A House in the Woods

After my sojourn in Honduras, which I thoroughly enjoyed after an absence of more than 2 years, I spent several days in W Va. with my son Jonathan, my only family member living within driving distance (2 1/2 hours each way). It’s so very peaceful out there, such a contrast with city living. Jon resides in a rustic house deep in the woods belonging to his employer, Coolfont Resort. The resort is now making a comeback under new ownership after years of neglect. Jon works at the front desk, mostly evenings and on weekends when occupancy is highest. Sometimes I hear animal noises when I’m out alone in the house, located about a mile from the main complex that includes the lodge, restaurant, tennis courts, pool, and gym. All alone out there without a phone, internet, radio, or TV—or any neighbors--I spent time reading back issues of the New Yorker passed along by a friend. The most frequent late afternoon and evening visitor was a doe calmly munching grass, passing close enough outside that I could reach out to touch her. She got used to seeing me and was not afraid.

 

Certainly, the US cultural divide is evident in W Va. 

Some local sights are more benign.  

                                   

                                             Below is a house in neighboring Winchester.

After a big storm, my son reminded me of my close call with lightning in Honduras. That happened back in 2002, in El Triunfo in the south, when lightning bolted through a hole in the ceiling, brushing by my right ear, with the thunderclap right behind. Ash was left on the floor beside me. At first, I was totally deaf in that ear, then my hearing recovered somewhat, but never completely. 

Just now, when my son was driving me home, he asked Alexa or Siri or whoever to direct him to Eastern Market in Washington, DC. The voice gave directions, adding, “Eastern Market will probably be closed by the time you get there.” Wow! How did she/it know about that? Very eerie.

Back Again in DC

I invited Alba, a guest from Spain and the girlfriend of Alex, my Costa Rican visitor, to a farewell dinner at a local Hispanic restaurant on her last night here. Below is Alba in NYC during her US visit.

                                                        We enjoyed a leisurely dinner. 

An estimated 40 migrant children bused here from Texas and Arizona are expected to be enrolled in D.C. Public Schools, Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said at a press conference.

WUSA9, Father arrested for accidental shooting death of 1-year-old, police say Police say the child died from an "accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound."

If parents feel the need for a gun, then they must double-down to keep it secure and away from children. More often, their gun kills a family member rather than an intruder. As said before on this platform, I’m grateful that a gun found at a parents’ bedside, that discharged after another boy dropped it, ended up only wounding my then-11-year-old son in the foot. He could’ve easily been killed. Any lingering foot pain he now feels in his 40s reminds us of that scary event. It is very unlikely that the gun was ever needed to ward off an intruder. Even Breonna Taylor would not have been killed if her boyfriend had not first fired at police. The excess of firearms in this country, now with more guns than people, is a risk to us all. These guns should all be collected and melted down into something useful.

Again, we just celebrated the anniversary of MLKing’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, which my late ex-husband and I strained to hear as we stood at the edge of that giant crowd after coming to DC from California for another meeting.

Daily Beast, Trump Demands Either New Election ‘Immediately’ or Make Him ‘Rightful’ President Now

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday in a Fox News interview, “If they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information...there literally will be riots in the street.” Is that a warning or a threat?

LA Times, Nicholas Goldberg: Remember when we thought George W. Bush was the worst president ever?  I certainly remember coming back to the US from the Peace Corps and being flabbergasted that American voters would be so foolish as to allow George W. Bush a second term in the presidency. It almost made me want to return to Honduras. Former President Bush is now doing better as an amateur painter than he ever did as president. But little did we know then that Donald Trump would come to occupy the White House, making GW Bush look almost normal by comparison.

While Donald Trump was playing golf up north, the FBI was looking for documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.  

Former radio host and comic Garrison Keillor, once of Prairie Home Companion fame, now, at age 80, is attempting a comeback after his fall from grace in 2017 due to “inappropriate behavior.” He has a Washington, DC, appearance scheduled for October.

I just attended an outdoor farewell party for my next-door neighbors who are moving to the suburbs, seeking more benefits for their 10-year-old daughter, whose birth seems to have happened only yesterday. The family has sold their house to a retired couple. Now only one family with children remains on this block, unlike in the old days when my kids were growing up here among many friends their own age. If families with children keep moving out, that makes our neighborhood less kid friendly, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Baby Bust

Capitol Hill is not the only place seeing a dearth of children. A nation’s average birthrate must reach 2.1 births per woman to just stay even, given that a few children will unfortunately die before reaching reproductive age. A steady state, not a population increase or decrease, is optimal. India and some African countries are now surpassing that desirable average, while the current US birthrate is less than 1.7. As older folks like me survive longer, not enough younger working folks are coming along here in the US to support us as we age. More immigrants would help.

Now in my 80’s, I am fully retired. I’d been working part-time as a Spanish interpreter until the pandemic made public transportation more problematic for me without a car. But, so far, I’ve not become bored or lonely since giving up work in 2020. I’m still able to engage in what we in the occupational therapy association called “purposeful activity,” as subjectively defined. For one thing, everything takes me longer now.

Young couples of my acquaintance either have 2, 1, or no children at all. I don’t know any even with 3. My 4 children, or 5 counting my Cuban foster son, have certainly not reproduced themselves. My older son Andrew and foster son Alex both died young and had no descendants. My surviving son, Jonathan, has 2 sons. Melanie, my older daughter, has a daughter with one son. Stephanie, my other daughter, has no children. Our family’s average is well below replacement.

What does billionaire Elon Musk have to say about our anemic national birth rate? Musk, who personally has fathered at least 10 children with several different women, tweeted about doing “my best to help the underpopulation crisis,” opining that “a collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.” He further tweeted: “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming," then adding: "Mark these words.”

Mr. Putin foresees the perils of the current baby bust, now occurring in Russia, as well as in China, Japan, South Korea, and the whole western world, as well as here the United States. So now Russia is bringing back its Soviet-era “Mother Heroine” award to fight that country's demographic crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin has earmarked 1 million rubles, or nearly $17,000, for each woman who has given birth to at least 10 children, provided all of them are still alive. Would it be worth giving birth to 10 children to earn $17,000?

Abortion, now being touted under the banner of “reproductive rights,” is not helping overcome the shrinking population problem. Abortion has almost become a secular sacrament for some folks as a symbol of female equality. If men cannot have babies, then women don’t need to have them either. So, then what?

Wash. Post, Seven personal stories about abortion

Now, let’s see equal coverage with 7 stories about women unexpectedly pregnant, as is so often the case, and how they went ahead to give birth and to cope with and even come to enjoy motherhood.

Abortion rights’ marchers hold up signs of clothes hangers, which quite correctly declare “Never Again,” since most abortions now are done at home with pills, not clothes hangers. Pill abortions are relatively easy and private. And a very early abortion probably does not inflict pain on the fetus, as inflicting pain is to be avoided, even with animals. But once a child is actually born, parental neglect can suddenly be punished by imprisonment, while before the birth, sometimes only days earlier, the mother’s right to terminate the pregnancy may be upheld, as her right over her own body may supersede the unborn’s right to life according to some commentators.

As said before, I do side with Democrats’ official positions on most issues, but abortion is a major exception. There are many ways to prevent a pregnancy, including simply by sexual abstinence. As a birth mother, I know that pregnancy and childbirth can sometimes be difficult, and as an adoptive mother, I am well aware that raising a child is not always easy. But I also know that there are plenty of would-be parents out there willing and eager to raise a child as their own if given a chance. Whether via adoption or giving birth, despite the many challenges of parenthood, that relationship—like any human connection—usually proves worthwhile for both parties. At least, I have found it so. The untimely deaths of my older son and Cuban foster son still leave a huge void. After all, who are we apart from our relationships? If everyone were a hermit, humankind would become extinct.

More Gender Issues

Monkeypox was spreading fast among gay men until they got the message about having fewer sexual partners and less frequent sex. Now their more abstinent lifestyle has reduced new Monkeypox cases, which are unpleasant but usually not fatal. However, one reportedly “severely immunocompromised” adult in Texas has actually died of the illness.

“Maternal Instinct is a Myth that Men created” is the title of an article in the NYTimes. I haven’t read the article, but not all maternal feelings are imaginary or simply socially inspired, especially after a woman has just given birth and is nursing her baby. Nursing releases Oxytocin, often dubbed the “love hormone.” (I’ve experienced that feeling, which came as a surprise.) Even though women have moved toward greater parity with men, some innate biological gender differences still remain.

In all human cultures, men are much more physically aggressive than women and prisons everywhere are top-heavy with male inmates, often accused of violent crimes. In the US, over 90% of prison inmates are male. Female inmates have more often committed non-violent offenses, such as prostitution, embezzlement, and shoplifting. These differences are not all cultural. Male primates and mammals, not subject to human cultural conditioning, are also more aggressive than females, probably because of higher levels of testosterone. Males, both human and animal, become less combative with age as testosterone wanes. Many murders are committed by males under age 21. A youthful murderer may be identified decades later through DNA evidence, after he has become a law-abiding husband, a father, and an established citizen.

Latin America

Wall St. Jour., Cuban Migrants Head to the U.S. in Record Numbers Economic hardship, political repression drive tens of thousands to leave the Communist-led island

NBC News, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega goes after the Catholic Church in his latest effort to stop criticism of the government

I’ve heard from Honduran friends that their 4-year-old has started school and simply loves it.

War Crimes

War crimes evidence is being collected for both Syria and Ukraine, but why isn’t war itself a crime?

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/08/mr-blinken-dont-abandon-afghan-religious-minorities/ Afghanistan’s religious minorities — Christians, Hazara Shiites, Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadis, Bahais, and Jews — face veritable genocide as “infidels” and “apostates” under Taliban Islamic law, yet these groups were all excluded from U.S. priority refugee admissions status. Many if those evacuated still remain in limbo in the UAE.

Is Age Just a Number?

On the Greek island of Crete, there is a purported 4000-year-old tree still producing olives. How is its age determined if there is so little record of that time, back when ancient humans were just starting to make metal tools? At the very least, it is said to be 2000 years old. Did our distant ancestors enjoy eating olives from this very tree? 

 

Here's another long-lived tree, this one in Japan, estimated to be at least 200 years old and still blossoming. Thanks to neighbor Susan for photos of both of these amazing venerable trees.

 

Wash. Post, His emotional support animal is an alligator. They sleep in the same bed.

 

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