Light playing tricks. SJ Dodgson. MJoTA 2012 v5n1 p0616
Above, a picture I took in Antigua in Oct 2011. The sands were pink, but
only that night.
When I came back the next day, the sands were yellow,
and when I told a Zoomradiofm radio announcer that I loved the pink sands, he told
me, no, the sands are yellow, sometimes described as golden. But pink!
No.
To listen to Zoomradiofm, click here.
I was in the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda for 3
weeks, and never again did I see pink sands. Light plays tricks and we
see things that are very real and very solid, but only for an instant. Story about a river click here.
I
love the sky in this picture because it reminds me of my mother. She
had a table that looked like that in her kitchen in Sydney, on the same
street in Kensington as Randwick Racecourse. She taught me a lot of
things, but the message I see most clearly in this sky is that dreams
can be derailed in an instant, don't let that happen to me or my
children.
My mother's dreams were derailed by a horrible disease, rheumatoid
arthritis. She went from running, pushing a baby carriage up a hill, to
walking with great difficulty. She had a chronic disease resulting from
her own antibodies attacking her body from within.
I always thought I
would get the disease, but I did not, and I am 15 years older than my
mother was when rheumatoid arthritis sucked the mobility out of her body
and replaced it with excruciating pain.
For health news and resources, click here.
Updated diabetes resources and why you need cinnamon every dayclick here.
Last
night was the perfect summer Friday. My sons are chasing their dreams
in New York, North Jersey and Baltimore, my daughter near a river in
South Jersey.
In the summer evening light, I ran around the basket ball
court for 30 minutes, throwing baskets, chatting with 2 tiny girls who
were happily doing the same and really thrilled to see a female throwing
baskets.
Then a father ruined it, he took a little girl's basketball
and showed her how it is really done. I fear that she will not throw a
basket again.
It is Father's Day tomorrow, I pray for all the girls
whose dreams have been derailed by their fathers.
Then I swam, and came back to watch the MJoTA Friday Movie. The movie His Girl Friday
had all kinds of messages, so many they were confusing, but with one
line I liked: he said "But he is so charming." she said "He comes by it
naturally. His grandfather was a snake."
As an antidote, I watched the
movie from Senegal, Guelwaar. To watch both, click here.
That comment is insulting to snakes, I know, and we love snakes at MJoTA. For Brazilian snakes click here, and for Nigerian snakes click here.
Updated page on Haiti with videos and pictures, click here.
Happy June Teenth! Just came back from celebration at the African
American Museum of Philadelphia.
Discussion of slavery makes me really,
really, really angry. Because it existed, because it exists. Because it
was a war against Africa that was started and has never ended.
Watch the
video of Americans returning to the homeland of their ancestors, click here.
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Tales
from Antigua: Ghanaian prince declares war, Portugal lays the first
foreign wreath, a St Bernard dog on a warm full-moon night click here
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Fighters on parade. SJ Dodgson. MJoTA 2012 v5n1 p0601
Below the picture of me with Mr Bernard Williams, who owns and runs Zoomradiofm in the nation of Antigua & Barbuda is a picture of the military band for the Caribbean nation of Antigua and
Barbuda.
I took this picture in St John's, the seat of government of Antigua & Barbuda during the Nov 2011 celebration of the
Armistice of World War 1.
In the US we call this day, November 11,
Veterans Day. Other places, we call it Armistice Day.
After the ceremony the band marched off playing Onward Christian Soldiers. I swooned.
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MJoTA
Friday Night Movie, one from Germany that is disturbing, and one from
America about how the Marines can save us from Martians. Other fun
Bollywood movies too, click here.
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The
American data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
are encouraging: if you are diagnosed with diabetes now, you are more
likely to live a long life than a decade ago.
For report, click here.
You are more likely to prevent, stop or reverse diabetes if you understand it needs to be treated every day by
- limiting how much you eat
- being careful what you eat
- moving constantly
and if you need medicines
- take your medicines as instructed and
- measure your blood sugar up to 8 times a day.
Diabetes is not a disease for sissies, if you have it, you can dance it into hell, but only if you work very hard at it.
Don't
give up. In Nov 2011, I heard a story in the beautiful new hospital in
St Johns, in the Caribbean nation of Antigua & Barbuda. The social
worker told me she had a patient die the previous week from
complications after her second leg was amputated. She was 32, a mother
of 3 small children, and she could not get a handle on her diabetes and
chose to ignore it. Well, she ignored diabetes, but it did not ignore
her, it had her in its grip and after her first 2 children were born,
took first one leg, and then, a newborn baby and a few years later, the
second. Can we blame a young woman who was overwhelmed? I have not
walked in her shoes. But I will weep for a mother gone.
When
I was in St Johns a 2-day conference on diabetes was held, I was asked
to leave when the health officer from the United Nations was about to
speak. Antigua has never had a war, who knew what trouble could be caused by a medical writer talking about diabetes.
For constantly updated news on diabetes click here, for diabetes resources including stories on what to do to prevent diabetes and foods that help, click here.
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