Around the time I turned 50 my husband Daniel got me hooked on coffee. In the few years since then I've become a coffee connoisseur and a bit of a purist. But when these popped up deeply discounted for Amazon Prime day I decided to give them a try. Big mistake. Click here to read my review.
On April 16th, I received my second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Like the first dose, it was administered by a member of the Ohio National Guard at the Wolstein Center’s mass vaccination site.
As with the first dose, I experienced a slightly sore arm afterward – but no worse than a standard vaccination. Shortly after I went to bed that night, I began to feel a bit feverish and achy, and I didn’t sleep well. The next morning, I awakened around 8:00am, late for me even on a weekend. I felt sleepy but recovered. Over the course of the day, I felt progressively better; and by Sunday I felt like Superman. The last few days I’ve been physically active, going to the gym, working on the house, and have started losing weight.
Here’s to a healthier remainder of 2021.
#GetYourShot
Several years ago, I mentioned my concerns about the environment
to an acquaintance of mine. This person
replied “I don’t worry about that, it’s all in God’s hands and there’s nothing
we can do about it” or words to that effect.
My respect for this person, which wasn’t particularly high to begin with,
dropped precipitously on that day. This
same person referred to Earth as a “Hell” and that he was unafraid of death
because he would be in “Heaven.”
But it did bring to light the lazy theology I encounter
among many of the religious – particularly Christians. “We should do whatever we want to the Earth:
pillage, exploit, destroy; because God created it for us and gave us dominion
over it. No need to worry about that
happens here on Earth. We the Righteous will be rescued during the Rapture.”
Per the Book of Genesis, God tells
Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue
it, and rule over [the] fish of the sea, and over [the] bird of the heavens,
and over every living thing that is creeping on the earth."
Fair enough. According
to God, humans are in charge. But just
as when a parent gives a child a gift, it seems doubtful God would have
intended humans to trash said gift. Can
you imagine if God had given Adam a car and said “crash it and don’t bother to
wear a seat belt, for I can create a new vehicle and repair your injuries.”
There are two possibilities: God or gods exist; or he/she/they do not.
Religions of all stripes portray humans as the children
of God, who is generally depicted as male, and who has created us in His image –
or half of us. What do parents want of
their children, particularly their adult children? To break the gifts they are given, mismanage
their resources, and run to their parents whining and begging for help? Or do parents want their children to stand
up, grow up, support themselves, solve their own problems, and be productive citizens
who contribute not only to themselves but to their fellow humans and to their
planet? Any reasonable parent would want
the latter, and so would any deity worthy of the name and of worship.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that no god(s)
exist, and that we humans are truly on our own, and that no one is capable of
protecting our planet except for us – if it’s not already too late.
In either case, it is best to protect the gift that a god may, or may not, have given us. Our planet need not be a “Hell”, either literally or figuratively.
I’ve been a member of Facebook since 2008. Since that time, it has gone from being a convenient place to share photos and life-updates to one of the world’s primary platforms for the spreading of misinformation and disinformation. I am certain that is NOT what Mark Zuckerberg intended when he first cobbled it together in his Harvard dorm room.
Over the past two years, I have created groups and posted
content related to the 2020 election and its aftermath. It will surprise no one
who reads this blog or who knows me personally that I was opposed to Donald
Trump, and my group postings reflected that.
I also administrate several other groups on Facebook, including those
related to Vladimir Horowitz and George Szell, and help
moderate a few others.
Soon after wandering into the virtual political arena, I
detected a pattern in which certain words or images triggered Facebook’s algorithms and
my posts were taken down – and on more than one occasion, I was blocked from
posting or even “reacting”. When I asked for arbitration, the decision
was reversed – sometimes within a few minutes – and I was able to post again. On Monday, I scheduled a post for Tuesday
morning in one of my groups that contained the cartoon shown below (here at
reduced quality for free-use purposes).
The cartoon above does not call into question the efficacy of vaccines. It is not anti-vax. It’s poking fun at those who cling to conspiracy nonsense as a justification to avoid taking the vaccine and wearing masks. Frankly, I think half of them are just selfish and afraid of needles.
But FB’s bots found the scheduled item, claimed it was
anti-vaccine misinformation, and sent me to FB jail – where I will remain until
the “sentence” expires or is reversed.
In addition, previously scheduled posts in other groups unrelated to
politics of any kind have also been held back.
It seems Facebook’s programmers are content to penalize users
who post items which do not violate their policies, but unwilling to do much
about the pervasive and obvious fake accounts acting on behalf of hostile governments. We are not merely talking about programing
algorithms here, but about systemic bias.
It wasn’t until after he’d lost the election that Facebook began
deleting some of Donald Trump’s more incendiary posts. It was not until five people were killed in
the Capitol insurrection, which Trump helped incite, that he was blocked from
posting.
At this point, I’m sure there are those who are asking “Why
is Hank complaining? Facebook is free!” True, there is no charge. But every time you scroll your feed and see a
cleverly pointed advertisement, it’s taking up your time – even if it’s a few
seconds – and time is not free. Further, the time I spend administering and moderating
other groups – which help to keep those groups and Facebook civil – are in a very
real way a service I am providing for free.
I get it. Freedom of speech is not freedom from
consequences, and the First Amendment doesn’t apply here because Facebook is
not a government entity. But this kind
of constant fuck-uppery one sees from Facebook would never be permitted in a
regulated business, like airlines or insurance.
When any entity has grown so large that it cannot adequately police itself,
it needs to be regulated or even broken up.
Today I observed the 90th anniversary of Leonard Nimoy’s birth by doing the logical thing and getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The timing was coincidental. After spending hours refreshing pages at the Ohio Department of Health website, only to find local appointments already filled, I opted to head downtown to the mass vaccination site at the Wolstein Center. Setting up the appointment was a snap.
This site is being run by the Ohio National Guard, and I
can only say it was a model of efficiency, run like a well-tooled machine at
every step in the process. I can’t
imagine a better or more compassionate use of our tax dollars than sites like
these - in patriotism filled not with jingoistic chest-thumping, but in the spirit of service and concern for one's fellow Americans.
Parking was readily available, the lot I was directed to
only about 1/4th filled. Noticing
signs admonishing against taking photographs, I was directed to tents near the
designated entrance, was asked if I had any symptoms of illness, and handed
three pages of information about COVID and the vaccine to be administered: Pfizer. I then entered the building, was temperature
scanned, and directed toward an admittance table where my information was
taken. Then I was directed to the site
on the main floor, the very surface on which I’d seen Cleveland State athletes
and the Cleveland Crunch, and sent
to one of the many carefully distanced chairs that had been set up there. National Guard personnel then proceeded down
each lane of chairs taking information: Had I received any vaccinations within
the last two weeks? Have I ever
experienced a reaction from being vaccinated?
Do I have any allergies? And so
forth. This information was entered into
a pad. Then I was asked when I wanted my
next appointment, selected a time, and before I’d had a chance to write myself
a reminder note, I received a text notification with my next date. This was followed in a few minutes by a
second Guardsman with a cart on wheels – rather like the carts
flight-attendants use to deliver snacks – who handed me my vaccination card and
administered the shot.
Most recipients were happy to be able to receive their
poke. The exception was someone near me who
was obviously in a state of anxiety. The
Guardsman who had taken my information summoned some counselors who came by and
calmed this person’s fears. Another
thing I noticed about the recipients was that they were overwhelmingly
white. This is very concerning in a
majority-minority city like Cleveland.
A better job needs to be done in getting vaccines to those without
internet access and addressing understandable concerns in minority communities
about the vaccine (many, quite reasonably, have not forgotten the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment).
Within ten minutes of my entering the building, I had
been vaccinated. I then waited in the
same chair for the designated 15 minutes to ensure I had no allergic reactions. I spent that time reflecting on the fine
young people who volunteered to protect the United States from “all enemies,
foreign and domestic” and serve their country.
It also occurred to me that, despite the xenophobic comments by some,
there is no such thing as a “foreign” or a “domestic” virus. Viruses do not have passports and the spread
of disease is the inevitable result of our modern world where international
travel is so speedy and so accessible to so many. There will be more novel viruses in the
future, and how we react to them will determine whether we have learned lessons
from the disaster known as 2020. At that
point, another Guardsman asked me how I was feeling. I replied that I felt great and thanked him
for being there. Something then occurred
to me, and I told him “You’re probably going to tell your grandkids about
this.” He nodded and mentioned to me
this was the second time he had been involved in such an operation – the first
was in Africa during the Ebola epidemic.
Then a fourth Guardsman addressed the crowd and asked to let him know if
there was anything the Guard could do better – noting that some had already
suggested a beer truck outside. He also
mentioned something that I wish to pass along: if there are any who are
reluctant to get the vaccine for religious reasons related to personal modesty,
the guard has provided several curtained off areas where the recipient will
have privacy and be vaccinated by someone of the same gender. Those of us remaining applauded as he left. At that point, it was time for me to go, and
the procedure for leaving was even easier than it had been for admission. I
drove home with a smile on my face. But
when I got home, I wept. Tears of joy,
tears of pride for my country, tears of relief and hope that this will soon be
over.
Vaccines and sanitation are the two primary reasons why
average life-expectancy increased so dramatically during the 20th
Century. Over the past few years, that
trend has started to reverse in the United States, and part of the reason is anti-vaccine sentiment led by anti-science hysteria and at least one
misleading – and now discredited – study. It is time for a return to sanity and respect
for earned expertise.
Get the shot.
In recent days, concerns over blood-clotting possibly caused by the Oxford-AstraZenica COVID-19 vaccine have led to the suspension of that vaccine in Europe.
This is not an issue in the United States, as the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of that vaccine. The three approved vaccines, by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, have yielded an adequate supply so the need for a fourth vaccine is remote here.
As the Pfizer vaccine was entering into final FDA review, then-President Trump, in a demonstration of his usual contempt for the “deep state” tweeted a chest-thumping threat to the head of the FDA: approve the vaccine by the end of that day or be fired. Since the board was already meeting that night to give approval, Trump’s tweet was pretty meaningless – it was just a way to throw red-meat to his diminishing cadre of followers. But it still set a bad precedent. Whatever the urgency of the situation, this kind of threat is the last thing a leader should do – especially as the FDA has already been criticized for allowing the hasty approval of unsafe drugs. Trump’s tweet was part of a pattern of his attempted dismantling of the Federal government’s regulatory powers.
The FDA began in 1906 with Theodore Roosevelt’s signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act – a time when pharmacological drugs were unregulated and your corner pharmacist (called a “druggist” back then) could whip up whatever concoction he thought was efficacious. One can easily imagine what was actually in these drugs, especially as the initial formula Coca-Cola contained trace amounts of Cocaine! Those who were predisposed to distrust the government repeatedly called for rolling back the FDA’s power to approve or reject drugs for medical use, including homophobe Pat Buchanan who pushed the FDA to allow the use of unsafe drugs for treatment of AIDS. It’s part of a pattern that included Trump’s touting of Hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment for COVID. It was a quack treatment with adverse side-effects. At the risk of their jobs, experts including Anthony Fauci stated that Hydroxychloroquine was not a suitable treatment for COVID. The lesson is simple: be guided by the science (itself a Latin word for “knowledge”) and defer to the experts, not the soccer mom who gained her ”science” from youtube conspiracy videos.
Deutsche Grammophon has issued a new CD featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra in two of Rachmaninoff's works - the First Symphony and the Symphonic Dances. How are the performances? Let's just say that my review will earn me a good bit of hate mail. Click here to read.
