So long Pinky Pie but not & Me

One chapter ends; another begins

Is this the swan song for Pinky Pie? I hope so and it all came about because of a broken pink mug.

My daughter called me to tell me a story about the mug, which she bought in La Crosse  the day they brought me home from the hospital. She drank coffee from it every day at work. When she moved from one  school district to another last year, she said it was the most important thing to take with her.

This pink breast cancer mug was almost like a talisman against evil–which in this case would be cancer coming back. If she stopped drinking from it, would  my cancer come back?

This morning she told me that she was  profoundly sad to see it absolutely unfixable after she dropped it.

She searched unsuccessfully for an exact replacement but could not find one. It was then when our rabbi in La Crosse happened to call her. Saul Prombaum is a friend beyond his rabbi-a-hood.

Maggie described how sad she was about what happened. He told her it was a good thing. A mother  breaks a plate in an Orthodox  Jewish wedding to symbolize the end of one chapter in life and the start of a new one.

Her breaking that mug, he told her, means the chapter on cancer is over.

Deal. Sign me up.

I called her back a few minutes later posing the question if this is a great way to end the Pinky Pie blog. She agreed it is.

Maggie bought this mug the day she was returning to Kansas City after my surgery.
So long, mug, I hardly knew ya.

So the fat lady is singing (and not just mouthing the words).

I don’t mean the person known as Pinky Pie. Instead, I’m referring  to this blog that I began after my breast cancer diagnosis in 2009. I named it Pinky Pie because that is what my mommy called me when I was little when she dressed me in tons of pink.

I became very sick of pink, but once  I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I figured I had become BIG Pinky Pie. Pink came back and then went away again when I was overwhelmed with pink-atude.

The blog gave me something positive to do with my energies during the dog days of recovering from mastectomies, waiting for chemotherapy to start, chemotherapy, radiation and the aftermath of the treatment.

I shared stories, emotions and tried to be entertaining, a.k.a. the funniest cancer patient you will meet, although I also have written about poignant experiences, the scary and sad stuff as well. It helped me think and absorb what was happening to me.

Through it, I formed a philosophy about life after cancer: you can’t let a disease define you. I don’t know if my cancer will return, but I sure don’t want to spend whatever time I have left in fear, rolled up in the fetal position. That would squander my life.

In the last year or so, this blog has been where I wrote my political stuff. To put it simply, politics in our state have become another cancer that I don’t care to repeat.

Pinkie Pie, good-by. Please don’t make me bring you back.

I‘m not done blogging, however. Want to learn about what I think about this and that? Go to my Lessons From Life blog at susanhessel.wordpress.com. I have been waxing poetic about my personal history work, including my and my family’s personal history there for a while. It is all about the importance of storytelling.

So here’s to good health for you and me. Thank you for your support for Pinky Pie, both the character and the blog.

And let me just say that if cancer reared its ugly side again,  it won’t be because Maggie broke her pink mug. I don’t believe in magical thinking like that.

But, Maggie, I prefer you don’t step on any cracks. I don’t want to take any risks.

y.

We interrupt this madness with some goodness & Me

Glynn Washington from Snap Fitness http://www.snapjudgment.org.

The funeral director stood at the door, telling the 25-year partner of the woman to be buried that she was not allowed into the visitation. It was on orders from the mother, who also had banned this loved one from seeing her partner at the hospital during her daughter’s dying days.

The mortician was very sorry. This woman, whom he described as married in every sense except legally, began to walk away. He called her back.

It’s a funny thing, he said, but sometimes after the family is gone after the visitation ends at 9 p.m., he is so busy in his office that he forgets to lock the door or turn off the lights in the viewing room. He might not get back to that room for another 30 minutes or so.

Indeed, about ten minutes after 9, he funeral director heard a voice saying good-bye to the woman in the casket. No one was there 30 minutes later when he went to turn off the lights.

That experience reminded him why he went into the mortuary business. Sometimes, he said, love means saying good-bye.

That story, which I heard on the NPR program, “Snap Judgment,” is a profound example of why we need marriage equality in this country. This woman was being discriminated against in her love for her partner because she happened to be of the same sex.

You can listen to it here: http://snapjudgment.org/search/node/next%20of%20kin

What struck me most about this story was the goodness of this man who dared to be so busy in his office. I needed that reminder of human decency, which is in greater existence than we know these days. All we have to do is listen for it.

Snap Judgment, brought to us by a team led by Glynn Washington, is amazing storytelling. Listening to the podcasts on my iPhone reminded me once again about the power of stories.

Another Snap Judgment story that still gives me chills when I think about it is of a New York rabbi who moved to Nebraska to lead a congregation. He quickly found himself the subject of hate phone calls from the local leader of the KKK. The caller was a man who spent his life hating and was well-known to police as a white supremacist. “You will be sorry you ever moved into that house, Jewboy,” the man said.

They then received a package with 50 to 60 items of racist literature. The most chilling of all was a business card for the Ku Klux Klan, which said on the back “The Ku Klux Klan is watching you, scum.”

Instead of returning the hate, the rabbi offered friendship to the caller. He called the man regularly and left messages on his answering machine, which carried an anti-Asian diatribe as its message. The rabbi began leaving love messages.  Finally, one day that caller  answered the phone, demanding to know why he was calling. The rabbi offered the man, who was a double amputee, a ride to the grocery store.

The rabbi continued the calls with no answer. One Saturday evening the phone rang and that man of hate said, “I want to get out of it and don’t know how to do it.”  The rabbi asked if he wanted to talk. And he did.

The rabbi and his wife went to the man’s house. When he opened the door, the  man had a variety of weapons with him as he sat in his wheelchair. He invited the couple in and,  to make a long, powerful story short, they became friends. The man moved into their home, where they cared for him. You must listen to the story to fully appreciate it. You can it at  http://snapjudgment.org/rabbi-and-kkk.

It also will remind you about how good people can be.

Two other stories reminded me of that goodness, also on a Snap Judgement’s episode with the theme, “Absolution.” One involved a man who was angry because a kid who had stolen his favorite, red sweatshirt off their clothes line. When he saw that kid in the neighborhood wearing it later, he demanded it back. “That’s my sweatshirt,” he said.

When he saw the kid in the shirt later on, the man was angry at first until he realized it was only a $25 sweatshirt. Maybe, that kid needed it to protect himself from the cold. That realization freed him from that anger.

Still another story involved a woman who with her sister had been one of the Mengele twins – who had been experimented on by Dr. Joseph Mengele in Auschwitz. He chose twins to have one as the guinea pig and the other as the control. Over the time the woman or her sister was injected with diseases and chemicals and drugs. The doctors then watched and compared the results.

Both girls survived, but later in life one was quite ill. Eva was so determined to learn what had been injected in them to find a way to save her sister. Eva even went to Auschwitz to search for records but did not find any. She then went Germany to meet with a doctor who had been part of the experiments.

“I was scared out of my wits,” she said. “What I remembered about the Nazi doctor I did not want to repeat.”

When she met him, she realized he had a decency in him.  He told her he wanted to make her comfortable. He also said that Auschwitz remained in his nightmares. That made him human to Eva.

The doctor could not remember the specific things done to Eva and her sister, but he was willing to sign a document about what he did witness. Later, the doctor’s family and hers went together to the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. There she read a statement personally forgiving him.

Other surviving twins were angry with Eva for doing that. But as she said in the story, it was time to heal their souls, to forgive but never forget. “When I discovered I had the power to forgive, it seemed simple but extremely empowering for me.”

She went on to forgive all of the Nazis, “not because the perpetrators deserve my forgiveness,” she said. Instead it was “self-healing, self-liberating, and self-empowerment” and said, “I deserve” it.

Listen to this story here:

http://snapjudgment.org/search/node/mengele%20twin

With all of the madness in the world today, it helps to open yourself to the good.

Real thuggery & Me

My son forwarded a text message he received today in Atlanta. The subject line was: Union Puppet. And the message was “Tom Barrett is a Union Puppet who will give Union Thugs everything they want. Call & ask why 414 ________.”

An hour or so later I received the text message myself.

Here was my response: “No one in my family has ever been in a union, but I know thugs when I see them and they are Scott Walker and his supporters.”

As it turns out, the text message came from a SuperPac-funded organization, one of those amorphous groups that are secretive and clandestine. We have no idea who they are or who funds the group. The text said it was from wi@obamaisaliar.com. It doesn’t exist.

Its goal was to have people so upset that they call that number, which apparently is the Milwaukee headquarters for Tom Barrett. The senders wanted to tie up his office phone, another dirty trick.

These frauds – sender of the text message – don’t even have the courage to give their real names. Gutless and anonymous.

My return message bounced back because the senders’ name didn’t exist. These folks are shameless.

The big question of course is who are the so-called union thugs? Are they the folks who teach your children to read? The person who brings you your mail? The person who makes sure that clean water reaches your home? Or maybe the person who ensures the pipes are open so the sewage can leave your house and get to the treatment plant? Or perhaps the thug is the person who comes to your house to put out a fire or responds when your house was broken into but a real thug.

That idea that Tom Barrett is a union puppet is ironic considering the unions all endorsed his primary opponent, Kathleen Falk. Falk and the unions have since endorsed Barrett.

His running mate, Mahlon Mitchell, is the president of state firefighters – one of those guys who runs in when the rest of us run out.

You may recall that when Walker announced the end to collective bargaining for public unions, he exempted police and firefighters. Mitchell recognized that move as a way to divide some public employees from others. He encouraged firefighters to support their colleagues and marched with them in Madison, as did many police officers.

I just came from a fundraiser for Mitchell. He is thoughtful, bright and determined to win this election.  And he definitely is not a thug.

The thugs are the folks I mentioned before – supporters of Scott Walker. But, really, isn’t it unseemly to be name calling in the first place? They should not use the word, thugs, and I shouldn’t be using it either.

Comparing apples and Walker & Me

A home-made yard sign that expresses no support for Scott Walker or the recall. We stand alone, complete, with a cheese wedge. It pimps the “I Stand with Walker” signs and yet shows no support for recall either. I hope the homeowner realizes that they should not stand alone. We need to stand together.

When Scott Walker didn’t like how the job creation statistics for Wisconsin showed our growth to be 50th out of 50 states, he created a whole new system for calculating those numbers. Presto chango: all of a sudden we went from a net loss to 30,000 jobs. Magic.

A couple problems with that reasoning come to mind (or perhaps more; we’ll see how this post turns out).

1. No other state is using the system that Scott Walker created. So he is comparing apples to an orchard. If all states used this system he created, they’d likely have many more jobs and Wisconsin would once again be at the bottom. Of course, then he’d have to come up with a third system.

2. Walker’s numbers are based on supposedly contacting all state businesses to see how many jobs they’ve added. But what about companies that have gone out of business? Are they represented?

3. The numbers come from his folks who are not exactly unbiased.

4. As far as Milwaukee unemployment, Walker killed a factory that would have produced train cars in Milwaukee. It was much needed manufacturing, but it instead is going to Illinois. This plant was providing jobs in addition to the five thousand jobs that went away when Walker killed high speed rail.

5. Walker was Milwaukee County executive at the same time Tom Barrett was mayor, except for the last 15 months or so. Walker can’t attack Barrett on unemployment without taking responsibility himself.

6. Twenty-five million dollars and counting have been donated to Walker – mostly from out of state donors. Imagine the good that could have been done had that money instead gone to feed the hungry or create jobs. Instead the money goes to fill our airways with lies. Calling lies and distortions “facts” doesn’t make them facts.

7. If Walker is re-elected June 5, it would be time for a sequel to the 2004 book, What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, by Thomas Frank, a Kansas native and journalist. Frank wrote about people in that state voting against their own self interest.

The sequel would be, of course, What’s the Matter with Wisconsin? Hopefully, it won’t have to be written.

Yup, we are all sick of the recall. But this one really matters folks.

Every time I hear Tom Barrett, I am more impressed with his integrity, his thoughtfulness and wisdom. He will do much for our state.

Money might buy you love & Me

Oh, I miss the innocence of the Beatles, when you really could believe “Money can’t buy you love.”

Im referring to the song that 1966 Paul McCartney song that includes:

I’ll give you all I’ve got to give
If you say you love me too
I may not have a lot to give
but what I’ve got I’ll give to you
For I don’t care too much for money
For money can’t buy me love

Can’t buy me love
Everybody tells me so
Can’t buy me love
No, no, no, no

Money can’t buy you love unless perhaps your name is Scott Walker, who travels the country seeking the affirmation that many in his state refuse to give.

Follow the money. Of course you can’t do that easily today as more of the love-buying is through super pacs that do not have to reveal their donors. We will never know or at least understand as donors can remain anonymous.

But Walker’s first quarter campaign finance report shows $13 million in donations for the not so poorembattled governor. With 70 percent coming from out of state, you wonder from whom he gets his marching orders.Tom Barrett, his Democratic opponent raised less than a million, with nearly all coming from — gasp– inside Wisconsin.

Speaking in La Crosse, he said there is no way he can win the money war. For every ad he can run, Walker will run 20 or 25.

So when folks vote, the key question is who is buying your governor? Or buying your vote?

What will they get for their money?

Concern for all of us or just a few?

Photo of Tom Barrett speaking in La Crosse.

Mother’s Day, values & Me

I’m shown here with my mom, Lee Hessel, at my 10th grade confirmation at United Hebrew Temple in St. Louis. How pure could I get in a white robe holding roses?

This blog post has been rolling around in my head for months. At the risk of politicizing Mother’s Day, I’d like to talk about what’s more important than flowers and chocolate (ok, maybe not chocolate) on Mother’s Day.

It is living Mom’s values.

Here are some of the values that my mom, Lee Hessel, taught me, and I hope I passed on to my kids:

• Fairness – equal opportunity for all and sharing responsibilities.
• Kindness – being nice is simply the right thing to be and do.
• Caring for neighbors – remembering the least among us and realizing we all struggle at times and need help.
• Putting needs of others first – don’t be selfish.
• Respect for other viewpoints – listen and seriously consider other opinions.
• Inclusion –  everyone gets to play.
• Cooperation and collaboration – we can solve our problems by working together.
• Compromise – so we all get some of what we want/need.
• Sharing – what harm does it do to share with others?
• Human decency – you do things just because they are the right to do.
• Compassion – We need to understand that some things come easier  to some and harder to others. Hard work may apply in some but not all successes.
• Humor – have and use lots of it.

Didn’t all our mothers teach their kids those values? Sadly, apparently not.

I would hope our mothers would be disappointed in the state of Wisconsin and our country in 2012. We’ve certainly forgotten human decency, compassion and caring for each other.

These thoughts have been rattling around inside me since Scott Walker became our governor. It seems to me he has violated all the values Mom taught me. Even after the labor unions agreed to concessions over benefits and retirement, he pressed on with his agenda that included ending collective bargaining, putting business before people, the environment, etc.

I’ve never been in a union nor has anyone in my family, but his callous disregard for educators and other public servants was highly offensive.  For one thing, public servants work for us and do not get rich in the process. Have we forgotten how much we admired firefighters after 911? Or the teachers who taught us to read?

Walker continued running roughshod over anyone who did not march right along with him and the Republican party.

Worse yet, he has ignored the value of fairness, regularly taking from the poor to give to the wealthy. And no, I’m not against people being wealthy. I’m opposed to special privileges for anyone. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Standing up to a bully

One story Mom told me about her early school years in Venice, Illinois, in the 1920s was about a girl who targeted one classmate a day to beat up after school.  What made it worse was that she told her selected victim early in the day so she would worry all through school.

One day it was Mom’s turn and she was absolutely scared to death, dreading the end of school. She tried to avoid the bully, but finally the bully was in her face. My mom had no idea where her strength came from that day, but when the girl started hitting her she slugged back – once. That’s all that was needed.

No one before Mom had stood up to the bully, who ran away crying. Even better, that tough girl stopped beating up others.

And yes I’m politicizing Mom, but I know she would have recognized Scott Walker for the bully he is.

As for his opponent in the recall election, Tom Barrett, I know Mom would be honored to vote for him.  He is a true mensch – a person of great decency.

Not many people – thankfully – have the opportunity to demonstrate that they will do the right thing when it is needed.  At the Wisconsin State Fair in 2009, Barrett and his family saw a woman holding a baby screamed for someone to call 911. Barrett, Milwaukee mayor, and his daughter took out their phones to call 911, believing the baby needed help.

Quickly, Barrett said, “We realized the problem was not with the baby but with the man who was agitated. Events took off from there,” he said at a news conference a few days later.

Barrett took blows to his face and head and his hand was terribly fractured, leading to multiple surgeries well into 2010. It still is not at 100 percent.

On the day of his news conference, a few days after the incident, Barrett said, “Over all, I want to stress is how I have lived in this community my whole life. I can’t think of a situation like this where people would not respond as I did.”

He said then that he was “on the mend” and he “wanted to let you know I am still standing.”

This is Barrett’s human decency – deflecting credit to others, caring about our neighbors and standing up for each other.

I really was in a quandary as to who to vote for in the recall primary, but had the opportunity to task Tom Barrett personally why I should vote for him. I liked his answers.

Meanwhile, no one has stretched the truth and all out lied more than Walker, according to investigations and rankings by the non-partisan Politofact Wisconsin.

According to Politofact, Walker has had 31 statements investigated that have been from “mostly false to Pants on Fire.” He has had 17 that have been” true to half true” – nearly twice as many false than true. http://www.politifact.com/personalities/scott-walker/

Barrett, who has had fewer statements tested, had eight that were from “true to half true”, and four that were from “mostly false to Pants on Fire.” He had twice as many that were true than false. http://www.politifact.com/personalities/tom-barrett/ That was the opposite of Walker’s record.

And here is a link to a YouTube video that shows Walker’s tactic when he took office: “divide and conquer:”

This video is important because his largest donor asked him when Wisconsin was going to become a “right to work state,” which would cripple private sector unions like he has worked to cripple public sector unions. Now the Republicans – several of whom have previously introduced Right to Work legislation as Walker did in the Legislature his first term there – claim that notion is not in their plans.

What actually can we trust from the Republicans after what they and Walker already did to our state?

When Barrett is governor, he will do what is right for all, not for just his supporters.

That is the human decency so lacking with our current governor. When it comes to values, Scott Walker is the one taking us way, way, backwards.

This Mother’s Day, I urge you to respect the values that your mother taught you. Do something for which she would be proud.

 

Two views of discrimination, courage & Me

The juxtaposition of the two stories in today’s La Crosse Tribune said a lot:

1. Boy Scout official resigned in support of ousted den mother. The story was that the mother was rejected as den mother because she is lesbian. The local board member of an Ohio regional Boy Scouts was thrown out of the leadership. “Ms. Tyrrell’s removal goes against my fundamental beliefs of how we should treat our fellow human beings and is, in my opinion, wholly discriminatory,” said David Sims.

2. Romney’s Gay National Security Spokesman Resigns. His critics questioned Richard Grenell’s conservatism because his gay. “My ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes come from a presidential campaign,” he said in a release.

What was this? The daily roundup of meanness and discrimination?

Real courage is what Sims did to resign because of the discrimination.

No courage award goes to Mitt Romney, who remained silent at this writing. He was gutless once again (and again and again). He didn’t have the guts to make a stand in support of his own advisor because he wants to win ever so badly.

I say be against Richard Grenell because of his views, not because of his sexuality. And don’t be against Romney because of his faith. Be against him because he is unable to stay consistent on any position longer than it takes to find someone who could vote for him if he took the opposite approach.Yes, even if Mitt did support his advisor today, we know he’d change his comments within minutes if it proved expedient.

Discrimination is not a family value.

Carrying your books to school and debt from college & Me

What will be the weight of this girl's debt when she gets to college if we don't do something now?

We all have the image of carrying our books to school. In the old days, I think kids had straps that held their books together as my parents walked  five miles each way to school up hill in snowstorms.

My generation had loose-leaf notebooks. Today we talk about backpacks for kids that many get back problems.

An even greater weight students carry is debt they carry away from college.  I’m sure it feels like they are carrying that load up hill for more than five miles in the snow. Ahead of them, there only seems to be more snow-covered hills ahead.

I was fortunate enough to finish college without any debt, although I did have a part-time job all the way through. I’m still waiting for the made-for-tv movie about my shattering the glass ceiling above the dish machine in the Case Hall dormitory at Michigan State University. I was the first female dish machine loader – and loved it.

My daughter is paying off her loans at a very low-interest rates, but seven years later, my son’s interest rate is at least double and since he is in grad school debt is accumulating.

I worry about my son’s debt and about the debt of other people’s kids. And I worry about the very soul, future and yes, the  intellect of  our country.

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum stirred up his constituents by saying President Obama was a “snob” for saying everyone should go to college. (What Obama was saying was that everyone should have some education or training beyond high school in order to be prepared for changes in the economy and employment opportunity. And we all need to be prepared to learn new skills lifelong.)

Mitt Romney, the last Republican candidate standing, suggested Obama was wrong on so many issues because he spent “too much time at Harvard, perhaps.” What makes that Romney gem so special and typical of him is that Mitt himself spent more time at Harvard – four years getting a combined MBA/law degree  – than Obama was in law school at Harvard for three years. Mitt’s daddy undoubtedly paid for his education.

And then there is Florida Governor Rick Scott who pandered to his group of supporters by saying he didn’t want the state to pay for the education of someone majoring in anthropology. What would be an acceptable major, Governor? Small mindedness?

When did we stop giving the proverbial rat’s ass about our neighbors, members of our community, state, country or even world? When did we stop believing the next generation should have it better than us? When did we conveniently forget that unless we are Native Americans, we are all children of immigrants?  Or believe it is OK to punish children for the mistakes their parents made? When did we decide others should not have  happiness because we struggle?

Most important of all, when did we forget that education is the step up or even pump up in life? You have higher income for life if you have a college degree – even if it is in anthropology. And isn’t  equal opportunity one of our country’s foundations?

Between the time that Maggie and Michael graduated from the University of Minnesota, tuition, fees and living expenses had pretty much doubled. And for Michael, the student loan interest rate doubled. And there is talk now for the interest rate to double again from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for some loans.

President Obama wants the rate kept at 3.4 percent, but Republicans cynically agreed to that with the provision Friday – but only if the money comes from women’s health. It was cynical because they knew Democrats would oppose it. So it’s a war on students versus a war on women? Really?

The average debt for a student graduating from a public college in 2003 was $13,500. And in 2010, the year Michael graduated, it was $22,500 – but he did not have that much.

Part of the problem is that tuition and fees have risen something like six-fold in the last two decades, while family income has risen only two-fold. That means there is a far greater gap in costs than our ability to pay for college. State schools are getting less and less state government support.

As a society we should help our young people get good educations because it will improve our communities to have smart and educated folks who can tackle tough problems. And when they have good jobs and are not saddled with unrealistic debt, they can afford to buy the products and services of those of us who have finished school. They also will pay taxes so students after them can afford to go to college.

It may be simplistic to say that education is an investment, but it is.  I am a values voter – one who values education, healthcare and strengthening our society.

Green Eggs, Humus, Live Strong, Rabbi Hillel & Me

Thanks for the inspiration, Sam-I-Am(s), not to mention the Live Strong instructors and Dr. Seuss

I had a Sam-I-Am moment Thursday at the graduation for the Live Strong program at the Y.

We had a potluck of healthy foods and someone brought humus, that healthy Middle Eastern spread. I’ve often said “I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like humus”  (green or otherwise) when offered the dish by the equivalent of Sam-I-Am.  I have made no official statement regarding Green Eggs and Ham, but will keep you posted on that.

The Live Strong program, developed by Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong Foundation, encourages people who have had cancer to believe in themselves enough to be more physically active.  We also are encouraged to be healthy in other ways, including what we eat.

So I decided to try the plain humus. And I discovered I liked it. A lot. I took some more and realized I could eat  humus!

I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am! And I would eat them in a boat! And I would eat them with a goat… And I will eat them in the rain. And in the dark. And on a train. And in a car. And in a tree. They are so good so good you see!”

And then, I looked at the container of the other flavor – it said spinach and artichoke. I have a long sad history with spinach – as in throwing up at the table in kindergarten every time the mushy stuff was put in front of me and I was forced to take a “kindergarten bite.” My mom had told my school that I should not be forced to eat stuff I hated. She thought that was the way to create a fussy eater.

I have since graduated from kindergarten, but the smell of cooked spinach still turns my stomach. Occasionally, I  eat a dish that has just a speck of cooked spinach in it. I feel very noble and grown up when I do.

I was on such a high after enjoying the plain humus that I put some of the spinach and artichoke on a whole wheat cracker even though I could see the green stuff in it. And?

So I will eat them in a box. And I will eat them with a fox. And I will eat them in a house. And I will eat them with a mouse. And I will eat them here and there. Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!

I would not have done that without the 12-week Live Strong program, which opened me up to try new things, including using weights and machines, plus alternative forms of aerobic exercises. We did an abbreviated spinning class and yoga. We were encouraged to try water aerobics, although I never quite got around to buying a suit and showing my body. (No guts or maybe too many guts.)

The Live Strong instructors  took us wherever we were in our fitness without judgment. I have walked on nearly a daily basis for probably 20 years or more. But I’ve never worked on my upper body. And since breast cancer surgery, I’ve been worried about my arms and the risk of developing lymphedema (pain and swelling)  because  lymph nodes were removed.

All of us in our class have been out of treatment for at least a year or so, but Live Strong has included members still in active treatment.

After an initial assessment, we were encouraged to push ourselves – not in a drill sergeant kind of way but in an affirming way.  If we chose not to do something, that was fine as well. New exercises were suggested but we were not criticizing if we did not do them.

A couple of weeks ago we heard a dietitian who talked about moving towards a more plant-based diet as a way to be healthier and possibly prevent recurrences. It is called the Flexitarian Diet because it is a mix of plant and meat, although much more plant foods are encouraged.

It is because of that talk that I’ve tried alternative sources of protein, including quinoa (still waiting to play that word in Scrabble) and brown rice and beans. I wouldn’t be doing so if I hadn’t been opened up to new things through the fitness element of the class.

We had a final fitness assessment on Tuesday and I improved in all areas except balance. Standing on one foot is hard for me, particularly if being timed. But it did make me think of the old  Biblical story of Rabbi Hillel – it is amazing what pops into my head.

As the story goes, a non-believer demanded Hillel teach the entire Torah (the first five books of Moses in the Bible) while standing on one foot. He response: “‘What is hateful to you, do not do unto others.'”

The rabbi’s words were the foundation for the Golden Rule:  “Do onto others as you would like others to do onto you.”  They certainly apply in our everyday dealings with people and of course in the foods we eat.

I will not force anyone to eat something that is hateful to them. But in full disclosure, we had constant negotiations with young Michael about how many bites he had to take of foods we knew he liked. He grew up to eat an incredibly wide variety of foods and is a great cook, although I don’t know if he does so on one leg or two.

Citizens United, you gotta use that remote & Me

The mute button - the secret weapon to combat Citizens United.

I am forming a new organization – Muters United.

It is in response to Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ensured Super PACs would have no shame and no boundaries in 2012.

We need a defense against the political ads that will inundate our airways from now until the cows come home in Wisconsin, which is after the recall election in June. (It’s the dairy state.)

The cows won’t be home for the rest of the country until after the November presidential election. It is a long time to hear the negative ads that will never stop unless we do something about them.

What is that defense? It is the mute button on our remote controls.

As soon as any political ad comes on, push mute.  I don’t care if the ad is for your candidate or the opposition. Push mute. Let everyone you know that you are pushing mute, that you won’t listen to what passes as political discourse today.

Those who create the ads may have freedom of speech, but we have the freedom not to listen to that garbage.

Exercise your freedom to mute. We need it now more than ever.

Pass this on. Get your friends and family to mute. It’s the only chance we have to silence the garbage that does nothing but tear our country apart.