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  • Culture Watch Book Reviews: The Bookman’s Tale and Rebels at the Bar; The Fascinating, Forgotten Stories of America’s First Women Lawyers

    In This Issue: The Bookman’s Tale involves a blazing romance, a marriage followed by tragedy, a rare book mystery, and even a murder. If you like books, history, and mysteries involving old books, this is the story for you. I have read Rebels at the Bar with profound gratitude. Being reminded of the brave, intelligent, controversial women who broke through many barriers a good hundred years before the 1950’s has been a fascinating experience.

    THE BOOKMAN’S TALE; A Novel of Obsession
    by Charlie Lovett
    Published by Viking/Penguin Press, ©2013
    Release date: May 28 or early June, depending on your bookseller

    Reviewed by Julia Sneden 

    I need to begin this review with full disclosure of the fact that I know the author. Many years ago, he and my son were in the same class in junior high school, and his family lived a couple of blocks from me. Charlie has grown up to be an accomplished man, a bookseller who is an expert in the world of rare and/or antique books; he has also written several plays for young children, which have been produced all over the country.

    Charlie Lovett’s latest effort, however, is most decidedly not a novel for children, involving as it does a blazing romance, a marriage followed by tragedy, a rare book mystery, and even a murder. If you like books, history, and mysteries involving old books, this is the story for you. But beyond the fun of the history and the mystery, the book is the story of a young man, Peter Byerly, an introverted and painfully shy person faced with the loss of his beloved young wife, who must learn to reach beyond his grief and re-enter a world turned upside down. It is rare to find, in the mystery genre, a hero so fully fleshed-out and accessibly human.

    The Bookman’s Tale actually begins with a flashback dated February, 1995, with action set in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, a town that is famous for the sheer number of its bookstores. Peter, who is a dealer in rare and/or antique books, has come to Hay-on-Wye to browse, as a first step to re-establishing his career as a bookseller after the hiatus of mourning and withdrawal.

    Peter actually lives in Kingham, an Oxfordsire town, in a cottage that he and his wife, Amanda, bought but never lived in. While the cottage was being renovated, they had returned to America, where Amanda suddenly died.  After several wretched months during which Peter was withdrawn from the world, he has begun to find his way back, with psychiatric help, and has returned to England intending to re-start his career.hay on wye bookstore

    While browsing in the bookstore in Hay-On-Wye, Peter discovers a small, folded paper in an old book. When he unfolds it, a watercolor of his recently deceased wife’s face looks up at him – despite the fact that the painting is obviously Victorian, at least a hundred years old. Solving this conundrum is what drives the story of The Bookman’s Tale, and a rousing journey it is.

    Hay-On-Wye Booksellers photographed as part of the Geograph project collection by Stephen Nunney, Wikipedia

    The story jumps back and forth, each chapter headed with a place and date so that the reader who pays attention will be able to follow the carefully plotted, out-of-sequence story. Those of us who have learned to lean on such directional helps will appreciate the convention, since the story leaps to and fro from the late 1500’s to June, 1995 and several dates in between as the bits and pieces come together. Pay attention to those chapter headings!

    The earliest-dated chapters are just plain fun to read, introducing us to characters both real and fictional.  The author gives us a lively look at Elizabethan life and times, featuring characters both famous and unknown to us as they gather in a tavern called The George and Dragon.

     It is through a chapter headed “Southwark, London, 1609,” that we learn of Pandosto, a romance written by the dramatist Robert Greene, who, on his deathbed, gives the volume to a bookseller named Harbottle, with instructions to sell it, and to give the profit to his landlady to cover Greene’s debts. The bookseller, however, has other plans, and he pockets the book.

  • We’re Not Energy-Vampires: A Personal Report Card

    energy illustration PG&E

    by Roberta McReynolds

    While my husband sits down at the kitchen counter with the mail, I watch over his shoulder waiting to see what was delivered and if anything is addressed to me. Mike deftly sorts out envelops like a Blackjack dealer in Vegas. The biggest stack is usually junk mail, but bills generally run a close second. I can’t help but cringe as familiar company logos printed on the upper left corner materialize in front of eyes: insurance, utilities, phone, cable, credit card, water, and garbage. They are each take a turn at gnawing away at our bank account. Nothing good ever comes tucked in those envelopes. Or does it? 

    Illustration above of a energy leaky home:  Energy Star homes typically are 20 to 30 percent more efficient than standard homes, according to the Energy Star Web site. The EPA and the US Department of Energy run the Energy Star program.

    We received an unexpected letter from PG&E, our California utility,  in February that detailed our gas and electric usage over the past 12 months. First of all, it was a relief to open the envelope and discover it wasn’t a demand for payment. But there’s nothing like getting report card out of the blue to make you feel like you’re back in high school again!  

    The detailed information about our energy consumption actually proved to be quite enlightening (so to speak). The personalized Home Energy Report compared us with two other groups in our locale: similar sized households using gas for heat, and 20% of the most energy efficient similar sized homes. Now admittedly PG&E didn’t have a comparative study between houses inhabited by teenagers and homes not plagued by those habitual energy-vampires, but perhaps that aspect is still being evaluated. Meanwhile, apparently all our efforts are paying off.

    We make a habit of wearing multiple layers of sweaters and flannel shirts to stay warm indoors during the winter. Afghans and quilts are also utilized to bundle up in the evening while watching television. It’s always advantageous if I can entice one of the cats to sit on my lap and assist in generating a little extra body heat that way and I’m not above bribing them with tasty treats. We keep the thermostat set low … maintaining it at about five degrees above ‘teeth chattering’ and marginally below ‘goose bumps’.

    During the summer months the air conditioner is set as high as we can tolerate. We rely on electric fans to make a breeze to cool us off. I want to go on record and say that I am forever deeply indebted to the inventor of the ceiling fan and the microwave (no slaving over a hot stove in August for me). There is, after all, a limit to how much clothing can be removed and still remain decent if one is required to answer the doorbell.

    Windows and curtains are used to regulate temperatures according to the seasons. We enjoy having the windows open to catch a refreshing breeze, but the tradeoff is that a considerable amount of dust and pollen ends up coating everything indoors. My solution is swallowing an allergy pill and taking comfort in the knowledge that a vacuum cleaner uses less electricity than an air conditioner. I have applied a reflective vinyl film to most of the windows to help reduce heat from the sun, but it also seems to insulate from the cold. That’s a plus, because I wouldn’t want to go through the cost or effort to remove and replace it every few months. The patio cover we added a few years ago has probably paid for itself by now by shading a critical south-east corner of the house.

  • Bills Introduced: Abortion, Child Abduction & Protection, Workplace Discrimination, Breast Cancer Patients, Sexual Assault in the Military

    Bills of Interest Introduced in House of Representatives and the Senate May 14 – 17, 2013

    Abortion

    S. 946—-Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)/Finance (5/14/13)—A bill to prohibit taxpayer funded abortions, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 7—-Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ)/Ways and Means, Judiciary, Energy and Commerce (5/14/13)—A bill to prohibit taxpayer funded abortions.

    H.R. 2030—-Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)/Energy and Commerce (5/16/13)— A bill to direct the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive advertising of abortion services.

    Child Abduction

    H.R. 1951—-Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ)/Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means, Financial Services, Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform (5/13/13)—A bill to ensure compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by countries with which the United States enjoys reciprocal obligations, to establish procedures for the prompt return of children abducted to other countries, and for other purposes.

    Child Protection

    H.R. 1981—-Rep. George Miller (D-CA)/Education and the Workforce (5/15/13)—A bill to require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs, and for other purposes.

    Employment

    S. 942—-Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (5/14/13)—A bill to eliminate discrimination and promote women’s health and economic security by ensuring reasonable workplace accommodations for workers whose ability to perform the functions of a job are limited by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

    H.R. 1975—-Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)/Education and the Workforce, House Administration, Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary (5/14/13)—A bill to eliminate discrimination and promote women’s health and economic security by ensuring reasonable workplace accommodations for workers whose ability to perform the functions of a job are limited by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

    S. 934—-Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (5/13/13)—A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 regarding reasonable break time for nursing mothers.

    Health

    H.R. 1976—-Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME)/Energy and Commerce (5/14/13)—A bill to provide access to certified professional midwives for women enrolled in the Medicaid program.breast cancer survivors

    S. 931—-Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (5/13/13)—A bill to raise awareness of, and to educate breast cancer patients anticipating surgery, especially patients who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups, regarding the availability and coverage of breast reconstruction, prostheses, and other options.

    Photograph: Surviving Cancer: Who is a Cancer Survivor? Because of major medical advances, there are more older cancer survivors today than in the past. NIH SeniorHealth site

  • A Denver Destination Vacation: Spun, Adventures in Textiles

    Spring (Wiosna) (detail), designed by Stefan Galkowski (1912-1984)

    Tapestry: Spring (Wiosna) (detail), designed by Stefan Galkowski (1912-1984) and manufactured by Wanda Cooperative; Cracow, Poland; about 1961. Wool and linen tapestry. Denver Art Museum; Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of The Moskowitz Family. 2005.134 

    Cover Story is the heart of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles. Featured in the inaugural show for the new textile art galleries, the objects in Cover Story mirror the diverse geographical areas and range of textiles found in the Denver Art Museum’s permanent collection.

    Cover Story explores the myriad ways that textiles envelop, embellish, and enrich human lives across centuries, continents, and cultures. Whether as warming layers that comfort us during sleep, decorative furnishings on our walls and floors that enhance our waking hours, or shields providing protection from the elements or evil spirits, textiles are present throughout all moments of our lives. The exhibition includes about 50 objects from the permanent collection.

    The Denver Art Museum’s  permanent collections also inspired these Spun: Adventures in Textile exhibitions:

    ▪   Red, White and Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840–1870 draws from the museum’s extensive collection of Navajo textiles and conveys the importance of color, pattern and an artist’s hand in the stunning cloths created during the high point of Navajo weaving.

    ▪   Material World showcases work by contemporary artists who utilize fabric and related materials either directly or as a means of informing their art. New acquisitions by Shinique Smith, Leonardo Drew and Tucker Nichols will be on view for the first time.

    ▪   Irresistible: Multicolored Textiles from Asia highlights the use of resist-dye techniques from several Asian countries examining cultural traditions.

    ▪   Pattern Play: The Contemporary Designs of Jacqueline Groag provides a rare opportunity to view original works on paper by one of the most versatile women designers of the post-WWII period, alongside her lively, bold designs for furnishing textiles, dress fabrics, laminates and other decorative surfaces.

    ▪   Common Threads: Portraits by August Sander and Seydou Keïta allows for comparison of two bodies of work that documented social transformations in their respective countries through portraiture of everyday citizens.

    ▪   Fashion Fusion: Native Textiles in Spanish Colonial Art looks at the influence textile motifs have had on other artistic mediums.

    ▪   Transpositionis a collaboration between Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoza that explores the intersection of craft and technology. The artwork consists of physical elastic ropes that are illuminated by glowing virtual strings. Interacting with this artwork, visitors can discover the relationship between textile, movement and technology

    ▪   Bruce Price: Works on Paper, 2007–2012 offers a selection of Price’s works, which experiment with non-traditional drawing and collage.

  • How the IRS’s Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional

    by Kim Barker and Justin Elliott,  ProPublica, May 17, 2013

    The IRS division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement, financial constraints and an unwillingness to spell out just what it expects from social welfare nonprofits, former officials and experts say.

    The controversy that erupted in the past week, leading to the ousting of the acting Internal Revenue Service commissioner, an investigation by the FBI, and congressional hearings that kicked off Friday, comes against a backdrop of dysfunction brewing for years.

    Moves launched in the 1990s were designed to streamline the tax agency and make it more efficient. But they had unintended consequences for the IRS’s Exempt Organizations division. IRS Building

    Checks and balances once in place were taken away. Guidance frequently published by the IRS and closely read by tax lawyers and nonprofits disappeared. Even as political activity by social welfare nonprofits exploded in recent election cycles, repeated requests for the IRS to clarify exactly what was permitted for the secretly funded groups were met, at least publicly, with silence.

    All this combined to create an isolated office in Cincinnati, plagued by what an inspector general this week described as “insufficient oversight,” of fewer than 200 low-level employees responsible for reviewing more than 60,000 nonprofit applications a year.

    In the end, this contributed to what everyone from Republican lawmakers to the president says was a major mistake: The decision by the Ohio unit to flag for further review applications from groups with “Tea Party” and similar labels. This started around March 2010, with little pushback from Washington until the end of June 2011.

    “It’s really no surprise that a number of these cases blew up on the IRS,” said Marcus Owens, who ran the Exempt Organizations division from 1990 to 2000. “They had eliminated the trip wires of 25 years.”

    Of course, any number of structural fixes wouldn’t stop rogue employees with a partisan ax to grind. No one, including the IRS and the inspector general, has presented evidence that political bias was a factor, although congressional and FBI investigators are taking another look.

    But what is already clear is that the IRS once had a system in place to review how applications were being handled and to flag potentially problematic ones. The IRS also used to show its hand publicly, by publishing educational articles for agents, issuing many more rulings, and openly flagging which kind of nonprofit applications would get a more thorough review.

    All of those checks and balances disappeared in recent years, largely the unforeseen result of an IRS restructuring in 1998, former officials and tax lawyers say.

    “Until 2008, we had a dialogue, through various rulings and cases and the participation of various IRS officials at various ABA meetings, as to what is and what is not permissible campaign intervention,” said Gregory Colvin, the co-chair of the American Bar Association subcommittee that dealt with nonprofits, lobbying, and political intervention from 1991 to 2009.

    “And there has been absolutely no willingness in the last five years by the IRS to engage in that discussion, at the same time the caseload has exploded at the IRS.”

    The IRS did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

    Social welfare nonprofits, which operate under the 501(c)(4) section of the tax code, have always been a strange hybrid, a catchall category for nonprofits that don’t fall anywhere else. They can lobby. For decades, they have been allowed to advocate for the election or defeat of candidates, as long as that is not their primary purpose. They  also do not have to disclose their donors.

  • Utterly Unsuitable: Choosing a Swimsuit for an Older Woman

    by Julia Sneden

    The week ahead
    Holds lots of dread:
    I have to buy a bathing suit.
    I’d be a dope
    To have much hope
    Of finding fit (don’t mention cute).
    In fact if my long search is fruitless
    I may well have to dive in suitless.

    It’s an annual chore for most people, this business of buying a bathing suit. For me, it comes around every six months or so. Actually, the one I’m wearing these days has lasted longer than most, but what was once a trim, simple, black suit is now a saggy, baggy brownish body drape covered with odd spots where the color has disappeared altogether, so that dapples of flesh (mine) show through. In a mud-and-sand camouflage contest, I’d be a winner. When other people at poolside start staring and snickering, it’s time for a change.

    I don’t mind spending money on a suit if I can find one that I like. In fact, I usually buy two suits at a time, because I have a dread of needing a suit at the wrong time of year when there simply aren’t any in the stores. Besides, a good fit is rare. Alas, when I bought my current suit, it was the only one on the rack that fit me.

    With older women and men all across the country doing water aerobics and swimming laps, wouldn’t you think the bathing suit manufacturers would twig to the idea that there’s a huge market out here? Not only do we seniors buy suits; we buy suits more often than even the teenagers do, because we’re harder on them. No clean surf ‘n sand for us, no lying still on a beach blanket for hours, or languidly standing around the lifeguard’s chair. No, we are up to our clavicles in health club pools full of chemicals, stretching our suits (and our bodies) to all sorts of outrageous extremes, sweating inside them even though the water is cool.Dorothy Jordan in bathing suit

    It’s a marketing maven’s  dream: virtually endless demand, a quick turnover, and not much need for endless re-styling.

    Continue reading Julia Sneden’s classic, Utterly Unsuitable. http://www.seniorwomen.com/news/index.php/choosing-a-swimsuit-for-an-older-woman

  • A New Analysis of the Contents of Lipstick and Lip Gloss May Cause A Pause Before Puckering

     Poison lips? Troubling levels of toxic metals found in cosmetics

    By Sarah Yang

     lips

    People may be adding a bit more than a touch of color to their lips,  according to a new UC Berkeley study.

    Researchers at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. They detected lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals, some of which were found at levels that could raise potential health concerns. Their findings were published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

    Prior studies also have found metals in cosmetics, but the UC Berkeley researchers estimated risk by analyzing the concentration of the metals detected and consumers’ potential daily intake of the metals, and then comparing this intake with existing health guidelines. 

    “Just finding these metals isn’t the issue; it’s the levels that matter,” said study principal investigator S. Katharine Hammond, professor of environmental health sciences. “Some of the toxic metals are occurring at levels that could possibly have an effect in the long term.”

    Lipstick and lip gloss are of special concern because when they are not being blotted on tissue or left as kiss marks, they are ingested or absorbed, bit by bit, by the individual wearing them, the study authors said. The researchers developed definitions for average and high use of lip makeup based on usage data reported in a previous study. Average use was defined as daily ingestion of 24 milligrams of lip makeup per day. Those who slather on the lip color and reapply it repeatedly could fall into the high use category of 87 milligrams ingested per day.

    Using acceptable daily intakes derived from this study, average use of some lipsticks and lip glosses would result in excessive exposure to chromium, a carcinogen linked to stomach tumors. High use of these makeup products could result in potential overexposure to aluminum, cadmium and manganese as well. Over time, exposure to high concentrations of manganese has been linked to toxicity in the nervous system.

    Lead was detected in 24 products, but at a concentration that was generally lower than the acceptable daily intake level. However, the lead levels still raised concerns for young children, who sometimes play with makeup, since no level of lead exposure is considered safe for them, the researchers said.

    The study authors say that for most adults, there is no reason to toss the lip gloss in the trash, but the amount of metals found do signal the need for more oversight by health regulators. At present, there are no US standards for metal content in cosmetics. The authors note that the European Union considers cadmium, chromium and lead to be unacceptable ingredients — at any level — in cosmetic products.

    “I believe that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) should pay attention to this,” said study lead author Sa Liu, a UC Berkeley researcher in environmental health sciences. “Our study was small, using lip products that had been identified by young Asian women in Oakland, Calif. But, the lipsticks and lip glosses in our study are common brands available in stores everywhere. Based upon our findings, a larger, more thorough survey of lip products — and cosmetics in general — is warranted.”

    Ann Rojas-Cheatham, director of research and training at the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in Oakland, Calif., co-authored the study. The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Education Research Center helped support this research.

    Editor’s Note: FDA Product Information about Lipstick and Lead, Questions and Answers

    FDA Analyses of Lead in Lipsticks – Expanded Survey (Table)

    http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/productandingredientsafety/productinformation/ucm137224.htm

  • Life’s Little Mysteries Such As: Why do Ads and Commercials for Medicines Always Advise Us to “Call Your Doctor”?

    by Rose Madeline Mula

    I don’t understand lots of things.  Like, for instance, what keeps airplanes up and ships afloat?  What keeps the planets spinning in the vastness of space without colliding with each other? 

    But apart from such esoteric conundrums, I’m also confused about many much more mundane mysteries, such as ….

    Why is Jack a nickname for John?  Isn’t John short enough?

    Why would you actually pay a premium price for jeans that are ripped and frayed?  And how can you tell when they’re worn out and ready for the trash bin?

    Why are restaurant tips calculated as a percentage of the total bill?  Is it harder for a waiter to serve a fifty-dollar fillet than a five-buck burger?

    Ursula Andress in the film Dr. No trailer (cropped) wearing her famous white bikini; Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli (MGM/United Artists). Wikipedia

    Do today’s tech-savvy kids really believe in Santa Claus … the tooth fairy … the Easter bunny?  You don’t think they’ve Googled them all?

    Why do women with curly hair straighten it, and those with straight hair curl it? Speaking of hair — Donald Trump.  What’s with that?? 

    How come when I want to shut down my computer, I have to click “Start”?

    Why do some people use their microwave ovens and dishwashers only to store dinnerware and extra groceries?

    When you’re in the hospital, why do they wake you up in the middle of the night to give you a sleeping pill?

    Do those kids with all their tattoos ever give a single thought to what all that so-called body art will look like in forty or so years when their muscles turn to flab and their skin wrinkles?  (And it will.)

    Further, what’s with all those grotesque piercings?  Isn’t it painful to have a hunk of metal stuck through your lip and/or tongue?  How do you eat?  Kiss? And what about a hoop through your nipple? (OOOPS!  Did the baby just swallow it with her lunch?)  A ring in your nose?  (Ah-choo!!  Oh, oh!)

    Earrings can be attractive.  But what’s with those chandelier thingies that are almost as big as actual ceiling fixtures?    

    When did bathing suits disappear?  I saw my first bikini on a beach in Nice during my first trip to Europe, back in the ‘60s.  I couldn’t believe how brazen its wearer was!  Today that bikini would look positively Victorian. 

  • Jackie Speier: Proposing Legislation to Change the Military Justice System’s Treatment of Cases of Rape and Sexual Assault

    Editor’s Note: We’re running a press release from Rep. Jackie Speier’s website.  You may remember the Representative was wounded during  a stunning situation from the past, a story I edited photographs for Time Magazine in 1978: 

    ” In 1978, as a staff member to then-Congressman Leo J. Ryan, she was shot five times while trying to rescue constituents from the People’s Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana — an attack that left Congressman Ryan and six others dead and was followed by the mass murder-suicide of more than 900 Temple followers. Jackie tenaciously hung onto life for 23 hours on a dusty airstrip before aid arrived. It is this fighting spirit that defines her to her constituents at home.“

    Rep Jackie Speier Exposes Disturbing “F’N Wook” Marine Facebook Page, Calls for Hagel and Marine Calls for Hagel and Marine Leadership to Respond Jackie Speier

     After being made aware of a disgusting and offensive Facebook page called “F’N Wook” that included hundreds of comments denigrating women in the Marine Corps, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Marine Commandant James Amos, and Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks to express concern and call for a response. (Editor’s Note: Facebook voluntarily took down these pages, according to Rep. Speier on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry’s Saturday Show, May 11th, 2013)

    In the letter Congresswoman Speier writes, “The “humor” expressed on this page and similar pages like “Just the Tip, of the Spear,” “U Suckers Missed Christmas — USMC,” and “POG Boot Fucks” contribute to a culture that permits and seems to encourage sexual assault and abuse.”

    The PDF includes images that some readers may find offensive.

    Congresswoman Speier is committed to ending the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military and believes that systemic changes are necessary to increase the prosecutions of sexual crimes. She is the author of three pieces of legislation to change the military justice system’s treatment of cases of rape and sexual assault.

    The STOP Act (HR 1593) will take all cases of rape and sexual assault outside of the chain of command by creating an independent office within the military to handle the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of these crimes. The bipartisan bill has 122 cosponors.

    The Military Judicial Reform Act  (HR 1079) is a bipartisan bill that will strip commanders of the authority to overturn convictions or lessen sentences handed down by judge or jury at a military court martial.

    The Protect Our Military Trainees Act (HR 430) is a bipartisan bill that requires the military justice system to acknowledge the power imbalance between trainer and trainee and strictly penalizes any instructor who engages in sexual acts with a trainee during the time of instruction and for 30 days afterward.

    The Congresswoman delivered a passionate floor speech about the arrest of the Air Force’s head of Sexual Assault Prevention and the startling increase in the number of rapes and sexual assaults in the military as reported by the DOD.

    Transcript of Rep. Speier’s speech on the floor of the House of Representatives:

  • A Different Lens for Grief: The Solace of the Familiar

    by Joan L. Cannon

    We’re so often brought up short by clichés that we soon realize how difficult it is to express ourselves without resorting to them. Now I wonder if we’re right to feel so reluctant to say something that someone else said first. Unless we can say it better, maybe we should be less interested in novelty or fresh images or reputations for originality. When it comes to strong emotions, all that seems to take too much energy.  Why bother to coin new similes?

    As the familiar hollowing of my insides began again and I tried to shut down the flood of renewed grief, the image came to me of a view through tcondolenceshe wrong end of binoculars. I jotted it down so as not to lose it before morning. Of course, in the morning, I realized how hackneyed the thought was.

    Back in my early widowhood, a kind friend asked me how I felt. I tried to verbalize the truth without dissolving into a puddle of self-pity. I’d figured out I couldn’t tell any more where I should fit into ordinary life. It was like trying to work a jigsaw puzzle without the picture to refer to — without a clue as to where the pieces could go. Eventually I even wrote a poem about that feeling. It remains an apt description, but the binocular image has now intruded on that one.

    Almost every move through each day pulls the past into mind. Like everyone in my place, I’m enjoined repeatedly to dwell on happy memories. We all try, but now it’s struck me that our experience as we recall it is as distorted as the present — as if we view it in reverse magnification. If we can manage to look at a photograph, either it brings us to tears or it resembles someone we might have encountered casually once and now no longer recognize. The familiar is all but unrecognizable from the viewpoint of extreme grief.

    Clichés offer the solace of the familiar when nearly everything has become alien. We find ourselves in a slough of despond, perhaps without the prayers we need, not recognizing the face in the mirror, jolted by waves of unrelenting and vaguely unfamiliar recall. We find ourselves leaning on whatever seems to help us reorient ourselves. It’s trite but true that we’ll never be more alone. If the only balance we can find is already waiting to prop us up until we search out the new person we have to learn to become, we’d be foolish to reject it. So isn’t it justifiable to speak of broken hearts, interior emptiness, welling tears, loss of joy?

    For all those sufferers from dementias, I ache, and even more for those who love them. Some days, at the same time, I wonder if they may be blessed. Like animals, they seem to have little sense of temporal relationships. The distances between the past and the present are contracted, and they seem to have neither fear of nor interest in the future. If their physical needs are met and they aren’t prey to anxiety, perhaps their status is enviable. If they lose what they once valued most, perhaps they don’t notice. For the ones who love them, there’s no lens to dim the absence while the physical presence remains.

    That’s the cliché I’ve come to rely on: basically one manages by counting one’s blessings. When death robs us, we’re spared the daily reminder of loss without relief yet in sight. The miniaturized image isn’t available. At least, that reduced size continues to attain a new clarity when you can look through the lens backwards.

     ©2013 Joan L. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com