Ceci n’est pas un blog

Attn: Senators Baucus et al,

As someone who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 42 and whose life choices ever since have been dictated by the need to maintain continuous coverage that would accept a pre-existing condition,  I believe fervently that making the equivalent of Medicare to people of all ages is the only way to provide fairness and adequate competition to private insurers. Living in Massachusetts the last few years, I have watched in horror as health care costs climb relentless and yet people outside the state fail to realize that the compromises made to private insurers here have created an unsustainable system. Having lived abroad and worked with people from other countries for much of my adult life, I am painfully aware of how ludicrous we look to the rest of the developed world.

Most doctors and most voters support a public option. Who doesn’t? Only insurance companies and their lobbyists.

Please, in honor of Ted Kennedy’s memory, give us a bill with a true public option. Waiting till I’m old enough to qualify for Medicare to get the care I need is NOT an option. Thank you.

1968 Medicare poster

When an email has as its subject line only the name of a distant relative, friend or acquaintance, even when it lacks the ominous “sad news” tag, my heart sinks. This week, it was the younger brother of a dear friend from high school days. I haven’t been in touch with the friend much at all in recent decades, I’m pretty sure the last time I saw him was at my last big birthday party in New York, in 2002. Nonetheless, he’s an incredibly special person for whom I still feel much love. So it was crushing when I learned this week from a mutual friend that his younger brother, who in my memory is still a laughing lanky teenager, had died at 40 of the same brain aneurysm that took their mother from them at a young age. (He’d known for several years that he carried the gene, but with no way to know if or when the disease might strike.) I felt heartbroken and helpless. Sad for my friend, and his dear father who was a friend of our family and my first Russian teacher. Sad that I know how little any condolences I can send from the remove of years will mean. And of course, making a mental list of special people I have known that I want to get back in touch with.

Later the same week, my emotional equilibrium was thrown abruptly in the opposite direction by news of someone I had never even met. Walking through the supermarket listening on my Public Radio Tuner to whatever station had All Things Considered with no begathon in progress, I heard them tease a story “a New York Times reporter held by the Taliban has escaped,” and literally felt my skin flush with excitement. Sure enough, the newscast confirmed that David Rohde was free after more than than 7 months in captivity. While he was in captivity, the story had been very effectively kept out of the news (thanks to all who respected the news blackout, who knows what part it played), but one of my colleagues was good friends with him and his wife Kristen, so I had been vicariously experiencing their terror through periodic updates ever since his capture.

As today is Father’s Day, I’m thinking most of the heartbreak of my old friend who has lost his son, and of the unfathomable joy of David Rohde’s father, who has his son back.

(Second guest post from Tony the bike magician)

My previous note describes finding and beginning the cleanup on an abandoned Trek 520. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve taken a bike all the way down to a bare frame and built it back into a functional bicycle. (The last time was when my Raleigh Sports got hit at a parking meter and needed a new frame. 1980??) I gathered pieces for the Trek bit by bit over the course of 2 months, and then finally last week found the last thing I needed, and got to work.

It has been fun to recondition some parts from the original, and then look for just the right things to match the character than has evolved: weathered but gleaming city bike. I looked in several stores for a front wheel, new as well as used, but nothing jumped out at me. Then I went to Phil Altman’s wacky store in Framingham, and found a really nice bolt-on wheel for $38. The high flange hub reminds me of the Normandy hubs that came on French bikes in the ’70s.

I told Community Bikes that I was looking for an alloy North Road handlebar, and sure enough, a couple of weeks later when I stopped in for something else, one of the owners said “hey, we got that handlebar for you” and it’s perfect.

What does this say about me?: When my ex-wife kicked me out of the house in 2001, I took some small solace in simplifying my life. The waterford? the wedgewood? who needs it. The furniture? that much less to move. But the bike stuff? not on your life. The bag of chain rings from the International, which was wrecked and discarded in 1987? From my cold dead hands. And so it was that I just happened to have the right chain ring for the Trek.

And of course, it’s a 3-speed. The new Sturmey-Archer hub was the last piece to fall into place, and I built up the rear wheel while watching “American Idol” with Lizzie earlier in the week.

And now I have to follow through on the excuse for this whole project, and give the bike to Ingrid. I think she’s pleased with it. I’m sure she’d be afraid to hurt my feelings if she wasn’t.

The Trek before and after, by Tony.

(this is a guest post by my beloved bikenut fiancé Tony, I couldn’t bear to have it only available to his FB friends.)

Another bicycle renovation
(originally a Facebook note posted Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 10:58pm)
Feb. 1st: found an abandoned bicycle on West Dedham street. no wheels, rusted derailleur and chain, blighted with spray paint. horizontal drop-outs, so it’ll work as a 3-speed for Ingrid. I brought it home, of course.

Feb. 3rd: what is it? One of the “Trek” decals is still visible despite the spray paint. Vintage-trek.com has lots of helpful details, including where to look for the serial #: remove the cable guide from under the bottom bracket. By serial number, it’s a Trek 520 from 1983. butted alloy frame, either Reynolds 501, or Tange 2001.

Feb. 8th: Removed derailleurs and chain. The flat-black spray paint is ugly and it feels dirty. “goo-gone” takes a tiny bit of it off, but not much. I really don’t want to have to completely repaint the frame.
The brakes are stuck. I backed off the lock-nuts a tiny bit, and now they’re fine. i removed the brakes to be able to work on the frame more.

Feb. 9th: Rubbing alcohol softens the spray paint a little without damaging the underlying Trek paint! I’ve got it smoothed out, and you can see the other “Trek” decal. perhaps good enough?

Feb. 20th: disassembled the headset and removed the cranks. The fork-crown race is a little pitted, and the bottom bracket (BB) axle threads are a little corroded. Packed everything up to take to western MA.

Feb. 21st: A friend in Turners Falls runs a tiny bike store. He told me to just repack the headset with loose ball bearings instead of the retainer-clips that have fewer balls in them, and not to worry about the threads, they’re good enough. big savings! I still might replace the BB axle if i can find a shorter one. The bike came with 3 chainrings, and the longer BB axle required for that. It’s probably going to be easier to get a straight chain line with a shorter one.

May 1st is Local Day on Twitter. I’m really curious to see how this experiment goes.

The rules are simple: Tweet your ZIPcode (preceded by #), find out who your neighbors are.

I’m #02116 (Boston Byootiful South End), also have a home in #10026 (Harlem USA, baby, as of 10:45 Eastern, I was the only Local Day Tweeter from there). Born and later educated in #02138 (the OTHER Cambridge), grew up in #06457 (Middletown, CT)

Can’t wait to see who else turns up.

Go to Twitter Search (even if you don’t have an account) to watch the fun.

The idea of expanding Medicare to cover everyone is apparently so scary that the Senate Finance Committee is afraid to even let it be DISCUSSED at round tables on health care reform.

Alerted by an email from the good folks at Physicians for a National Health Plan, I just called Senator Schumer to urge him to invite a single payer advocate to participate in the upcoming May 5 and May 14 Senate Finance Committee roundtable discussions on healthcare reform scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C.

Dear Senator Schumer,

A majority of Americans know that a Medicare-like program available to all and a vastly reduced role for insurance companies is the only way to control costs and provide decent care to all Americans. Allowing the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies to control the debate* is simply shameful. Please commit to including proponents of single-payer universal health care fully in the May 5 and 14 roundtables and in ALL deliberations about health care reform.

Please act with courage and honesty on behalf of your constituents, not corporate interests.Thank you.

*Insurance companies contributed $46 million in political contributions in 2008; pharmaceuticals a mere $28 million. PNHP’s income (as reported on 2007 990)? $153,000. Not my definition of a fair fight.

Health Care Crisis
When Walgreens becomes your doctor’s office.

Uploaded on September 24, 2008
by quinn.anya

May 16 - Delta finally sent a (completely inadequate form) response to my query on the website 3 weeks ago. Jeez. (text below)

What the hell is the point of having a cute little mobile website that I can access on my phone while sitting in the bar if the information it gives me on my flight is TOTALLY WRONG? Because I trusted the website, I left the bar for the gate about 25 minutes before the supposedly on time departure at 7:15. A little confused that the sign at the gate is for a JFK flight that “departs at 6:08″ I ask the woman she says only that they’re boarding JFK now, Boston later. OK, I figure JFK flight was delayed, mine is next and sit down. At about 7:10, with JFK long gone, I go and ask her when are they going to board Boston. She says “about 8.” What the hell? She says oh I made an announcement,(adding rudely) you probably didn’t hear it because of your headphones (totally not true, I’ve been watching her like a hawk taking my earphones out every time she goes near the microphone, since I got to the gate almost 40 minutes ago, she has not mentioned my flight once). Now, it 7:37 PM and the website still has my 7:15 flight with a cheery green ON TIME. GRR. The electronic sign at the gate still lists the original time. GRR. Why don’t airlines get it that a) providing accurate info is the most important thing they can do and b) that when simple things like updating information on LED signs and websites (also reading lights on the plane itself!) fail, it makes us worry whether they’re getting the big things (like keeping the engines maintained, not running into other planes, etc) right.

On the other hand, it is really satisfying to be able to blog and tweet my annoyance to the world.

Update, cont.: Took them THREE WEEKS to respond and the response was utter CRAP:

Dear Ms. Miel,

Thank you for contacting us through delta.com. We are sorry for the
delay in responding to your message.

Thank you for pointing out the mistake on delta.com. Try as we might
sometimes things slip through on us. We always appreciate our customers
letting us know about things like this and we have forwarded this on to
our delta.com team.

We value your confidence and loyalty.

Sincerely,

Darren Norman
Online Customer Support Desk
http://www.delta.com

Original Message Follows:
————————
What the hell is the point of having a cute little mobile website that I
can access on my phone while sitting in the bar if the information on my
flight is TOTALLY WRONG? Because I trusted the website, I left the bar
for the gate about 25 minutes before scheduled on time departure. Now,
it 7:27 PM and the website still says my 7:15 flight (6932 BWI-BOS) is
departing on time. The electronic sign at the gate still lists the
original time. I have to ask a human standing at the gate what the hell,
she says oh I made an announcement,(adding rudely) you probably didn’t
hear it because of your headphones (totally not true, I’ve been watching
her like a hawk taking my earphones out every time she goes near the
microphone, since I got to the gate almost 40 minutes ago, she hsa not
mentioned my flight once. Your flight status info system is seriously
broken.
Would you like a reply to your e-mail?:yes

FLIGHT 1:

Flight Number  : 6932
Date           : 4/22/09
Departure City : BWI
Ticket Number  : 2307771455

Sunset reflexions at Atlanta airport

by Franco Folini via Flickr

Got back from DC today in time to join my honey and a bunch of his church buddies at a gorgeous concert by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Scrumptious. (If you’re in NYC you can catch the band at the Blue Note next week, the Blind Boys are off to Ottawa, and then Australia and New Zealand).

Everything was lovely, but favorite bits included PHJB bass player Walter Payton coming down front to sing I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate (I hope I can shimmy like Walter Payton when I’m that age) and the Blind Boys’ wonderful version of “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” (watch a video of them doing this number).

Cognitive dissonance: Preservation Hall’s program notes go weirdly, unnecessarily over the top in their self-celebration of the hall itself: “To this day, Preservation Hall has no drinks, air conditioning, or other typical accoutrements strictly welcoming people of all ages interested in having one of the last pure music experiences left on the earth.” I’m not sure that’s true even if you limit your understanding of “earth” to the French Quarter.

And I was just sad reading this phrase from the Blind Boys’ bio: “The Blind Boys’ audience - once rigidly segregated and confined to traditional Gospel venues - now reflects the group’s eclectic, global following…” while noticing that Symphony Hall had somehow managed to attract to this event an audience that looked to be about 98% white. I wonder if we could get the Blind Boys to cover Lou Reed’s “I Wanna Be Black.”

Those quibbles aside, a marvelous time was had by all.
Image: Jazz at the Preservation Hall
Uploaded to Flickr on January 7, 2005
by rickz

10:50 AM Boston

WBUR/NPR’s On Point is spending the whole hour with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Education not one of my big issues, I’m not listening that hard.

But my sensitive ears perked right up when Secretary Duncan made my least favorite grammar error!

He said “my parents instilled (some valuable character trait or other, I was distracted by my anguish and forgot) in my brothers and sisters and I.“  The end is near, brothers and sisters.

It made me go back (and how easy it was, thanks to good search!) to the wonderful article in Harper’s April 2001 by David Foster Wallace called Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage (requires a Harper’s subscription to see the whole page - I say buy one it’s a good magazine, you won’t regret it, if you must have it for free google the full title). In the article he proclaims himself a “SNOOT,”  the term used in his family for what others call Grammar Nazis. In my family, we just called them our friends.

If you’ve ever been tempted to understand what drives people like us, or conversely want a funny, interesting reasonable-length thing to read so you can say you’ve read something by David Foster Wallace, check out the article.

So far, I have done exactly two actual (teensy tiny) things to express my deep sadness about the tragic situation in Gaza. I went to one peace march in Boston and I gave a donation to one of the groups I saw represented there, the one that seemed most in line with my own simultaneously anti-Hamas, anti-Israeli government policy position. They’re called American Jews for a Just Peace (but they accept memberships also from non-Jews like me).

On their mailing list the other day, I got this moving letter, published in the Cambridge Chronicle, by Richard Hess, who did much more than I did, he was arrested in the “die-in” at the Israeli consulate. The son of a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, he asks  “Why do we just watch as Palestinians are brutalized? Why are we unable to empathize?” As to why he was willing to be arrested “I refuse to be a good man doing nothing. I am screaming, ‘These people are dying!’”

As Mosaic producer Jamal Dajani reminds us in his latest blogpost, “The war has ended, but life in Gaza has not returned to normal. Thousands of people remain homeless, and many still remain hungry. Their stories have all but disappeared from US media coverage.”

A good time to remember that it’s our US military aid to Israel that made all the killing possible. We need to take some responsibility.