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The $56 Rent receipt for a three bedroom apartment!

Today I had a sheet of paper stuck in the hinge of my apartment door. It was a receipt for another apartment in another building with the same number. It was a receipt for a three bedroom apartment for $56.00! When I thought of it I think about this old lady that we were neighbors with when we lived on 62nd street. We often referred to her as the white ghost. I would see her at 4:00 am feeding the cats behind the dumpster dressed in a tattered white frock. She was 84 years old. She had lived in the building for over 40 years and she was still paying rent. We learned later that she was a retired broadway actress who now had no family left and no souls to remember her. The image of her barked back into my memory because one day she came home and all her belongings were scattered about the courtyard. The building was being torn down and she failed to read the notices. Everyone pitched in to help her collect the remnants of her life. We learned from her that she was paying $800 per month for her one bedroom apartment. That left her less than $100 per month for other living expenses from her SS check. The images of the white ghost sobbing with quiet dignity at the afront of having her life scattered to the winds left a lasting scar that only burned when I saw that rent receipt. How is it possible that people I meet everyday who are working day labor for a chance at a normal life are living in the streets and then there is someone who prospers by paying next to nothing? To put it in another way – when I was working day labor I was paid $40 cash for a days work. Who is paying the balance of this person’s rent? Is $56 a fair contribution? Our rent is relatively low and we pay about thirteen times as much for the same apartment. I do not much about Section 8 maybe someone can educate me about it. Who benefits from what appears to be extremist socialism?

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Long Time no Blog

Hi. Its been awhile since I blogged. Today I found out that a friend and mentor Gene Harris of Art by God was ill. He is very old and stills works very hard at keeping his business afloat. Several years ago he hired me to redo his website and I became re-hooked on paleontology and fossil hunting-something which I used to do many years ago before I moved to South Florida.

Many things have happened in one month. Firstly, the Historic Lyric Theater has removed the fencing and made itself more welcoming to the community. That is not to say I did not feel welcomed when I went to that Affordable Housing Town Hall meeting several weeks ago…

Two weeks ago a store/restaurant opened across the street from our apartment building. Every night they have a cluster of kids swarming for their delicious water ices and candies. The store brings additional development to the neighborhood. I also noticed a print shop opening down the street on 11th doing remodeling as well. There was the Miami Dade Community College Book Fair and then the Friends of the Miami Public Library book sale and now Art Basel. A busy month.

Today I was at the Miami Mission Charity Motors. A Haitian couple drove up in their XLT SUV. They walked up to the owner and handed him the keys. The car was just sitting in the driveway they said and maybe another family could use it. He wrote them a donation receipt and they left with a friend. The owner of Charity Motors tells me that good people like that couple stop by every day..

Other mentions in this blog are the four hundreth anniversary of Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote de la Mancha. I gave it to my daughter to read but it is still sitting on her dresser. It is one of my favorite books and I wanted her to see how good a read it is. I was reading an article in the magazine Americas about the country Suriname. It is South America’s most ethnically diverse countries and the youngest at only 30 years old. 27 percent of the country are Hindu, then Islamic and Christian and other religions are practiced. Over twenty different languages are spoken there. Did I also mention the world’s largest nature preserve? I am learning more about South America and will travel there whenever I get a chance. Is it a malpropism to call it “Latin America?”

We watched Miami Vice last night. There is that great scene of Overtown which is mentionned in the dialogue towards the middle of the movie. What great scenery- especially of Habana. A friend says that it is not Cuba but Puerto Rico made to look like Habana.. They even filmed parts of the movie in Port of Prince. My friend Genevieve kept saying something about Ton Ton’s..

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Little Black Sambo

I still have not received my copy of Vamos A Cuba however I can not wait to read it. I think about how humiliating it must be when an person must be told what they can or can not read. It is probably even more insulting than racism itself. It is oppression by elitism. How many intellectual elites does it take to make a policy that in essence is censureship? No matter how it is rationalized it is still the act of filtering content based on policy.

We should ask questions. Rare books are a window into our history. Should we seek out and destroy books like Little Black Sambo because it defines in clear illustration our racist past? Should we allow mental caretakers to protect us from our emotional sensitivities?

Think about what defines African American Culture. It is clearly not the same factors that define black culture and I mean specifically black racial culture from areas outside of the United States. A comparison of slave societies from the Caribbean or South America shows one common factor. As Americans we have a hyper-emotional preaction to anything race related. And instead of facing this hyper-emotional preaction we have choosen as a group to hide from it and we allow our leaders to use it to control us a group.

The race stick is the cattle prod to keep us in line and clustered politically. So we do not see that African Americans are blacks just like the blacks in France, in Ecuador, Trinidad, in London and Brazil. We speak different languages but as a racial category we are the same. What makes us different is our damaged psyches from American racism. And then to think that the same instruments used to cause the damage should be hidden away from our very eyes to protect our sensibilities. This brings me back to Little Black Sambo. For anyone with low self esteem this series of books is humiliating. But who decided to make the decision for me to censure, to hide, to categorize unfit this book for me?

Today, even in Overtown we live in a multi-cultural society. We are no longer just defined as a culture based upon race. What about the other factors like political beliefs, religious beliefs, and aspirations. In reality most people in Overtown are classified by where we live and how much money we make. We are being conditioned to think that if we are not racial beings then we are not human beings. It is a challenge for those who limit themselves to the racial platform. Take a step in another direction and see if will expand your horizons.

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*The Story of Little Black Sambo is a children’s book by Helen Bannerman, a Scot living in India, first published in 1899. The little boy who had to sacrifice to tigers his new red coat and his new blue trousers and his new purple shoes— which the tiger wears on his ears— but outwits the predators in his world, to return safely home and eat 169 pancakes for his supper, was a children’s favorite for half a century before it became controversial. The story takes place in a fairy tale India, and the tigers racing around the tree are turned into ghee, rendered as “butter.”

Helen Bannerman, the author of this classic, was an English woman who died in 1946 at the age of about 80. She wrote several other children’s stories, including Little Black Quiba and Little Black Bobtail.

The book has a controversial history. Many consider the work to contain racist caricatures and stereotypes, and the word “sambo”, partly as a result of the book, has a long history as a racial slur. The original illustrations portray Sambo in classic, “darky” iconographical form (see Blackface), with inky skin, wild hair and bright red lips.

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COMMON CAUSES OF ANXIETY: SEXUAL CAUSES OF TENSION

Sexual Causes of Tension-At the present time there is a tendency to lay great emphasis on sex, and the tensions of both young and old are often ascribed to some disharmony in their sex life without due consideration of other factors. This line of approach is particularly common with the amateur psychologist. In evaluating the situation it is well for us to realize that sexual conflicts are in fact a very important cause of anxiety, but that conflicts in other areas are also important, and that anxiety often results from a summation of stresses arising from various problems.

There is another factor which makes it difficult to assess the significance of sexual troubles as a cause of anxiety. People have a tendency to give socially acceptable explanations for things. A man is working hard at his office; there are many difficult problems, and he has to work late at night. He will readily tell you this is the cause of his anxiety, and in a way it is true enough; but he does not readily discuss the tension he feels as a result of his being involved with his secretary. The patient often gives these false explanations quite knowingly for the simple reason that he is too ashamed to admit the real cause to the doctor. In other cases, the patient is too ashamed to admit the true cause even to himself. In these circumstances he believes that he is speaking the truth when he gives the socially acceptable reason as the cause of his trouble.

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THE ROLE OF NUTRITION IN ARTHRITIS TREATMENT: LIVING FOODS

The third rule of vital nutrition is that all foods should be eaten as fresh as possible. Fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw, not cooked, canned, or frozen. If cooking is necessary they should be cooked as little as possible, preferably steamed or cooked with little or no water. All broth, of course, should be used also.

Raw foods contain enzymes which are essential for the proper digestion and assimilation of food. Cooking destroys all the enzymes, 100 per cent. In addition, cooking destroys many of the vitamins. Vitamins B and C are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heat. Minerals are depleted by cooking and are usually thrown away with the cooking water.

Freezing, canning, drying, salting, preserving, and prolonged storage are all more or less destructive to the nutritive quality of the food.

Contrary to popular notion, foods in their raw state are more easily digestible than in the cooked state. This is particularly true with fruits and most vegetables.

Furthermore, raw foods act as a cleansing agent of the digestive and eliminative systems and are the best preventive measures against constipation.

Dr. Robert Bell hit the nail on the head when he said, “Man is the only creature upon this earth who spoils his food before he eats it.” Cooked food is dead food. Only living foods can build healthy bodies.

According to famous nutritionist Dr. Royal Lee, D.D.S., arthritis in animals could be experimentally caused by feeding them cooked foods exclusively.

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THE CAUSES OF EPILEPSY: ALCOHOL AND DEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

Alcohol may undoubtedly precipitate seizures in those who already have had previous seizures.

There is also an association between chronic alcohol abuse and the occurrence of fits even when sober. Those who drink alcohol to excess are usually aware that they are running the risk of cirrhosis of the liver, but not many realize that chronic alcoholism can result in loss of cerebral nerve cells, seizures, and impairment of intellect.

Degenerative disorders-As advances in knowledge occur, fewer and fewer diseases will be assigned to this non-specific group. Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, the human equivalent of ‘mad cow’ disease for example, used to be regarded as degenerative , before it was shown to be caused by an infective agent. Pre-senile dementia (Alzheimer’s disease), in which the cerebral nerve cells gradually become fewer in number, is associated with seizures. Some cases are inherited, and almost certainly in most there is a biochemical abnormality responsible for this loss of nerve cells, and, hopefully, when this has been identified, some sort of pharmacological treatment will be possible. This sequence of events has already occurred in Parkinson’s disease. This was regarded as a degenerative disorder until 30 years ago. A defect in the metabolism of a transmitter called dopamine was identified, and a suitable drug (L-dopa) produced. A number of degenerative disorders which start in childhood (including one called Batten’s disease) present with frequent seizures.

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Sleep patterns are continually changing because any of the things that affect a child during the daytime can also affect his sleep. This means that there times in your child’s life when you might expect his sleep to be affected Examples could be: teething, illness, the arrival of a new baby, seasonal changes, or dreaming.

After the cause of such a disturbance is addressed, some children slip back naturally into smooth sleep patterns. Others learn new habits or are thrown such disequilibrium that the wakefulness continues. This may be the beginning of sleep difficulties. Recognizing the changes as they occur can help you I watch to see if a desirable pattern is developing.

You can decide how long to allow a child to re-establish a desirable pattern on his own. Several factors should be taken into consideration:

?    His history of being able to settle himself: after his last illness, did he return

quickly to his old patterns or did you need to “draw the line?”

?    His temperament: is he a “natural night owl” who will take any opportunity

to stay awake?

? His needs: how well is he coping during the day with reduced sleep?

? Your needs: how are you coping? How long can you wait it out? When a reasonable amount of time has passed and you have decided that a new habit has formed or has the potential to develop, you can change your response or intervene with the method that works for you.

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EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS FOR BACK PAIN AND SCIATICA: OSTEOPATHY

Although still considered by many as more of an ‘alternative’ therapy than physiotherapy, osteopathy has nevertheless gained great acceptance from the medical profession. Developed in the late 19th century by Andrew Taylor Still, osteopathy is based on the underlying principle that ‘structure governs function’, and the therapy therefore relies primarily on manipulative techniques, these being mainly applied to the back and neck.

Central to the osteopathic concept is that much of the pain and disability affecting people stems from abnormalities in the function of the musculoskeletal system rather than in any identifiable or discernible pathology. According to osteopaths, impaired function in one part of the musculoskeletal system can exist without symptoms but may throw considerable strain on another part of the body.

Like physiotherapists, osteopaths build up a full picture of the patient’s particular dysfunction, which may have developed over a long period of time. Says the Osteopathic Information Service: “Osteopaths do not look on patients simply as back sufferers but as individuals with their own unique requirements. Treatment is designed to correct each individual’s mechanical and spinal problems in order to stimulate their own natural healing processes.”

A recent survey of osteopathic practices throughout the county revealed that more than half of the patients had sought help because of low back trouble.

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Typical sleep patterns vary with the age of the child; we will look at the typical patterns from birth to six years.

Newborns. The first six to eight weeks are called “unsettled.” During this time, sleeping and eating patterns are not very predictable. A healthy newborn sleeps about sixteen or seventeen hours a day. This occurs during about seven periods throughout the day and night.

By the age of three or four months an infant sleeps about fifteen hours a day. Sleep occurs in about four or five periods. Approximately two-thirds î her sleep is at night. This is what sleep research defines as “settled”—that is she sleeps from a late night feeding to an early morning one.

Six Months. By six months, nighttime sleep has increased to about two hours at night with some possible, occasional, brief wakings. She will also t two naps a day (mid-morning and mid-afternoon), each nap about one to hours long.

Babies settle in various ways. Some children simply sleep through feeding. Others gradually push the feeding later and later. Others unpredictable. However, somewhere between three to six months a baby sleep a long stretch at night.

One Year. Fourteen hours of sleep is typical for most one year olds. If some of this amount is during a morning nap, you can expect her to give that up sometime during the second year.

Two To Six Years. Note that the afternoon nap disappears somewhere between three and four years.

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EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS FOR BACK PAIN AND SCIATICA

While you should always first seek advice from your doctor if you’re troubled by back symptoms, there are also many instances in which other therapies can be very helpful. In fact, your doctor may well refer you to a physiotherapist or, at times, suggest that you consult a practitioner of an alternative therapy as many of these have a proven track record in dealing very successfully with back problems.

The so-called ‘other’ treatments are normally divided into two main groups:

The ‘complementary’ therapies that work alongside of and often as virtually part of conventional medicine; and

The ‘alternative’ therapies which, as the label implies, offer an alternative to conventional medicine.

Although the distinction between the two types of therapies is usually quite clear, it can become somewhat blurred when looking solely at how effective some of these ‘other’ therapies can be in dealing with back problems. For example, the relatively little known Alexander Technique is usually considered to be an alternative therapy. However, because it concentrates upon posture, something that is so directly and obviously relevant to back troubles, this method is perhaps more ‘complementary’ than ‘alternative’ when it comes to difficulties involving the spine.

Rather than try to classify therapies as either complementary or alternative, it seemed more logical in this book to separate them into two groups depending upon how commonly they are employed in treating back problems.

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