Healthcanc

Houston under water I take the pictures right off the TV screen, not unlike taking pictures for twitter when Anthony Rizzo hits another home run. Current Events It is 5:30 in the morning and I'm watching from the balcony as the sprinklers soak the lawn. It is about to rain in Chicago, so this annoys me. We're all a little sick of seeing so much water. It is all there is on television.   In Houston 30,000 people are homeless. Some of us feel bad because we can't take anyone in, and don't have a boat, can't rescue anyone.  We cannot stop watching the news. The rescue stories, extractions , captivate and keep on coming. It seems like there will be no end. The rain won't stop and there is no place for the water to go. Houston is flat, concrete, an urban center, not a national park. The water doesn't sink into the ground when it hits the cement. People, like the rain, have no place to go, either.  Survivors of other hurricanes, Katrina, Sandy, Ivan, Andrew, Patri...

Totality Those of us who get anxious are likely to be very anxious at the thought of a blinding sun. Last week we cautiously awaited instructions about the eclipse:  what to do  and what not to do . The media tells us that while the sun is still out, and the moon is slowly walking its way across the master orb, during the partial eclipse, we're to wear special glasses. But some say, don't look for very long. Everyone buys the glasses ahead of time. Amazon stocks up, only to find that some venders sold them defective goods. Refunds are awarded, sincere apologies. Entire schools of children disappointed. Class cancelled. Too much panic for this therapist. And it is contagious. Now we have to worry about our own glasses. Are these  legitimate? How does one know? Ah! Try them ahead of time. Look up at the sun before August 21. If you see nothing, you're good. So I do that, and to my delight, nothing.         Didn't get the memo There are other unanswered...

Christian Picciolini , ex-skinhead Jews will not replace us! It is a white nationalist chant heard at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on Saturday. What does that even mean? The crowd with the rally permit directs its anger, uniting its right to hate Jews. The other minorities, Blacks, Hispanics, all other persons of color, get a pass for awhile. What is at the core of a personality that drives someone to drive or fly  across the country, even don a white sheet, take a torch, or bare-faced, nonchalantly trash talk millions of people he doesn't know to a television reporter? James Alex Fields, Jr, white nationalist We can assume most people saw Schindler's List , know about the atrocities of the Holocaust, and that most people feel compassion. But no. Not everyone is made of compassion, and some people have this odd gift, a way of detaching from other people, dehumanizing humans. My skin's better than your skin. My genetics are better than yours. To those who w...

  A very different book, All Our Waves Are Water.   Journalist-biographer-resident surfer, and guru,    Jaimal Yogis   (h e might shudder to be referred to as " guru", a modest man)  is on a quest. Jaimal takes his mind's-eye with him, his awareness, and ramps it up, as he journeys through life, a search for his best self, and more than that, he's running away from a bad break up. It is a physical journey, and an inward trip, too.  Having one parent of Jewish ancestry but raised in a Buddhist tradition, it is no surprise t hat a stream of guilt is laced into the words of this delicious biography. I look forward to reading his other book, Saltwater Buddha . All Our Waves Are Water All Our Waves Are Water All Our Waves Are Water   might be a metaphor, but is probably what every surfer is feeling while finding his way in the ocean. There is an attachment to water, detachment from all else, as it must be, because anything else, and down you go. Fall o...