Yo! Cuatro de Mayo

Yes, yes: its almost Lyman's bday---happy day, Cousin. Not only is May 5 Lyman's bday, it also marks the eleven-month mark since the last post on his (?) blog...interesting.

Knitting
I've been doing some. I made this cute little thing for my third cute daughter:



Not much to say about it: snips of left over wool from other projects, a nice piece of luck in my fabric stash--done. I will say that the hearts are intarsia and although it wasn't hard, it is a bit of a pain in the arse to be handling all those bits of yarn as you carry things along. I think people who do a lot of color work have bobbins or something...

Music
Lots of good stuff here lately: I've been re-listening to Terence Blanchard's "A Tale of God's Will: A Requiem for Katrina" -- beautiful, grand and chaotic; angry. Love it. This resurgence of interest was brought about by several listens to Brad Mehldau's "Highway Rider"... I won't go on and on about it here as it has been written about quite favorably in so many other places. Its the kind of music that should be listened to as an event: lie down, have a drink; listen. I love it.

I've been going further down the Roots/Americana path with a recording from The Duhks -- the single "Mighty Storm" thunders through telling of the 1900 Galveston, TX flood. Its hard to hear it and not think "KatrinaKatrinaKatrinaKatrina". I heartily recommend this disc for its creole/cajun/caberet/folk inclinations all smushed together---really great sound. I have a couple new cds from Caitlyn Cary (formerly with Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown): one with Thad Cockrell, the other solo. Both are about what I expected but I haven't listened enough to make much of it. I'm expecting today to receive the Court Yard Hounds disc--I know little of it. Its the two non-Natalie whatever Dixie Chicks plus Jakob Dylan. I'm looking hard for something to fill the void The Wailin' Jennys have left as they haven't hit the studio in too long...

Other Pop Culture interests
Obviously, I'm in a big New Orleans mode---I'm living for Sunday evenings' Treme on HBO and also reading Rising Tide, a historical account of the Mississippi River flood in 1927. Great stuff---the least you can do is check out Treme. Good stuff, great cast, good tunes.

Idiots and Morons
On Facebook a "friend" of mine, a dude from High School, keeps making these really obnoxious status updates---like referring to supporters of health care reform as MORONS, or those who think government can get anything right as IDIOTS. I've tried to say, "hey, I'm one of those people---are you really going to call me an idiot?" and that's been pretty much the case. And while I do think that most people who disagree with me would think differently if they were to think a little more, I stop short of calling those people names.

So let me tell you about an idiotic idea held up for examination by PBS' Frontline: the health risks of childhood vaccination. The people who believe that we would all be better off without universal immunization schedules have NO clue what our population has been spared by vaccination. I think its true that science should endeavor to produce ever cleaner, safer vaccines and to limit the adverse outcomes that are legitimately the result of vaccine. But I don't think we should stop the presses until we've arrived at that point. Although I know of no one in my own age group with polio, I do know a couple of folks that contracted polio---and while I'm terribly sorry for the parents and families who have had bad vaccinating experiences, its the basic tenet of public health to prioritize the health of a community as expedient to improvement of individual health. The same people who squawk over minor vaccine reactions will be really unhappy about being exposed to kids with rubella while pregnant.

You can't have it both ways, kids. You either want to work toward eradicating disease or you choose to put everyone around you at risk of the disease. Smallpox, Polio, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Whooping Cough, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diphtheria, HiB...terrible, terrible diseases with really awful costs of life and disability--all of them rendered completely or nearly nonexistent in the United States by the work of organized public health operating at the population level and dedicated scientists working at their benches. Compare the risks, make your decision but remember: the decision you make for your family is a decision you might be making for an entire community. We've been down the "natural" immunity path before---that's how we arrived at the vaccination schedule.

This sh*t REALLY gets under my skin...har! Hadn't seen that pun coming.