The last posting was overlong, as I’d been away for a while and away from a computer, so will try to be briefer now and less repetitious, though my life, like any other, tends to follow a familiar pattern. It’s always nice for me with this blog to be able to go back to re-live previous events or to check on something to bolster my memory, sometimes even going back to the predecessor blog started years ago. And when I am no longer here, my kids and grandkids can review my life and times.
Again, many glitches with this posting, which ended up posting the draft rather than the final copy. It was quite a mess to straighten out. Thanks, as usual to my patient and forgiving readers.
My granddaughter just celebrated her 35th birthday in Florida at a party thrown for her by her mother, my older daughter who lives nearby. I was with my daughter when my granddaughter was born, then with my granddaughter right after she gave birth to her son, now age 15. My granddaughter is the young woman in black.
Above are my granddaughter and her mother when they lived in this area. Below is the greeting I sent to my granddaughter.
Hope everyone had a happy Easter or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year. Here's a greeting that I sent to my family.
Eighty-six-year-old Pope Francis was able to leave the
hospital to participate in Holy Week and Easter celebrations.
Something unexpected happened in my kitchen on a recent afternoon, a creature skittered out, a little smaller than the bigger one seen here and larger than the smaller one.
It looked something like the geckos that used to invade our dwellings in Latin America, but I'd never seen one before in DC. When I tried to catch it in a jar to put it outside, it ran under the refrigerator. I’ve occasionally encountered a mouse inside, but never before a lizard. A neighbor has speculated that it might have come back with me from Honduras last summer. Outside in the backyard and along the fences, I’ve often seen raccoons, squirrels, and possums, so wildlife still flourishes here in downtown DC. Now maybe there are geckos too.
Everything outside is now leafing, flowering, and blooming, including some lovely foliage much like this in a neighboring yard (but not my photo because I no longer have a cell phone). It’s just a nice time to be outdoors.
My son
living in W Va., whose beloved old van dropped an axel on a country road, now
has his eye on this used cruiser, a 2002 Lincoln Town car. What do you think? Like
the now-defunct van, it’s still a gas guzzler, but he needs a car that he can
afford to buy. 
Here he is above with the now-defunct van, below with the used car he plans to buy.
The
expulsion of 2 black Democratic lawmakers in Tennessee just gave them a national
profile.
LA Times, Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush
money cover-up case He is the
first former president to face criminal charges. In a Manhattan court, a stony-faced Trump pled “not guilty.”
He also called for defunding the FBI and the Justice Dept. Most of his family
seems to have checked out this time, with wife Melania nowhere to be seen and
daughter Ivanka busy elsewhere. Stormy Daniels insulted Mr. Trump by calling
him “tiny.” Some pundits find the Manhattan case against him not overly compelling,
but it’s only an opening salvo as other charges are pending. The accusations have
served only to fire up Trump’s faithful base, but that’s not a majority of the
electorate. Meanwhile, most other Republicans have stood firmly in lockstep behind
Trump. Even Mitt Romney seems to be on board, calling the indictment “overreach.”
Hill, Trump uses footage from New York arraignment in new
campaign ad
Arizona
Republic, Opinion President Joe Biden should pardon Donald Trump This is an interesting idea. But Biden should do it
only after he wins re-election.
Wash. Post, N.C.
Democrats demand lawmaker resign amid reports she’s changing parties
Voters certainly
would have cause for outrage after just electing someone largely based on party
affiliation who soon thereafter joins the opposing party. NC state Rep. Tricia Cotham just announced she is switching
from Democrat to Republican after her recent election.
News 6, Crosley Green ordered back to prison, must turn himself in
Green’s
conviction was reinstated in Florida when Gov. DeSantis refused to grant him a pardon.
Now it looks like he’ll be back behind bars again after already having spent 32
years in prison and being conditionally released 2 years ago. Prison sentences are
never equal or fair, but it does seem that if someone is released after so many
years, he should not be sent back. Green’s odds of re-offending at age 65 and
after more than 3 decades in prison is vanishingly small.
Oklahoman, Opinion Weigh in: Gun violence is leading
cause of death for children. What can be done? Gun violence has surpassed car accidents as the leading
cause of death for American children. Many such deaths occur after a youngster finds
a gun hidden for family protection which then proves lethal to the child or a
sibling. Restricting the total number of guns in circulation would mean fewer
gun deaths, either by accident or design.
Wash. Post, 4
killed, shooter dead in attack at Louisville bank building, police say
Another week,
another mass shooting. We in this country are all at risk everywhere, anywhere, all the
time.
Statesman, Gov. Greg Abbott announces he will pardon Daniel Perry
who was convicted of murder Perry
shot and killed Garrett Foster in July 2020 during a Black Lives Matter protest.
The culture wars are in full swing now, including on gender-affirming
care. “Transgender rights” is a new rallying cry. Is changing gender expression
via hormones and surgery really helpful for most individuals involved, or does
that switch only exacerbate preexisting personal problems? Transgender young people
reportedly have high rates of suicide, so what is cause and what is effect? Do most
actually feel better long-term after taking hormones and undergoing surgery? At
a young age, should children be able to make such a consequential lifelong
decision about changing their gender expression? If a youngster starts taking puberty
blockers or hormones, will that influence their final choice? Such questions have
no easy answers.
A school-age child may also envision becoming a firefighter or a media
star. Back in second grade, I myself declared wanting to have 17 children and some
classmates talked about becoming police officers. One vowed to become a priest,
but changed his mind later. Young kids aren’t allowed to quit school, marry, or
undergo medical treatment or have any surgery without parental consent, but then
should they still be able to decide on switching genders independently while living
at home with parents responsible for them in every way? Most people do develop
and change substantially between childhood and adulthood. So should they then
be able to switch their gender expression starting even in early childhood? What
are the odds that they will change their mind again by adulthood? Or will adopting
an outward gender expression early on make that change a fait accompli? We are
talking here about only a tiny fraction of the US population, less than 0.2%, now
confronting these life-changing questions with no clear agreed-upon answers applicable
in each and every case. Waiting until age 18 to make a final decision might actually
be the wisest choice.
Fox, Florida Senate passes DeSantis-backed bill banning
transgender treatments for minors
Idaho Statesman, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signs bill banning gender-affirming care for minors
USA Today, Across US, Republican state lawmakers are winning the battle to block transgender youth from getting medical care [“gender affirming care” for minors, that is.]
AP, Kansas bans transgender athletes from women's, girls' sports
Advocate, New Jersey Governor Declares State a 'Safe Haven' for
Gender-Affirming Care
The culture wars make extensive use of pejorative language, “anti-trans,”
“anti-choice,” and “anti-reproductive rights.” “Transgender rights” is a new
rallying cry that, like a spear tip, may open up a wider rush of popularity. It’s
very hard to backtrack on “rights,” as we are seeing now with “reproductive
rights,” which Democrats still support in lockstep just with few outliers like
me.
Red states do need to put their money where their mouth to offer more support of needy mothers after a
AP, Kansas lawmakers OK bill on live deliveries during abortions The Kansas measure is similar to laws in 18 other states requiring infants delivered alive during labor and delivery abortions to go to a hospital and imposing criminal penalties for doctors who don’t provide the same care “a reasonably diligent and conscientious” provider would with other live births.
A woman would not be as likely to seek an abortion if she could rely on help for herself and her newborn child.
Today, Teen mom with triplets was all on her own. Then her
NICU nurse adopted her A
neonatal nurse in Indiana, herself the mother of 5, adopted a 14-year-old who
had given birth to preemie triplets at her hospital and needed help in managing
them, as well she might.
A baby boy born
in the US in 2023 is expected to live, on average, to age 81, a newborn girl to
86. For both genders, the current life expectancy for an American alive right now
is 79. Of course, some of us have already passed that age, but our remaining
years are fewer with each successive birthday. Age is more than just a number. Longevity
is most closely associated with our mother’s lifespan, regardless of our own gender.
My mother lived to age 92, my father only to 82.
What is
80-year-old Biden’s life expectancy? How likely is he to live until the end of
his next presidential term, provided that he actually runs again and wins? Of
course, he will always have top-notch health care. Donald Trump, now 76, is turning
77 in June. If he runs and should win the presidency again (a rather scary prospect),
then by 2025, when actually taking office, he’d be 78, becoming 79 not long thereafter.
For both Biden and Trump, their probable longevity in office is a consideration,
yet no promising younger folks have thrown their hats into the ring.
Now 89-year-old
Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein, still hospitalized with shingles,
has announced her resignation in 2024. Recently re-elected Republican Senator Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, age 81, remains in recovery after a fall. Independent
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is also 81. Recently reelected 89-year-old
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, only a few months younger than Feinstein,
came back to work in a wheelchair after hip surgery and now faces the rest of
his 6-year term. The Senate has become a coterie of elders.
South
Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who started out as a Democrat, then turned
Republican, was the oldest serving senator at age 100. He died in 2003, the year
after leaving office.
After contacting a longtime Amnesty volunteer my own age living in
another state, I learned from his wife that he now has Alzheimer’s and is being
cared for in a nursing home. I’d been concerned about not hearing from him for
a while. She said that he lit right up when she mentioned Cuba and Amnesty
International.
In a recent NPR interview, Canadian-born Clancy
Martin, now a philosophy professor at the University of Missouri, admitted to
often having attempted suicide, always pulling back from the brink in time, relieved
to still be alive. I wonder how he will feel when his life actually approaches
its final end?
AP, Haiti gang ambushes, kills 3 policemen as violence
soars
Wash. Post, Israel’s
Netanyahu slammed by far right after violence, rocket strikes Mr. Netanyahu is in a real bind now, struggling for his own
political survival.
China has been raising its international profile including
by brokering a peace agreement between Iran and the Saudis.
AP, Are robot waiters the future? Some
restaurants think so
Already on duty in some restaurants because of the labor shortage, robots
can now greet guests, lead them to tables, deliver food and drinks, and take dirty
dishes back to the kitchen. The labor shortage, due to American families
producing too few kids and to cutbacks in immigration, has been good for
workers, but not so great for the country as a whole.
French worker are still not ready to stop retiring at age
62, looking forward to the many years of paid leisure they feel they have rightly
earned. But how can they be supported in retirement now while living longer?
I admit that I also retired at 62 to join the Peace Corps in Honduras. But after my return to the US after 3 ½ years (an extended term), I started working again in the DC area as an on-call Spanish interpreter, a brand new, part-time career, something I’d never thought of doing before, requiring me to pass a very exacting recorded oral test of both simultaneous and consecutive interpreting. In that job, I worked as an independent contractor, affording me maximum flexibility and freedom to still take off for Honduras annually as a volunteer interpreter and helper with US-based medical brigades. I only stopped doing interpreting after 17 years, in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic. And my most recent volunteer trip to Honduras was in July 2022. I’ve been asked to go back there again and to please bring another wheelchair. I once tried just sending a wheelchair without actually going myself, but it mysteriously disappeared after arriving by cargo ship at a northern port. I cannot promise to ever go back there again, as it’s a fairly arduous, risky, and expensive undertaking, though still tempting to contemplate.
I don’t know why my late ex-husband of 24 years, after his
departure and remarriage, spoke with me only once after leaving. It was in a very
cordial phone call that I was surprised to receive in 1984. I had married him at
age 21 despite my family’s opposition, though they came to accept and even admire
my choice. I’d never envisioned that my husband would leave me, as he was blind
and very dependent on me, having achieved considered career success with my
help. I had suppressed my Hispanic side because my husband did not share it. When
he divorced me to marry his young office assistant, then cut off any further contact
while taking all our joint finances with him, it was a cruel and shocking blow.
I had to fight for a more equitable settlement for myself and our children. However,
in that single call in 1984, he sounded quite warm and friendly and we spoke
for about half an hour. When I called him back, his wife answered curtly that
she would convey any messages I had for him. I will never know why that was the
only time we ever spoke before his death in 1999.
Here is part of his obituary in the NY Times, Tom Joe, 64, Policy Maker On Poverty Tom
Joe, an expert on Government antipoverty programs and a recipient in 1986 of
the MacArthur Fellows award, died on Saturday at his home in Arlington, Va.
Mr. Joe, the director of the Center for the Study of Social Policy here, was 64
and had been undergoing treatment for cancer. [Yes, he had lung cancer
after chain-smoking unfiltered Camels his whole life.] When he had won the MacArthur award, a reporter
had approached me, but I declined to speak with him. The Times obit
mentioned his “adult children” and his widow, but not his former wife, which
was me. Nor was his blindness mentioned there. A mutual friend, who had supported
him for the MacArthur award, is still in touch with me these days.
We can always speculate about the road not taken. Was it
possible that my ex-husband was apprehensive about falling back in love with me
and so avoided any further contact after that single surprising phone call?
That was a tempting thought. Or maybe that his second wife had overheard us talking
and objected to any further conversations? Though our financial situations are
in no way comparable, I do find myself in sympathy with discarded wives Melinda
Gates and MacKenzie Scott.
After my ex-husband’s death, by not acknowledging his
24-year marriage to me in his newspaper obituary and that I was the mother of
the 4 kids mentioned there, and by not inviting me to his funeral, was his
widow trying to erase me and a whole segment of his life from his personal history?
How did she think he had gotten to the place he had when she went to work for
him? She had seemed quite surprised to see me when exiting the funeral. And she
certainly rebuffed my friendship overtures after his death. Viewed now from the
distance of time, I still don’t know the answers.
From my Cuban-born friend living in northern Florida with his
Nicaraguan wife, Blanca, another message just came in, so get out your Google
translator! I’m glad Biden’s new immigration policy of welcoming those from
select countries with US-based sponsors is proving so helpful to some families.
(My friend also asks me here when I’m going back to Honduras.)
Si Bárbara, Blanquita va a traer sus Dos Hermanos y como le dije yo quiero traer el mejor amigo cuando vivía en Cuba. En Cuba actualmente existe una extrema necesidad en todo el país. Las personas más ancianas no pueden obtener los alimentos adecuados para vivir y mucho menos sus medicamentos. Los niños muchas veces no tienen merienda para llevar a la escuela por la escasez de alimentos.
Bárbara cómo siguió de Salud y su vista, pudo hacerse algún tratamiento. Los problemas de la vista hay que atenderlos porque las enfermedades son muy rápidas y las mayorías no tienen cura. Por eso hay que prevenirlas a tiempo
Cuando piensa volver a Honduras?
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