Short Notes: will brady's ruminations

A blog adjunct to rondak.org [click on the globe] | Perspectives on: human rights; environmental concerns; life as a visual artist; 21st century feudalism; progressive politics; aboriginal culture; new urbanism; permaculture; sustainable technology; non-traditional families; achievable utopias

2004-07-30

DIRTY POLITICS
The real scoop on the "Shove it!" remark! | A hack writer from Richard Mellon Scaife's Tribune-Review ran into Ms. Heinz-Kerry, who confronted him on a fabricated quote. She addressed her comments to him and (presumably) indirectly to Scaife | A more accurate recount of events is recorded | You might remember Scaife as the money behind Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, and various other floozies who tried to bring down Bill Clinton beause he was susceptible to the wiles of sluts |

THANKS TO: Skallas at Everything Isn't Under Control | I agree with Skallas on the importance of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine as a fundamental tenet of reporting |

Posted by: Will Brady / 09:32

SMALL GOVERNMENT

Kimber conducted a websearch to see if she could find a site whereupon a Republican defines what they mean by "small government" | You know, lowere budget, less bureaucracy, etc etc | She couldn't find one | This is what she did find |
Among the finds was this definition of Small:

7 a : MEAN, PETTY b : reduced to a humiliating position
- small·ish /'smo-lish/ adjective
- small·ness /'smol-n&s/ noun

And she mused, could that be what Dubya is striving for? | I'll let you be the judge of that |

DEFINITION SOURCE Mirriam Webster's Online Dictionary

Posted by: Will Brady / 09:07

VISUAL ARTS
pix credit © 2004 | mike [at] satanslaundromat.com

Still photography can say much or nothing yet be beautiful | A "photolog" website calling itself Satan's Laundromat provides as much | Crisp, clear, drenched in color images that, while maybe not taking your breath away, give one pause |
     Site blurb reads "...This is a Brooklyn-based photolog with an emphasis on urban decay, strange signage, and general weirdness...."
     Artfully constructed, beautiful pictures of sites and places few one ordinarily consider appealing | Nothing gross, mind you, just unusual |
     Go see it

Posted by: Will Brady / 00:12

2004-07-29

MENTAL ILLNESS || SOCIETY'S ILLS
Fred goes for another walk | John Strain tells the story | My response:

     Many of us in the field know "Fred" or have someone very much like him with whom we work | Sad and troubling | More than once I've heard of some poor soul whose gone off and the police have found a body under a bush or (quite recently) drowned and floating in the river |
     Each time, after hearing the sad news, I think, maybe next time I'll be more inured, better steeled and less likely to react than the last time | It never happens | For better or worse, I know there will be some "next time" that I'll be wondering about anew |
     While I might not completely agree with the closing premise about Fred's condition being "...the result of a brain disease... [that]...the DSM-IV calls schizophrenia" your comments and observations are on the mark.
     Perhaps, just perhaps, my skepticism to this characterization comes as much from society's approach to folks who live perceptual parallel lives | Their thoughts and reality as much in some different realm while simultaneously present with ours | I imagine the experience could well be terrifying, though at other times alive and vivid in a manner the rest of us can hardly conceive of |
     But as to socieity's approach | On the one hand, there's the gross over-reliance on drug companies who claim new "miracle cures" only to later be caught pulling the "cure" from the market becuase of severe, adverse side effects (see, for example, the problems now surfacing with Risperidol) | The next facet is that society ~and many individuals within society~ reject and revile those who have difficulty "adjusting" to a fast-pasted, materialistic, discernable-outcome, goal-oriented ethos |
     The "solution"? Send troubled folks off to inpatient institutions, lock 'em up in prisons (for what are often "crimes" of social embarassment), and get 'em signed up with group homes or community psychosocial programs where they can spend their days drinking lots of coffee and supporting the tobacco industry [Stereotypes, I'll admit, but still valid ones] |
     Making the picture even more complicated, society ~and I'm talking most of the planet here, not just the US of A~ devalues people with mental illnesses, forgets about their plight, and seriously underfunds those who are enjoined with the task of being the care givers | There is only so much one can do without the real interest of society at large as a component of solving difficult -and at times, intangible- problems |
     Solutions are not being sought | While the media broad brushes souls with mental disorders as foam-at-the-mouth psychokillers; the funding avenues (public and private) seem apparently more concerned with the quality of furnishings in executive offices than in paying for clients' basic living needs expenses or emathetic support systems | The cards, so to speak, seem stacked against people with long term psychiatric disabilities |
     But as daunting (and, perhaps, depressing) as this may seem, we cannot lose hope on those souls, like Fred, who walk away from what support systems are in place when they first get the chance |
     "Recovery" -IS- an option, though not if it's narrowly defined | We can endeavor to strive toward having supports for people, and in funding them more equitably |
     There are some real BIG battles to fight, not the least of which is addressing social prejudices against people who are perceived as being "worthless" due to the fact that they may not appear to "contribute" to the bottom line dollar sign of the GNP |
     We can constantly combat the negative stereotyping and social opprobation heaped upon both those who experience mental illness and those who elect to work with them |
     Now, aside from apparent psychotic symptoms, the second most devastating condition experienced with mental illness is LONELINESS! Solving that is not something that throwing money at can correct | So let me propose something else |
     We must enjoin others to "adopt a difficult soul" as a brother/sister/family member or friend to be with and to follow them through their travails and triumphs | A tall order, to be sure, but ultimately one which, I believe, is essential if the "Freds" of our society, are ever to have safe haven in the community |
     Finally, we need, as a society to stop "dealing with" symptomologies and recognize that part of many people's problems lies in a profound and complex spiritual angst | That's right, it ain't just about money or drugs or even ~ the lack of decent housing for the poor (among which many folks with mental disorders find themselves) ~ it is as much about a deep malaise of the soul | And with a social order that values "he who dies with the mosy toys, wins" over the value human lives, it could very well be that many of the folks we typically dismisss as mentally ill, are ill in the same way the canary in the coal mine succumbs to noxious poisons in the air | Frankly, we also need to recognize the larger social ills that keep us from truly assisting those most troubled, and paradoxically, least visible on the psychic social radar screen |
     Regrets this took so long | Then again, no I'm not | Helping people who suffer constantly to acheive a measure of control over their situation, AND to acheive some satisfaction with the overall quality of their lives, individually, that's what I mean when I speak of "Recovery" | That's what we need to have in place for Fred and his fellow travelers to come in from the metaphorical rain |

Thanks, John, for keeping attention on Fred's situation.

Posted by: Will Brady / 09:11

POLITICS || NEW FACES

Barak Obama made a splash at the DNC with his speech | The Washington Post published a bio on him | He has his own weblog and promises to be a notable in politics in the future |
An African-American with support from both the white liberal elite and skeptical working class union members | Providing a message of hope and pramatism, while not straying from noble ideals |
But what about him? | Perhaps this profile from the New Yorker The Candidate by William Finnegan, provides some insights | A man who warrants review |

Posted by: Will Brady / 07:22

WILDLIFE HABITAT
pix credits: © 2004 | bowhunting.net

Find the deer is a visual game that you don't have to be a hunter to enjoy | Bowhunter Robert Hoague has given us 28 different woodlands and filed scenes where the viewer is asked to test their observational skills and find the deer | My own life experiences predispose me to assuming that most western "civilization" folks lack sufficient skills to discern creatures in the wild even when they are right in front of you | Maybe some will chance upon this and prove me wrong | I've picked one easy and one more daunting, but not all that difficult | Up for the challenge? Go here
That said and done, this little cyber exercise is no substitute for getting out there and seeing these creatures in their own habitat | But don't show up in your SUV, park alongside the road and expect 'em to come to you | Real life just doesn't work that way |

NOTE: The site you link to from here shows hunting images that some may find discomforting | If so, then either don't go there or be mature about it and deal with it! | What I'm getting at here is DON'T COMPLAIN if you dislike hunting but you've opted to check out the site |

Posted by: Will Brady / 00:37

2004-07-28

HUNTER SAFETY CLASSES

from Connecticut's DEP website | Conservation Education/Firearms Safety (CE/FS) courses are administered by the Department of Environmental Protection's Wildlife Division and are taught throughout the year by a dedicated corps of certified volunteer instructors |
Enroll early in the year | Don't wait until a month before the hunting seasons begin | Courses fill up quickly and you may have to wait or travel a longer distance to attend a course if none are available in your town | Where courses are taught varies from town to town and includes such locations as sportsmen's clubs, community centers, schools and offices of the Department of Environmental Protection | There are no fees for any of the courses and all materials are provided free of charge by the Conservation Education/Firearms Safety Program |
Hunter Safety, Bowhunting and other safe hunting practice classes are offered at various locations in Connecticut

Posted by: Will Brady / 22:56

AT GILLETTE'S CASTLE || Part Two

The story goes that Gillette was coming up the Connecticut River in his beloved boat, Aunt Polly, and saw the area called Seven Sisters | He soon bought the surrounding area and began building his dream house |
Yakitaka Ozaki was first hired on as a house boat attendant on that boat ...actually a 110 ft luxury yacht... and that he and Gillette became fast friends |

Ozaki was from a Japanese family of some means | His brother, said to have once served as mayor of Tokyo, was so impressed with America when he and his family visited that he donated the trees in Washington DC now famous for their cherry blossoms |
There is one story told of Ozaki and Gillette, of when Ozaki's family came to visit him in Connecticut | Gillette had removed all the signs indicating who owned the estate and,

for the duration of their visit, Gillette "played" the role of valet to Ozaki's landowner, serving Ozaki's family the dinner as if Ozaki was lord of the manor |
So far, there is little more I've been able to find about Yakitaka Ozaki; even less about Fukumatsu Tsubone, the gardener | What is here came from the DEP book "His Beloved Aunt Polly" as read to me over the phone by amateur archeologist Ken Beatrice, from Lyme, CT

NOTE: Ken Beatrice was instrumental in working to get the remains of the Aunt Polly registered on the Connecticut Historc Commission's important underwater archeological treasures |

Posted by: Will Brady / 09:18

THE SKIES

Fighting light pollution | A website, The Dark Sky, tries to address the problem of "Any adverse effect of man-made light including sky glow, glare, light trespass, & light clutter" |

Posted by: Will Brady / 08:59

2004-07-27

THE TRUTH WARRIOR

I read a curious request presented by Osam Altaee, who is looking for people to help in proof-reading a book he is writing about experiences in a United Nations refugee camp in Lebanon | While the project is still being completed, he has a website Justice brings peace, freedom brings democracy, understanding is the way that gives chapter outlines and also promotes a couple of other books he's already written together with a copy of George Orwell's Animal Farm | Seemed worth exploring |

Posted by: Will Brady / 08:19

2004-07-26

LOCAL HISTORY || GILLETTE'S CASTLE

south<-- view from the castle's promontory -->north .

The vista's expansive and while it is just a few kilometeres away from the house, I rarely go here | But with distant relatives visiting, it's an ideal excuse to go to this beautiful state park | My sister and brother arrive replete with other family and friends |

She's busted her toe but still does the tour just a bit slower than the rest of us |
Originally named the "Seventh Sister, after the rock formation upon which it is perched] the "castle" was a whimsey of actor and raconteur William Gillette | It was his

retirement home, where he lived and entertained until his death in 1937 |
During WWI [1914-1919], the manse cost over a million dollars to build | In the middle of WWII [1943], the State of Connecticut bought the estate for $30,000 USD, ensuring, according to the provisions of his will, that "...no blithering sapheads..." would get the grounds and ruin them |
It's a popular site | Lots of people roaming about the the castle, its nearby forested steep ridges and rolling woodlands, [184 acres of grounds, we're told]

And, as seen to the left, every castle needs a knight |
We visit inside | The lecture guides regale us with tales about the house [for it isn''t really a castle] and grounds: one of the first to have a steel frame; how Gillette designed the entire building, it's gadgets [many] and gewgaws; that for some years electrical power was generated on site; that the project employed 20 men for several years and that the stone was carted up

by local farmers at $1 a load |
We're told about some of his many eccentricties: that he kept pet frogs; played practical jokes on guests; was enamoured of elaborate and [some thought] unnecessary detail; that he had international guests from Mary Pickford to Albert Einstein | He was briefly wed to a woman [who died young and never lived to see the castle completed] and that he never had children |
Gillette was a complicated, brilliant man | Born of high-bred Hartford, CT family, he went into the performing arts against their better

wishes | He succeeded, perhaps most notably by taking the role of Sherlock Holmes and creating in it the signature items [the deerstalker cap and meershaum pipe] that people nowadays think of as typical Holmes affectations | He starred in, wrote, directed and produced plays [among them "Secret Services" from which the sketch on the left is based] | He was a prolific designer and aesthete | And he was, like the character he famously portrayed, mysterious |
For me, one mystery remains, that of Yakitaka Ozaki*, his friend and personal secretary, who lived with, or close to, Gillette for decades, residing on the estate until his own death in 1942 | An entire room is devoted to him [one referred to only as Gillette's 'valet'],

yet little is said of their relationship | It's disaapointing that the tour guides don't even mention him, while, in contrast, they go to great pains to assure you Gillette was wed to a woman, however short that nuptuial was in effect | I'm certainly aware that many very wealthy people employ, as it were, life long companions, so I'm not implying anything here | But they clearly played some influential role in WG's life | More attention ought to have been paid |

UPDATE: * There were actually two Japanese gents who llived on the grounds of Gillette's estate | A monograph "His Beloved Aunt Polly" published by Connecticut Department of Environmental Conservation, recounts that, first Yakitaka Ozaki, hired on as a cabin boy on the Aunt Polly, Gillette's luxurious houseboat and residence while the castle was being built. Later a second man, Fukumatsu Tsubone, lived on the estate in a cottage near the Hadlyme Ferry tending a herb and vegetable garden |

FOR MORE ABOUT Gilette's Castle: Official Park Site | A quirky site about Castles in the USA has this to say about Gillette's | About.com provides a short photo tour | The Friends help support the castle | NPR's Savvy Traveler had Tom Verde do a story about Gillette's Castle | Acorn Bed & Breakfast writes a plug as well | ABOUT GILLETTE'S BOAT: The DEP monograph, "His Beloved Aunt Polly" | Aunt Polly's Archeological Remains |

Posted by: Will Brady / 09:10

LOCAL SCENE
Sunset | 23 july 04

May seem odd, me with nothing to say, but sometimes it's worth it just to sit and be quiet

Posted by: Will Brady / 09:00

2004-07-25

BLOGGING

New faces in my blog list |
SpacecoastWeb [site blurb: "..long schemes in philosophy; dark and wonderful mysteries of state; laborious dissertations in criticism and philosophy; advice to parliaments, and the like." Worth every penny, too!
John Strain | A refreshing yet relaxing mix of personal and world-watch reflections
Island Dave's View | Dave has two blogs, actually | The first more first person reflections; the second, Current Events Monitor, an extensive review of other blogs and, well, current events | Lefty perspective |
Always Victoria | Don't be put off by the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sort of blog skin [besides, you can change it] the lady's got some things to say!
Prairie Point | Bill's a computer programmer who loves being out in the garden | He tends to his weblog with thoughfulness and care | Beautiful to look at, it's also worth the read |

That's enough for now | It's 0152 hours [GMT+5] and I'm supposed to be up at 0600 hours to go deliver papers with Milan | That's a whole 'nother story that maybe I'll tell later on | BTW, Milan still has kittens up for adoption | Write me if you are in central Connecticut and can give a good home to some [Free, but... you spay 'em + get 'em their shots] real sweet long hair kitty mongrels |

What's with the pica gauge? Simple | It's how I got started on this whole commentary sojurn myself | High school trade school training as a typesetter/typographer | Old school perspective, where the printer was also taught the social obligations of one who was entrusted with sharing knowledge and information | Not at all like Fox News commentators or owners | Nor, apparently, like the old guard internet elitists who, as noted at Pax Nortona work at keeping fresh bloggers out of the high-brow loop | Knowing printing is one thing, knowing the importance of giving voice entirely another |

Posted by: Will Brady / 01:06

CORPORATE CRIMINALS || ECONOMIC TREASON
What Ken Lay knew in advance | From the Huston Chronicle

Posted by: Will Brady / 01:03

since 12 june 1999