May is a popular commemorative month because of balmy days with everything all leafed-out and blooming. We can enjoy being outside in the fresh air now in the pandemic’s aftermath. I’ve been going outside more myself, on one recent afternoon just sitting out on the front steps greeting passers-by: a couple walking arm-in-arm, a woman pushing a baby carriage, or a few kids roller skating together after school.
Neighbor's flowers
Children at a birthday party
Below, the capitol, a few blocks from my house
In 1919, sheep trimmed the grass in front of the White House.
Alex, the young friend who stayed with me last summer, is finishing his doctorate in Spain right now and is planning to stop here again in July before returning home to Costa Rica. In the photo below, he is standing in front of a cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, one of many historic cathedrals in Spain. Years ago, I hitchhiked all over Spain, but never visited that coastal city.
Alex
asks that any communication with him be in English to increase his fluency.
Another Alex, just returned from travels around Latin America, asks that we speak only in Spanish to keep that language fresh in his mind. This second Alex is now doing some repairs at my house. While I try to always communicate with the Costa Rican Alex in English and with the American Alex only in Spanish, I do get mixed up at times.
A problem tackled by the American Alex has been sealing up an opening at the side of my house where rain entered and where wasps had built a nest inside.
Jennifer, a friend first met when we worked together in a medical brigade in Honduras, lives in Canada. She has told me about Victoria Day, a celebration of the birth of Britain’s Queen Victoria, born in 1819, a holiday observed there since 1845, but not in Britain itself or in any other country. Victoria was Britain’s longest reigning monarch until Queen Elizabeth II came along. This year, Canadians are celebrating Queen Victoria’s birth and the arrival of spring today, on this very day, May 24. Jennifer says,” I seriously doubt that Canadians have an inkling why the holiday exists. A few cities hold parades and a few have firework displays. Other than that, it is generally noted that the winter season is over and the summer begins.”
Jennifer also tells me that spring has finally arrived in her area of eastern Canada. Now, she welcomes the dandelions growing in her yard alongside other colorful blossoms.
Flowers seen on my back porch over a month ago are still in bloom.
Among this month’s many special tributes, President John Kennedy back in 1963 designated May as “Older Americans month,” so it's a time to now celebrate the 17% of Americans over age 65, myself among them. Estimates are that one in 10 baby girls born in the US today will actually live to age 100.
After the recent tsunami in the southern Pacific, a friend living in Vanuatu reports that the storm came and went rather quickly and everyone is doing just fine now. I do very much appreciate the immediacy and convenience of the internet for exchanges with many far-flung friends.
Challenging Americans’ usual consumer habits, Buy Nothing groups have been springing up on Facebook or just appearing informally in local neighborhoods. Their members make a concerted effort to exchange needed items and goods rather than buying them new. They also exchange home garden produce. Of course, such informal non-monetary swaps have always existed, but now are becoming more organized in order to save money, reduce waste, and further foster community. But, so far, the movement has not made a noticeable dent in the rampant consumerism infusing most of the US economy.
Wash. Post The
earliest recorded kiss goes back at least 4,500 years to Mesopotamia
President Biden recently returned from the Asia summit held in Hiroshima, Japan, whose wholesale bombing in World War II forever tarnished Harry Truman’s legacy in my opinion.
The internet has revolutionized commerce and communications worldwide, but also opened up new opportunities for crime. While the internet allows instant communication across vast distances from the comfort of one’s home, it also has downsides. And there is still something to be said for in-person encounters made face-to-face and for actually entering a physical bank or a place of commerce to engage there with live individuals, as cumbersome and old-fashioned as that may seem.
NBC News, Sen. Dianne Feinstein suffered previously undisclosed
complications from shingles
Feinstein reportedly had been vaccinated against shingles, but still fell ill.
Republican Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina’s entry into the presidential race the presidential race may take some votes away from Biden/Harris.
El Paso
Times, Mexico finds 49 migrants who had been
kidnapped from bus
These frequent kidnappings aim to hold bus occupants for ransom from US relatives.
AP, Shootout at Baja California car rally leaves 10 dead,
10 wounded
The fact that this happened in neighboring Mexico is of little comfort and 3 of those killed were actually US citizens,
CBS News, U.S. deported 11,000 migrants in the week after Title
42 ended
The
southern US border has recently become a rather confusing place, with migrants
not quite sure what to do next . Our immigration and asylum policies seem to be in constant
flux. Crowds already gathered at the border have little choice but to stay there
now to try to figure out how and when to cross over. But the massive border surge once anticipated has not
materialized. In fact, border crossings have fallen below recent averages. Once
people step over that magic line, what do they expect? They will soon find more challenges lie ahead.
NBC News, Shelter operators in Mexico say some migrants are rethinking how to cross the U.S. border [M]igrants are now aware that they face a five-year ban from the U.S. if they are deported under an existing rule called Title 8, and many are waiting to get official U.S. asylum appointments via cellphone rather than trying to cross the border without authorization.
While many would-be migrants to the US come from countries even more violent than our own, the same is not true of tourists and other visitors from the developed world, now apprehensive of the risks.
Yahoo News, What other countries say about the gun violence problem in the U.S. As mass shootings rise in the U.S., despite its relative safety, other nations are highlighting the dangers of gun violence for would-be travelers.
A federal judge in Virginia recently ruled that 18-year-olds must be allowed to buy firearms, so we can expect more such shootings, as so many have been carried out by young hotheaded men. The Biden administration has now appealed that judge’s ruling to the Supreme Court.
News4,
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/3-deadly-shootings-within-9-hours-in-dc-police/3348901/ There
have been 83 homicides in D.C. so far this year, again with young men disproportionately
responsible. Are some of these perhaps copycat crimes? If Washington, DC, wants
to remain the capital of the world, we must do better with curbing gun
violence.
Wash. Post, Multiple
victims wounded, one killed, in shootings in Maryland, D.C.
Easy access to guns is not the only factor in recent firearms deaths in our city and elsewhere. “Gun culture” is also to blame. That’s where the Guardian Angels come in. In the last posting, given the recent rise in local crime, I reported that DC’s Guardian Angels are back on duty.
Around the DC
area, the Angels constitute a voluntary force of uniformed unarmed mostly men, ages
16 and over, who ride around on metro and walk the city’s streets, bearing witness in order to stop crimes before they happen. Living in the same neighborhoods as gang
members, the Guardian Angels, just by their positive example and very presence,
have proven useful in reducing property crimes and providing information to
authorities. And by going out in uniform and serving as the eyes and ears of
the community, these young folks from disadvantaged neighborhoods have become
members of a brotherhood that ends up replacing the very gangs they otherwise might
have joined.
Telegraph, El Salvador claims zero murders committed for a year after gang crackdown In 2019 El Salvador recorded a murder rate of 38 per 100,000 inhabitants. By last year it claimed the figure had plummeted to just eight in 100,000 and according to opinion polls, the crackdown is supported by 92 per cent of voters. The fall in crime has come at some cost. Dystopian images of shaven-headed inmates crammed together like sardines have shocked global opinion. El Salvador has taken care of its gang problem by simply taking scores of young men off the streets. The US murder rate at over 20 per 100,000, is, by comparison, now considerably higher. So, El Salvador seems to be doing much better these days in preventing murders, though at a considerable cost to young incarcerated men. Salvadorans I’ve talked with here in the US definitely support the Salvadoran government’s crackdown in their home country, saying that it’s broken the grip of gangs who had been holding the whole population hostage. Jailed gang members are nearly all young males. Until recently, Salvadoran boys who’d reached a certain age were pressured to join the gangs via threats made against them and their families. So now people living in El Salvador reportedly feel much freer to go out in public, no longer facing constant peril. Nor are any menacing neighborhood youths still out recruiting new gang members. But the cost has been considerable for the many young men who have been jailed wholesale. They probably were not afforded any sort of “due process” and arguably are now being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. Incarcerated young men, just like their former victims, are also members of Salvadoran families and communities.
Wash. Post, El Salvador stadium crush kills 12; officials vow to find those responsible
In Italy, a hardworking dog named Joel recently uncovered multiple packets of cocaine hidden in boxes of bananas stacked several meters-high. Thanks to Joel’s keen nose for cocaine, Italian police seized more than 3 tons of the drug hidden among 70 tons of boxed bananas shipped from Ecuador.
AP, Nebraska governor signs 12-week abortion ban, limits on
gender-affirming care for minors
In the Know, Teenager opens up about detransitioning process: ‘Do what makes you happy’
Not only are some young people “transitioning” to change the physical manifestations of their birth gender, but a few are now “detransitioning” to return back to their original gender. Some changes, such as breast removal, cannot be undone. Gender transition certainly has been enjoying a moment now, but like any new trend, interest in it may begin to fade.
The Economist, What America has got wrong about gender medicine. Too many doctors have suspended their professional judgment.
We all have watershed moments in our lives: college graduation, first job, marriage, parenthood, and, eventually, retirement. (For a migrant, finally crossing the US border is such a key moment.) There may also be losses, including divorce, the death or estrangement of a child, and health and financial problems, or even deportation in the case of an immigrant. Whatever happens, whether welcome or calamitous, we do adjust and our own personal wellbeing usually tends to return to the previous norm. I’m also speaking now for myself after celebrating several milestones and personal achievements, but also after being divorced against my preference, then losing both my son and foster son at youthful ages, and now finally giving up my interesting late life career in Spanish interpreting. My own experiences may be unique but are not atypical. We are all human, undergoing both welcome and more challenging life experiences, but usually returning to the status quo ante. I also suspect that when someone finally completes a desired gender transition, their subsequent identification becomes neither a source of great joy nor of particular regret, but just everyday life once more.
Transgender individuals have always existed. Some like the hijra in India, are traditional cross-dressing males who live together in special groups. Others are male-born eunuchs or castrati with a long history in China and who are found also in India. Born females have been historically been less inclined to make a gender transition, but now are doing so more often in the US, with some removing breasts and growing beards, but also retaining the ability to give birth. So the gender scenario has become rather complicated, as birth genitals may be retained while the outward appearance is of the other gender. Some individuals identify as “agender” or having no gender at all.
A board-member election ballot sent out by Amnesty International USA, where I’ve been a volunteer for 42 years, is more politically correct than I am ever likely to be. It’s a secret ballot, but asks us as anonymous voters to indicate whether we fall within the plain vanilla categories of either male or female, or instead identify as Gender-nonconforming, Genderqueer, Non-binary, or Transgender.
Despite China’s need to produce and educate more young people, the initial job prospects for new graduates now seem rather dim once they’ve actually finished their studies.
BBC, China's population falls for first time
since 1961
From 1959 to 1961, millions of Chinese died in Mao’s
“Great leap forward,” a period when peasants and other rural residents usually dedicated
to growing food were moved into communes to work in heavy industry jobs for
which they were ill prepared. Then, because of insufficient food production out
in the countryside, many Chinese simply starved to death.
Now in 2023, India has surpassed China in total population, with China’s population actually falling for the first time in more than 60 years. The former one-child policy is a major factor in China’s tepid population showing, as previously too many girls had been aborted before birth or sent into overseas adoptions. I’ve known some of those Chinse girl adoptees myself, including one adopted by a single woman friend. I also remember Chinese students staying with me at that time trying to figure out how to remain in this country, partly so as to have more than one child, especially when their one allotted child had been a girl. It wasn’t until 2016 that Chinese women were allowed to even have 2 children. Couples there are now permitted to have up to 3 kids, but will they? And even if they do, it will take 2 or more decades for today’s babies to become adults. Also, because of the previously lopsided production of boy babies, young single men now outnumber single women, so many men cannot find a woman to marry. Few foreign women are eager to emigrate to China to make up the shortfall. Chinese women, especially those living in cities, have recently become more interested in pursuing careers, which are difficult to combine with childrearing there, as mothers are expected to carry the entire childcare burden. So the Chinese government, with its history of forced abortions and sterilizations, is now finding it much harder to actually compel women to give birth than it was to stop them from doing so.
South
Korea and Japan are offering cash incentives for having children, but without
noticeable effect so far. Although ethnic purity is highly valued in both
countries, their leaders have even been considering allowing more immigration,
something never encouraged before. Nordic countries have had modest success in
increasing birthrates by offering generous support and benefits to couples with
children, though still not achieving complete replacement.
Social fashions, as well as fashions in clothes, do fluctuate over time. So though I may not live to see the day, it would not be surprising if future population losses in developed countries might be reduced as women and couples return to valuing children, not by producing large families ever again, but by having at least one or two kids to perpetuate their legacy after their own demise.
Now US polls indicate that the position that abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances has the largest number of supporters, more than those for full legalization or an outright ban. The abortion pill, which can be taken in the privacy of one's home without medical intervention, will continue to constitute the majority of abortions.
No
one wants to return to the bad old days when people often had more children
than they could adequately care for. Robert Malthus, an English economist born
in 1766, believed that population would always outrun food supply unless war,
famine, or “moral restraint” might actually end up controlling population growth. In 1968, Paul Ehrlich's book The Population Bomb likewise solemnly warned that world population was spiraling
out of control. However, half a century
later, most developed countries are now having the opposite problem with too
few babies being born, including here in the US, as many women start place greater value on their careers than on family life.
While the population outlook for the US remains somewhat less dire than for Asia, American women are still not expected to start producing the average of 2.1 children per woman required to keep our own population steady. According projections, total fertility in the US will remain at 1.66 births per woman throughout 2023, then modestly rise among women ages 30 to 49. By 2030, the US fertility rate is projected to be 1.75 births per woman, where it is expected to remain for the foreseeable future. Only immigration can help the US make up the shortfall. Neighboring Canada, with an even lower birthrate, keeps its population rising moderately by being open to and supportive of immigration. (Canada enjoys the advantage of having the US as a buffer against an unwieldy avalanche of potential immigrants.)
With the advent of largely reliable birth control and with abortion as a backup, a young American woman can now marry or enter a partnership with a man without planning on ever having children. For women especially, career success has become a key source of life meaning that often competes with family goals. And, as indicated in the last posting, couples who remain voluntarily childless have often been touting their lavish lifestyle and relative personal freedom on social media, eliciting comments both pro and con. One such Tik Toker, who labeled herself and her partner DINKWADs (dual income, no kids, with a dog) featured the couple going out shopping together, lounging in bed, and just relaxing outdoors. Her video generated over 10 million views. “Good luck dying alone at 60 to 70 with no kids or grandkids to take care of you," wrote one skeptical viewer.
Speaking for myself as an oldster from another era who has always valued motherhood and grandmother-hood, I am very grateful now for my relationship with younger family members, who help me to feel young again. None of my kids and grandkids are actually living here in DC or assisting me day-to-day, as per the Tik Tok critic’s cryptic reply, though our connections still remain strong. Email, phone, and occasional in-person visits keep us all bonded. And if I really needed anyone to come here immediately, someone would soon arrive. My son and I do speak daily by phone. I only hope never to become a burden for my kids.
Now as my own mortality approaches, personal fame and fortune have become less important than ever before. I’ve come to value my privacy and independence even more. I no longer give book talks, as my books now seem less relevant, though surprisingly, small online book sales still continue. Writing as a career has lost some luster now as works can be created using artificial intelligence. Writers must learn how to make AI a servant, not a master.
It would certainly be nice to have an intimate partner at this stage of life, but for women like me attracted only to men, the demographics are unfavorable and getting more so with every passing year. In our youth, we women found ourselves in considerable demand, but now the gender odds have been reversed. Just not enough men our age are left to go around, especially available heterosexual men. We women do outnumber them, but by not quite as much now as previously because men have started taking better care of themselves. Most men our age are still married, while most women our age are widowed or divorced. An older man who loses his wife rarely stays single for long. Several married women friends now find themselves caring for somewhat older husbands with dementia or other serious health problems. Of Americans age 100 and over, 83% are female.
Before ending now, here again are a few lost local and found pets. Some may have been featured before, but are still missing.
Spanish most certainly has become a second language here in the
US.
A Spanish-language benediction came in from a Facebook friend: “I shall bless you and you will be a blessing for others.”
Leer en español (Read
in Spanish) is an option offered for several articles in the NYTimes,
particularly those on Latin America.
A McDonald’s recruitment ad in Spanish has just appeared on our neighborhood website.
1 de cada 8 personas ha trabajado en
McDonald’s. Eso es un montón de gente de Washington.
Eso es
un montón de gente que han crecido con McD’s, o siguen creciendo allí.
And below is an ad for internet services.
¡Solo por tiempo
limitado! Obtén Internet confiable
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