Senior Women Web

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  • Culture Watch Reviews: Teaching Girls About Women’s Political Gains Crucial For Progress

    In This IssueMadam President: Five Women Who Paved the Way

    Books

    Preserving  women’s history and reminding our younger generations, especially girls and young women about it, is crucial for continued  progress.  The sad truth is women who have run for the United States presidency are frequently left off the history pages.   

    Shortly after Hillary Clinton’s near Democratic nomination for the US presidency in 2008, I conducted a  focus group  to discuss the subject of a woman president with ten girls, age 11 to 14.  With the example of Clinton’s bid fresh in their minds, these girls believed that “the only reason there hasn’t been a woman president yet is because not enough women have tried to be president.” Several participants said, “only Hillary Clinton has run.” When they were shown examples of others such as Shirley Chisholm and Elizabeth Dole, none of the girls had heard of those women or had read about them in newspapers or history books.  Asked if they thought that they could be president, the girls qualified their “yes” with, “if I got better grades” and tried really hard.       

    Grade school teachers I’ve interviewed about empowerment literature for children suggest that offering students more examples of women’s achievements would better equip them to interpret accomplishment. Students are quick to mention sports and movie stars when asked about extraordinary achievers. If they heard more about women and men successful in medicine or business or politics,  one teacher commented: “we would change how the children think of greatness.”

    In the year prior to Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s bids to become the Democratic nominee, authors Rebecca S. Bigler, Andrea E. Arthur, Julie Milligan Hughes and Meagan M. Patterson found that one in four children believed it is illegal for women and minorities to hold the office of president. “[Children] have seen [the presidents] all over the media, on posters, in classroom history books,” said Rebecca Bigler, “yet no one ever explains to them why they have all been white men. There is never a conversation about that so children start to come up with their own explanations.”

    The same study found that girls who attributed the lack of female presidents to discrimination were more likely to report that they could not really become president, even if they were interested in doing so. (The study appeared in the December 2008 issue of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.)

    Children’s perceptions are likely expanded now that they see Barack Obama pictured on classroom posters and in history books, however, it is crucial to remind them of Hillary Clinton’s close race for the Democratic nomination for president, and the presidential bids of other women.  These important historical facts need to be recorded in school materials so that girls can perceive themselves as potential leaders. We simply cannot take for granted that girls know they can grow up to be whatever they want.

    This research is behind the publication of a new children’s book, Madam President:  Five Women Who Paved the Way, (Eifrig Publishing, 2015) which traces the young lives and historic bids of five women who have run for the United States presidency, including Margaret Chase Smith, Shirley Chisholm, Patricia Schroeder, Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton.  The book, based on years of extensive research on women and the United States presidency, encourages young readers to expand their thinking of themselves and to try things that have never been done before.  The book is fully illustrated by  Bucks County, Pennsylvania artist Jane Ramsey who has vividly brought to life the images of the women trailblazers. 

     By putting this book in the hands of girls we can improve the chance that history will not forget that women have run for president and someday, maybe soon, a woman will become President of the United States.  

     ©2015 Nichola Gutgold for SeniorWomen.com


    Editor’s Note:

    CultureWatch Reviews: Gillibrand’s Off the Sidelines and Warren’s A Fighting Change Merge Into One Compelling Narrative

    Jill Norgren writes: One pleasure of A Fighting Chance and Off the Sidelines lies in the telling of each woman’s path to the United States Senate. Warren announced her plan to apply to law school only to be met with the critical response of her mother: “Stay at home, have more children, and do not become one of those crazy women libbers.” Gillibrand relates how a male senator walked up to her after she had succeeded in losing weight gained in pregnancy and said “Don’t lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby.”

  • Food Secrets of Downton Abbey: When the Gravy Froze & Dropping Fake Prawns Onto the Dowager’s Lap

    Ever marveled at the magnificent meals and sumptuous spreads on Downton Abbey? Go behind the scenes with Downton Abbey‘s food stylist Lisa Heathcote to learn insider secrets about preparing and filming the gourmet grandeur that is Downton Abbey’s food.

    Daisy and Mrs. Patmore

    It’s the job of food stylist Lisa Heathcote to create every tantalizing morsel that appears onscreen in Downton Abbey. But not all of it is edible, and chances are if you see Mrs. Patmore slaving away at a dish, it may never be served or eaten. Working with Julian Fellowes’ scripts and the series’ set designer, Heathcote plans what Mrs. Patmore & Co. will cook during scenes and what will be served to the Crawleys and their guests upstairs. Then in her professional kitchen, she cooks the food, packs it up, and drives it to the set, whether at Highclere Castle or the film studio, Ealing, the home of Downton Abbey‘s below stairs set.

    Memorable Moments

    Prepping food at Highclere Castle
    For the first three seasons of Downton Abbey, Heathcote had to prep food outdoors at Highclere Castle in a sort of field kitchen, in a tent called an “easy-up.” On one occasion, filming Season 3, she was preparing food in her tent outdoors for a big banquet scene with lots of different meats. She describes, “The side of my tent is open, and I could see [Highclere Castle countess] Lady Carnarvon walking up the side of the lawn with three very big dogs. And they just took off, running towards me because they saw the meat.” Fortunately, the crew acted fast and the meat was saved.

    “At first, the easy-up worked well. But once Season 3 started filming in February, the unusually freezing weather, compounded by Highclere Castle’s unique microclimate, became a problem. One particularly icy and windy day, she describes, “I turned around to find that the gravy had become frozen! And we couldn’t even lift the gravy boat off the table because it was frozen there.”  For Season 4, she was given a small craft truck, which has made her very happy.

    Lobster for the Dowager

    Another challenging moment was in Season 3, when the script dictated that footman Jimmy drop a lobster on the Dowager’s lap. “Of course, wardrobe was worried because they didn’t want a greasy lobster on the silk costume, but the script called for it.” Dressing fake prawns in with real prawns and lobster, she recounts, “I stuck all the other real food onto the platter with the fake prawns and parsley, just enough to drop off onto her lap without there being glue and a big mess all over her silk dress!” 

  • Flu Predictions From Columbia’s Mailman School of Health & the CDC … The Season Is Upon Us

    Editor’s Note: ILI means influenza-like illness; new predictions are posted every Friday afternoon during the flu season at Columbia University’s site.

    Infectious disease experts at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health launched a website over a year ago that reports weekly predictions for rates of season influenza in 94 cities in the United States based on a scientifically validated system. The URL to the influenza map is http://cpid.iri.columbia.edu/flu.htmlFlu View

    Image from CDC

    The  page shows the weekly ILI+ reported so far in the 14-15 season. Use the ‘Select week:’ slider to select a different week and ‘Select strain‘ option panel to specify strain. The larger map shows ILI observations in select cities and the smaller panel at the lower left shows the state-level observations. Hover on a bubble (for cities) or region (for states) to see the observed counts.

    For Columbia’s ILI+ forecasts for the remainder of the season, see ‘Forecasts‘ tab. Use the option boxes on the right to select influenza strain and geographical location. The top panel shows forecasts for the selected strain and location; the lower panel shows the reported ILI+ for the same strain/location combination for the last four seasons.

    Website Features

    • Interactive map of the United States the displays the relative severity of seasonal flu in cities across the country flu and incidence numbers for each.
    • Influenza incidence predictions by city for the coming weeks.
    • Map that illustrates the proportion of flu cases by region.
    • Charts that compare the timing and severity of the four most recent flu seasons.
    • Exportable data for each week of the flu season.

    flu predictions. Columbia U School of Health

    “Flu forecasting is a powerful example of how public health research is leveraging technology to prevent the spread of infections and safeguard our health,” says Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, Dean of Columbia’s Mailman School.

    CDC’s Weekly US Map: Influenza Summary Update is A Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report Prepared by the Influenza Division; the URL for this map is: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

    Chart and map from Columbia’s Mailman School

    The flu forecasting system adapts techniques used in modern weather prediction to turn real-time, Web-based estimates of influenza infection into local forecasts of the future influenza incidence by locality.

    For the public, the flu forecast may promote greater vaccination, the exercise of care around people sneezing and coughing, and a better awareness of personal health.  For health officials, it could inform decisions on how to stockpile and distribute vaccines and antiviral drugs, and in the case of a virulent outbreak, whether other measures, like closing schools, are necessary.

    In the US the Centers for Disease Control estimates that between 3,000 and 49,000 die from the flu every year, according to the CDC.

  • Olfactory Dysfunction is a Harbinger of Mortality: “We believe olfaction is the canary in the coalmine of human health”

    Jayant M. Pinto, Kristen E. Wroblewski, David W. Kern, L. Philip Schumm, Martha K. McClintock

     

     Jayant Pinto, MD, with one of the Sniffin’ Sticks used to test a patient’s ability to identify scents for his research on olfactory dysfunction and aging. (Robert Kozloff/The University of Chicago) 

    October 1, 2014 

    For older adults, being unable to identify scents is a strong predictor of death within five years, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. Thirty-nine percent of study subjects who failed a simple smelling test died during that period, compared to 19 percent of those with moderate smell loss and just 10 percent of those with a healthy sense of smell.

    The hazards of smell loss were “strikingly robust,” the researchers note, above and beyond most chronic diseases. Olfactory dysfunction was better at predicting mortality than a diagnosis of heart failure, cancer or lung disease. Only severe liver damage was a more powerful predictor of death. For those already at high risk, lacking a sense of smell more than doubled the probability of death.

    “We think loss of the sense of smell is like the canary in the coal mine,” said the study’s lead author Jayant M. Pinto, MD, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Chicago who specializes in the genetics and treatment of olfactory and sinus disease. “It doesn’t directly cause death, but it’s a harbinger, an early warning that something has gone badly wrong, that damage has been done. Our findings could provide a useful clinical test, a quick and inexpensive way to identify patients most at risk.”

    The study was part of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), the first in-home study of social relationships and health in a large, nationally representative sample of men and women ages 57 to 85.

    In the first wave of NSHAP, conducted in 2005-06, professional survey teams from the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago used a well-validated test — adapted by Martha K. McClintock, PhD, the study’s senior author — for this field survey of 3,005 participants. It measured their ability to identify five distinct common odors.

    The modified smell tests used “Sniffin’Sticks,” odor-dispensing devices that resemble a felt-tip pen but are loaded with aromas rather than ink. Subjects were asked to identify each smell, one at a time, from a set of four choices. The five odors, in order of increasing difficulty, were peppermint, fish, orange, rose and leather.

    Measuring smell with this test, they learned that:

    • Almost 78 percent of those tested were classified as “normosmic,” having normal smelling; 45.5 percent correctly identified five out of five odors and 29 percent identified four out of five.
    • Almost 20 percent were considered “hyposmic.” They got two or three out of five correct.
    • The remaining 3.5 percent were labelled “anosmic.” They could identify just one of the five scents (2.4%), or none (1.1%).

    The interviewers also assessed participants’ age, physical and mental health, social and financial resources, education, and alcohol or substance abuse through structured interviews, testing and questionnaires. As expected, performance on the scent test declined steadily with age; 64 percent of 57-year-olds correctly identified all five smells. That fell to 25 percent of 85-year-olds.

    In the second wave, during 2010-11, the survey team carefully confirmed which participants were still alive. During that five-year gap, 430 (12.5%) of the original 3005 study subjects had died; 2,565 were still alive.

  • Missing Persons: I look at our grown-up sons and realize those little boys are never really very far away

    by Julia SnedenBokeh Christmas lights

    Each day as I walk, I like to look into the windows of the houses I pass. I’m no Peeping Tom, but there’s a hint of the voyeur in me that makes me want to see how others have decorated their living rooms, or what kind of art they hang on their walls. One doesn’t see much in a casual glance from the sidewalk, but it’s amazing what a quick glimpse can tell you.

    New neighbors on our street keep all their shades drawn even when they’re home. It’s no surprise that they haven’t responded to the friendly overtures of various people on our block. The message of those closed blinds is very clear. 

    Christmas lights by Rushil, Wikimedia Commons

    Two houses up is a house owned by a couple who sit on their screened porch every warm evening. Their porch light welcomes the company of all their neighbors. They were beloved by my youngest son, who spent long hours visiting them, an extraordinary friendship between a five-year-old and two middle-aged adults.

    There’s an older, brick house a few blocks away that was bought by a young couple a few years back. The first thing they did was to glass in a screened porch to make a playroom for their children. It’s on a corner, so that when I walk by, I can see in from two sides, even though reflections make the view quite limited. The room is usually dark in the mornings, but on Saturdays, a large-screen TV lights up one wall. I catch a glimpse of one child’s bare feet hanging over the end of a sofa, and perhaps the arm of another protruding from the depths of an overstuffed chair.

    Last year, in early December, I glanced casually at the glassed-in porch as I took my early morning walk. The television was on as usual on a Saturday, but this time the children weren’t lolling around to look at it. Standing against the adjacent wall was a large Christmas tree, lights aglow, and sitting on the floor in front of it were two pajama-clad little boys, about seven and nine years old. They weren’t paying attention to the television. They weren’t doing anything, in fact, but looking up at the tree. And suddenly I was hit by a wave of emotion as I remembered my own children, sitting just so. “Oh, I thought, I miss them!”

    It wasn’t a matter of wanting them back. As they would say, been there, done that. And it surely wasn’t a question of  ‘Where did they go?’ I know very well where they went. They are three fine, intelligent young men (I must confess there have been times when I looked at one or another of them, and wondered to myself how all that bone and muscle and sinew and hair grew out of those sweet, smooth little bodies, but that’s another matter.) 

  • A Scout Report: ABT (Ballet), Bunraku, Nate Silver, Cuba in Revolution and The Search for Extraterrestial Life

    Research and Education

    Mission to Mars book

    Cover of MISSION: MARS,  a children’s book by SETI Institute scientist Pascal Lee; Photo credit Scholastic

    The Search for Extraterrestrial Life at UC Berkeley

    ·https://seti.berkeley.edu

    The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute at UC Berkeley searches for “electromagnetic signatures of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, spanning wavelengths from radio to visible light, over ten orders of magnitude in characteristic time scale.” Readers can explore the goings-on at SETI on this website. For instance, the SETI Projects tab provides descriptions of the six main projects the organization is currently running. The Great Debate is another great area, featuring a video of a public debate between renowned SETI scientist, Dan Werthimer, and skeptic, Geoff Marcy. Each side presents evidence for why we should – or shouldn’t – believe that there really are other advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.

    Innovations for Successful Societies

    Successful Societies ·http://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu

    Innovations for Successful Societies at Princeton University has been chronicling government innovation in low- and middle-income countries since 2008. The basic idea is that development and reform efforts succeed when they take into account the cultures, conditions, histories, and geographies of the diverse populations that they seek to serve. On this site, readers may want to start with the excellent five-minute introductory video, which can be located under the About tab. From there, readers can scout the homepage, where they may peruse the 12 Focus Areas, browse the Latest Publications, and both read and listen to the Latest Interviews with development experts who are working “in the trenches.” The site can be especially helpful to teachers of later high school and early college, as well as anyone with an interest in current critiques of international development work.


    Open Anthropology

    ·http://www.aaaopenanthro.org

    Open Anthropology is the first digital-only, public journal of the American Anthropological Association. Each issue focuses on a “timely theme” and gathers anthropology articles, past and present, related to it. For instance, the October 2014 issue is titled, “World on the Move: Migration Stories.” Articles on the theme include a 1920 missive by the famed ethnologist Franz Boas, groundbreaking work about “How People Moved Among Ancient Societies” (2013), and a “Narrative of an Asylum Seeker” (2004), just to name a few. Each issue is offered free of charge, with an insightful Editor’s Note that describes the topic and the current articles.

    Sustainability Education & Economic Development (SEED)

    ·http://theseedcenter.org

    This joint effort between the American Association of Community Colleges and ecoAmerica seeks to build and further develop clean energy technology and sustainability programs at community colleges around the country. With over 470 community colleges already participating, the program has real traction. There are troves of information on this site about Solar, Wind, Green Building, Energy Efficiency, Sustainability Education, and much more. Each category boasts curricular materials, professional development resources, employment industry projections, and other great information and tools. Also of interest, are the Featured Resources (located within the Resource Center), offering information about various SEED related opportunities for educators and workforce development professionals.


    Physics of the Universe

    ·http://www.bnl.gov/science/physics.php

    The Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) studies some important and perplexing questions: What is dark energy? Can we use wind to power whole cities? How do the smallest biological structures interact with one another? Physics of the Universe, the BNL’s web page dedicated to the institution’s physics experiments, is particularly fascinating. Readers may explore the page via three “frontiers:” the Energy Frontier, which delves into work at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland; the Intensity Frontier, which explains data gathered at the Daya Bay Neutrino Experiment in China; and the Cosmology Frontier, which gives an overview of some of the work being done at the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope in Chile. Physics Research News covers projects and bios, particularly those related to women doing research at Brookhaven.


    Propulsion Research Center

    ·http://www.uah.edu/prc

    There is a reason why the magazine Popular Science cited the Propulsion Research Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville as one of the coolest student labs in the country. For one thing, they get to launch rockets. They also have state of the art research facilities and contracts with a number of private industries. Browse the About section to read the fascinating history of the lab, including the government organizations and aerospace industries that students get to collaborate with. Then check out News for videos of Methane Ignition, Schlieren Nozzles, and other wonders.

         Windows to the Universe: The Sun

    ·http://www.windows2universe.org/sun/sun.html

    Created by NESTA, the National Earth Sciences Teachers Association, Windows to the Universe provides a wealth of resources for teaching and learning the geosciences. In addition to basic facts about the sun, the Culture section leads to information on myths, artwork, and beliefs about the sun from a wide variety of cultures, including Aztec, Norse, Inuit, African, and Greek and Roman. The site design is in need of some upgrading, and there are ads — for products and services of interest to the education community — however, teachers can become educator members, for a small yearly fee, to get the ad-free version of the site. Despite its 1990s look, educators will find plenty here to put to use in their classrooms.

  • Bouquets: French Still-Life Painting from Chardin to Matisse, Floral Paintings With an Art Historical and Cultural Narrative

    Bouquets: French Still-Life Paiinting



    Editor’s Note:  In 1999, we attended an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC,  From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art. It was a small show but the paintings have remained with us throughout the years,   memorable, beautiful, exquisite: “The beauty of exotic flowers are celebrated in this exhibition of 16th- and 17th-century Dutch and Flemish flower still-life paintings, watercolors, manuscripts, and botanical books.”Dutch & Flemish exhibit

    Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase, 1621
    National Gallery of Art, Patrons’ Permanent Fund and New Century Fund

     

    The Dallas Museum of Art is presenting the first major US exhibition to explore French floral still-life painting in the 19th century.

    Bouquets: French Still-Life Painting from Chardin to Matisse traces the development of the floral still life from the late 18th century through the early 20th century, emphasizing the tremendous depth and scope of creative engagement with the genre throughout this era. The exhibition features more than 60 paintings by more than 30 artists, including renowned figures such as Paul Cézanne, Gustave Courbet, Eugène Delacroix, Vincent van Gogh and Edouard Manet, along with less familiar contemporaries such as Simon Saint-Jean and Henri Fantin-Latour (see following page). On view through February 8, 2015, Bouquets positions floral paintings within a broader art historical and cultural narrative and reveals how the traditional genre was reinvented through artistic experimentation in the 19th century. 

    Co-organized by the DMA and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) the exhibit provide a thorough reassessment of the genre, which has previously been underexplored and appreciated for its decorative qualities alone. The show features  masterpieces from a variety of public and private collections, including eight works from the DMA’s permanent collection — among them a painting by Gustave Caillebotte acquired in 2010 and which will be appearing in its first public exhibition since the artist’s death in 1894. The diverse range of featured paintings highlights the commitment of artists to the floral still life — many of whom are not readily associated with the genre — and underscores the active exchange of ideas, styles, and modes among artists throughout this time.

    “The DMA is committed to organizing and presenting exhibitions that prompt critical reflections on a variety of periods and genres. Bouquets offers an exciting opportunity to examine the traditional still life through a largely unexplored cultural lens, expanding scholarship and understanding of 19th-century painting,” said Maxwell L.  Anderson, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott Director. “The exhibition features masterworks from the DMA’s collection in dialogue with works from the VMFA and numerous international collections, providing our audiences with a new experience of the genre.”Anne Vallayer-Coster

    Bouquets situates floral still life as an important vehicle for the examination of nature and culture and a potent source for painterly meditation. The exhibition explores the ways in which artists working in floral still life incorporated and responded to evolutions in approaches to both the arts and sciences, and provides a sense of discovery in the variety of artistic purposes and achievements in this genre.

    Alexander Roslin, Portrait of Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1783. Oil on canvas. Wikimedia Commons

    “Visitors to Bouquets: French Still-Life Painting from Chardin to Matisse will appreciate not only the sheer visual splendor of the works on display, but also the discovery of a clear artistic dialogue among artists of different generations working in the floral still-life tradition,” said Heather MacDonald, the DMA’s Lillian and James H. Clark Associate Curator of European Art, who is the exhibition co-curator. “The exhibition offers a fresh perspective on both an overlooked genre and the artists who worked within it, many of whom made pivotal contributions to the development of the floral still life in ways that have not yet been fully explored.”

    Images (left to right, above): Louis Tessier, Flowers in a Chantilly Vase, c. 1760, oil on canvas, Saint Louis Art Museum, Friends Fund; Gustave Caillebotte, Yellow Roses in a Vase, 1882, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Janet Kendall Forsythe; Anne Vallayer-Coster, Bouquet of Flowers in a Blue Porcelain Vase, 1776, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund and gift of Michael L. Rosenberg

  • Just What Are Benzodiazepines, What Are Their Risks and Why Are Older People Its Greatest Users?

     Diazepam

    Prescription use of benzodiazepines — a widely used class of sedative and anti-anxiety medications — increases steadily with age, despite the known risks for older people, according to a comprehensive analysis of benzodiazepine prescribing in the United States. Given existing guidelines cautioning health providers about benzodiazepine use among older adults, findings from the National Institutes of Health-funded study raise questions about why so many prescriptions — many for long-term use — are being written for this age group.

    Diazepam, Trade names Diastat, Valium

    graph depicting benzodiazepine use

    Percentage of the U.S. population in 2008 with any benzodiazepine use, by sex and age. Data Source: IMS LifeLink Information Assets-LRx Longitudinal Prescription Database, 2008, IMS Health Incorporated

    The study found that among all adults 18 to 80 years old, about 1 in 20 received a benzodiazepine prescription in 2008, the period covered by the study. But this fraction rose substantially with age, from 2.6 percent among those 18 to 35, to 8.7 percent in those 65 to 80, the oldest group studied. Long-term use — a supply of the medication for more than 120 days — also increased markedly with age. Of people 65 to 80 who used benzodiazepines, 31.4 percent received prescriptions for long-term use, vs. 14.7 percent of users 18 to 35. In all age groups, women were about twice as likely as men to receive benzodiazepines. Among women 65 to 80 years old, 1 in 10 was prescribed one of these medications, with almost a third of those receiving long-term prescriptions.

    “These new data reveal worrisome patterns in the prescribing of benzodiazepines for older adults, and women in particular,” said Thomas Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which supported the study. “This analysis suggests that prescriptions for benzodiazepines in older Americans exceed what research suggests is appropriate and safe.”

    Benzodiazepines — named for their chemical structure — are among the most commonly prescribed medications in developed countries. They include alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), and lorazepam (Ativan).The most common uses of benzodiazepines are to treat anxiety and sleep problems. While effective for both conditions, the medications have risks, especially when used over long periods. Long-term use can lead to dependence and withdrawal symptoms when discontinued. In older people, research has shown that benzodiazepines can impair cognition, mobility, and driving skills, and they increase the risk of falls.

  • Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Cozy Indoors, A Hawk in Suburbia & The Woodpeckers Return

    fire inside 
    Cozy in Our Indoor Backyard

     
    This past week has been cold and often rainy so I decided to enjoy our backyard inside. We stacked firewood from a two-year-old cord (now nicely weathered) in the fireplace in our den then added branches that had fallen onto the lawn during the windy Fall days for kindling. The logs were lit and blazed with delicious warmth. The scene cozied up the den. We planted ourselves on the sofas and read books in the light and warmth of the flames. 
     
    Ahhh.
     
    We tend to make fewer fires than most people who have fireplaces which means that the leftover wood in the cord is nice and dry for the next season/s. We discovered how wet wood can be really smoky so we appreciate letting the wood age.
     
     But what about the environmental cost of having a fireplace? Well, there is a cost but that impact depends on the type of fireplace, the kind of wood, even the kind of fuel. Whether a tree is burned or dies it oxidizes, just at a different rate. Trees are a renewable resource — we can replace them. Reputable wood harvesters know how to actively manage their wood lots.
     
    I admit I like my fireplace. I also confess that I am concerned about its consequences. Isn’t that like so much of life? We make choices and hope they aren’t harmful as they support us in how we choose to live.
     
    What kind of wood is good for the fireplace?
     
    Pros and cons of different kinds of fireplaces:
     
    And what about the environment?

    http://www.alternativeenergyprimer.com/Environmental-effects-of-wood-burning.html

    http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/index.html
     

    hawk

    Hawk in Suburbia

    I am used to seeing hawks off in the distance, wings spread, floating on the air currents beyond the height of our neighborhood trees. There is a grace to their flying, so smooth that it almost seems they aren’t flying at all.
     
    Occasionally a hawk will come closer, just above our backyard trees. No doubt it is scoping out the movements on our bird feeders. Most of the time the birds are savvy and disappear when the hawk is around, though not always. I have found splashes of feathers on the lawn, usually from a mourning dove that didn’t move off fast enough. And we have enough squirrels and chipmunks to satisfy the hungriest hawk.
     
    This week I was surprised, however, to find a hawk right in our backyard, sitting in the maple tree near our patio. It wasn’t the kind of place I would expect a hawk to be. It was high for people but not typical hawk height. And it was close to an inhabited site. The bird sat on a lower branch, another unusual activity. It seemed to be aware of every move we made near our back storm door but it wasn’t inclined to leave. Eventually, it took off across our yard to places unknown.
     
    I admit I was shaken. It is one thing to see such a creature in the distance and quite another to have it within whistling distance, which I couldn’t help doing. Was it getting used to us? Not necessarily a good thing. Our living needs are obviously different. Can we live together in peace? As people take up more land space from the natural inhabitants the question becomes urgent. I hope we can do a better job of co-existing with the hawks than we often do with people who have divergent lifestyles.
     
    A common bird in America:

    http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/red-tailed-hawk/

    http://birds.audubon.org/birds/red-tailed-hawk
    http://www.livestream.com/cornellhawks: Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website
     

    hummingbird

    The Woodpeckers Return

    The woodpeckers found us again this year. It’s a treat to see them. We have a male and female munching on the black oil sunflower seeds. They are a nice size and lovely to look at.
     
    I used to think that all woodpeckers only came in the Woody Woodpecker persona but that was incorrect; woodpeckers come in lots of variations. I believe our kind is a Northern Flicker. I know that dedicated birdwatchers need to identify what birds they see but I am not obsessed with identification. It’s the visual aspect of bird watching that gets me. I don’t have a life list of birds, either, documenting the birds I see in my travels though I have been privileged to see many different kinds. A birder likes to observe birds in their natural habitats. My backyard may not qualify as natural because when I put out seed for the birds, it automatically changes the environment. I say that the birds will find food wherever it is so why not in our backyard? I’m pretty accepting of whichever birds show up.
     
    I’m sort of like that with people, too. I am always impressed with how much variety there is in humanity. It’s amazing to think that the category of person can come in so many sizes, colors, shapes, and individual details. Like the birds, each person has his or her own characteristics and personality. Pretty remarkable, I say, whether bird or person. And inspiring, too, that our world can support so much diversity, as long as we value it.
     
    Lots of woodpeckers have red heads:
    The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed this species as threatened in 2007, and Ontario has listed it as a species of special concern for the past dozen years.

    ©2014 Ferida Wolff for SeniorWomen.com

  • Some States Retreat on Mental Health Funding

     
    Obama signing letter from Sandy Hook children

    President Obama signs letters from children after signing executive orders and unveiling new gun control proposals in response to the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, January 16, 2013. The children wrote the President letters expressing their concerns about gun violence and school safety; Pete Souza, White House 

    By  Michael Ollove, Stateline

    Fewer states increased their spending on mental health programs this year compared to last year, when a spate of horrific shootings by assailants with histories of mental illness prompted a greater focus on the shortcomings of the country’s mental health system.

    Some states slashed their mental health budgets significantly this year. At the same time, however, a number of states adopted mental health measures in 2014 that won plaudits from behavioral health advocates.

    A survey of state spending published last week by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found that 29 states plus the District of Columbia increased their spending on mental health in fiscal year 2015. A year earlier, 37 states plus DC increased their mental health budgets.

    NAMI warned that the momentum to improve state mental health services, which was especially powerful after the December 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut, has slowed.

    The group is concerned that last year’s increases were just a blip, and that states are returning to the pattern of the period between 2009 and 2012, when total state spending on mental health fell by $4.35 billion. In fiscal year 2009, total mental health spending by all states was $1.55 trillion.

    In many states, spending on mental health still hasn’t returned to prerecession levels.

    Medicaid Expansion

    But state budgets don’t paint a complete picture of mental health spending. In January, 27 states plus DC expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to include single people without children who earn 138 percent or less than the federal poverty level, which for an individual is $11,670. That change ushered 7.5 million new enrollees into Medicaid, which provides access to a wide range of mental health services. The federal government is paying 100 percent of the costs associated with those expansion enrollees.

    “That is the single most important thing that has happened in mental health this past year,” said Debbie Plotnick, senior director of state policy of Mental Health America (MHA), formerly the National Mental Health Association.

    But the expansion may also have persuaded some states to pull back funding for community mental health centers and other mental health initiatives, including school and substance abuse programs. 

    Rhode Island, for example, citing “a continuingly constrained budgetary environment,” cut its mental health funding by $33.6 million this year, according to NAMI, a 20 percent reduction. Michigan, Arkansas, Hawaii, Kentucky and Massachusetts also expanded Medicaid but reduced mental health funding this year.

    A number of states that declined to expand Medicaid also reduced mental health spending, according to NAMI. Alaska, which cut mental health spending by 37 percent between 2009 and 2012, made further cuts in the last two years as it weathered falling revenue from declining oil prices. Nebraska, Louisiana and North Carolina, also followed mental health cuts made during the recession with additional reductions in fiscal years 2014 and 2015.

    Still, 29 states plus DC did increase mental health spending. Virginia spent an additional $54.9 million to increase the number of psychiatric beds and strengthen community mental health programs and telepsychiatry. Missouri approved an initial $14 million for the construction of a new maximum security psychiatric hospital projected to cost a total of $211 million. New Hampshire and New Jersey put more money into community mental health. Florida increased community mental health spending as well, restoring $15.2 million in cuts it had made since 2012.