Forever A Fangirl

Madonna ~ Edvard Munch

As much as I prefer Madonna rather than The (overexposed) Scream, both by Munch, she's a little tame for  October 31.

How 'bout this one instead? Anyone know the artist?

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It's by Munch as well--The Vampire.

Frak Rush Limbaugh

Update: 10/27/06

Michael J. Fox: I Wasn't Acting In Ad

FRIDAY OCTOBER 27, 2006 09:45AM EST

By Stephen M. Silverman

 

Michael J. Fox Photo by: Stephen Lovekin / WireImage

Michael J. Fox says he wasn't "off his medication or acting" in an ad for a Democratic political candidate, as Rush Limbaugh has charged, but was in fact overmedicated.

In a CBS Evening News interview with Katie Couric on Thursday, Fox explained that the effects of his medication are hard to predict: "I just take it and it kicks in when it kicks in. Sometimes it kicks in too hard and then you get what's called dyskinesia, which is that rocking motion."

When Couric said Limbaugh had suggested Fox intentionally skipped his medication to increase his symptoms and appear more sympathetic, the actor said, "The irony is that I was too medicated and was dyskinesic. Because the thing about being symptomatic is that it's not comfortable. No one wants to be symptomatic – it's like wanting to hit yourself with a hammer."

Michael J. Fox Responds to Limbaugh

http://tinyurl.com/ycuhx4
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2006 03:05PM EST UPDATED

By Stephen M. Silverman

Limbaugh (left) and Fox Photo by: Roger L. Wollenberg / UPI / Landov;  Andrew Marks / Retna

Michael J. Fox has responded to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who suggested that Fox's Parkinson's-related tremors in a TV ad for a Democratic politician were exaggerated.

In the ad for Missouri Senate challenger Claire McCaskill, who supports stem-cell research, Fox exhibits the severe shaking and stiffness associated with Parkinson's disease. But Limbaugh said on his syndicated radio program Tuesday that Fox was "either off his medication or acting."

Campaigning in Chicago for Democratic Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth, Fox shot back, "My pills are working really well right now," the Associated Press reports.

Limbaugh said on his radio show, "If this was not an act, then I apologize." He went on to say, however, that Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited...

Missourians Against Human Cloning, a group that opposes stem-cell research, will air its own ad during Game 4 of the World Series Wednesday night, the AP reports. The ad will feature celebrities such as Patricia Heaton, The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel and the St. Louis Cardinals' Jeff Suppan, the starting pitcher in the night's game against the Detroit Tigers.

In Fox's 30-second spot for McCaskill, which has been viewed by more than 1 million people on YouTube.com, the actor, 45, tells voters, "What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."

Parkinson's is a chronic, progressive disorder of the central nervous system that renders patients increasingly unable to control their movements.

Fox was first diagnosed with the disease in 1991 and went public with it in a 1998 PEOPLE cover story. In 2000, he stopped acting full-time because of the disease, devoting himself to spending time with his family. (click link at top for full story)

Argh! Rush Limbaugh is among the slimiest, most despicable entities ( I refuse to call him "human") that's ever stepped up to a microphone (and he can shove his  if...then apology, too).

I don't care what Michael J. Fox's politics are but I do care that Limbaugh used his right to free speech to belittle Fox, a person with a life-crippling ailment, for exerting his right to speak freely.

As a heart failure patient for whom stem cell work thus far has not yet been indicated to "cure" my condition I do in fact identify with Fox's situation. I too, lost my career (as a clinical counsellor) to my illness. Like Fox,  I've carved out a way to live with my illness and it happens to include a nice slice of volunteer work each week. Of course, Fox's celebrity allows him to make a hugely greater financial impact than I do and  sincere big props to him that he's still able to help.

I'd really like to put in print how I feel towards Limbaugh.
Instead I'll use this euphemism: Frak Rush Limbaugh.

P.S. Watch the YouTube video (link above--just type in Michael J Fox and scroll to it). Observe the camera angle that doesn't allow the viewer to see just how bad Fox's condition is now. The saddest aspect of watching him on video is how he continues to fight for his dignity by holding his right arm down with his left in attempt to control the shaking.

Talk to them.

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all
But my lack of education hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall
~Paul Simon "Kodachrome"

Part of my day tomorrow will include showing up at my son's high school--that would be "The Mighty Fremd"--and joining him and his peers on the Scholastic Bowl Team for a little drug and alcohol film.

All students on teams of any kind must have their parents do as I'm doing if they wish to play.

I'm assuming educating footballers about steroids is probably more what this is all about but in the interest of everyone feeling they are being treated fairly, the kids in the Bowl will hear about the evils of illicit substances during the after school time when they would normally be prepping for their first meet.

I don't mind showing up at my son's high school in the middle of the day. I like getting to know what the vibe is like there.
But this is not my favourite reason to go there as I believe strongly that at this late stage it's a wasted (no pun intended) effort.

Our kids have been harped at to say no to drugs since oh, first grade. Again and again it is drilled into them--sort of like Jesus is at Bible school or the multiplication tables in math class.

By now (at age 14, minimum) they are headed in the right or wrong direction when it comes to drinking and drugging. Talk to them. You'll know pretty quickly who thinks frying his/her brain is stupid vs. someone who may be chipping around with the stuff already.

I appreciate that my son's high school cares that he not use drugs but I don't feel it is their responsibility to make up his mind for him nor to police him, for lack of a better word. As his parent I make my feelings on the subject known and he does the same. (Right now, he's quite dismissive of even adults having a beer or a glass of wine--he just can't see the point.)

Early on in this school year after a ride home on the school bus he related overhearing a 16-year-old girl boast about how drunk she got on her birthday. His voice dripped with disdain as he related it. I'm glad he overheard it though because it is his reality--his world as it is right here and now.

So isn't watching a 15 minute anti-drug film at this late stage rather moot when all he's got to do is get on the school bus to hear about the latest exploits of kids for whom the DARE (police anti-drug) program did not work?

Scrub Trees

Rolling Meadows, Illinois ~ Oct 21, 2006

My spouse, the gardener calls these "scrub" trees.

I said it before & I'll say it now, this is priarieland. We're fortunate that someone imported these lovely "scrub" trees. :)

 

A non-profound week

It's been a non-profound week. Lots of driving--to a far-off court-house in another county, to a far-off appointment for an echo cardiogram (initial results are good).
Been spending a bit more time being the "book guru" as the state finally released a quarter-million dollar grant to the program enabling some much needed hires. So far, things are pretty good. Mostly, the veteran workers are taking time off as they've been putting in intensive OT for at least six months so I'm in the odd position of having the brand new asst. manager ask me what to do when it's closing time, most all staff has gone home, and two guys we've never seen before want to donate ten pieces of furniture. It's a damned if you do & don't situation and since we are the beggars not the choosers, last night was a stay-late night. Turned out for the good as the donation was brand new high-quality stuff from a furniture store.

I know that they are selling more books "than ever" and I know it's probably 50% due to me. I feel good about it but, like for most everyone else, the pressure never lets up to bring in more business and like many social service agencies we veer in and out of the red pretty consistantly
  so overall, I just keep doing what I'm doing. Upside is the staff is pretty great--very social but very hard working and committed to the cause (helping abused women & children).

Happy weekend tidings to all!

--Cyn

Salt Creek: A New Trail in Rolling Meadows

A few days ago my son and I intended to take our Schipperke dog, Raven for a walk in what we thought would be a patch of woods then through a clearing where the path curved 'round one side of a man-made pond--then home.
But when we arrived at the point where the path veers off west to the pond we saw that it now splits and a second path continues north. About 50 feet down the new path we were surprised to find a newly-constructed walk-bridge over Salt Creek. It allows one to cross and begin an uninterrupted journey through the woods for the better part of a mile.

What an upgrade for our neighbourhood!*edit/After I wrote this I thought of the woods that were felled in making this new path. I feel badly about the trees and the animals, too--but I feel worse when I see a subdivision full of extreme(ly expensive) homes go up--gobbling up what little open space remains in this neck of the Northwest Chicago suburbs..
I am totally jazzed. Even though we have lots of places to walk, they are next to something other than just trees, like trees...and the road, or greenery and a field...which borders on a  highway.
This path though is in the woods. Granted, on occasion one can peak through the thinning fall foliage to see houses in the distance or even closer in spots but it is still uninterrupted nature for about a mile and it starts within feet of our home.

I am very happy about this for several reasons.
Who doesn't love a walk through the woods? And being every inch a suburbanite I don't need to slog through the woods--a neat bike/walk path is fine for me.

 Also, I've been a bit bored for a long while with the scenery pickings in our neighbourhood as well as very dismayed watching so much of it fall prey to developers banking on the  greed of the long-time Palatine mayor who endorsed so much of the over-building of everything from crappy-looking condos to McMansion monstrosities.

The photobug in me is actually looking forward to snow as the opportunities after a new snowfall are bountiful and I've so needed something new to photograph. And all this can be tied quite literally to our little dog as she is the one who is our excuse to go for a w-a-l-k (we spell it when she's around though I'm fairly certain that she recognizes "walk" even when spelled out).

All the photos that follow were taken with our new "A" series Canon.  My son and I are trying out both the new path and the camera for the first time.The first & last photos are by  my son. The rest as usual, are by me.

Part of Salt Creek--it gets much, much bigger when it rains. :/ and it's already many, many miles long.

The pond from a new angle.

My son took this shot after we were "out of the woods."   

We have few trees here that get truly colourful ("here" was once just prairieland with access to some important waterfront) but as my spouse said tonight--we now have a mini-forest preserve right on our doorstep. :) :) :)

Look at the Look on this Moose's Face!

It's not photo-manipulated save for the "chroming" done to bring out the contrast.

There is a door to the left and the keeper had just unlocked it and stepped into the moose's cage when the moose, who had been looking dazed, snapped his head to look at the keeper. This shot is mid-snap. :D
CLICK for more photos
http://tinyurl.com/yxaa29

La-la-la-la, life goes on...

Went to the college/university fair tonight. Oy! was it crowded. Right now my son is interested in Aerospace Engineering and though he isn't really a change his mind-type kid certainly 3-plus years may alter his choice. Or not I think they should change the name from college (and military) recruiting to Sales. I'm off to Jr. High tomorrow to teach an English/Social Studies combo, then as always, my volunteer gig. It's supposed to be wintery cold. Can't wait.

The Power of the Internet

(Via Reuters)

"These polls seem to suggest the public has decided to just 'throw the bums out,'" said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

"These are huge, huge, numbers and they are very bad for Republicans," she said. "There is not a shred of good news in these polls for Republicans."

more here

(I'm) Still waiting to exhale...

Walkin' The Dog

She wasn't terribly patient about me trying to get off some shots with the little 2-pixel Nikon that soon will be replaced. I'm spoiled. The pixels are just jumping off the page from these photographs. My intention was to catch shadows and light in this early fall/late-afternoon around-my-neighbourhood setting.

This is my favourite of the lot. Make to sure click it to get a better look.

Click pic

This snap is just to prove Raven was with me.

She's stopping to smell the flowers, ha-ha.

Actually, she stops to smell everything. Everything.

Screw your kids over 'cos you're mad at the teachers

Happy Humpday everyone! Can't say I've got anything exciting to report. Just day-to-day stuff...sometimes there's a kind of comfort in the anticipated, sometimes it's just a snooze. Yesterday I did a full day as a bi-lingual grades 4/5/6 resource teacher at one of the lower-performing schools in the district. The school itself is surprisingly shabby-looking and so was some of the staff  --such a contrast to the spit & polish that I see most of the the time. Anyway, as a bi-lingual resource teacher all I did was go over math and English core concepts--it was a long day--no real breaks 'cos not a "real" class. It was a kinda boring slog. And some of the six graders were a bit too cheeky for my taste. When they repeatedly made fun of my attempts at Spanish pronunciation of some very-full-of syllables names I let them know that I would practice my Spanish pronunciation while they could continue working on their English.  The teacher I subbed for had the last period "off" for planning and it would have been nice to go home a bit early but when I asked at the office if they needed any help anywhere they sent me to the library where a very grateful librarian had me be the book check-out person for the last hour of the day. It appears that her regular parent helpers are boycotting their duties in retaliation for the anticipated district-wide strike.  Real nice. Screw your kids over 'cos you're mad at the teachers. Losing the parent helpers brings this school down to one librarian--zero help--which is what the kids get too if there isn't more than one adult in the place. Since it was my regular volunteer day at Wings yesterday I came home, changed and went but not before waiting and wondering where my younger son was. Not home from school--lots of time to have walked home if that were the case--and no message of any kind. I called his Dad to attempt to track him down and he finally did after my son got home from staying after school--at the invitation of a friend of his-- for the Scholastic Bowl (team). When I first read about it when we were perusing teams and clubs I thought he'd enjoy it but he held off until he found that he knew most everyone and it was--  fun! Competition to determine who knows how much, how quickly--and buzzers! Just up his alley. So I'm happy he seems to be settling now that he's in his second month of high school. Mid-term grades were straight A's too, so maybe I should back down just a tiny bit on the checking of grades on-line.  My mother's status hasn't really changed. Still residing in rehab trying to recover from her latest stroke. I'm still more concerned for my father as he only leaves her side to go home to sleep. Both older women at my volunteer gig "got" what he is worried will happen if he's not there. It's sad. We had a sunny, summer-like day yesterday complete with extreme humidity. I was able to "multitask" and get about 30 mins sitting in the sun (via top-down motoring). I watch almost no teevee but since this is the big wind-up for the fall season I'm trying out a couple new series--plus LOST is back tonight. Wish I could work up a bit more enthusiasm for it but I'm afraid it's early promise has dissipated, IMO. I'm totally jazzed though about Battlestar Galactica starting up again this Friday. It's paired with Dr. Who and Heroes (which I've not yet seen) so we may just make Friday into family teevee night--in which case I will no longer be able to say I don't watch much teevee.  Cheers! --Cyn

The ripple effect

This is certainly disturbing. Even the peaceful Amish cannot any longer keep random gun violence out of their bucolic communities. Very sad. It's troubling in and of itself without even thinking of the "big picture" this week. Three schools. Multiple deaths by gunfire of people in various ages & stages of their lives.

The ripple effect--I imagine it travels pretty far and cuts pretty deep.

I dislike sounding alarmist but I think a bit more preparation for the unwanted/unexpected would require that all schools do what the 18 school  school (K-8) district do--namely having keycards open the doors when it is not official leaving and entering times. Otherwise, the school office has to buzz you in.

When I brough this up in an informal chat with my two kids I got the thumbs down on that idea from my freshman high school student and my oldest son--and for the same reason. It would be too inconvenient. Too inconvenient?! I think not. And if so, too bad.

It's inconvenient now on airplanes but we put up with it.

Let's face it--the world grows larger each day. More people=more problems. I used to dislike the word "proactive" (too new-agey sounding) but proactivity is just what could be the first line of defence against unwanted and/or dangerous persons roaming our schools.

Man Storms Amish School, Kills 3, Self

By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press Writer

43 minutes ago

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - A milk-truck driver carrying three guns and a childhood grudge stormed a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday, sent the boys and adults outside, barricaded the doors with two-by-fours, and then opened fire on a dozen girls, killing three people before committing suicide.

At least seven other victims were critically wounded, authorities said.

It was the nation's third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and it sent shock waves through Lancaster County's bucolic Amish country, a picturesque landscape of horse-drawn buggies, green pastures and neat-as-a-pin farms, where violent crime is virtually nonexistent.

Most of the victims had been shot execution-style at point-blank range after being lined up along the chalkboard, their feet bound with wire and plastic ties, authorities said. Two young students were killed, along with a female teacher's aide who was slightly older than the students, state police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.

"This is a horrendous, horrific incident for the Amish community. They're solid citizens in the community. They're good people. They don't deserve ... no one deserves this," State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.

The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old truck driver from the nearby town of Bart, was bent on killing young girls as a way of "acting out in revenge...Roberts was not Amish and appeared to have nothing against the Amish community... he apparently picked the school because it was close by, there were girls there, and it had little or no security.

The attack bore similarities to a deadly school shooting last week in Bailey, Colo., and authorities there raised the possibility that the Pennsylvania attack was a copycat crime.

Miller said Roberts was apparently preparing for a long siege, arming himself with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun and a rifle, along with a bag of about 600 rounds of ammunition, two cans of smokeless powder, two knives and a stun gun on his belt...

As rescue workers and investigators tromped over the surrounding farmland, looking for evidence around this tiny village about 55 miles west of Philadelphia, dozens of people in traditional plain Amish clothing watched _ the men in light-colored shirts, dark pants and broad-brimmed straw farmer's hats, the women in bonnets and long dark dresses.

Reporters were kept away from the school after the shooting, and the Amish were reluctant to speak with the media, as is their custom.

The victims were members of the Old Order Amish. Lancaster County is home to some 20,000 Old Order Amish, who eschew automobiles, electricity, computers, fancy clothes and most other modern conveniences, live among their own people, and typically speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch...

The shooting took place at the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School, a neat white building set amid green fields, with a square white horse fence around the schoolyard. The school had about 25 to 30 students, ages 6 to 13.

According to investigators, Roberts walked his children to the school bus stop, then backed his truck up to the Amish school, unloaded his weapons and several pieces of lumber, and walked in around 10 a.m. He released about 15 boys, a pregnant woman and three women with babies, Miller said.

He barricaded the doors with two-by-fours and two-by-sixes nailed into place, piled-up desks and flexible plastic ties; made the remaining girls line up along a blackboard; and tied their feet together with wire ties and plastic ties, Miller said.

The teacher and another adult at the school fled to a farmhouse nearby, and someone there called 911 to report a gunman holding students hostage.

Roberts apparently called his wife around 11 a.m., saying he was taking revenge for an old grudge, Miller said. Moments later, Roberts told a dispatcher he would open fire on the children if police didn't back away from the building. Within seconds, troopers heard gunfire. They smashed the windows to get inside, and found his body...

Killed were two students, and a female teacher's aide who was 15 or 16 years old, authorities said...

The shootings were disturbingly similar to an attack last week at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colo., where a man singled out several girls as hostages in a school classroom and then killed one of them and himself. Authorities said the man in Colorado sexually molested the girls.

"If this is some kind of a copycat, it's horrible and of concern to everybody, all law enforcement," said Monte Gore, undersheriff of Park County, Colo.

Miller, though, said he believed the Pennsylvania attack was not a copycat crime: "I really believe this was about this individual and what was going on inside his head."

On Friday, a school principal was shot to death in Cazenovia, Wis. A 15-year-old student, described as upset over a reprimand, was charged with murder.

The Pennsylvania attack was the deadliest school shooting since a teenager went on a rampage last year on an Indian reservation in Red Lake, Minn., killing 10 people in all, including five students, a teacher, a security guard and himself.

Nationwide, the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo., remains the deadliest school shooting, with 15 dead, including the two teenage gunmen.

In Pennsylvania's insular Amish country, the outer world has intruded on occasion. In 1999, two Amish men were sent to jail for buying cocaine from a motorcycle gang and selling it to young people in their community...

Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services consulting firm in Cleveland, said the Colorado and Pennsylvania crimes underscore the lesson that no school is automatically safe from an attack.

"These incidents can happen to a one-classroom schoolhouse to a large urban school," he said. "The only thing that scares me more than an armed intruder in a school is school and safety officials who believe it can't happen here."

Men are seen with a State Troopers vehicle near a schoolhouse, in which police say a gunman killed several people, in Nickel Mines, Pa. on Monday, Oct. 2, 2006. A 32-year-old milk truck driver took about a dozen girls hostage in the one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday, barricaded the doors with boards and shot several people, killing at least three of the girls and apparently himself, authorities said. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)