A Sad, Uncelebrated 2014 Anniversary

Monday at lunch a gent across the table asked me, “Didn’t you publish The Cascade Interpreter?”

            “Guilty as charged!”

            He explained he had bought some old copies at an auction. I howled, “Do you mean that after I lost all that money, somebody else is making money on it?”

            “Well, wasn’t very much.”

            “I don’t care if it was 5 cents; there are still people who come into the Club and tell the hostess they don’t want me to wait on them because of The Interp.”

            “What did you say?!”

             What I saw: I had spent time in Europe selling advertising, attending conventions, and observing societies there. Seeing they understood the true nature of the capitalist beast (as we did not) and had instituted safeguards against it, (as we had not). In the late 1980s we were saddled with the Savings and Loan crisis, which up to 2004 had cost the American people $124 billion and according to Bert Ely at the Library of Economics and Liberty, and may end up costing as much as $160 bill. (http://www.econlib.org/library) Yes, we are still paying!           

            But as one happy capitalist put it, “That paper chapped my ass!”

            As one of my fans put it, “Nothing like a little truth to chap a few asses.”

            As Interp editor I cranked a lot at bankers, shyster developers conning local city councils, farmers for excessive chemicals, ‘cides, erosion, and at ordinary citizens for excessive TV, sports, obesity and assorted societal ills. Astonishing, that here we are, having now spent as much to bail out the banks in the 2008 Mortgage Meltdown, with the provisions of the Dodd-Frank bill reversed last week, fatter and more polluted than ever.

The Cascade Interpreter was inaugurated the last week of August 1989, making 2014 its 25^th Anniversary, but since it did not make money, it is a failure. Sad, that even a critical eye has trouble celebrating ordinary truth as a success.

Critical Eye on Rape

Now the University of Iowa has an increase in rape reports. Anybody surprised? This depraved sex-&-whatever-else-sells society hands young women a compromised standard and doesn’t really seem to care if they are brutalized as the result of it.

A couple years back I was working at Subway, one prom or dance night. Three girls who were barely 15 came in looking like streetwalkers—excessive make-up, vampy mid-thigh, lamé dresses with boobs bubbling out the top, tight as skin and whore heels. I was almost in tears--what could I say to them? Who is surprised that rape of all sorts is endemic? Sex sells and selling is the only thing this society values and the misery of the inevitable victims, be it your daughter or some girl in Virginia, counts for sweet nothing. Young woman take note and parents warn your daughters. The old ethic still holds when it comes to this complaint.

            I, for one, have had a critical eye full!

Flying Hits Bottom

A flight on Turkish Airlines is somewhat reminiscent of the good old days of airline travel. I took the long and cheapest way to Berlin, where a dear old friend I have been promising to visit for years lives. . .

Somewhat. The stewardesses are slim, wear white, starched blouses, skirts below the knee and hair pulled back in buns. They pass out Turkish Delight after you board; they give you an intriguing-looking tin box in which you find a pair socks, earplugs, blinders, a toothbrush and paste. They serve dinner, breakfast and free wine on the 10-hour flight to Istanbul.

However, since both Airbus and Boeing build the planes they are no more humane than any other flight to any other destination. The seats are uncomfortably narrow for anyone average height and weight. Once I sat with an obese woman’s arm in my seat from Chicago to Denver. A 6-ft-6-in. friend paid $119 for a seat in the bulkhead with extra leg room on a flight to China, but if you haven’t the money, tough luck.

This is, of course, the reason companies should not have person status. They are categorically unable to make humane decisions when they cost. More seats=more fares. Decency must be forced on most companies.

Other travelers do their fair share to make a flight miserable—bringing young children who whine and fuss all night long. The passenger in the seat next to mine drank too much free wine and threw up in my lap and all over my journal.

Of course, it doesn’t take a Critical Eye to realize that even tons of Turkish Delight, dinners and tin boxes don’t compensate for what is basically as inhumane as airline flight has become.

Mayo in Iowa City

            About 5 years back my regular dentist informed me that my molar problem was beyond him, referred me to a couple endodonists. I checked them out on line, decided from the look of their posh offices without even seeing fee schedules, I could not afford them and called the University of Iowa Dental Clinics.        

Though the drive to Iowa City is off-putting, I feel I have not only received unparalleled care, but an education in the soft underbelly of dentistry and the human dimension of delivering it. At UIDC, there is a Mayo-like approach: much discussion and explanation between/among pros and patient. Every student has a teacher, so you automatically get a couple opinions—one young, gung-ho; the other older, circumspect. A fine balance.

            Once, the teacher changed. The first teacher had said a filling, which may have been installed by Dr. Bisenius should be replaced. The new teacher said, “What is the point? Keep an eye on it, and replace it if/when caries appears.” We don’t think of these things as judgment calls, but clearly they are.

            Though in your mouth or on the road, it’s bad news when a bridge moves! Both the student dentist and his teacher warned me there was probably decay under there, and all were surprised when he cut it lose and it fell in! No decay; the forward anchor tooth had split. 

            Re-anchoring to an already compromised tooth was problematic, even with a dual-anchor that would require a post and build up. “Not only more expensive, but more difficult to clean,” the teacher noted. Negative for the likes of me—alternately diligent/negligent about brushing/flossing, depending on life’s other pressures.

            They went on to consider the 2^nd option, cap the anchor and implant where the bridge was. First, they checked with the periodonist and the prosthodonist to see if the bone and surrounding gum tissue would tolerate those. All agreed that this approach was superior. “In your case, the best option is the cheapest,” the teacher said.

            Cheap it is not--$500 over the $1,500 but at 70, I feel will last as long as me. Anywhere else pulling them all would have been the option.

            Sometimes, the human dimension makes a Critical Eye smile. The young endodonist I originally drew 5 years back was a good-looking, confident sort. When he began having difficulties he explained, “Patients over 60 have calcium deposits that make the canals difficult to find.” When he left the cubicle to consult with the teacher, the tech observed slyly, “I am so glad he got you. Yeah, he’s the best dentist here, but he’s arrogant!”

Probably what made him so good!

Turn off TV/Devices, Ask Grandma & Grandpa

            Cascade is exceedingly lucky to have the fascinating history it does—a bit of which I have spent the last 15 month researching into and writing about, namely John Yates Beall, the Confederate “Spy,” who spent the summer of 1862 here.

            While doing this research, I encountered the idea that the Chew mansion was a stop on the Underground Railway, but that aspect is far more difficult to research. For the obvious reasons.

            I have written a manuscript that essentially tells the story of Beall’s life, and as next year is the 150^th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and Beall’s death, I am hoping we can produce it as theater over the 4^th of July. Anyone who would like a copy, please email me at keyronmcd@gmail.com. We need help getting community support for the production, and some wonderful musicians have already agreed to work on it.

The Holiday season presents us a unique opportunity to talk to older members of the community. If you know anyone who knows anything, or better yet has documentation—letters, diaries, etc.please let me know.

Margaret Chew may have been even more interesting that we thought—if she had a Confederate soldier in her 3^rd floor bedroom and a runaway slave in her basement!

A Critical Eye on the Causes of U.S. Kid Homelessness

            The National Center on Family Homelessness released some shocking statistics based on federal data this week—1 in 30 children in America is homeless, 2.5 million kids—1/5 of them in California.

            NCFH blamed 1) the high poverty rate, 2) lack of affordable housing, and 3) the lingering effects of the “Great Recession,” but left out some of the real reasons: i.e. indigent immigrants.

As the President is about to legitimatize a great raft of people who have come here to have kids (over the border or with legit-now-expired-visas for purpose of obtaining citizenship) it is not cool to mention this. I.e. A Korean kid who can’t go to college, we heard boo-hooing last evening,

A couple of other major contributing factors, one alluded to in No. 2 of NCFH official reasons is the “Great Bank Bailout.” The government saw fit to bail out the very people who caused the “Great Recession,” but left many middle class homeowners blowing in the wind, and as know, the 1% is thriving, the American Middle Class is dwindling.

Marketplace, a financial program got closest to another real reason: They pointed out that two parents would each have to earn $28 an hour to afford the average 2-bdrm apt. in California and minimum wage is a fraction of that. The commentator concluded “Childhood homelessness needs to be a priority.” Does that mean that what’s left of the Middle Class has to fix it?  Or that we are finally going to hold the people who created the problem responsible?

That I don’t know. What I do know is you need a Critical Eye to listen to the news!