1-25-2009

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Greetings! It may have taken until 9:30 PM Sunday night, but I am sticking with my resolution to write here once a week. This week's 'Matters' seem a bit more serious in nature than last week's, or at least less random or trivial. Here we go.

With the back-to-back events of MLK Day on Monday and the inauguration of our first biracial President on Tuesday, my thoughts turned to the changes regarding race that have occurred in the U.S. since the Civil Rights movement. It's hard to hear President Obama speak of being a man whose father may not have been served at a restaurant 60 years ago without feeling like we've made some progress. At the same, however, those 60 years are only one-quarter of the 221 years that have passed since our Constitution was adopted; and while we should celebrate progress, we must also continue striving to further that progress. In the 2001 film Ghost World, the character Seymour takes an ironic and misguided, if not well-intentioned, look at race, stating, "I suppose things are better now, but I don't know. People still hate each other, they just know how to hide it better." I hope that his view is overdoing things: that race-based hatred in the US is becoming extinct, rather than simply better hidden. However, I do take the statement to mean that we cannot accept things as completed yet. As Americans, we each have a responsibility to work toward that self-evident truth our founders spoke of: that all are created equal in their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

On an equally serious note, I was struck this week by the phrase 'only technically alive.' I was reading an article that used the expressing in referring to life-supporting mechanisms that keep individuals who are brain-dead alive in hospitals. Now, I am quite thankful to be growing up in a time where life spans are longer than ever and research on resveratrol is showing potential for making more of those years active and vivid ones. (Google resveratrol. It's interesting stuff!) However, I have got to say that I have no interest in ever being only 'technically alive.' It sounds terrible - just the phrase makes me uncomfortable.

For a few years now, I've had a series of reactions to certain raw foods pop up. It started with unpeeled apples, then carrots and parsley, and occasionally almonds. When I eat these foods, breathing becomes painful and I have an uncomfortable pressure in my sternum; this is usually followed up by 15 minutes of heavy hiccuping. The key word here is raw foods. When the carrots are cooked in some way, I get no problems. And the same goes for peeled apples. This week I came across the term oral allergy syndrome. Apparently, it is commonly seen in adult hay fever sufferers (like me) who see reactions from certain foods based on the pollens that they are allergic to. And sure enough, almonds, apples, parsley and carrots are all prime candidates.

On a lighter note, there was great cause for personal celebration this week when I saw that the D-Backs have fired the guy who plays D. Baxter, their mascot, for drunk driving. Anyone who has ever been with me during a live game or televised shot of D. Baxter knows that I hate that guy. He's gotta be the worst mascot I've ever seen. So while his drunk driving is not to be celebrated, his resulting removal is.

See you next week!