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fair trade

July 5, 2017

Yuka Hasegawa

Fair Trade of Coffee

Fair trade is the movement which seeks equally in international trade. Fair trade products are made in mainly developing countries such as Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America. The productions are independent on small farmers who are suffer from poverty and severe working condition. Fair trade involve any kind of products, for example, Bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, flowers, and sugar. Among them, coffee accounts for a large percentage of fair trade. In19988, coffee from Mexica was toe the first fair trade products, and now about half of 1.6 million farmers involved in fair trade is coffee farmers.

First, Fair trade improve working conditions and lives of farmers. Around the world, the coffee beans industry is independent on child slavery and forced labor. They have little rights and wages. They are forced to work long hours and exposed to dangerous conditions, such as chemical fertilizer and pesticides canned in Us. According to the survey of” The good trade”, “The International labor Organization estimates that there are 250 million children slaves working to produce such as coffee and cocoa. Fair trade certification makes system that farmers receive a fair price their working. Many small-scale coffee farmers are forced to sell their products to middle men. This system makes farmers profit poor. Fair trade certification enables small –scale farmers to trade their coffee beans to buyers directly. In other words, thanks to fair trade certification, it makes possible to middlemen and buyers is cut and the profit is received farmers.     　What’s more, fair trade certification protect farmers from coffee market fluctuations, so farmers get wage to live regardless of market conditions. Fair trade established the minimum price of product and wage to workers. In 2011 the minimum price of Arabica coffee was increased to $1.40 per pound. It allows workers to ensure health and safety standard. Therefore, fair trade certification makes farmers lives better.

Second, Fair trade improves environmental standards. These days, the coffee production make environmental damages. Traditionally, coffee farmers cultivated coffee under a shaded canopy of tree. This method provides great habitat for animals and insects. However, from 1970, many producers changed their farming coffee method from “shaded cultivate” to “sun cultivation” because of the increasing market demand. “Sun cultivation” decrease biodiversity in the coffee plant. As a result, 2.5 million acres of forest was diminished. What’s more, “sun cultivations” needs chemical fertilizers. Sun cultivation cause many negative environmental problems. In shade cultivation, trees are bare of leaves which provide nutrition to the soil, On the other hand, in sun cultivation, producers must use fertilizers instead of fallen leaves. The fertilizers leach into the local watershed. Additionally, there are more weeds in sun plantation than in shade plantation. since in shade plantation, shade and the fallen leaves prevent weeds from growing, so sun cultivations need herbicides. To make matters worse, drenching rains typical of tropical areas directly damage soil e in sun plantations, and it cause soil erosion. The soil erosion makes chemical fertilizers, pesticide and herbicides leach into local water sheds and pollute local water. Farmers use cheap agricultural chemical fertilizers which damages the environment because they can’t make ends meet. Fair trade promotes organic certification. It trains for producers and established a higher price incentive for organic products. According to the survey of “Why Fair Trade Means Protecting the Environment, Too” by Fair Trade USA on Monday, Apr 30th, 2012, it is said that “ over half (62 percent) of all Fair Trade imports into the United States are also organic, and 52 percent of all Fair Trade producer organizations world-wide hold organic certificates.”.  Thanks to fair trade, organic product increase and the environmental damage where coffee is cultivated become small. For these reasons, Fair trade makes environmental problems better.

Finally, fair trade provides merit with people. Fair trade is the movement for only growers. However, fair trade is not only for producers but also for us. We can buy coffee every day and everywhere now. This is materialized by stable coffee production. If provision of coffee is unstable, we cannot enjoy drinking coffee as same as now. In order to keep stable coffee supply, it is important to make condition which farmers can grow coffee beans with investment in stable life. According to the site of “FAIR TRADE USA”, it is said that “In Fair Trade growers also earn a premium of $0.20/lb for community investment, and an additional $0.30 if the coffee is also organic. Of this additional income, 25% is designated for investment in quality and productivity, though many producers vote to spend significantly more in this area.”. Accordingly, fair trade improves the quality of coffee beans.

In conclusion, fair trade benefits not only farmers but also the environment and consumers. We should buy fair trade coffee when you have a chance.

Why Fair Trade Means Protecting the Environment, Too

Fair Trade use

weekly jounal 5: The bad train "Saikyo line"

weekly journal 1 :　The Japan Times ST: April 28, 2017


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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Fairwell Summer - Hello friends!

I mean seriously, where have I been? Zach and I had a great summer - and apparently, so great, I forgot my manners on letting everyone know what we were up to.

Thank you for all of your sweet comments acknowledging the fact that I have dropped the ball and that you'd like an update! I love you and the fact that you love me back!

For the past two weeks, off and on, Zach and I have been watching two sweet kids. I thought I'd go ahead and share a picture of what happens when we all ride in the car together - I'm driving and Zach is 100% of the time requested to ride in between their two car seats.

They love Zach.

Also, this picture is from the last time they spent the night - but I just wanted you to be aware of how great at building tents/forts we are. Growing up, this was one of my favorite things to do. I always felt like I was in another world where no one could find me... even if I was just in the living room. The kids (and Zach) loved rummaging through the house for the best tent making supplies.

(cough... the office has been updated since this picture... cough... potential blog post coming up)

After the kids left for school and Zach off to work, I may or may not have curled up underneath the tent and zipped up my sleeping bag - only to realize that I was the only one left to clean up the fort that now consumed my office and I had a video conference call in 20 minutes.

Zach has since decided we'll be waiting to have kids of our own. So I am now accepting all offers to watch your children. Email me :)

Much love,

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving is just around the corner - actually, tomorrow - but Zach and I were able to celebrate our Thanksgiving dinner with friends this past Wednesday night.

We had a guest list of 18 and for a 'family' dinner, I felt certain we should all sit together at one table. You see, at previous dinners, we're divided between the table in the kitchen, the dining room, and people sitting throughout the living room and anywhere else a seat is available. But this dinner was different. It's Thanksgiving.

However, knowing how our house normally looks, there was just no way we could get 18 people around our dining room table.

Take a look at how we normally look with our fall decorations up...

As you can see, there is no way to fit 18 friends around that table. Here's one picture of our living room, as is, for maximum impact of the coming change!

From my perspective, a little swith-a-roo was needed! My plan... switch the living room and the dining room, pull chairs from all around the house (and even snag a few from my mother-in-law... thanks!) and add two extra tables to each end of our dining room table.

And guess what? It worked!

So, do you remember where our couch was sitting along the long wall in the living room? It moved and the buffet replaced it! Here's the couch sitting along the wall in the dining room under all those frames.

And the over-stuffed chair sitting where the buffet normally sits.

My favorite part of the switch was the long table that took over our living room. I loved it.

You can see now how we moved the gate-leg table to the corner (for drinks) and the buffet took the place of the couch (for food). Zach made sure I knew that he could not sit on the buffet to watch TV. Thanks goodness we have more than one TV in our house.

Everyone had a place setting - but they did not match. Some people had beautiful ratan chargers and others had gold. Some people had burnt orangeish-red napkins and others had wheat colored ones. And the plates were different too... we mixed in old china with new(er) china. And as you can clearly see, the different types of chairs were mixed around the table. I loved the fact that everything didn't match.

You were introduced to my 'Thankful Tree' in a past post (found here) that served as the centerpiece of the table. The fabric runner that spread the length of the three tables, well, some of it was left over fabric from a chair I reupholstered, and the middle piece of fabric, is a scarf I wear in the Fall! I found the brown pumpkins at Target in the $1 section and the bulbed garland of pumpkins and berries came from Hobby Lobby during their 80% off Fall decor sale. If you're catching what I'm throwing out... this was all very affordable!

As you can see in the pictures above, everyone had a pine cone at their place setting with their place card!

I used the same Martha Stewart place card template, as I mentioned here.

I used the same template for place cards for the food and drinks - just made them slightly bigger.

And here's a picture of the table all lit up.

And the best picture of the night... our friends!

The food was incredible but the company was even better! I am so thankful for having a home to host friends in and the friends to fill it. Zach and I are incredibly blessed.

Linking to:
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This Is Why Countries Still Build Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article was published on The Diplomat on July 03, 2013.

Throughout the nuclear era, the conventional wisdom has been that when one state acquires nuclear weapons, its adversaries follow suit. As former Secretary of State George Shultz so eloquently put it: “proliferation begets proliferation.”

Although some of the earliest nuclear proliferation cases followed this pattern, it has been increasingly rare in recent decades. That’s likely because in the dawn of the atomic era, non-nuclear countries had little reason to believe nuclear adversaries would exercise unilateral restraint in using these awesome weapons. However, as the taboo against the first use of nuclear weapons has become more entrenched, non-nuclear states have become increasingly confident that they do not need their own arsenals to avoid becoming the victim of a nuclear attack.

Just because nuclear weapons are not needed to deter nuclear attacks does not mean these weapons have not proven to be strategically useful. In fact, nuclear weapons have proven incredibly effective at deterring large-scale conventional attacks. Not surprisingly, then, the primary security factor driving nuclear weapons proliferation today is conventional military weakness. This is likely to continue in the future, with profound consequences for which states do and don’t seek nuclear weapons.

Although the conventional military balance has become an increasingly important factor in states’ decisions to seek or forgo nuclear weapons in recent decades, it wasn’t completely negligible in earlier years. France’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon is a case in point. The conventional narrative says that France decided to build nuclear weapons because of  Charles De Gaulle’s intense nationalism and lack of faith in America’s nuclear umbrella.

The archival record does not completely support this interpretation, however. To begin with, as Jacques Hymans finds from his careful review of the available documents, it was Mendes France, not De Gaulle, who made the first crucial decisions to pursue the bomb. The timing of President France’s decision is illuminating: he initiated the nuclear weapon program three days after NATO agreed to West Germany’s rearmament despite Paris’ objections.

President France’s rationale was straight forward. As Hymans explains, he believed that “French military power must remain at least one order of magnitude superior to Germany’s; thus, the fewer the restrictions on German conventional weapons, the greater the need for a French atomic force.” Given that France had lost three wars to Germany since 1870, including WWII where Berlin occupied France for years, his decision isn’t too hard to comprehend.

Israel’s decision to pursue the bomb was also motivated almost entirely by its perceived conventional inferiority vis-à-vis its Arab neighbors. Although these neighbors did not possess nuclear weapons, Israeli leaders in the 1950s and 1960s–most notably David Ben Gurion and Shimon Peres– were convinced the survival of the Jewish state depended on it possessing a large qualitative edge against its much larger Arab neighbors. This is not surprising given that Egypt alone is 55 times larger than Israel and, in 1967, had about eleven times its population.  Israeli leaders therefore calculated that acquiring a nuclear weapon was the surest way to offset this inherent conventional imbalance, and thereby ensure the Jewish state’s survival.

As the nuclear taboo has become more entrenched over the decades, states have had less to fear from a neighbor acquiring an atomic weapon. Consequentially, conventional military power has surpassed enemy nuclear weapons in terms of its importance in driving nuclear proliferation.

North Korea illustrates this dynamic nicely. Although Pyongyang began its nuclear program during the Cold War, it only started making substantial progress in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Notably, this was when the nuclear threat it faced was declining as South Korea abandoned its nuclear ambitions in the 1970s and the U.S. withdrew its nuclear weapons from South Korea in 1991 (and had been drawing them down substantial in the decades before then).

By contrast, the 1980s and 1990s was also the time when the conventional military balance shifted decidedly away from North Korea’s favor. To begin with, in the late 1980s the Soviet Union began pursuing relations with South Korea, and North Korea ultimately lost its great power protectorate when the USSR collapsed in 1991 (before then its aid to North Korea began declining as Moscow’s economic woes mounted). The new Russian state quickly established diplomatic ties with South Korea, as did China in 1992. Furthermore, whereas North Korea boasted a larger economy than its southern neighbor through the mid-1970s, South Korea’s rapid economic ascendancy, combined with its inherent demographic advantage, ensured that its latent military capability increasingly outpaced Pyongyang’s. And that is without even accounting for Seoul’s military alliance with the United States.

Of course, the U.S. military is part of the equation on the Korean Peninsula, and its stunning victory in the first Gulf War left little doubt about its conventional dominance in the post-Cold War era. Undoubtedly, North Korean leaders watched the U.S. armed forces crush Saddam’s army with growing trepidation. This was ominous indeed for policymakers in Pyongyang, who rightly calculated that they couldn’t match America’s conventional military might. Consequently, they sought to negate its military superiority by acquiring the ultimate deterrent.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program has followed a similar trajectory. Although the initial decision to restart the Shah’s nuclear program was motivated almost entirely by Saddam Hussein’s nuclear and chemical weapons programs, Tehran only began making real progress on the nuclear front in the middle to late 1990s. Saddam Hussein can hardly explain this trajectory, given that his threat to Iran was significantly diminished following the first Gulf War, and it was eliminated entirely after 2003.

Iran’s nuclear program is better explained, then, by the growing threat Tehran saw from the United States. This began when America established a large military presence in the Persian Gulf following the First Gulf War. It only grew a few years later when, in July 1995, Washington decided to reactivate the 5th Fleet after a 45-year hiatus. Suddenly, America’s imposing naval forces were a constant presence in Iran’s coastal shore.

Further underscoring this danger to Iran, the following year President Bill Clinton signed the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996, confirming that President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s outreach to the U.S. had failed. The U.S. threat to Iran has only grown more precarious since 2003; not surprisingly, Iran’s nuclear program has made its greatest advances during this time.

The conventional military balance’s primacy in influencing horizontal nuclear proliferation is also evident from the states that have not chosen to go nuclear. For instance, no Northeast Asian country went nuclear following China or North Korea’s nuclear tests, nor did Israel’s nuclear arsenal cause a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

Recognizing the centrality of conventional military power in driving nuclear decision-making helps us better anticipate future proliferation threats. For instance, if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, its neighbors will be unlikely to follow suit. Not only do these states lack the necessary technical capacity, but Iran lacks the ability to project conventional military power (Iran’s greatest threat to these countries comes from its support for proxy groups, which nuclear weapons are not effective at deterring.)

On the other hand, China’s growing conventional military power makes it likely that Eastern Asia will be the region where the most potent proliferation risks emanate from. Countries with territorial disputes with China—first and foremost, Japan— will have the strongest motivation to build the bomb. Unfortunately, for non-proliferation advocates, many of China’s neighbors—especially Japan but also South Korea— already have robust civilian nuclear programs. This breakout capability will only make it more tempting for policymakers to order a mad dash for the bomb.

Another potential area of concern is in Eastern Europe where Russia has already dismembered two states in the last decade as part of its bid to re-establish a sphere of influence. Moscow’s neighbors cannot possibly hope to compete with Russia’s conventional military power, and thus may look to the ultimate weapon to ensure their survival.


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James 'Superharp' Cotton (1935 - 2017) Remembered

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James Henry Cotton was born in Tunica, Mississippi in 1935. He was the youngest of eight and grew up in the cotton fields working beside his mother, Hattie, and father, Mose.
He was given his first harp, as a Christmas present and he listened intently to Alec Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) on KFFA’s King Biscuit time. Cotton soon could play Sonny Boy’s theme song from the radio show and, quickly mastered his other songs. Cotton entertained his fellow workers in the cotton field with his versions of his favourite harmonica player. Young Cotton was orphaned aged 9 and his uncle took the boy and they moved to West Helena, Arkansas. finding Williamson there. There he met his hero and impressed the virtuoso, with his harmonica play. The two got on well and Williamson mentored Cotton during his early years. The young lad was too young to play inside the juke joints, but would “open” for Sonny Boy on the steps outside, playing for tips. Eventually Sonny Boy left the South to live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but not before he told Cotton, the band was his. Unfortunately Cotton was too young to hold them together.

As a young teenager with no home, Cotton became a shoe shine boy in Beale Street, and when not shining shoes he entertained by playing blues for tips. Cotton wanted to meet Howlin’ Wolf and went to “The Top Hat” in Black Fish, Arkansas. Still too young to get in he charmed the manager with his harp and after Howlin” heard him they became close buddies. They began to play the many juke joints in Missouri, and Mississippi.

Cotton recorded four songs at Sun Records, under the direction of Sam Phillips. He was then given a 15-minute radio show on KWEM, in West Memphis, Arkansas. This would raise his profile as not everyone went to juke joints. To supplement his income, during the week he drove an ice truck during the week and played in the clubs during the weekend. His reputation preceded him and Muddy Waters asked him to join his band after Junior Walker had left. James Cotton eventually became Waters's bandleader and stayed with the group for the next 12 years.

At first, Chess Records used Little Walter on Muddy Waters recordings, with Cotton playing at the live gigs. Muddy asked James Cotton to play just like Little Walter, but Cotton eventually asked to be able to play in his own style. Cotton developed an arresting stage presence which Muddy recognized. In 1958, when Cotton began recording at Chess Records with Muddy on “Sugar Sweet” and “Close to You.”

Cotton initially formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with Otis Spann (piano) in 1965 to record between gigs. Then, in 1966. he left Muddy Waters' band to pursue a solo career and then toured with Janis Joplin.

Muddy Waters
The James Cotton Blues Band was formed in 1967. The band toured extensively and performed their own arrangements of popular blues and R&B from the 1950s and 1960s. As the decade progressed James Cotton firmly established himself in the blues-rock genre and gained hmself the title Superharp.

In 1977, Muddy Waters and Brownie McGhee got together and wrote “The Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock and Roll” which appeared on the “Hard Again” (Blue Sky label) and featured Muddy on vocals and guitar, Johnny Winter on guitar, and Cotton on harmonica. This version is sang by Howlin’ Wolf. Cotton carried on performing and recording throughout the 80s and 90s.

In the mid 90s, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, but continued to tour, using singers or his backing band members as vocalists. Cotton's touring band included Tom Holland (guitarist and vocalist), Darrell Nulisch (vocalist), Noel Neal (bass) and drummer Jerry Porter. Giant, was released by Alligator Records in late 2010, and Cotton Mouth Man, came out in 2013.

James Cotton died from pneumonia in 2017 at the age of 81.

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ZANI was conceived in late 2008 and the fan base gradually grew by word of mouth. Key contributors came from those of the music, film and fashion industry and the voice of ZANI grew louder. So, when in 2013 investor, contributor and fan of ZANI Alan McGee* offered his support to help restyle and relaunch the site it was inevitable that traffic would increase dramatically and continues to grow. *Alan McGee co-founder of Creation Records and new label 359 Music..

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Breathe your Stress Away

Deep Breathing is the Easiest and Fastest Way to De-Stress

Life is very fast. When we have quieter moments, our body forgets to relax or to take deeper breath, which would  lower both, heart rate and blood pressure. Yoga provides us with an ample selection of breathing exercises that do just that, calming and quieten our system.

In this workshop I would like

  • to spend a short moment to remind you of the anatomy,
  • before we are going to systematically open the different breathing spaces,
  • to show you easy postures which are opening the different breathing spaces,
  • to teach you breathing techniques, such as Full Yogic Breathing, Nadi Shodhana, Ujjayi, Brahmari, and how you could use them in your daily life,
  • you to have a go with retaining breath which makes it all more intense.

As breathing is the only activity that we do all the time, where ever we are, whatever we do, it is the perfect tool to work with to either just relax and de-stress or to go deeper inwards working towards meditation.

Everyone is welcome, beginner, intermediate, there will be something for everyone.

Start:       Saturday, June 10th 2017

Time:       2.30 – 4.30 pm

Venue:     1st Ickenham Scouts, Community Close UB10 8RE

Costs:         £ 15

Ayurvedic Spring Detox – Langhan

Yes, it’s the time of the year again:)

Join us for an afternoon of

  • learning with me how to cook up some super delicious ayurvedic soups, using the right spices to get rid of accumulated Winter Waste (AMA), so that can enjoy your spring full of new energy
  • practicing yoga postures and movements that support the detoxing process of the body with Chloe Snowdon
  • experiencing a deep nurturing relaxation

Date:       25.03.2017

Time:       2.00 – 5.00 pm

Venue:    1st Ickenham Scouts Hall, Community Close,   Ickenham UB10 8RE

Costs:     £20 /

you will have the opportunity to buy the spices that you need on that afternoon, if you wish

Will this be Your 2017?

idleleaves2Are your ideas for the year to come like idle leaves?

The beginning of the year offers the opportunity to reflect and invite structure into the months ahead for your ideas to manifest. I would like to invite you for an afternoon of

  • reflecting and creating your own Sankalpa
  • practising affirming asanas (postures) and
  • finishing with an affirming relaxation for your Sankalpa to sink into your mind.

All welcome.

Start:     Saturday, January 14th 2017

Time:     2.30 – 4.30 pm

Venue:    1st Ickenham Scouts, Community Close UB10 8RE

Costs:        £ 15

BWY Foundation Course

You are practicing Yoga since a few years maybe and has become your love affair. You can’t wait till you get to your next class. So much so that you feel that you would like to know more about it, you would like to be able to practice at home. Maybe this love affair is starting to change you life?

When I started practicing yoga this definitely was the case, I couldn’t wait till the next class. Luckily I practiced in a yoga school, so I went to 4 classes per week. I loved all aspect of it, the physical challenge, but also that my body felt so good afterwards. I loved the philosophy, the breathing, the meditation, whatever came along, I loved. And I wanted to learn all about it. Does that sound familiar?

About 6 years ago I joined a BWY Foundation Course Tutor Training and have since run 4 courses, my 5th one is going to start this November.

I love this course, because it starts to answer questions.

asanaseqYou are going to learn more about a set of syllabus asanas (postures), how they work, how your body moves in those postures, what your muscles and joints are doing, what are the benefits, are their areas that you need to be mindful of. How could you prepare and sequence them, so that when you roll your mat out, you  might have an idea what you could do.

The Foundation Course is introducing you into the philosophy of yoga, starting with the Yoga Sutras of kleshatreePatanjali, in particular the 8 limbs of Yoga. You will work out ideas on how you that is relevant in your daily life but also in your yoga practice on the mat. Yoga is all about how to become more peaceful with yourself.

In every session, there is a section on breathing, either understanding and deepening the 3-part-breath, delving further into Ujjayi or Nadi Shodhana. There are mudras, hand gestures, that work particularly well with breathing, you might like to try them out and find helpful.

You are going to learn a little about the history of Yoga, the different paths, it’s not just about body and movement, there are other ways to become more at peace.

To sum it up, this course is extremely thorough and every student, who has completed it, has learnt looots.

Have a look at the website for the details.

Autumn Kitchari Detox

101 Kitcharis

the perfect Autumn cleanse

As most of you probably know already, all transitions are difficult for our system. So Ayurveda sees these times as perfect for fasting for a few days to help the body. In autumn this means food that is easy to digest and nourishing and nurturing, so that you have energy for the winter ahead. The ideal food that meets all criteria is Kitchari, a rice and lentil or bean mixture, sauted in a masala (mixture) of ghee, spices and vegetables, optional.

Learn how to cook, which spices to use and, very important, taste different recipes of this delicious and easy to make food, balancing all doshas. You are going to be introduced as well into lifestyle recommendations that Ayurveda offers for the autumn, including which asanas (yoga postures), restorative postures, breathing and meditation techniques might be particularly beneficial throughout this beautiful time of the year.

  • Date:     Saturday, Oct. 15th
  • Time:     2.00 – 5.00 pm
  • Costs:     £15
  • Venue:  my home, enquire for address

Looking forward to seeing you.

Restorative Yoga Workshop

supta_baddhaThe Art of Slowing Down

One reason for having been busy at the beginning of this year was my training to teach Restorative Yoga with the brilliant Judith Hanson Lasater.

Restorative Yoga helps to induce a very deep and thorough state of relaxation of  brain and nervous system. Your body is completely supported by bolsters, blocks etc, so that it can be completely passive and effortless. To ensure this deep relaxation you stay in these postures for anything from 5 – 30 min.

Restorative Yoga is suitable and beneficial for everyone. It helps to restore your energy and helps the body to heal, hence it is very much beneficial if you are recovering from an illness or going through a long-term illness. Judith Hanson Lasater says:

“During deep relaxation, all the organ systems of the body are benefited, and a few of the measurable results of deep relaxation are the reduction of blood pressure, serum triglyceride and blood sugar levels in the blood, the increase of the “good cholesterol” levels, as well as improvement in digestion, fertility, elimination, the reduction of muscle tension, insomnia and generalized fatigue.”

I can only vouch for that.
Tempted to give it a go? Come along to the introductory workshop that I have planned:

Saturday, October 17th 2015

2.30 – 5.30 pm

1st Scouts Hall, Ickenham UB10 8RE

Let me know as soon as you can if you are interested.

Labour and Birth Workshops

These are special afternoons for pregnant women and their birthing partners in which they are learning about how yoga is able to support the time of labour and birth. Following topics are covered

  • The importance of the posture in late pregnancy and optimal foetal positioning
  • Management of labour and birth with breathing and movement
  • Physical and emotional support for the labouring woman
  • Birthing positions
  • Ayurveda and postpartum women

These workshops are advertised on a short notice only. Please contact me if you interested.

Yoga for Labour & Birth

Bit of a short notice: Next week Saturday, April 18th, 2.30 – 6 pm
I would like to offer another
Yoga for Labour & Birth Workshop for you and your birthing partner.
These workshops are designed to introduce the pregnant woman and her birthing partner to a yogic approach on how to facilitate late pregnancy, labour and birth. It covers the different stages of labour and how yoga can be helpful in terms of postures, movements and breathing; also for positioning and breathing for birthing itself. We look how the partners can be of help throughout the labouring and birthing process.
The following topics are covered:
  • The importance of the posture in late pregnancy and optimal foetal positioning (how to encourage the baby to come into a good position for birth)
  • Labour management through breathing and movement
  • Physical and emotional support for the labouring woman
  • Birthing positions
  • After the baby is born, what happens and what does Ayurveda recommend
birthing_coupleIt’s most suitable for women from 32 weeks till due date. Costs are £50 per couple or £25 per person if you come on your own.
The workshop is just covering Labour & Birth and how yoga with all its different tools is able to help and empower you in that very intense time. This is a highly practical workshop. Yoga offers an open approach to birth without any favouritisms. It is also not Hypno-Birthing but tools such as visualisation has always been part of yoga.
Venue will be: 1st Scouts Hall, Community Close, Ickenham UB10 8RE

Ayurvedic Spring Fasting

In Ayurveda the change of seasons are traditionally the time for cleansing the body, freeing it from AMA, toxins that can turn into diseases.

Ahh, finally sprinmungdhalg is arriving. Everybody feels a sense of relieve when the winter starts turning into spring and the weather is getting warmer, the days lighter. Unfortunately this change is often accompanied by feeling sluggish, tired and bloated. This is AMA, toxins that our body hasn’t managed to digest and therefore stored in our body. If we keep accumulating AMA in our system, it eventually is going to weaken our immune system and lead to diseases. An Ayurvedic Spring Detox is be the perfect solution! It’s all about eating tasty soups, drinking warm drinks and refraining from eating certain foods. You might want to indulge in some nice massages and/or steam baths, but also practising yoga and deep breathing is also extremely beneficial.

In this workshop you are going to learn what is special about this way to fast. We are also cookingayur_spices some of these tasty soups, using spices that are supporting the digestive system and putting a fasting plan together.

Suitable for everybody.

Date:       Saturday, March 7th, 2 – 5 pm
Venue:   13 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham UB10 8RW
Costs:     £15

New workshops for 2015 are going to be added very soon.


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Zeta Chairman Attends Inauguration at Windsor Castle

Zeta Chairman Attends Inauguration at Windsor Castle

Philip Shadbolt, Chairman CEO and Co-Founder of Zeta Specialist Lighting, was among those honoured with an OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for his services to Business and Innovation.

Since its inception in 1989, Phil has driven Zeta from a small automotive controls enterprise into two thriving businesses; Zeta Specialist Lighting and Zeta Automotive. Philip’s dedication to the businesses and their staff is shown through the employees drive to do their best and accomplish company aspirations and goals alongside him: “Phil’s door is always open. He encourages new ideas and is instrumental in integrating fresh thinking into the business.” – Alex Collett, Zeta Specialist Lighting’s General Manager.

Phil's-Inauguration-April-2016Phil works closely with the R&D and Technical teams to develop and bring to market advanced products to meet the needs of Zeta’s customer base and the wider LED and Solar markets. He personally completes patent applications to protect the company’s many innovative new products. In 2015 alone two new patent applications were registered, for two pioneering technologies, meaning that Zeta now holds over 20 design registrations.

Working as a key member of several local enterprises, Phil is bringing Zeta’s energy saving products and values to the Cherwell Valley, whilst also guiding Zeta Specialist Lighting to achieve huge amounts within the lighting industry including many awards and large contract wins, as well as rapidly growing the business year on year.

On Wednesday 13th April Phil, along with members of his family, attended his inauguration at Windsor Castle. HRH Queen Elizabeth II presented him, along with other recipients of MBEs, OBEs, CBEs and Knighthoods, with the humbling accolade.

Philip accepted the commendation with humility as ever: “I’m thrilled and honoured to be recognised in such a way. I’m very proud of Zeta’s successes and achievements over the years. All of which wouldn’t have been possible without the backing of a great team.”

The whole team is extremely proud of Phil and his achievements and are looking forward to further new developments and successes in the future under his stewardship.

Congratulations Phil!

Alison Preston


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RB185 Automatic rigid box maker
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Home | Works | About | Alpha? Beta? | Trololo | Contact

Mistakes Were Made - Work in Progress -

(Alpha v1.0.1)

Where Legends Gather

Critiques of the Free Speech Debate at UoT

Moderator: Moran
Free Speech Advocates: Peterson
Anti-Free Speech Advocates: Bryson, Cossman

[Insert intro here. I don't care. I always wrote the essay before the thesis, you know. I looked at the evidence first. :^)]

Toward the end of Peterson's opening statement, [clip] he said "I just sat in my office at home and threw up a couple of amateurish videos more or less attempting to articulate my feelings about a couple of policies."

At no point in his videos did Peterson claim to be presenting any information as an expert in the field, nor as a scholarly paper. Yet, University of Toronto student groups falsely claimed it absurd that he "[suggested] that these comments add value to classroom discussion." [clip]

This brings us to Bryson's opening quote, words suitable for the spirit of democracy, open dialogue, and debate: "I do not want to be here. I do not want to dignify this man and his ideas in public debate." [clip] She continued and said "If you only hear this, know that I am unwavering in my belief that the fundamental rights and the humanity of trans and non-binary people are not up for debate." But, love, that's not what this debate was about; it was about potentially abusable and restrictive policies regarding pronouns. Are you sure you were in the correct debate hall? No one on this panel suggested anything close to taking away the fundamental human rights or the humanity from anyone.

Bryson continued "...Of crucial import to my argument today is that this is a relationship structured not on juridical grounds, this is not about the law, but on ethical grounds." But...this is about Bill C-16. Who let this woman on stage?

"The very real effects of the knowledge claims that we make as scholars require that our claims be subjected to rigorous critical scrutiny," she went on, "...We need to identify and address the claims made in the recent public works of Jordan Peterson; claims about trans people, claims about the validity about gender identity, claims about the proper use of pronouns, and claims about academic freedom rights. And let's be clear, we have a unique difficulty here today in subjecting these claims to scholarly scrutiny. What kind of claims can you have in 'amateurish videos'? Although this man is making these claims as Dr. Jordan Peterson, as a professor, and a clinical psychologist employed at a great Canadian University, the claims are not being made in relation to any publicly accessibly body of peer-reviewed scholarship." And Peterson never claimed his remarks in these videos were a scholarly source, nor as a peer-reviewed work with all the supporting evidence Bryson so desperately sought. This false labeling and misunderstanding of Peterson's videos were a major cause for confusion on Bryson's end.

Peterson made these claims, criticisms, and statements on his own YouTube channel, in his own name, on his own platform. Technically.

Because an employee's words are also employer's words, Peterson technically did make those claims as a scholar and as a professor representing the University of Toronto. Technically.

In spite of this fact, Peterson, as an individual, was making these claims expressing his own personal opinions. Peterson is entitled to have, share, and express his own personal opinions on his own personal time on his own personal platform. Technically.

I may have a neat suggestion for the University of Toronto to add an ':^)' after each sentence in their mission statement and other relevant documents claiming that they champion and stand up for free speech.

Bryson continued by listing Peterson's claims, but again failed to realize that Peterson levied these criticism toward C-16 from his personal perspective, not as a doctor of gender studies with fifty years of mastery in the field. "On the subject of pronouns and gender expression," Bryson went on, "Dr. Peterson is emphatic that, 'I don't recognize another person's right to determine what pronouns I use to address them. I won't do it.'" I believe that most people are misunderstanding what Peterson is saying here.

Peterson is not saying "I will intentionally misgender individuals." He is not transphobic. Peterson is saying "I refuse to give another individual the (legally-backed) right to force me to use a pronoun." In other words, Peterson takes umbrage with compelled expression. He believes he should not be legally forced to use ze/zer/invaderzim pronouns, else he face legal action. He does not want to use these pronouns because he does not believe they are viable pronouns.

Peterson is taking Murphy's Law into account, because the slippery slope can be quite slippery. What Peterson warns regarding C-16 is the vaguely written legislation that could be ripe for abuse. "The SJWs say only the worst of the worst will get punished," Peterson says. "Think again. With them at the helm anything can and does happen." Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. "...by the way, if you're an employer, you're responsible for everything that your employees say and everything that anybody interprets what they said, whether it's unintentional or intentional, whether or not a complaint has been made." [clip]

Of particular concern is Peterson's claim that the tribunal which will decide the outcome of these cases of 'hate speech' are not only 'the social justice warrior-type,' but that their methods reflect the online counterparts who seek to destroy a target's character, reputation, and actively seek to terminate targets from employment. [clip] One need not dig too far into history to see similarities.

When asked by Moran if Cossman had assuaged and of his worries: [clip]

Peterson: "No, it doesn't give me any comfort. And the reason it doesn't give me any comfort is because as far as I'm concerned, what this is actually about has already played out in my case and I already explained that to you. I want to tell you some of the pernicious things about the legislation..."

Moran: "You mean C-16?"

Peterson: "Actually I mean the policy guidelines that it will be interpreted within because the legislation itself is only a couple of paragraphs and looks innocuous. But I would say a legal doctrine is something like a virus and it has a life."

Moran: "That's not what we think."

Rather than allowing Peterson to complete his thought, Moran jumped on the word 'virus' assuming Peterson meant that a legal doctrine was an awful disease. Peterson, sticking to the issue, went on to say "If you let it go into a living system it propagates and it has effects. And the effects are a consequence of the philosophy that's embedded inside the law. And if you really want to know about this you should read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 'Gulag Archipelago' because what he does in that book is tell you how the hypothetical humane doctrines that were embedded in radical Marxism at the end of the 1800s unfolded into Soviet society and demolished it, along with many other societies..."

Once again, Peterson remains on course pointing to the underlying, structural flaws which could be abused should C-16 pass and the worst possible scenarios play out.

Afterward, Cossman takes issue with Peterson's take on the possible legal repercussions of C-16, to which Cossman claims that she has simply seen and explained the law as it is today. [clip] To ensure the stability of a program, or the stability of online servers, or the foundations of a building, it must be put under stress. A stress test can reveal not only possible limitations, but also provide insight into possible improvements. The current climate and debate regarding this particular issue is a stress test of C-16. But one stress test is insufficient. That Peterson's refusal to say ze/zer/attackhelicopter/invaderzim could result in legal action is insight that needs a patch. A lot of patching, better foundations, more rebar, and superior scaffolding to create a better draft. Cossman, a thirty-year expert in law, knows the law of today, but she made no claims or suggestions during this debate of what the law could look like in five, ten, twenty years down the line. Think here of the slippery slope and Murphy's Law. We must assume the worst possible scenario, the most extreme examples, and prevent terrible legislation by stress testing.

Cossman ends by ensuring the audience that one would not go to jail for refusal to pay damages. However, if Peterson's claims are true that the tribunal is comprised of the social justice warrior-types, then Cossman would certainly be unaware of the potentially severe judgment that Peterson could be subjected to due to his statements, positions, and the current controversy.

Bryson continues her Trumpian pandering to University of Toronto students and administration by calling the University 'great' for the twentieth time, while simultaneously suggesting Peterson has not read any recent books or essays: "It's really good to keep reading if you're going to be employed at a great Canadian university. Point two: pronouns. Let's put pronouns in some kind of context, and I think it's really helpful in going back to what Justice Minister Wilson-Raybould said yesterday following the passing of C-16: 'It's our collective responsibility to recognize and reduce the vulnerability of transgender-diverse persons to discrimination, hate crimes, and hate propaganda.' And a lot of what we've been hearing here is hate propaganda."

Bryson's continued insistence that Peterson not only submit work for peer-review, but that he read peer-reviewed studies suggests that Bryson has not read any peer-reviewed studies that challenge the positions she herself holds. Her demeanor toward Peterson can be summed up as: disrespectful. But this is perfectly fine because she is on the right side of history. Peterson ought to be grateful that Bryson has "dignified him and his ideas in public debate." Her claim that Peterson has said a lot of hate propaganda. further demonstrated her ad hominem style during the debate, as well as her misunderstanding of both the debate over legislation and his arguments.

[clip]"One thing I would like to point out before I answer that," Peterson said, "just so you all notice, is that I have in fact been denounced today. And what I am saying has in fact been described as 'hate propaganda.' So one thing I'd like to suggest to you, every single person in the audience: you're next. So keep it in mind." Wondering about why bother using pronouns, Peterson reasoned "I don't know why the hell I use the pronouns I use. I use them because they're part of the language. I use 'he' and 'she' because that's what everyone uses. So then I had to think about 'Well, why do we in fact use pronouns?' and we use them in part for the same reason that we use other categories and that's to simplify the world for functional purposes, roughly speaking..."/

Bryson claims that "I would say that I recognize practices of peer review, and practices of peer review are not denouncement. Practices of peer review are practices that we utilize to make assessments about knowledge claims," believing, incorrectly, that she has not denounced Peterson, when she clearly did. "...a lot of what we've been hearing here is hate propaganda."

One must wonder if Bryson intentionally omitted context from her previous statement, perhaps attempting to take advantage of peoples' poor memory. If so, perhaps she intentionally misled the audience into believing that Peterson's videos were an attempt at a peer-reviewed YouTube video. Bryson is either incompetent or malicious, because she states "...I think we've managed to reproduce this difficulty here today characterized just now by Dr. Peterson as 'simplifying the world for functional purposes.' Simplifying the world for functional purposes is not what I recognize to be academic practice. This is not how we relate to knowledge."

Peterson never claimed that his positions were a result of 'simplifying the world.' What Peterson actually said was in regards to language and the use of pronouns: "we use them in part for the same reason that we use other categories and that's to simplify the world for functional purposes, roughly speaking..." Not the first time Bryson mischaracterized Peterson's perspective.

Cossman incorrectly believed that Bryson's 'hate propaganda' comment was criticism of Peterson's claims, instead of denouncement: "I've spent a career being concerned about the way in which thoughtful discussion is often shut down...And I think that professor Peterson has actually performed some of this today in so far as he just said that he was denounced here today and that they're going to come for you next. So the thing is, about speech, is that everybody gets it. And you say something and you then get criticized. So professor Peterson hasn't been denounced, some might want to, but he has been severely criticized and that is actually what speech does." She ends with the open minded idea, unable to hide her condescending tone: "I think that there is an important way to have public discussions around a whole range of issues. I would welcome a discussion on the role of hate speech provisions. I would welcome a discussion around the role of hate speech and its desirability about whether the Supreme Court of Canada is right not right in upholding its constitutionality. But I would like to have that debate with someone who is knowledgeable about the law." Because only lawyers should be able to debate, criticize, and discuss legal issues.

Toward the end Cossman and Bryson were quick to take the high ground on their high horses, displaying nothing but disdain for Peterson. Further debates are necessary not only for more options of open dialogue, but more importantly, for higher quality opponents. This will definitely be a difficult task, however, due to the poor state and the decline of educational standards over time, thus the lesser scholars available for debate, and lesser schools exist who value free speech, logic, and reason.


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Time theft occurs when employees accept compensation for time they haven’t worked for. This kind of theft comes in many forms, from buddy punching, fudging timesheets, and using work hours for play time and so on. In short, an employee is considered to be stealing time whenever he or she is on the clock or clocked in but not on the job.

Time theft not only comes in many forms, it also comes in many levels of severity that can be hard to detect without a dependable time and attendance system.

Here are 6 shocking facts about time theft that will make you want to implement a modern clocking system immediately:

  1. 19% of employees in the U.S. have admitted to occasionally clock in/clock out for absent employees (buddy punching). This roughly translates to 1 in every 5 employees admitting to time theft. Buddy punching is not only immoral; it also drains the finances of a business.
  2. According to a recent study by CareerBuilder, 28% of the participants admitted to calling in sick even when they were in perfect health. It is estimated that unplanned absenteeism can cost a business more than $3,600 per year per hourly employee, and more than $2,650 per year per salaried employee.
  3. It is also estimated that in the U.S. alone, employers lose more than $400 billion in lost productivity every single year.
  1. Moreover, 74% of employers in the U.S. experience severe payroll losses that are directly related to buddy punching. Such losses average to 2.2% of gross payroll from just one type of time theft-buddy punching (where employee clock in/clock out for each other for one reason or another).
  2. According to study results from the American Payroll Association, the average worker steals 4-5 hours every week.
  3. Last but not least, it is believed that without the help of a modern clocking system, 75% of time thieves will never get caught.

Fortunately, digital and biometric clocking systems are resolving these issues and allowing businesses to manage the time they spend on particular projects effectively and also to accelerate the payroll process. If you are worried about time theft, then its time to invest in software that will help you stop time thieves.


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Saturday, July 25, 2009

New Giveaway!

It's time for another giveaway!

I'm giving away a set of my Grandma's Kitchen notecards

Here's what to do if you would like to enter:

1. Please visit my shop and pick the item you like the best.
2. Come back here and tell me which item you picked.
3. Make sure I have some way of contacting you! (if I don't, I'll have to delete your entry!)

This giveaway will run until midnight (PST) August 9. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winning number on Aug 10 and will contact the winner. The winner will need to supply their shipping address to me by Aug 12.

Extra entries! Extra Entries!

There are a couple of ways to get extra entries in this giveaway:

1. Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter, linking to my blog and then come back here and leave the Twitter link
2. Blog about the giveaway, linking back to my blog. Then come back here and leave a link to your blog (are you sensing a theme?)
3. Post a link on your Facebook or MySpace. I'll have to trust you on this one. Or post a link on your Facebook Fan Page and then come back here and leave a link (heck, I may even Fan you!)
4. This is the big one! Buy something from my shop and let me know that you want your 10 extra entries in the Notes to Seller section. Yes, 10 extra entries! Woohoo, if I do say so myself!

Please, one comment per method of entry

Good luck!!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Huge news!

About 2 weeks ago, I was contacted on Etsy by a local vendor here in San Diego. She is opening a new space at a kind of co-op called The Grove in South Park. She ended up purchasing 5 different items from me and if they sell well, she'll be back for more. She's also checking into selling my cards there. They already have a vendor who sells cards but mine are a completely different style so she's hoping that she'll get the ok. I'm so excited! I've never approached a store about selling my items and to have one approach me, well, I'm just over the moon.

So, if you're in San Diego, visit The Grove at Juniper & 30th!

Some recent treasuries

My crumpled Flower card in this one

You Make My Heart Soar in this one

Just a Little Doodle tags in this one

Chocolate and Peanut Butter buttons in this one

Can I just say how much I love being on the Etsy Twitter Team. It's thanks to my teammates that I was in all of these fabulous treasuries!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Team Challenge!

The SDEC team is having a 4th of July team challenge. My blue quilted card is #5 and I would love any votes you might want to throw my way!

Happy 4th of July!!!!


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People's Republic of Zollner

So the world DOES in fact revolve around Madeline Jane and Karis Anne Zollner!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Rub a Dub Dub

First bath together! What a hoot!

At 8:59 PM, Blogger Megan Crutchfield said...

Classic photo set! I can't believe what a big smile Karis has!

Post a Comment

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The Repercussions of Choices

In the months since the outbreak, Charlie Mills had seen just about every horrific thing you could possibly imagine.  He watched as his wife was torn from his hands.  He saw friends kill their own family members.  He saw others kill themselves because they couldn’t take it anymore.  He became numb to it all.

Charlie found refuge with six dozen others outside Scranton, Pennsylvania.  The first months since the panic were not pleasant for Charlie’s group.  Each week their numbers would shrink while the monster’s grew.

It was mid-February, and there were now only seven left.  Food was scarce.  Heat was non-existent.  The only consolation prize was that as they sat there freezing, Zack was too.

Before the winter, there was talk of a safe zone near Syracuse.  They had even found a small plane and a pilot that was willing to make the trip.  There was hope.  On the morning of the first planned flight, word came down that Syracuse was overrun.  They stayed in Scranton.  They died.

Continue reading ‘The Repercussions of Choices’

Double Eagles

“Jesus Christ. What a fucking dump.”

Slater and Meaker were sitting on top of an overheated M113. It was dripping something yellow from underneath its shell. The men inside had already found another ride. Like them it would sit there until it rusted. The trip from Albany had been quick but loud. The guys up front had plowed an awful lot of cars off the road to allow the army west. Like the steaming Abrams, they both knew this was the end of the line for them.

“This is a Marine Corps base? And Air National Guard? Maybe those guys aren’t such pussies after all…”

“Whereinhell are we again?”

“Oh shut up. Here comes Baines.”

Continue reading ‘Double Eagles’

I. Slater

Slater cursed silently as he watched the snaking rivulets of blood and saline wind over the concrete toward the rusted drain. The words of the medic were drowning in a haze of screams and weeping from the young man who lay bleeding and thrashing on the stretcher. A woman with a rag mask stabbed a thick needle through his corps fatigues and pumped him full of something thick and clear and the youth’s cries faded into a pathetic whimper. Slater shook his head as the medic addressed him again.

“Sorry, Doc…repeat that?” He focused on the medic’s green eyes, and tried to ignore the nurse who began to say a prayer through her mask.

Continue reading ‘Speranza’

Tick Tick Went the Crocodile

The world rippled above the heat of the mid-day tarmac, and even the clouds had fled the sky for cooler climes. It was in these dog-days that even the living began to move like the walking dead — slumped, shuffling, and groaning through their duties. If he had been given the choice, this is exactly how Charles would have preferred to be spending his day. Instead, he was running as fast as his booted feet would take him over the tent-spotted fields outside the airport while trying not to drop his rifle.

He wasn’t the only one—another figure cut a swerving path thirty yards ahead of Chuck. He was moving far more deftly than Charles in shorts and an open Hawaiian shirt, and he only carried a small metal pistol which he used to clear people from his path with manic waves. Chuck didn’t expect the other man to stop running, so he saved his breath and didn’t yell. Instead, he focused on trying to plot which turns he could take to best outmaneuver his fleeing quarry; maps of tents and storage containers flashed through his head as he jumped over crates and discarded machinery. A crackle in his ear made him wince.

“Chuck … where are you?!” The voice whistled through the ear piece and died with a spit of static. Chuck pulled the microphone to his mouth and pressed the button on the side.

“He’s trying to get to the fence … Gonna cut him off … .” His words were clipped with his ragged breaths.

As he ran, Chuck pondered the absurdity of it all—the man had stolen a few bottles of narcotics and antibiotics from the med-center, and now he had to be caught. Chuck couldn’t help but think that this place made oblivion seem awful tempting; he could hardly blame the man.

Continue reading ‘Tick Tick Went the Crocodile’

Father Joseph Tutombu was the only member of Corpse Corps who did not complain about doing disposal duty. The man never, ever stopped smiling.

As a result, Chuck usually avoided him like the plague. There was something suspicious about a smiling priest, especially a foreign-born one. But today was special. Today was the anniversary of the day when. Chuck saw to it that he was paired with the Kenyan expatriate. Someone had to suffer today, and a priest was as good a target as any.

They set the body next to the bonfire. Joseph knelt down next to it and said a few words under his breath before putting a drop of oil on the corpse’s forehead and using his finger to make a cross with it.

He looked at the gray clouds overhead, a certainty in the Central New York sky. “Hey Joe, beautiful day to be doing God’s work, isn’t it?”

Continue reading ‘Peace’

World Weary Still of Observation

The black is oppressive once Brooks cuts the power for the night. No more fans whirring gently in the background or the grind of generators with worn-out carburetors to block out the moans that might be in your head…or might not be. Everyone get so frakking quiet that it makes you sick, and all you can do is huddle in the dark or scurry like rats to the fire pits in the rusty barrel drums that start-up like fireflies back when you could actually spend time outdoors without fear of being eaten.

You can hide in the dark, or talk in the light where things can see you.

I always choose the lights.

Continue reading ‘World Weary Still of Observation’

Do know the only thing that smells worse than undead? Untreated halitosis.Yes. I’m serious.

All those people, crammed into Zyracuse Central like cattle — everyone scrambling to meet their chore quota, getting ready to cash in their ration tokens, or worse just sitting there, rocking back and forth muttering to themselves. A thousand “survivors” in one place, and not a single one of them had seen the business end of a toothbrush in a year. Let me tell you something — using a plant to scrape the crap off your teeth is about as effective as trying to clear a foot of snow from the sidewalk by breathing hard.

I know it sounds like a small price to pay for surviving the plague, the hordes of undead coming through the state, and the chaos of people going loony with the craziness of it all, but I can’t stand bad breath. Zombies want to eat my brains? No sweat — give me my axe and room to swing, and I’ll be fine. Looters want to break into Central and steal our food? Just point the Corps at them and stand back; everything will be just fine.

Force me to have an extended conversation with someone with rancid, rotting-meat breath and I’m no better than one of the weepers who snap. It’s almost as bad as fresh dead-head.

Continue reading ‘Mouthwash’


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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

And Maybe the Worst Thanksgiving Ever

To quote Arashi again:
Sadness and joy, all of it is precious.

We can't know joy unless we've known sorrow, too.  So, inevitably, thinking about the best of something, you also have to remember the worst.

My quirky, amusing, difficult four member family was surprisingly insular.  We just didn't socialize much.  And we preferred holidays generally to be just the four of us, and there was sometimes a good deal of resentment when we had guests.  After my grandmother died, it was the three of us.  After my stepfather died, it was the two of us.  After my mother died, there was no one but me.  Sadly, because we hadn't been social and because people, understandably,  didn't understand about how my odd health problems make some things very difficult for me that others take for granted for themselves, no one really noticed how very isolated I was.

On the first Thanksgiving alone, I was invited by some friends for a meal but they were dealing with a terminal illness in their family so it wouldn't have been a comfortable visit in any case.  But it was after I left their home that things got really bad.

I was pet-sitting for someone who was often out of town for weeks or even months at a time, so I went to her home to take care of her cats and walk her dog three times a day, every day.  It just so happened that she was gone for the holiday weekend, so after I left my friends' house I went to walk the dog.

4 PM Thanksgiving day.
A quiet street in a nice family neighborhood.
Cars lined up in front of every house.
It was a fairly warm day, so everyone had their doors and windows open.

I could smell the wonderful aroma of everyone's meal as the dog and I walked past.
I could hear the laughter and people talking.
Every house was bright and full and festive and busy.

No one knew that I was out in the street.
And no one cared.
There was no one left to welcome me home.
It's not home if there's no one there.

It wasn't the holiday traditions that I missed because I never had that anyway.  It was mattering to someone, and I didn't matter to anyone anymore.  That was hard.

So in recent years, I've become a Thanksgiving Stray.  Kind people invite me to join in with their family and friends.  I am grateful, and I'm learning a lot about the traditions others have for the day, although I don't really have any of my own to share.  Even though I'm trying to learn how to fit in with the rest of the world, somehow I still often feel that I'm on the wrong side of the screen door of life, peering in at those on the inside.

Sadness and joy, all of it is precious.

God is good.  And I plan to be happy on Thanksgiving just because I can (after all, my family taught me to how to roll with the punches and enjoy the ride) and because, truly, I am grateful for my life and for all those kind people in it.

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