Category Archives: health

Your Neighborhood Cultural Anthropologist

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When I woke up today my body spoke to me. It said, “Don’t run, walk.” And surprisingly, I listened.

I walked all the way to the end of Cushman, picking and eating blackberries as I went, then through SeaShore Villa, then down to the Salish shore and home on a hidden wooded path that even Google Earth won’t help you locate.

This happened to be recycling Monday, including, drumroll please. . . glass! I love Glass Day because I get to snoop around and play cultural anthropologist. Yes, Indy-Cush friends, I am taking very close note of your glass contents.

I concede this may be a violation of your privacy, but it’s for a higher purpose, making sense of people’s drinking habits. My research questions are how much alcohol are people drinking and what kind?

My findings. People are drinking a lot despite what seems like an increasing drumbeat of studies which suggest any amount of alcohol isn’t good for you. Wine bottles, like normal, were quite numerous this morn with some households clearly preferring beer.

Maybe people are smart not to pay too much heed to the constantly shifting scientific research. Just wait for the pendulum to swing back, right? And maybe an occasional glass of wine or bottle of beer is a nice break from trying to always do the right thing health-wise. I mean, we’re going to die either way, right? Unfortunately though, some households go beyond moderation.

Let’s take a closer look at a few examples.

This is a fairly representative sample of moderate drinking over a four week span. It looks like four wine bottles and maybe a dozen beer bottles. Bud Light is a sad choice given the plethora of excellent local craft brews from which to choose, but maybe they’re Lefties supporting the maligned beverage.

Here’s our month worth of glass.

Boring! Some pasta, pickles, peaches, salad dressing and only two wine bottles compliments of the college roommate reunion. Come on California Lutheran University Class of 1982, do better! Drink more. . . like in Thousand Oaks back in the day.

One limitation of my research is that I hosted a cycling party after a particularly long ride, but we drank beer out of cans, so the above snapshot doesn’t represent all of our intake. Oh no, I guess that means some of my neighbors may drink more than meets the eye too.

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

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Many, like Parkinson’s researcher Tim Greenmayre, wear lab coats.

Greenmayre says there’s no good time to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but this is the best time in history to be diagnosed with it because things are on the horizon that may change the course of the disease and slow it down or even stop it.

This Science piece is Greenmayre’s story and an overview of his lab’s cutting edge research.

Bicycle Riding is Falling in Portland

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From a comprehensive report. Long story short, in 2022, Portland bicycle traffic dropped more than a third compared to 2019, to levels not seen since approximately 2005-2006.

A precipitous decline despite several measures to increase bicycle riding. The “discussion” on page 11 suggests Portland officials really don’t know why bicycle riding is in decline.

Maybe schedule more of these?

Inside The Swiss Clinics Where The Super-Rich Go For Rehab

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Subtitle: For the ultra-wealthy and the super-famous, regular therapy won’t do.

Unsettling.

The clinics seek recurring revenue more than their clients’ health and well-being. Some financial advisors are “fiduciaries” meaning they have a legal/ethical responsibility to act in their clients’ best interests.

To prevent these types of clinics from proliferating, the mental health profession should have a similar type of designation. Absent that, they may weaken the public’s trust in the mental health profession.

Peak Public Sector—The SLO Swim Center

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I’m going to assume a few things. First, you’re unfamiliar with the San Luis Obispo Swim Center. Second, the next time you’re passing through the Central California coast, you’re gonna want to get your swim on at the Center.

I can’t quite explain how infatuated I am with the Center, an outdoor Olympic sized pool that has three generous lap swimming shifts a day, year round. Owned by the city, it single handedly proves the public sector works. Built in 1979, it’s “Exhibit A” of substance over style. The “locker room” doesn’t have lockers, people just leave their post swim accessories—shampoo, soap, shaving cream—splayed on wood benches and on their towels near the showers. It’s the epitome of rustic minimalism. And it works beautifully at keeping all the classist dilettantes away.

Thursday pre-dawn, the Center’s Sinsheimer pool was set up long course meters. I split my lane with another dude. Air temp in the mid-30s, I couldn’t see from one end to the other because of the steam rising from surface. Just like the old days when the mighty Cypress High Centurions water polo team practiced before first period. Saturday noon, I had one of the twenty 25-yard lanes spread across the beautiful behemoth to myself.

The only negative, besides the Pacific Northwest winter weather, was the cashier who charged me the senior rate, $3.75, without any questions. Dammit, I wanted to pay the $4.25.

After Saturday’s swim, I chatted up an eight-year old swimming stud* and then read the Center’s rules and policies while waiting for the GalPal. Allow me to highlight the most important rules and policies to help you avoid an embarrassing infraction.

Proceeding from “fairly easy” to “impossibly hard”.

1st. And I quote, “Guests currently suffering from active diarrhea or who have had diarrhea within the previous 14 days shall not be allowed to enter the pool water.”

2nd. Horseplay, sitting on shoulders, or throwing of guests is not allowed.

3rd. Animals are not allowed to enter the water at any time.

4th. Excessive displays of public affection are not allowed.

The Good Wife struggles mightily with the last. To reduce the odds of an infraction, I purposely pick a lane a safe distance away.

You are welcome.I hope you enjoy your swim(s) half as much I enjoy mine. Long live the Center.

*My new eight-year old friend swims, plays soccer, and baseball. “Yeah, I always make the All-Star team,” he said matter-of-factly, “but I don’t get to play because I have to visit my family in Greece.” “Always?!” What, has he been named to eight All-Star teams in a row?! I spared him a “family privilege” talk.

North Dakota is Anti-Gay

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North Dakota’s lovely weather is, of course, a powerful magnet. Not to mention the affordable real estate. But Taylor Brorby paints a depressing picture. “The Real Reason North Dakota Is Going After Books and Librarians”.

He writes:

“The summer after graduating from college, when I was outed by my aunt, and my home was no longer a safe space, I searched the stacks of the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library for stories of gay people disowned by family members to help me find my own way to stable ground. During those evenings, I would settle into a plush armchair with a pile of books and magazines and read. I read authors like Kent Haruf and Amy Tan and Mary Karr. I would listen to classical music CDs to try and calm myself. I was free to roam, peruse, and free to be myself, at least privately.

North Dakota is a part of a growing national trend. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 of last year, the American Library Association recorded 681 attempts to ban or restrict library resources. . . . According to PEN America, 41 percent of books banned throughout the 2021-22 school year contained L.G.B.T.Q. themes, protagonists or prominent secondary characters. Bills similar to North Dakota’s have also been introduced or passed into law in states like West Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Montana, Iowa, Wyoming, Missouri and Indiana.

Under Missouri’s new law banning the provision of “explicit sexual material” to students, school districts removed works about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; comics, such as “Batman” and “X-Men”; visual depictions of Shakespeare’s works; and “Maus,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust.

But let’s be honest: It’s not the Venus de Milo these laws are going to come for first. It’s books with L.G.B.T.Q. stories, or books by L.G.B.T.Q. authors — the kind of books that have provided so many queer young people with a lifeline when they needed it most. I don’t know where I would have ended up if I couldn’t read my way out of despair. My heart breaks to think of all the kids now who won’t have that option.”

One large step backwards.