Shame—Much Needed Private AA?

The other morning, going out the road, my walking partner scoffed loudly and observed, “I am so disgusted with myself, I ate so-o-o much last night.. .”

I had to laugh. “You aren't alone in overeating, but you may alone in being ashamed of it!”

A couple summers back, the science types, came out with a “major diet revelation.” Women who have fitness buddies, thin friends and relatives manage to stay thinner themselves.

Duh, to the science types telling us what we already know. Women, but I bet a few men as well, share both the positive and negative aspects of weight control—approval for positive acts, weight loss. and good food choices as well as the negative—expressions and disgust and shame over “falling off the wagon.” A kind of informal, private AA!

Critical Eye desperately does not want to return to a time, when the shame ruled and certain individuals (i.e. “retarded, crippled”etc. ) were secreted at home and could not appear in public—even in church. However, one can't help but wonder if the public dismantling of shame ethic over everything from private peccadilloes (think Anthony Wiener) to out-of-wedlock pregnancies, to fat has benefited American society.

Leveling the Playing Field. . .Positive?

The best laid plans of mice, men and women. . .so they say.

That certainly applies to Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. It prohibits discrimination against women in education from kindergarten to post grad.

The most profound effect, however, by far has been in sports. Especially at the high school and college level—girls'/women's participation in sports has increased 900%. Spending on sports at high schools and colleges has increased proportionately.
I would have given a discreet number of body parts to have played high school basketball, but the only physical activity that was open to girls was cheerleading. Which is jumping up and down and screaming your head off​, a made-to-order activity for the oldest in a family dealing with the father's death and her mother's reoccurring TB.

Of late, I have made the acquaintance of a woman who did what you had to do if you wanted to play girl's basketball in Cascade—enroll in Monticello High School. Then I would have envied her green and changed places with her in a heartbeat. Now, not so much.

She spends lots of time in doc's offices dealing with the effects of excessive physical activity, and I am counting my blessings, as I cast a critical eye at the parade of girls in high schools wearing ace bandages and on crutches. The competition has become more intense and I cannot believe it benefits young women. Moderate exercise is essential, excessive exercise will haunt a kid her entire life.

Teary Amish Visit

Made my annual trek up to Amish Country north of Independence3 yesterday.

They had had 5 inches of rain in a couple hours earlier this week and when we turned onto the gravel, it was apparent from the mud and debris that the river had been up over the bridge and road. Low spots in corn fields stood in water as did wide swaths of pasture along the river.

Amish gardens are admirable—far fewer weeds than mine—the consummate eat-what-you-grow ethic. If outdoors, Amish women are weeding, hanging clothes or this time of year picking berries. If in Miller's Store, they are likely after what I am after—pectin. Costing almost $2 for 3 ounces in local stores makes canning jelly and jam impossibly dear. I bought 32 oz. For less than $6 along with bulk oatmeal, peanuts, and an array of spices, garlic salt, etc.

I adore Amish country. Not just the quilts, bonnets, horses and buggies. One spies the odd hand-lettered sign, addressed to state road crews “Do Not Spray.” nailed to wooden to fence posts. The fields are smallish, there is pasture land and trees that signal a balanced agriculture of animals and crops, rather than the landscape denuded of trees to create the largest fields possible ignoring the effects of erosion, no crop rotation or nitrogen runoff.

Amish country always leaves me with a tear in the Critical Eye—lamenting the respect for the land is so rare in most of the rest of Iowa, and wondering if what I see there is only possible in a religious context.

Pill Pushers Prefs?

My bud on Claddagh Court. gets a glowing bill of health—praise from the doc. He takes a handful of pills every day, insulin shots and to the frig is the longest walk he takes.

The doc whines to me about my cholesterol. I take the odd aspirin, spend an hour on average a day in the garden, ride my bike everywhere I go in this burg, mow, walk, and eat the greens I grow in the garden.

Critical Eye wonders if this little picture isn't writ large across the entire American health system and its companion industries big ag and industrial food. So here we are, spending more med money on life style choice illness than almost any other.

Extremely Revealing Conversation. . .

with Councilman Kearney after the pool meeting Monday night.
He expressed his unhappiness about the fissure on council and asked what I made of Mr Hosch's actions. I said, as I have blogged and to the Pioneer editor: “I consider this open meetings question a perennial problem that goes all the way back to Clay Gavin's days as mayor.”

The large number of 10-15 minute meetings was proof things were being decided elsewhere and often in advance. Mr. Kearney seemed taken aback and told me that he was elected because the people thought he could walk, talk and chew gum at the same time. He went on to intimate that not every decision could or should be made in a meeting.

I insisted, "It damn well better be because otherwise people smell a rat!

A less than critical eye could have taken umbrage, concluded that Kearney was dissing me—I was running at the same time, but he doesn't strike me as petty. He has made a large, typical male error of concluding that winning an election is tantamount to carte blanche. It is not, & Mr. Hosch is doing us all a favor insisting that public business be done publicly.

Response: Regent Robert Downer

Thur. May 22, I posted a long blog criticizing University of Iowa President Sally Mason, but unsure that I have any Board of Regents blog readers,, I sent them it. (They make the decision.)

From Regent Robert Downer I received the following:“Whoever coined the phrase 'Lies, damned lies and statistics' must have had in mind the "analysis" that determined that Sally Mason had the fifth highest compensation of any U.S. public university president.  She was given this ranking only because a 5-year deferred compensation agreement vested in 2013, which required that she serve in the position for five years to be able to receive anything.  Had she voluntarily left the position even one day early she would have received nothing.  I am certainly not arguing that President Mason is not well paid, but this ranking is a snapshot and is not indicative of her compensation since she became President of the University of Iowa on August 1, 2007.”

I wrote back, thanked Downer sincerely for his response observing that such chunk payments should probably NEVER be made to public officials precisely because they  might lead to misinterpretation.  One-time payment or no, I have long objected to the disparity between university remuneration and difficulty of affording college as an imitation of the American CEO model, which has been a major factor in the demise of the American Middle Class. In some cases, CEOs make hundreds of times what their workers do.

Of course, business is business, primarily responsible to the bottom line, and despite what the Supreme Court would have us believe, not persons capable of moral choices, especially requiring self-sacrifice.  However, by its very nature, one expects more responsible, intellectually defensible behavior from the university.

A critical eye tries to interrelate current trends and ideas.

Summertime, & the Livin' is. . .

Whoever said “easy” didn't have a garden, a yard, flowers, etc. At least not the size of mine. Spent a chunk of yesterday removing the volunteer daisies. One shouldn't complain—they were exceedingly lovely and planted themselves, so no work on the front end either.

Doing “plows” in the garden (a yoga move, bending in half from the waist with your feet suspended over your head) is what pulling weeds is standing up, so gardening is actually as good or perhaps better exercise than yoga. Not to mention the spinach, radishes, lettuce and arugula these cooler temps have brought us.

Saw on the Internet that George Bush, Sr. turned 90; they were throwing him a “bash.” There is a guy who deserves a couple bashes. My Netflix choice brought me a 1990's documentary this week: Enron—the Smartest Guys in the Room. Not “the smartest,” but the most corrupt. Both Geo Bush father & son were involved in that , and a lot of other people suffered, lost jobs, stock value, etc. A nice bash for both Bushes!

Critical Eye has discovered that film documentary is a convenient, easy device for keeping track of stuff we shouldn't forget.