some very practical, cognitive based exercises that are simple to follow and apt to be effective.  I was very impressed with his technique for controlling memory cues, and find myself wondering if they will also work on triggers for other strong emotions, such as the reactions experienced by people with PTSD.  Am toying with reworking some of his exercises to use with symptoms of depression and anxiety.  Fleeman has borrowed ideas from other areas, and brought them together in a workbook that is readable and understandable.  I’ve used his chapter on being assertive versus being aggressive with clients.  Apparently there are also Pathways to Peace anger management groups based on his workbook (much like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous), but when I checked their web site, I could find none in California or Oregon.  Fleeman seems to be based on the East Coast, so am guessing they may be more prevalent there.

The second book I found and have been using is The Anger Workbook For Women.  Petracek suggests the triggers for women’s anger may be different than those for men (often more relationship oriented).  Also, women are often socialized to believe anger is not appropriate, so they stuff it inside (depression) or manifest it in a more passive-aggressive manner, or feel guilt over expressing it outwardly.  Women are just as apt to get angry as men, but often don’t even realize it.  Petracek has chapters on boundaries, self-esteem, anger and our children, abuse, and the positive functions of anger.  I am especially impressed with her chapters on communication and self talk (the latter dealing with cognitive distortions), and have used them to help clients gain better communication skills and awareness of how their thoughts control their emotions. 

Both these workbooks are inexpensive, and both can be used without being part of a group or in therapy (though it may help to have someone to talk with while completing some of the exercises).  If you suspect you may have a problem with anger, whether it is controlling it or learning to express it in a healthy way, one or both of these books may be of help.