tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-173804802024-03-14T05:39:48.719-07:00Rogue Writer"Animals I get, people confuse me." RogueKJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.comBlogger377125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-54714072648439964492019-04-17T09:11:00.001-07:002019-04-17T09:11:37.467-07:00Ruthie Wilson Gilmore Part 1: <br />There’s an anecdote that Ruth Wilson Gilmore likes to share about being at an environmental-justice conference in Fresno in 2003. People from all over California’s Central Valley had gathered to talk about the serious environmental hazards their communities faced, mostly as a result of decades of industrial farming, conditions that still have not changed. (The air quality in the Central Valley is the worst in the nation, and one million of its residents drink tap water more poisoned than the water in Flint, Mich.) There was a “youth track” at the conference, in which children were meant to talk about their worries and then decide as a group what was most important to be done in the name of environmental justice. Gilmore, a renowned geography professor (then at University of California, Berkeley, now at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan) and an influential figure in the prison-abolition movement, was a keynote speaker.<br /><br />She was preparing her talk when someone told her that the kids wanted to speak with her. She went into the room where they were gathered. The children were primarily Latino, many of them the sons and daughters of farmworkers or other people in the agriculture industry. They ranged in age, but most were middle schoolers: old enough to have strong opinions and to distrust adults. They were frowning at her with their shoulders up and their arms crossed. She didn’t know these kids, but she understood that they were against her.<br /><br />“What’s going on?” she asked.<br /><br />“We hear you’re a prison abolitionist,” one said. “You want to close prisons?”<br /><br />Gilmore said that was right; she did want to close prisons.<br /><br />But why, they asked. And before she could answer, one said, “But what about the people who do something seriously wrong?” Others chimed in. “What about people who hurt other people?” “What about if someone kills someone?”<br />
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Part 2: <br />Whether from tiny farm towns or from public housing around Fresno and Bakersfield, these children, it was obvious to Gilmore, understood innately the harshness of the world and were not going to be easily persuaded.<br /><br />“I get where you’re coming from,” she said. “But how about this: Instead of asking whether anyone should be locked up or go free, why don’t we think about why we solve problems by repeating the kind of behavior that brought us the problem in the first place?” She was asking them to consider why, as a society, we would choose to model cruelty and vengeance.<br /><br />As she spoke, she felt the kids icing her out, as if she were a new teacher who had come to proffer some bogus argument and tell them it was for their own good. But Gilmore pressed on, determined. She told them that in Spain, where it’s really quite rare for one person to kill another, the average time you might serve for murdering someone is seven years.<br /><br />“What? Seven years!” The kids were in such disbelief about a seven-year sentence for murder that they relaxed a little bit. They could be outraged about that, instead of about Gilmore’s ideas.<br />
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Part 3:<br />Gilmore told them that in the unusual event that someone in Spain thinks he is going to solve a problem by killing another person, the response is that the person loses seven years of his life to think about what he has done, and to figure out how to live when released. “What this policy tells me,” she said, “is that where life is precious, life is precious.” Which is to say, she went on, in Spain people have decided that life has enough value that they are not going to behave in a punitive and violent and life-annihilating way toward people who hurt people. “And what this demonstrates is that for people trying to solve their everyday problems, behaving in a violent and life-annihilating way is not a solution.”<br /><br />The children showed Gilmore no emotion except guarded doubt, expressed in side eye. She kept talking. She believed her own arguments and had given them many years of thought as an activist and a scholar, but the kids were a tough sell. They told Gilmore that they would think about what she said and dismissed her. As she left the room, she felt totally defeated.<br /><br />At the end of the day, the kids made a presentation to the broader conference, announcing, to Gilmore’s surprise, that in their workshop they had come to the conclusion that there were three environmental hazards that affected their lives most pressingly as children growing up in the Central Valley. Those hazards were pesticides, the police and prisons.<br />
Part 4: <br />“Sitting there listening to the kids stopped my heart,” Gilmore told me. “Why? Abolition is deliberately everything-ist; it’s about the entirety of human-environmental relations. So, when I gave the kids an example from a different place, I worried they might conclude that some people elsewhere were just better or kinder than people in the South San Joaquin Valley — in other words, they’d decide what happened elsewhere was irrelevant to their lives. But judging from their presentation, the kids lifted up the larger point of what I’d tried to share: Where life is precious, life is precious. They asked themselves, ‘Why do we feel every day that life here is not precious?’ In trying to answer, they identified what makes them vulnerable.”<br /><br />Image<br />Gilmore in Lisbon, Portugal, where she lives for part of the year.<br />Gilmore in Lisbon, Portugal, where she lives for part of the year.CreditAmaal Said for The New York Times<br />Prison abolition, as a movement, sounds provocative and absolute, but what it is as a practice requires subtler understanding. For Gilmore, who has been active in the movement for more than 30 years, it’s both a long-term goal and a practical policy program, calling for government investment in jobs, education, housing, health care — all the elements that are required for a productive and violence-free life. Abolition means not just the closing of prisons but the presence, instead, of vital systems of support that many communities lack. Instead of asking how, in a future without prisons, we will deal with so-called violent people, abolitionists ask how we resolve inequalities and get people the resources they need long before the hypothetical moment when, as Gilmore puts it, they “mess up.”<br /><br />“Every age has had its hopes,” William Morris wrote in 1885, “hopes that look to something beyond the life of the age itself, hopes that try to pierce into the future.” Morris was a proto-abolitionist: In his utopian novel “News From Nowhere,” there are no prisons, and this is treated as an obvious, necessary condition for a happy society.<br /><br />In Morris’s era, the prison was relatively new as the most common form of punishment. In England, historically, people were incarcerated for only a short time, before being dragged out and whipped in the street. As Angela Davis narrates in her 2003 book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?” while early English common law deemed the crime of petty treason punishable by being burned alive, by 1790 this punishment was reformed to death by hanging. In the wake of the Enlightenment, European reformers gradually moved away from corporal punishment tout court; people would go to prison for a set period of time, rather than to wait for the punishment to come. The penitentiary movement in both England and the United States in the early 19th century was motivated in part by the demand for more humanitarian punishment. Prison was the reform.<br />
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Part 4: <br />“Sitting there listening to the kids stopped my heart,” Gilmore told me. “Why? Abolition is deliberately everything-ist; it’s about the entirety of human-environmental relations. So, when I gave the kids an example from a different place, I worried they might conclude that some people elsewhere were just better or kinder than people in the South San Joaquin Valley — in other words, they’d decide what happened elsewhere was irrelevant to their lives. But judging from their presentation, the kids lifted up the larger point of what I’d tried to share: Where life is precious, life is precious. They asked themselves, ‘Why do we feel every day that life here is not precious?’ In trying to answer, they identified what makes them vulnerable.”<br /><br />Image<br />Gilmore in Lisbon, Portugal, where she lives for part of the year.<br />Gilmore in Lisbon, Portugal, where she lives for part of the year.CreditAmaal Said for The New York Times<br />Prison abolition, as a movement, sounds provocative and absolute, but what it is as a practice requires subtler understanding. For Gilmore, who has been active in the movement for more than 30 years, it’s both a long-term goal and a practical policy program, calling for government investment in jobs, education, housing, health care — all the elements that are required for a productive and violence-free life. Abolition means not just the closing of prisons but the presence, instead, of vital systems of support that many communities lack. Instead of asking how, in a future without prisons, we will deal with so-called violent people, abolitionists ask how we resolve inequalities and get people the resources they need long before the hypothetical moment when, as Gilmore puts it, they “mess up.”<br /><br />“Every age has had its hopes,” William Morris wrote in 1885, “hopes that look to something beyond the life of the age itself, hopes that try to pierce into the future.” Morris was a proto-abolitionist: In his utopian novel “News From Nowhere,” there are no prisons, and this is treated as an obvious, necessary condition for a happy society.<br /><br />In Morris’s era, the prison was relatively new as the most common form of punishment. In England, historically, people were incarcerated for only a short time, before being dragged out and whipped in the street. As Angela Davis narrates in her 2003 book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?” while early English common law deemed the crime of petty treason punishable by being burned alive, by 1790 this punishment was reformed to death by hanging. In the wake of the Enlightenment, European reformers gradually moved away from corporal punishment tout court; people would go to prison for a set period of time, rather than to wait for the punishment to come. The penitentiary movement in both England and the United States in the early 19th century was motivated in part by the demand for more humanitarian punishment. Prison was the reform.<br />
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Part 5:<br />If prison, in its philosophical origin, was meant as a humane alternative to beatings or torture or death, it has transformed into a fixed feature of modern life, one that is not known, even by its supporters and administrators, for its humanity. In the United States, we now have more than two million incarcerated people, a majority of them black or brown, virtually all of them from poor communities. Prisons not only have violated human rights and failed at rehabilitation; it’s not even clear that prisons deter crime or increase public safety.<br /><br />Following an incarceration boom that began all over the United States around 1980 and only recently started to level off, reform has become politically popular. But abolitionists argue that many reforms have done little more than reinforce the system. In every state where the death penalty has been abolished, for example, it has been replaced by the sentence of life without parole — to many people a death sentence by other, more protracted means. Another product of good intentions: campaigns to reform indeterminate sentencing, resulting in three-strike programs and mandatory-minimum sentencing, which traded one cruelty for another. Over all, reforms have not significantly reduced incarceration numbers, and no recent reform legislation has even aspired to do so.<br /><br />[Read about an ex-convict who wanted to become an attorney.]<br /><br />For instance, the first federal prison reform in almost 10 years, the bipartisan First Step Act, which President Trump signed into law late last year, will result in the release of only some 7,000 of the 2.3 million people currently locked up when it goes into effect. Federal legislation pertains only to federal prisons, which hold less than 10 percent of the nation’s prison population, and of those, First Step applies to only a slim subset. As Gilmore said to me, noting an outsize public enthusiasm after the act passed the Senate, “There are people who behave as though the origin and cure are federal. So many are unaware of how the country is juridically organized, and that there are at least 52 criminal-legal jurisdictions in the U.S.”<br /><br />Which isn’t to say that Gilmore and other abolitionists are opposed to all reforms. “It’s obvious that the system won’t disappear overnight,” Gilmore told me. “No abolitionist thinks that will be the case.” But she finds First Step, like many state reforms it mimics, not just minor but exclusionary, on account of wording in the bill that will make it even harder for some to get relief. (Those convicted of most higher-level offenses, for example, are ineligible for earned-time credits, a new category created under First Step.) “So many of these proposed remedies don’t end up diminishing the system. They regard the system as something that can be fixed by removing and replacing a few elements.” For Gilmore, debates over which individuals to let out of prison accept prison as a given. To her, this is not just a moral error but a practical one, if the goal is to actually end mass incarceration. Instead of trying to fix the carceral system, she is focused on policy work to reduce its scope and footprint by stopping new prison construction and closing prisons and jails one facility at a time, with painstaking grass-roots organizing and demannds that state funding benefit, rather than punish, vulnerable communities.<br />
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Part 6:<br />“What I love about abolition,” the legal scholar and author James Forman Jr. told me, “and now use in my own thinking — and when I identify myself as an abolitionist, this is what I have in mind — is the idea that you imagine a world without prisons, and then you work to try to build that world.” Forman came late, he said, to abolitionist thinking. He was on tour for his 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Locking Up Our Own,” which documents the history of mass incarceration and the inadvertent roles that black political leaders played, when a woman asked him why he didn’t use the word “abolition” in his arguments, which, to her, sounded so abolitionist. The question led Forman to engage seriously with the concept. “I feel like a movement to end mass incarceration and replace it with a system that actually restores and protects communities will never succeed without abolitionists. Because people will make compromises and sacrifices, and they’ll lose the vision. They’ll start to think things are huge victories, when they’re tiny. And so, to me, abolition is essential.”<br /><br />The A.C.L.U.’s Smart Justice campaign, the largest in the organization’s history, has been started with a goal of reducing the prison population by 50 percent through local, state and federal initiatives to reform bail, prosecution, sentencing, parole and re-entry. “Incarceration does not work,” said the A.C.L.U. campaign director Udi Ofer. The A.C.L.U., he told me, wants to “defund the prison system and reinvest in communities.” In our conversation, I found myself wondering if Ofer, and the A.C.L.U., had been influenced by abolitionist thinking and Gilmore. Ofer even seemed to quote Gilmore’s mantra that “prisons are catchall solutions to social problems.” When I asked him, Ofer said, “There’s no question. She’s made tremendous contributions, even just in helping to bring about a conversation on what this work really is, and the constant struggle not to replace one oppressive system with another.”<br /><br />Of the A.C.L.U.’s objectives, Gilmore is both hopeful and cautious. “I look forward to seeing how they revise their approach from the exclusionary First Step Act,” she told me, “and to seein5g how their ambitions, working in multiple jurisdictions, play out.” In the last decade, prison populations nationally have shrunk by only 7 percent, and according to the Vera Institute of Justice, 40 percent of this reduction can be attributed to California, which in 2011 was mandated by the Supreme Court to solve overcrowding. Ofer conceded that the greatest challenge is to stop sorting who receives relief based on a divide between violent and nonviolent offenses. “To genuinely end mass incarceration in America, we have to transform how the justice system responds to all offenses,” Ofer said. “Politically, this is a hard conversation. But morally, it’s clear what the direction must be: dismantling the system.”<br /><br />Critics have been asking whether prisons themselves were the best solutions to social problems since the birth of the penitentiary system. In 1902, the famous trial lawyer Clarence Darrow told men held in Chicago’s Cook County Jail: “There should be no jails. They do not accomplish what they pretend to accomplish.” By the late 1960s and early 1970s, an abolition movement had gained traction among a diverse range of people, including scholars, policymakers (even centrist ones), legislators and religious leaders in the United States. In Scandinavia, a prison-abolition movement led to, if not the eradication of prisons, a shift to “open prisons” that emphasize reintegrating people into society and have had very low recidivism rates. After the 1971 uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility outside Buffalo, N.Y., resulting in the deaths of 43 people, there was growing sentiment in the United States that drastic changes were needed. In 1976, a Quaker prison minister named Fay Honey Knopp and a group of activists published the booklet “Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists,” which outlined three main goals: to establish a moratorium on all new prison building, to decarcerate those currently in prison and to “excarcerate” — i.e., move away from criminalization and from the use of incarceration altogether. The path that abolitionists called for to achieve these goals seemed strikingly similar to the original (if ultimately failed) goals of the Great Society and “war on crime” laid out by Lyndon B. Johnson in the mid to late 1960s: to generate millions of new jobs, combat employment discrimination, desegregate schools, broaden the social safety net and build new housing. But the ravaging impact of deindustrialization on urban communities had already begun, and it was addressed not with vast social programs but with new and harsh forms of criminalization.<br />
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Part 7:<br />By the late 1990s, as prisons and prison populations expanded significantly, a new call emerged to try to stop states from building more prisons, centered in California and led by, among others, Gilmore and Angela Davis, with the formation of groups like the California Prison Moratorium Project, which Gilmore helped found. In 1998, Davis and Gilmore, along with a group of people in the Bay Area, founded Critical Resistance, a national anti-prison organization that made abolition its central tenet — a goal dismissed by many as utopian and naïve. Five years later, Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), of which Gilmore is a board member, was formed to fight jail and prison construction. CURB quickly rose to prominence for its successful campaigns, which, at last count, have prevented over 140,000 new jail and prison beds (in a state where 200,000 are currently held in prisons and jails). CURB just recently succeeded in halting construction of a huge new women’s jail in Los Angeles County, in coordination with several local groups.<br /><br />[If prisons don’t work, what will?]<br /><br />Each of the many campaigns Gilmore worked on over the years was built from a different coalition of people who could be negatively affected by a new jail or prison. Her strategy was not to simply fight prisons directly and hope others joined in but rather to seek out groups that were already mobilized. Whether environmentalists who could be made to realize that a new prison would harm biodiversity, or local community members worried about a prison’s impact on the water table or undeliverable promises of local employment, “whatever is already there, in terms of people who are organized, that is how to direct the work,” Gilmore told me. “You have to talk to people and see what they want.” In 2004, for example, there was a measure on the Los Angeles County ballot to hire 5,000 new police officers and deputy sheriffs and to start expanding the city’s jail. Gilmore helped organize a campaign in South Central and East Los Angeles, meeting and talking to people, getting them to ask questions and to express their needs. Did the needs of neighborhood residents coincide with the needs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Police Departments? Did they want more police officers in their communities? The answer was no. The measure failed. “It was plodding work — organizing, and organizing, and organizing — but we won. We beat them back.”<br /><br />When the state wanted to build what it was calling new “gender-responsive” prisons, abolitionists organized with people in California women’s prisons. The organization Justice Now circulated a petition that 3,300 incarcerated people signed, to protest the new facilities intended to house them. A list of the incarcerated signatories — a 25-foot scroll — was presented at the State Capitol, to audible gasps from the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Prisons. The proposal by the state’s Gender Responsive Strategies Commission was defeated. “It’s not that everybody who was organized on these campaigns was themselves an abolitionist,” Gilmore told me, “but instead that abolitionists engaged in a certain kind of organizing that made all different kinds of people, in all different kinds of situations, decide for themselves that it was not a good idea to have another prison.”<br />
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Part 8:<br />By the time Gilmore began graduate studies at Rutgers University, in 1994 at the age of 43, she was a seasoned activist who had benefited from an extensive informal education with scholars like Cedric Robinson, Barbara Smith and Mike Davis, the author of “City of Quartz,” who popularized the term “prison-industrial complex.” Gilmore originally thought to pursue a Ph.D. in planning at Rutgers, which seemed the closest to what she wanted to do: parse social problems in relation to the world we’ve built. Then she encountered the work of the influential Marxist geographer Neil Smith and quickly decided to mail her application to the geography department instead. Geography, she discovered, allowed her to examine urban-rural connections and to think broadly about how life is organized into competing and cooperating systems.<br /><br />Gilmore received her Ph.D. four years later and was hired the next year as an assistant professor at Berkeley. She wanted to call the first course she taught there “Carceral Geography.” The head of the department disapproved. “Can’t you call it ‘Race and Crime’?” he asked. She replied that her course was not about race and crime. (The department head has a different recollection.) She got her way and has been developing the concept of carceral geography ever since, a category of scholarship she more or less single-handedly invented, which examines the complex interrelationships among landscape, natural resources, political economy, infrastructure and the policing, jailing, caging and controlling of populations. In the years since, Gilmore has shaped the thinking of many geographers, as well as generations of graduate students and activists.<br /><br />I saw her ability to situate the problem of prison in a much larger political and economic landscape when Davis and Gilmore engaged in a conversation moderated by Beth Richie, a law and African-American studies professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in a large church in the city, the three of them — black, radical, feminist intellectuals — seated in huge and ornate bishops’ chairs. The event, organized by Critical Resistance, was crowded with South Side organizers, the youngest of whom were invited onstage to offer tributes to Davis, the most famous person in the room. It was all feel-good vibes, and then Davis turned to Gilmore and brought up the topic of private prisons. The tone in the room grew tense.<br /><br />By now it has become almost conventional wisdom to think that private prisons are the “real” problem with mass incarceration. But anyone seriously engaged with the subject knows that this is not the case. Even a cursory glance at numbers proves it: Ninety-two percent of people locked inside American prisons are held in publicly run, publicly funded facilities, and 99 percent of those in jail are in public jails. Every private prison could close tomorrow, and not a single person would go home. But the ideas that private prisons are the culprit, and that profit is the motive behind all prisons, have a firm grip on the popular imagination. (Incidentally, it isn’t just liberals who focus their outrage on private prisons; as Gilmore points out, so do law-enforcement agencies and guards’ unions, for whom private prisons draw off resources they want for themselves.)<br />
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Part 9:<br />Davis noted the “mistake,” as she put it, in the film “13th,” by Ava DuVernay, in sending a message that the main struggle should be against private prisons. But, she said to Gilmore, she saw the popular emphasis on privatization as useful in demonstrating the ways in which prisons are part of the global capitalist system.<br /><br />Gilmore replied to her longtime comrade that private prisons are not driving mass incarceration. “They are parasites on it. Which doesn’t make them good. Which doesn’t make them not culpable for the things of which they are culpable. They are parasites.” And then she began a sermon on the difference between the profit motive for a company and how public institutions are funded and run. In her fluency on these subjects, a certain gulf opened between the two women. If Davis’s charisma could be described as unflappable eloquence, Gilmore’s derives from a fierce and precise analysis, an intolerance of vagaries, and it was Gilmore who commanded the room.<br /><br />Government agencies don’t make profits; instead, they need revenue. State agencies must compete for this revenue, Gilmore explained. Under austerity, the social-welfare function shrinks; the agencies that receive the money are the police, firefighters and corrections. So other agencies start to copy what the police do: The education department, for instance, learns that it can receive money for metal detectors much more easily than it can for other kinds of facility upgrades. And prisons can access funds that traditionally went elsewhere — for example, money goes to county jails and state prisons for “mental health services” rather than into public health generally. “If you follow the money, you don’t have to find the company that’s profiting,” Gilmore explained to me later. “You can find all the people who are dependent on wages paid out by the Department of Corrections. The most powerful lobby group in California are the guards. It’s a single trade, with one employer, and it couldn’t be easier for them to organize. They can elect everyone from D.A.s up to the governor. They gave Gray Davis a couple million dollars, and he gave them a prison.”<br /><br />The explicit function of prison is to separate people from society, and this costs money. Fifteen and a half billion dollars of the proposed budget for the coming year will go to corrections, and 40 percent of that goes to staff salaries alone, not including benefits and generous pensions. This is state-subsidized employment, not a profit venture.<br />
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Part 10:<br />Between 1982 and 2000, California built 23 new prisons and, Gilmore found, increased the state’s prison population by 500 percent. If prison scholars tend to focus on one angle or another of incarceration trends, Gilmore provides the most structurally comprehensive explanations, using California as a case study. In her 2007 book, “Golden Gulag,” she draws upon her vast knowledge of political economy and geography to put together a portrait of significant historical change and the drive to embark upon what, as two California state analysts called it, “the largest prison building project in the history of the world.” Were prisons a response to rising crime? As Gilmore writes, “Crime went up; crime went down; we cracked down.” This sequence, and how crime rates are measured, have been heavily debated, but if this noncausal order is really the case, what was going on? Gilmore outlines four categories of “surplus” to explain the prison-building boom. There was “surplus land,” because farmers didn’t have enough water to irrigate crops, and economic stagnation meant the land was no longer as valuable. As the California government faced lean years, it was left with what she calls “surplus state capacity” — government agencies that had lost their political mandate to use funding and expertise for social welfare benefits (like schools, housing and hospitals). In the wake of this austerity, investors specializing in public finance found themselves with no market for projects like schools and housing and instead used this “surplus capital” to make a market in prison bonds. And finally, there was “surplus labor,” resulting from a population of people who, whether from deindustrialized urban centers or languishing rural areas, had been excluded from the economy — in other words, the people from which prison populations nationwide are drawn.<br /><br />Prisons are not a result of a desire by “bad” people, Gilmore says, to lock up poor people and people of color. “The state did not wake up one morning and say, ‘Let’s be mean to black people.’ All these other things had to happen that made it turn out like this. It didn’t have to turn out like this.” Her narrative involves a broad array of players and facts, some direct, some indirect, some coordinated, many not: for instance, farmers who leased or sold land to the state for the building of prisons; the very powerful correctional officers’ union, state policymakers, city governments, cycles of drought, economic crisis and huge deindustrialized urban centers; and the lives and fates of the descendants of those who migrated to Southern California for factory work during World War II and after. Her fundamental point is that prison was not inevitable — not for individuals and not for California. But the more prisons the state built, the better the state became at filling them, even despite falling crime rates.<br /><br />“Golden Gulag” has seminal status among Gilmore’s academic peers and activist network, and also more widely — Jay-Z praised it in Time magazine — but certain sections of the book can be intimidatingly technical. Even Gilmore suspects that some who name-check it haven’t actually sat down to read it. “The situation — causes, effects — are complicated,” she told me, “and people want something that’s easy.” And yet when Gilmore interacts with people, whether one on one or with an audience, she is direct and accessible. She has a warm and effusive demeanor and is quick to laugh with people and bond with them. She speaks plainly and yet refuses to oversimplify. She gets people thinking about interconnections among larger structures that lead to the creation of prisons, and also interconnections among groups of people that might work together to resist the building of prisons — like environmental activists and teachers’ unions.?<br />
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Part 11:<br />It is in this manner that she organized in 1999 with both farmworkers and farmers (“in capitalist terms, natural antagonists,” as she pointed out to me) to stop a proposed prison in Tulare County, and successfully persuaded the California State Employees Association (CSEA) — then a union of more than 80,000 members — to support a campaign to oppose a new prison in Delano. “The guards could not believe that these public-service employees would go up against other public-service employees,” she told me. “Even we were surprised.” CSEA came to the understanding, as Gilmore recalls, that a guard is a state worker who has to have a prison to have a job, while state-employed locksmiths, secretaries, janitors and so forth didn’t need to work in prisons but might have to, if the guards’ union got all the resources.<br /><br />Despite a lawsuit initiated by a coalition of legal and human rights groups, including Critical Resistance, and environmental concerns raised by a state senator, the prison in Delano did eventually open in 2005, but according to Gilmore it took many years longer than it would have without abolitionists’ campaigning against it. “It got to the point where in Sacramento, they were saying, ‘Just let us build this one, and we won’t build any more.’ That’s how they talked to us, because they got so tired of us. ‘Just let us do this, this will be our last one.’ Before the ribbon cutting, the secretary of corrections said, ‘This is probably the last prison we’re going to open in this state.’ He did not say ‘because the abolitionists got in our way,’ or ‘the abolitionists organized all these people that got in our way,’ but the implication was there.”<br /><br />Image<br />Clockwise from top right: Gilmore in 1986; with her brother Jon (second from left) and two friends; Gilmore’s father in the late 1960s, in the office where he worked to desegregate the Yale School of Medicine.<br />Clockwise from top right: Gilmore in 1986; with her brother Jon (second from left) and two friends; Gilmore’s father in the late 1960s, in the office where he worked to desegregate the Yale School of Medicine.CreditAmaal Said for The New York Times<br />“To understand Ruthie, you have to understand where she came from, what her family was like,” Mike Davis told me. Gilmore was born in 1950 and grew up in New Haven, Conn., with three brothers in a household that she calls “decidedly Afro-Saxon,” quoting the term that one of her mentors, the political theorist Cedric Robinson, used to describe the family of W.E.B. Du Bois. “Puritan determination was our thing,” she told me. “I could not fail, because everything I did was for black people.” Gilmore’s family attended what was then Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church, which was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. “There was an ethos in my little church,” she said. “Everyone needs to learn as much as they can.” They had black-history lessons in Sunday school, where they were encouraged to wonder and ask questions. “If you made a claim, the rule was, you had to be able to tell someone how you knew it.”<br />
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Part 12:<br />As a child, Gilmore secretly wanted to be a preacher. On Sundays, in the pew, she would imagine herself in the pulpit in preacher’s robes. “Which is strange because I could barely open my mouth with strangers. So why I could imagine myself scolding and encouraging the masses, I don’t know.”<br /><br />Gilmore’s father, Courtland Seymour Wilson, a tool-and-die maker for the firearm manufacturer Winchester, played a central role in organizing Winchester’s machinists. The only time in her childhood that white people came to the house was for labor meetings. She would sit on the stairs and listen to the men, who smoked and argued late into the night. As they left, she would peek through a window to watch them leave. “There was always a car outside that people had not gotten out of. It left when the others left.” When she learned about Pinkertons, who spied on mineworkers, Gilmore realized the men who parked outside her house were company spies, the equivalent of Pinkertons.<br /><br />Gilmore’s father had inherited a tradition of labor organizing from his own father, a janitor at Yale who helped to organize the first blue-collar workers’ union at the university. Eventually Gilmore’s father also ended up employed by Yale, where he worked to desegregate its medical school. “He was without question the leader of the civil rights struggle in New Haven,” Davis told me.<br /><br />While Gilmore’s father was not college-educated, he was intellectually driven and encouraged Gilmore, a daddy’s girl who showed much academic promise. In 1960, a local private school decided to desegregate before it was legally forced to, and sent letters to respected black churches asking about girls who might be “appropriate.” Gilmore took the school’s entrance exam, which was the same test it gave white girls, and passed. (“It was an easy exam. Like, for [expletive]’s sake, what was all the fuss?”) Gilmore was the school’s first and, for much of her time there, only black student, and one of a small number of working-class students. She was miserable, but she learned a lot.<br />
<br />
<br />
Part 13:<br />In 1968, she enrolled at Swarthmore College, where she got involved in campus politics. It was the year of occupations. She and a group of other black students, among them Angela Davis’s younger sister, Fania, wanted to persuade the administration to enroll more black students, and Davis, on a visit to Swarthmore, gave the students advice. “She seemed so amazingly mature and knowledgeable to me,” Gilmore said. “I was 19, and she was 24. She had the Alabama style, talked slowly and deliberately, wore a miniskirt.” Davis told them: “Figure out what you want, and stick with it. Make a demand.”<br /><br />In January, Gilmore, Fania and a handful of other black students took over the admissions office. Gilmore invited her parents to come down from New Haven and offer political guidance. It was decided that Gilmore and her father, representing the group, would approach Swarthmore’s president, Courtney Smith. When they found him, Gilmore, who was raised with formal manners, said, “President Smith, I’d like to introduce you to my father.” Smith turned his back and walked away. Gilmore was outraged, but her father was casual. “He knew how to keep his eyes on the prize. What’s it about? It’s definitely not about that.”<br /><br />Gilmore’s parents left, and the occupation continued. Eight days into the occupation, Smith had a heart attack at 52 and died at his desk. White students spread a rumor that Gilmore and her cohort were in the president’s office, yelling at him when he died (in reality, they were nowhere near his office), and there were rumors that they had threatened to get revenge.<br /><br />At the time, Swarthmore, just like Yale, had a large number of black employees who performed the necessary if less visible jobs around campus, and these people, it turned out, had been observing events from a distance. “They decided to save us,” Gilmore told me. “Cars pulled into the circular drive, and these black men got out and stood looking up at us, in the windows. We left with them. It all seemed magical to me. It was ontology put into action, that made it possible for folks to pull up in these cars and silently wait to rescue us, and we knew to be rescued.”<br /><br />The men drove them to a house where they bedded down for the night. The next morning, some people went out for supplies and returned with food and a copy of that morning’s paper. In the paper was a picture of Gilmore’s cousin, John Huggins. He had served in Vietnam and been radicalized upon his return, becoming a founding member of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panthers. Now he and another Panther, Bunchy Carter, had been murdered on the U.C.L.A. campus by a rival political group.<br /><br />Her cousin’s murder was a personal devastation, if also a symptom of the politics of the time (as later came to light, the F.B.I. had infiltrated these organizations, in order to create the divisions that most likely contributed to this fatal encounter). Gilmore left Swarthmore and moved home. Later that year, she enrolled at Yale and got deeply involved with her studies.<br /><br />“Every year I had one teacher who was really good to me, interested in what I thought about and wrote,” she said. One of them was George Steiner. Another was the film and drama critic Stanley Kauffmann. Gilmore graduated with a degree in drama before vagabonding across the country. She ended up in Southern California, where she met her husband, Craig Gilmore, and embarked on organizing work they’ve participated in together since 1976.<br />
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Part 14:<br />Gilmore has come to understand that there are certain narratives people cling to that are not only false but that allow for policy positions aimed at minor or misdirected — rather than fundamental and meaningful — reforms. Gilmore takes apart these narratives: that a significant number of people are in prison for nonviolent drug convictions; that prison is a modified continuation of slavery, and, by extension, that most everyone in prison is black; and, as she explained in Chicago, that corporate profit motive is the primary engine of incarceration.<br /><br />For Gilmore, and for a growing number of scholars and activists, the idea that prisons are filled with nonviolent offenders is particularly problematic. Less than one in five nationally are in prisons or jail for drug offenses, but this notion proliferated in the wake of the overwhelming popularity of Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow,” which focuses on the devastating effects of the war on drugs, cases that are primarily handled by the (relatively small) federal prison system. It’s easy to feel outrage about draconian laws that punish nonviolent drug offenders, and about racial bias, each of which Alexander catalogs in a riveting and persuasive manner. But a majority of people in state and federal prisons have been convicted of what are defined as violent offenses, which can include everything from possession of a gun to murder. This statistical reality can be uncomfortable for some people, but instead of grappling with it, many focus on the “relatively innocent,” as Gilmore calls them, the addicts or the falsely accused — never mind that they can only ever represent a small percentage of those in prison. When I asked Michelle Alexander about this, she responded: “I think the failure of some academics like myself to squarely respond to the question of violence in our work has created a situation in which it almost seems like we’re approving of mass incarceration for violent people. Those of us who are committed to ending the system of mass criminalization have to begin talking more about violence. Not only the harm it causes, but the fact that building more cages will never solve it.”<br /><br />But in the United States, it’s difficult for people to talk about prison without assuming there is a population that must stay there. “When people are looking for the relative innocence line,” Gilmore told me, “in order to show how sad it is that the relatively innocent are being subjected to the forces of state-organized violence as though they were criminals, they are missing something that they could see. It isn’t that hard. They could be asking whether people who have been criminalized should be subjected to the forces of organized violence. They could ask if we need organized violence.”<br /><br />Another widely held misconception Gilmore points to is that prison is majority black. Not only is it a false and harmful stereotype to overassociate black people with prison, she argues, but by not acknowledging racial demographics and how they shift from one state to another, and over time, the scope and crisis of mass incarceration can’t be fully comprehended. In terms of racial demographics, black people are the population most affected by mass incarceration — roughly 33 percent of those in prison are black, while only 12 percent of the United States population is — but Latinos still make up 23 percent of the prison population and white people 30 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (Gilmore has heard people argue that drug laws will change because the opioid epidemic hurts rural whites, a myth that drives her crazy. “People say, ‘God knows they’re not going to lock up white people,’ ” she told me, “and it’s like, Yes, they do lock up white people.”) Once you believe prisons are predominately black, it’s also easier to believe that prisons are a conspiracy to re-enslave black people — a narrative, Gilmore acknowledges, that offers two crucial truths: that the struggles and suffering of black people are central to the story of mass incarceration, and that prison, like slavery, is a human rights catastrophe. But prison as a modern version of Jim Crow mostly serves to allow people to worry about a population they might otherwise ignore. “The guilty are worthy of being ignored, and yet mass incarceration is so phenomenal that people are trying to find a way to care about those who are guilty of crimes. So, in order to care about them, they have to have some category to which they become worthy of worry. And the category is slavery.”<br />
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Part 15:<br />A person who eventually either steals something or assaults someone goes to prison, where he is offered no job training, no redress of his own traumas and issues, no rehabilitation. “The reality of prison, and of black suffering, is just as harrowing as the myth of slave labor,” Gilmore says. “Why do we need that misconception to see the horror of it?” Slaves were compelled to work in order to make profits for plantation owners. The business of slavery was cotton, sugar and rice. Prison, Gilmore notes, is a government institution. It is not a business and does not function on a profit motive. This may seem technical, but the technical distinction matters, because you can’t resist prisons by arguing against slavery if prisons don’t engage in slavery. The activist and researcher James Kilgore, himself formerly incarcerated, has said, “The overwhelming problem for people inside prison is not that their labor is super exploited; it’s that they’re being warehoused with very little to do and not being given any kind of programs or resources that enable them to succeed once they do get out of prison.”<br /><br />The National Employment Law Project estimates that about 70 million people have a record of arrest or conviction, which often makes employment difficult. Many end up in the informal economy, which has been absorbing a huge share of labor over the last 20 years. “Gardener, home health care, sweatshops, you name it,” Gilmore told me. “These people have a place in the economy, but they have no control over that place.” She continued: “The key point here, about half of the work force, is to think not only about the enormity of the problem, but the enormity of the possibilities! That so many people could benefit from being organized into solid formations, could make certain kinds of demands, on the people who pay their wages, on the communities where they live. On the schools their children go to. This is part of what abolitionist thinking should lead us to.”<br /><br />“Abolition,” as a word, is an intentional echo of the movement to abolish slavery. “This work will take generations, and I’m not going to be alive to see the changes,” the activist Mariame Kaba told me. “Similarly I know that my ancestors, who were slaves, could not have imagined my life.” And as Kaba and Davis and Richie and Gilmore all told me, unsolicited and in almost identical phrasing, it is not serendipity that the movement of prison abolition is being led by black women. Davis and Richie each used the term “abolition feminism.” “Historically, black feminists have had visions to change the structure of society in ways that would benefit not just black women but everyone,” Davis said. She also talked about Du Bois and the lessons drawn from his conception of what was needed: not merely a lack of slavery but a new society, utterly transformed. “I think the fact that so many people now do call themselves prison abolitionists,” Michelle Alexander told me, “is a testament to the fact that an enormous amount of work has been done, in academic circles and in grass-root circles. Still, if you just say ‘prison abolition’ on CNN, you’re going to have a lot of people shaking their heads. But Ruthie has always been very clear that prison abolition is not just about closing prisons. It’s a theory of change.”<br /><br />When Gilmore encounters an audience that is hostile to prison abolition, an audience that supposes she’s naïvely suggesting that those in prison are there for smoking weed, and wants to tell her who’s really locked up, what terrible things they’ve done, she tells them she’s had a loved one murdered and isn’t there to talk about people who smoke weed. But as she acknowledged to me, “Part of the whole story that can’t be denied is that people are tired of harm, they are tired of grief and they are tired of anxiety.” She described to me conversations she’d had with people who are glad their abusive husband or father has been removed from their home, and would not want it any other way. Of her own encounter with murder, she’s more philosophical, even if the loss still seems raw.<br />
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Part 16:<br />“I had this heart-to-heart with my aunt, the mother of my murdered cousin, John. On the surface, we were talking about something else, but we were really talking about him. I said, ‘Forgive and forget.’ And she replied, ‘Forgive, but never forget.’ She was right: The conditions under which the atrocity occurred must change, so that they can’t occur again.”<br /><br />For Gilmore, to “never forget” means you don’t solve a problem with state violence or with personal violence. Instead, you change the conditions under which violence prevailed. Among liberals, a kind of quasi-Christian idea about empathy circulates, the idea that we have to find a way to care about the people who’ve done bad. To Gilmore this is unconvincing. When she encountered the kids in Fresno who hassled her about prison abolition, she did not ask them to empathize with the people who might hurt them, or had. She instead asked them why, as individuals, and as a society, we believe that the way to solve a problem is by “killing it.” She was asking if punishment is logical, and if it works. She let the kids find their own way to answer.<br /><br />Rachel Kushner is a writer in Los Angeles. Her most recent novel is “The Mars Room.” She last wrote for the magazine about a Palestinian refugee camp.<br />
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<br />KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-26977546841676007082018-08-09T10:43:00.001-07:002018-08-09T10:43:16.630-07:00Space Between-A Leg hair StoryThe little girl stairs at my calves. nose scrunched deep in concentration. "You have really hairy legs" she says, looking up at me.
"They are hairy!" I reply.
Her mother gasps and clutches at her kid sputtering "Constantina leave the poor woman alone!"
I am suddenly confused. Poor woman?
As the woman and her kid shuffle away I hear the woman say "You saw her cane, well she doesn't shave her legs like a young woman because she can't bend over"
I am now assured that the poor woman to whom she refers is me.
I identify as a queer, non binary, gender androgenous lady ewok.
I am also disabled, occasionally use a cane, and do have trouble leaning over. However the state of hair on my carcass has less to do with ability and more to do with sensory. I had my pits lasered and still shave them everytime I shower because deoderant goes on easier. I shave my genital area because its easier for me to keep clean, and means no hair gets stuck in my boxers. I pluck my strange hairs on my face because other wise I pick at them. I used to shave my legs because I grew up surrounded by hyper feminine women who waxed, plucked, shaved, and epilated every stray hair not attatched to their scalp or framing their eyes.
I grew up certain of few things. Always wash your hair everyday, and always have smooth legs.
Now at forty some years old I realize that my hair did not required daily shampoo, nor do my legs, silky smooth shins to be comfortable in my own skin.
I remember the day I stopped shaving my legs. I had fallen in the shower for the 3rd time in 2 months and was wary. I lifted my razor to shave my shins and thought "Who are you doing this for?" I hated shaving my legs. I hated cuts, I hated buying razors, I hated the dry skin, and mostly I hated that by 9pm my legs would be stubby and sharp.
So I decided I wasnt going to shave them anymore.
The first month was uneventful. I had no reason to bare my legs in winter so I didn't even think about it much. Then I had cause to go to a Burlesque show and found a pretty wrap dress at a thrift store. I happily put it on and while walking to my ride could feel a swish around my calves. I knew instantly it was the hair on my legs lifting and blowing in the cold winter air.
Instead of feeling unsettled, it made me feel oddly serene. Like I had gained some secret spidey sense in my hairy calves.
I have since rocked several pairs of shorts, dresses, and skirts. I have stopped appologizing to the massage therapist or lady who does my pedicures. I happily rock my hairy legs without a second thought. As my friend says "If they are too busy looking at your hairy calves, you arnt doing it right."
I still get people concerned about my husbands feelings about my legs, I point out I am OK with his hairiness, and he is a smart person who enjoys his partner being in a good mood.
I get people offering to shave my legs because they think I just physically can't, and I get asked if I am a lesbian or a super feminist. One person even asked me if I was transgender or butch or were those things the same?
So I bear the brunt of kids staring, people staring (not many) and strange assumptions. But I manage to moisturize, exfoliate, and let my leg hair grow, or not grow, comfortable in the knowledge that there is a space between yeti and electric eel where my body is right at home.
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-66629659064471915612018-04-09T05:08:00.001-07:002018-04-09T05:08:47.699-07:00Dirty Little War<p dir="ltr">Being disabled with an invisible illness is a daily job. <br>
The first caveat upon waking is self inventory. How did you sleep? What is your pain level? How much energy do you have? What is the weather? What clothes are going to work best today? <br>
Some of these questions are the same ones healthy people ask themselves certainly. But to the person with Syringomyelia, with Chiari, with Ehlers Danlos, with MS…. The person with the disease or disability which you can’t see, its different. <br>
<br>
We may be up all night with pain or discomfort. Personally mine is blindingly painful cramps and spasms in my legs, low back and feet. Think about the absolute worst cramp you have ever had. Now imagine having it happen for an entire night, everyday, for the rest of your life. And because everyone has “helpful” advice I will cut you/off right now, yes I take potassium, magnesium, calcium, and drink water. <br>
So I make it through the night. I wake up and take stock of my body. Do I have head pain? Can I use my hands? Can I stand up? Can I walk? How far can I walk? Do I need my cane? Can I grip my cane? We run through the check list while simultaneously checking the weather (Barometric and temperature forecast) while mentally creating my clothing choices. Its going to rain, the Barometric pressure is going to go up, and I am taking the bus. Leggings, skirt, soft socks, shelf bra tank, another tank, a light sleeved shirt, and a hoodie and a scarf. Probably need a cane, should pack my HEPA facemask because jerks who think vaping is harmless? Noise cancelling headphones, sunglasses, and spare drugs? Check. <br>
Once we go thru this inventory we can get up and start the physical work of the day. Firstly is the Yoga and stretching, just so I am able to sit down on the toilet. Then is the taking of the drugs and supplements. Add in caffeine and food, unless I am fighting massive nausea or have trunk pain, or difficulty swallowing. Somehow you get calories into your shambling carcass, put on clothes and start your day. <br>
<br>
You would think all this preparation would enable you to get through a day without too much issue. Yet halfway through your work day, there is a sudden violent temperature drop that is a surprise to everyone. But not to you! You started randomly dropping things and tripping on level ground an hour ago. You are the amazing human weather vane! <br>
<br>
The very act of ordering a coffee feels like you are trying to recite the Pythagorean theorem to the barista. You push, you rally, you struggle thru to the end of your shift. You somehow manage to safely get home, and change into soft clothing. You try to sit down to rest. But life is calling. Your spouse is texting saying they need your help. Your dog is staring at you whining to go potty. There are more dishes in your sink than in your cupboard, and you have not gotten to the grocery store in two weeks. <br>
So even though you desperately need to stop and sit your ass down, life goes on, and needs you to make food happen. <br>
You manage to go to the store, you really want to use your parking pass, but are pretty sure you would burst into tears when people either say something slick to you, or just openly scowl. <br>
You remember the endless litany; “But you don’t look sick!” <br>
So you park in Egypt. Take a cart and walk what feels like miles, to pick up fast, easy, and affordable foodstuffs. You try to eat as healthy as possible. But between a 300 insurance premium, and 120 a month in medical costs, sometimes throwing in a handful of peas with ramen noodles is a feat. <br>
You get out, get home, and lie in your car until you feel like maybe you can get upstairs without taking (another) header. <br>
You eat, you rest a little, you maybe have energy to shower. Then suddenly and firmly your body is completely spent and no amount of caffeine, cajoling or empty promises of massages will push you any further. Cat boxes will remain unscooped, dishes will stay unwashed, and the hair on yoour legs will begin to rival a Bear. You choose to let the dog out and take your meds with your final push. Then lie down to relax. <br>
You go on social media and post that today was difficult. Your friends who have been on this ride with you send hearts and sad faces. But inevitably you get that one well meaning “My cousin has a gardener who uses hand harvested pink himalayan sea salt to gargle and he got rid of his Lupus! Have you tried that?” <br>
<br>
You close your eyes, and count to 10, and refrain from telling them to go douche with Kale. History has taught you that they truly think their information is helpful. Conversely you realize that many people are unaware of just how many things, how much research, and how many ideas we have compiled in our job of being chronically ill. <br>
Most of our doctors can’t even pronounce our illness. Or the ones who feign to treat us have used google and wikipedia to compile a treatment plan. If you are lucky enough to have a doctor who either truly knows your condition, or one that respects your knowledge and wants to work WITH you to figure out a management plan. Congratulations, you have found the golden ticket, tip your nurses, and thank Glob. Unfortunately, many people think being chronically ill is a lifestyle choice born from laziness or mental health issues. But honestly, you would have to be batshit bonkers to want to feel this way. <br>
You scroll past the advice and pinned articles you are tagged in. You see a good friend posting a picture of themselves hanging out with all your other friends. You suddenly feel a deep profound sense of sadness. They know how sick you can get, and how you are often strapped for cash. They decided to not even invite you to their outing. <br>
<br>
There is no malice or unkindness on their part. One of them even says “WE MISSED YOU!” when you like the post. You have grown to accept that people will decide that to keep asking you to do things, when they see how sick you are, is hard for them. You accept it, but it still chokes you up a little. You are grateful you have friends who continue to invite you places, even if you have to decline. Sometimes just knowing you are wanted, is so soothing. <br>
You have finally run out of steam completely and know if you don’t get up and wash your face and brush your teeth now, it won’t happen. <br>
You set up your go bag for the next day. Feed your companions, write your “to do” for the next day. You check the weather again, thunderstorms. You get up and put three anti inflammatory pills and an anti nausea pill next to the cup of water by your bed and turn off the light. <br>
Tomorrow you will start it all over again. Waging another battle against the invisible foe that has taken over your body. <br>
<br>
</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-52864380271549733692017-04-15T13:56:00.001-07:002017-04-15T13:56:46.712-07:00Matties Ratty Blend<p dir="ltr">3 cups puffed kashi seven grain cereal                123 c    18 p<br>
1 cup bulgar                                                             22 c      1 p<br>
2 cups solid gold wee bits holistic dog food        20 c    56 p<br>
1/4 cup flax seeds                                                      2 c      1 p        <br>
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds                                    9 c      9 p<br>
1/2 cup raw pumkin seeds                                        9 c      9 p<br>
1 cup oat cheerios (organic sugar free)                 17 c     2 p</p>
<p dir="ltr">8 1/4 cups total</p>
<p dir="ltr">25 carbs per cup   11.9 protein per cup</p>
<p dir="ltr">6.25 carbs per 1/4 cup serving   2.9 protein per 1/4 cup serving</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kashi Ingredients:  puffed: Red Wheat, Oats, Barley, Rye Berries, Buckwheat, Sesame Seeds.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Solid Gold Wee Bits Holistic Ingredients:  Ocean Whitefish, brown -rice, oatmeal, egg, bran,barley, salmon oil, tomato, flax, carrots, parsley, apple, cranberries, blueberries, lettuce, celery, beets, watercress, spinach, chicory, broccoli, mint,  kelp, thyme, red lentils, acidophilus, multivitamin blend.<br><br></p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-90437016062323198132016-06-07T18:42:00.001-07:002016-06-07T18:42:52.549-07:00Garnier Fructis Curl Nourish Shampoo and Conditioner<p dir="ltr">Garnier Fructis Curl Nourish</p>
<p dir="ltr">So I got the shampoo, conditioner and curl stretch loosening pudding.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All of these are sulphate free.</p>
<p dir="ltr">My hair is course, wavy, and currently purple!</p>
<p dir="ltr">So I recieved the sample from samplesource.com</p>
<p dir="ltr">I began by washing the legnth of my hair.  I have a deathhawk and so the sides and back are shaved and not colored.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">The shampoo was thick, only foamed slightly and had a faint unremarkable scent.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I liked how it cleaned my hair but didnt strip the color and left my hair feeling clean but not stripped.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Then I used the Curl Nourish conditioner.  It was thick, creamy and absorbed into my hair quickly.  It was easy to rinse out and left my hair feeling soft.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I didnt get a chance to try the Curl Stretch Loosening Pudding. I like to shower at night and let it dry slowly.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Overall I give the Shampoo 4 out of 5 stars. It was good for the money but not extraordinary.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Conditioner also 5 out 5 it was pretty great and for the money I may actually buy it when I am out of conditioner. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I will update on how the Curl Stretch Loosening Pudding.</p>
<p dir="ltr">You can read about the products <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.garnierusa.com/products/haircare/curl-nourish/shampoo/curl-nourish-shampoo.aspx&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjijayen5fNAhXKHh4KHUjrCu8QFggkMAE&sig2=7kBU7LUUzdkypf0i2Zz_xQ&usg=AFQjCNFka3DBQKsU0nY3Mj4h8TV0mc1Zqw">here</a>!<br><br></p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-62785642102064445992016-06-05T17:17:00.001-07:002016-06-07T18:44:07.340-07:00Avalon Organics Skin Defense Facial Care<p dir="ltr"><br>
So recently I got a three part of the <a href="http://avalonorganics.com">Avalon organics Vitamin C Intense Defense</a> line.  I got the cleansing milk, hydrating oil, and spf 10.</p>
<p dir="ltr">First the Vitamin C Instense Defense Cleansing Milk:<br>
Good texture, nice smell, did NOT do a good job taking off my makeup.  I used this with a warm washcloth and still needed to use micellar water to get my skin completely clean.  Also if you have sensitive skin be careful. I got in my eye and it burned!  </p>
<p dir="ltr">Second Vitamin C Intense Defense Hydrating Oil:<br>
I was hesitant to use this.  I usually only use camelia oil mixed with sugar.  This oil took a long time to absorb...I ended up leaving it on while I took a shower.  After the shower the oil was absorbed and I went to sleep.  Woke up with no oil residue on my face and face was hydrated and soft.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Then I used the last step.  Avalon Organics Vitamin C Intense Defense Hydrating spf 10...<br>
It smelled loke the cleansing milk...maybe a little over moisurizing.  The fact that it was spf 10 made me hesitant to use because I have always heard spf 15 was the minimum needed to protect the skin.  After a full day my skin feels soft but it was rainy and overcast so I dont know how much protection it was.</p>
<p dir="ltr">These products are available on amazon prices ranging $7.49 for the Intense Defence Cleansing Milk, $18.23 for Intense Defense Antioxidant oil, and !15.53 for Intense Defense Spf 10 (whaaat?!)</p>
<p dir="ltr">None of these products are extraordinary.  I would rate them 5 out of 10 only be ause they are Vegan, have no sulfates, parabens or pthalates, and are not tested on animals.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">I may end up trying the Avalon Intense Defense Vitamin C cleansing gel..but with this price range it would have to have rave reviews. Instead I am sticking with my trusty neutrogena and cerave.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-40191919480873174202016-06-02T14:36:00.001-07:002016-06-07T18:43:44.805-07:00Garnier Fructis Long and StrongSo today is hair wash day. So I decided to use a sample from my smart source package. It was a blue packet of Long and Strong Shampoo and Conditioner.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C2R-wXatQ6Bz-d996X2bzpfuorRj99MWcO0QSTrsRO7FI3c32ALVlaaJUaENGbHPoGCOzjnDVA7mzEhKL8-1jPfsyq2Ztr41jPaWY5Qh_cSuBu7v_fNhsOT8CvjB-t9qKnEzGw/s1600/IMG_20160602_142947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C2R-wXatQ6Bz-d996X2bzpfuorRj99MWcO0QSTrsRO7FI3c32ALVlaaJUaENGbHPoGCOzjnDVA7mzEhKL8-1jPfsyq2Ztr41jPaWY5Qh_cSuBu7v_fNhsOT8CvjB-t9qKnEzGw/s320/IMG_20160602_142947.jpg" /></a></div>
So I opened the packet which was sealed like the gates of hell. Finally opened the packet and squirted some shampoo into my hand. I enjoyed the smell and viscosity and it lathered really well in my undercut. I was rinsing it out when a tony bit got into my eye...HOLY...CRAP... This was the worst stinging pain ever! I immediately washed out my eye with water for a good 3 minutes. I was tempted to leave the shower and go get some saline to try to make the burning stop.
BUT I really needed to shave. So I rinsed and applied the very thick conditioner. My hair seemed to soak it up and I decided to leave it in while I completed my ablutions.
I recall thinking that when I was rinsing out the conditioner that my hair was really soft...
I enjoyed the conditioner and hoped that it would make my hair feel a little smoother. It did...but I still had to apply my leave in conditioner as my hair is really fried.
All in all I enjoyed the shampoo before it burned my eyeball:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4iwApJFMBCWAxIYr21xH4Ziyj4gGvOyZ0wtFobrN4zED7BfX7IY39QR76wAyWr4vDbSRmb0BlpOPFWB7FX7Df1pJWe9kYyyfwXtR0-gjxRLuThzZnUALicC0dZ3i5wurRfcLNw/s1600/20160602_150027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4iwApJFMBCWAxIYr21xH4Ziyj4gGvOyZ0wtFobrN4zED7BfX7IY39QR76wAyWr4vDbSRmb0BlpOPFWB7FX7Df1pJWe9kYyyfwXtR0-gjxRLuThzZnUALicC0dZ3i5wurRfcLNw/s320/20160602_150027.jpg" /></a></div>
So I won't be purchasing that. But the conditioner was thick and my hair seemed to suck it up and feel softer after using. I would buy it if I had a coupon and it was on sale. It was nothing spectacular, but it was thick and absorbed and that was nice.
All i all shampoo 3 out of 5
Conditioner 5 out of 5 (because I think on normal hair it would have been lovely)
So Garnier whatever you use in the shampoo i as your test rabbit say "It burns my eyes!"
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-262233470055011962016-03-28T23:15:00.001-07:002016-03-28T23:15:03.716-07:00Idiot in the AM<p dir="ltr">So after getting up early, wading thru insurance, disability, doctors, and bills I managed to clean two giant drawers, purge expired meds, food, and makeup and get a load of laundry done. So no surprise it's 2 am and my back and legs are a cramping aching ball of misery.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cue a hot shower and me giving my hair the middle finger, I swear I a going to shave my head. I go to take a drink with my handful of ibuprophen and seltzer EXPLODES in the bathroom. I am soaked, floor is soaked. </p>
<p dir="ltr">My cramping, thirsty over tired ass is ready to punch a wall.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There is a lesson kids, even adults need supervision.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-14600765540950154322016-03-27T23:07:00.001-07:002016-03-27T23:07:08.229-07:00Thoughts at night<p dir="ltr">Only at 1:30 am does my brain get flooded with thoughts.</p>
<p dir="ltr">My doc note expires in a few days.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I can't go back to work until I can handle 25 to 30 hours a week. But normally it will be more. I know I can't do that yet. My job is not sitting. It's working out with adults, taking them to jobs sites and helping them do their jobs.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I barely manage to do needed daily stuff here, get the mail and shower.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I think I am going to have to take until next month to get my back fully healed. I can't reinjure on the job and I can't afford to loose my benefits...so close to work insurance...so...close...</p>
<p dir="ltr">All this has me anxious and scared. Not wanting to baby this but also not wanting to push and mess myself up worse.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I'll call doctors tomorrow and get new appointments after I argue with insurance because they don't want to pay for specialists.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-66728109517587080702016-03-26T11:49:00.001-07:002016-03-26T11:57:02.714-07:00Insurance is for the rich<p dir="ltr">I just got another bill. So my mandatory insurance took my entire tax return even though they forgot to give me a tax premium...somehow nys changed the rules and they charged me 700 dollars on top of the 300 a month for insurance that was accepted no where, and who covered nothing.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Then I got MVP and paid 500 a month. For this I didn't receive a insurance card for 3 months. Had an emergency ER visit, a epidural inw hoection both denied because they were not "emergent" </p>
<p dir="ltr">So I can't walk, am desperate to get back to work, and have gone to the ER twice for pain that had my heart hammering like a marathon runner.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This insurance in America is set to kill off or keep disabled people in pain, create addicts that kill themselves trying to ease their pain.</p>
<p dir="ltr">insurance makes out like bandits, doctors make out like bandits and the disabled person wants towork, wants to pay their way, wants a nor all life is treated like a sponge to be milked until they give up.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This is why I am voting for a old white dude. We need to treat each other as equals. We need to care for each other. We need to all feel like we are worthy productive members of society not pawns to move around just to make a buck.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-13548403190232223032016-03-26T01:11:00.001-07:002016-03-26T21:40:33.651-07:00High chronic<p dir="ltr">I'm awake at 4 am after being unable to sleep because my body was being a dick.  So I got up and decided a hot bath, good book and classical music would help.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I lay there with the scent of sea salt, pine and sage feeling the calendula oil softening my skin.  I was reading about tiny houses and a lady with congestive heart failure.  And I stared at my own hello kitty wrapped heart monitor that was buzzing endlessly alerting me that my heart was beating too fast for my body not to be moving.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I  ignored it because it along with every nurse that takes my vitals has alerted me my resting pulse is too high. Then fell asleep.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I woke up to Beetovens 5th and a buzzy on it or which I angrily chucked into a corner.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> I drained the tub as the last of music faded and stood up.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Suddenly I was really hot and a mariachi band had taken residence in my chest and the guys were lit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I slowly sank to the edge of the tub leaning my forehead against the cool ceramic.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"This isnt good for the engine! Its so hot you need to slow down" I reasoned with my heart.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I tried to stand and it promptly gave me the finger and I sank bare assed asked back to the edge of the tub.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I sat there, sucking air, fanning my face. wondering why we didn't have a fan...it's so hot...there should be fans in the bathroom. I tried to fan myself again but more moving was not helping.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Not knowing get what else to do I said to  my geriatric who was watching impassive to my plight "Get help...we need an adult"</p>
<p dir="ltr">She stared dumbly and I tried to regroup.  I saw my heart rate monitor...mocking me...answer remember thinking "I promise I will keep you on if you don't let me die naked in my bathroom eaten by an old cat"  </p>
<p dir="ltr">Strapped on my monitor, no change.  But then suddenly I thought "I have to put on clothes if I am going to die on the toilet" then slapped my ha do against the wall.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And then I slapped on the fan. As the air cooled the sweat beaded on my back is could finally breathe. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Slowly taking even breathes I put on my shirt, panted and fanned myself.  Then pants.  I must have sat in the bathroom for another 15 minutes, my heart monitor refused to stop buzzing but I stopped sweating.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Then stumbled to the fridge and CHUGGED a cold bottle of seltzer all the time internally chanting "Your heart has to slow down" as my monitor buzzed merrily on my wrist.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I was able to get to my bed and lie next to my cool mist humidifier  and finally felt my heart slow down ( postural tachycardia thy ass is grass!)</p>
<p dir="ltr">Safety lying in bed, monitor silent, wasps only a mild stinging down my back and legs. My bulldogs paws wrapped around me while he snored into my ear just like his dad making me laugh.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I'm documenting the fact that I found humor in what is a mild but daily issues of being chronically ill.  And I hope you can laugh too.  As I sit here listening to two male mammals making snores like cartoon characters, I think if I string enough stuff like this out I will be OK.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-5463110717168170232016-01-21T15:30:00.001-08:002016-01-21T15:30:33.236-08:00Today made of meh<p dir="ltr">Today was tough. Had a tough client, a surprise parent, and only got 5 hours of sleep. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Workout today felt like crap and I wanted moes queso and chips like a fat me wants nutty bars.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Instead got a tofu taco and did some laps in the restaurant. I don't know why today was so tough but it was and I want bed.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-7141638558983777112016-01-12T16:56:00.002-08:002016-01-12T16:56:38.928-08:00Another youtube thinghttps://youtu.be/gjLR-tSgeZQKJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-32865646470387223652016-01-10T10:04:00.002-08:002016-01-10T10:04:27.465-08:00I does a Youtube<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2DIWL-2CcBo" width="420"></iframe><br />KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-57633090602461142902015-12-11T20:47:00.002-08:002015-12-11T20:47:26.365-08:00Kindness is not a great feat...I thought a lot before writing this because I didn't want to seem like I was flapping a super hero cape. Rather I was reminded that we could use a reminder that these "immigrants" have stories, faces, and families.<br />
So... This young 18 YO kid came into the outreach cemter today and only spoke spanish. Everyone was stumped and just shrugged him off. I went over said I spoke poor Spanish but could I help. Kid said he got here via Milwaukee, from El Salvador. His parents got him to the US alone because he is gay and they were terrified he would be hurt or worse. Both his brothers were dead from gang violence. He has no family here. He had a suitcase of clothes, a bunch of government forms and a bare studio apt shared with 2 other people that he had just met.<br />
<br />
None of them had a bed, pots, pans, food, NOTHING.
Common sense kicked in and I put together a huge list of agencies that would help him, then pulled laundry soap and some other stuff from my trunk; clothes Chris was going to donate, an old pot, a random fork and spoon I had in my backpack. 10 packs of ramen, a reusable grocery bag, a box of granola bars, some new hygiene stuff from my gym bag. And a clean towel from my gym bag.
Then after finding out he hadn't eaten since yesterday, I gave him my lunch. Here is what amazed me. He was so happy someone was kind to him, he cried.<br />
<br />
He cried because he had been here three days and I was the FIRST person who was kind to him. We exchanged emails and he agreed to keep me posted. Everyone was saying "Oh he is so lucky you were here, how nice were you, hope he appreciated it, it was very christian." Here is the thing, that mentality bothers me. How is it extraordinary? Someone is hungry? Here ... food. Cold? Here... blanket. Car broke down? Hop in.
It's not something we should do because of "the season" or "religion" it's something we should do because everyone needs kindness and compassion at some point. We need to be kind and decent to each other.<br />
<br />
Chris wants to see if we cant give the kid some other stuff, but first we have to see what agencies will give him. The three kids need beds, a broom, soon winter gear.. here is a thought though..this kid has 2 roomates in the same situation. And more young alone scared kids from other countries in same situation. We won't give this kid money, and we have a rule of not giving money to anyone..instead giving food or things they can use...But there are other kids like this one. Alone, scared, looking for someone to be kind.
Chris and I are looking forward to taking this kid out for lunch in a month and hearing how he is doing. SO to all the immigrant kids alone, scared, and looking for one kind person we wish you the best, Syracuse is a good place full of lots of kind people and we hope you can be happy here.
#dogood #compassion #kindnessiscontagiousKJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-3169208232446013772014-08-01T05:28:00.001-07:002014-08-01T05:28:41.724-07:00Dry Dog Shampoo and Carpet DeoderizerYou will need:<br />
<br />
two shake top containers (like ones for parmesan cheese, or mason jars with several large holes punched in the top)<br />
<br />
Dry dog shampoo:<br />
2 boxes baking soda (I buy a bag at big box clubs)<br />
10 drops Tea tree oil (stems and leaves essential oils and infused oils are OK, just double the drops)<br />
5 drops sage oil (optional)<br />
1 cup corn starch<br />
1 tablespoon Diatomous earth (optional, I use in warm weather to deter fleas+ticks)<br />
<br />
mix together in a large ziploc bag and leave overnight to "settle" I scoop out about 1/2 cup of mixture at a time and put it in the shaker bottle and shake it all over my dog rubbing it into his fur. I leave it on 5-10 minutes to absorb his oils and grossness, then I vacuum it off. If your dog hates the vacuum you can remove it with a fine bristle brush .<br />
<br />
Repeat evry two weeks and eave unused power in the freezer to stay fresh<br />
<br />
Carpet deoderizer:<br />
<br />
3 boxes baking soda<br />
1 cup cornstarch<br />
1 cup diatomous earth<br />
5 drops Tea Tree Oil<br />
5 drops Lemon/Lime OIL (not juice!) <br />
5 drops Sage Oil<br />
<br />
place in large ziploc bag and shake it up, let sit overnight.<br />
<br />
place about 1 cup for large houses 1/2 cup for smaller houses in your shaker and apply sparingly to carpets.<br />
<br />
I leave it on for about 30 minutes and try to "sweep it in" with a clean broom or shake it into smaller carpets by shaking them side to side.<br />
<br />
Then just vacuum!<br />
<br />
Carpets ad dogs are fresh and the lime oil and tea tree are natural antimicrobial and pest deterrents and the diatomous earth kills anything with a exoskeleton that walks thru it!<br />
<br />
Happy Cleaning!<br />
<br />
<br />KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-40015325338980895362014-06-25T04:47:00.001-07:002014-06-25T04:47:22.139-07:00I work out.Since beginning my "Increase strength and stamina" decision I have been working out at a gym 1-2 times a week, walking 2-3 times a week and biking most other 3-4 times a week. I also try and mix it up by using the elliptical the treadmill, the ARC trainer, and the stair master device from hell. <br />
<br />
I have also began eating breakfast and not eating after 6 PM unless I am starving.<br />
<br />
Yesterday despite an emergency vet visit, work fuckery, and humidity induced pain and nausea I managed to bike for 80 minutes on my recumbent bike and then use the stair master escalator thing from Hades for 10 full minutes. For me, that was HUGE. I also managed to bench press the bar for 3 sets of 8 which is also huge.<br />
<br />
My goal is to get back up to benching at least a hundred pounds, but I don't know if my doctor will approve it. my body may poop out at 75 like it did when I first was diagnosed with my syrinx.<br />
<br />
I need to join a gym. I NEED to be able to go hit the gym when I want to murder someone, when I am stressed, when I am feeling fat. Which pretty much sells the planet fitness gym to me because its open 24 hours. THUS if I get off work at 10 PM and feel wired I can go and lift for a while before going home. Or if I have a gap in my day and have the car I can go sneak in a workout.<br />
<br />
I have a friend (actually there are three of them) who are trying to lose weight as well. Despite working twice as hard, and working out more, having no surgery, insulin, or diet program to assist me means they are leaving me in the dark on weight loss.<br />
<br />
The surgery friend can even eat sugar and is almost able to eat 2 cups of food at a time and lost over 100 pounds. The diabetic friend gave up smoking and alcohol and is walking and has lost 50 pounds. The diet program friend has lost 16 pounds like me, but has only been dieting since last month.<br />
<br />
I am only losing about 2 pounds a week and there have been a few plateau weeks of NO weight loss. I know to listen to my trainer friends who tell me "Keep eating 1200 calories and keep the workout and strength training up and it will happen" I am even mixing it up,and pushing my self imposed limitations. I can see that my body is changing, I just wish it was faster.<br />
<br />
I have to come to accept that even if I manage to keep the workouts I will never be model thin, I will never look like Emme, or Kloe Kardashian. I will always be hippy, I will always have a big butt, I will always have the "fertility doll" body.<br />
<br />
I have to be happy that I will be stronger, leaner, and have more stamina the harder I work and accept the little victories.<br />
<br />
Yesterday I bench pressed the bar, and leg pressed half my body weight. Small victories, and I am happy with that.<br />
<br />
<br />KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-73032746986041277612014-06-05T20:42:00.000-07:002014-06-05T20:42:14.719-07:00Follow the leader...Sometimes with this weight thing I have no freaking clue where I am headed. Do I want to try going Vegan again (but bacon, beautiful BACON!) Do I want to go gluten free? Paleo? gluen free paleo? I know I have to move my mind from "live to eat" into "eat to live, but cookies, salsa, rice, oatmeal, sugar GLORIOUS sugar!<br />
<br />
I know I am addicted to sugar, my doc says if it a tie between eating a boca pattie and snackwells, chose the Boca Pattie.<br />
<br />
Or cheese. or a yogurt..<br />
<br />
Still. At least my workouts are going well. Trying to stay a little away from carbohydrates, only eat them sparingly and push protein and veg, and try to make myself eat more fruit.<br />
<br />
A friend from work wants me to come and work out with her mon, wed, and frid.<br />
<br />
So until I can afford it, I may have another free gym angle!<br />
<br />
If it works out I am going to ask for a year membership for my birthday.<br />
<br />
We shall see.KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-27589731899876120342014-06-02T19:23:00.002-07:002016-01-21T15:31:56.907-08:00Calories...calories...calories...<p dir="ltr">SO I am trying to be good about getting 1200 calories AFTER exercise ones are burned.  I eat little meals all day.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Hah...day off 100 still always under budget and getting yelled at by my fitbit and activity tracker.</p>
KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-55142460534683228722014-05-31T21:43:00.002-07:002014-05-31T21:43:50.742-07:00Werking for the weekendExcept I am working ON the weekend. Took a client on a 2 mile hike this AM. We did interval training (60 second fast walk followed by 30 second recover, repeat for 2 miles). He also did calenstetics for 30 minutes. Then I went home, made my 2nd shift snack+food pack and the second client wanted to go hiking. so we hiked a mile and a half. I burned about 600 calories before I was able to even get 967 into my belly. I may need to start doing bigger breakfasts and more snacks (lean protein types) My legs hurt e that I aglad or ompression ks.KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-51467581950538302222014-05-30T16:47:00.002-07:002014-05-30T16:47:22.274-07:00Insert witty TITLEI have been working REALLY hard on making my body stronger, leaner,
and tighter so its easier for me to walk, sleep, etc. It meant cutting
out crap foods (except on cheat day) making myself eat 1100 calories a
day ( am a chubby recovering anorexic who would eat 900 calories, work
out t burn 600 calories, then eat nothing but sugar free Popsicle, sugar
free jello and water, then wake up with horrible stomach cramps from
hunger) I get up and plan when I eat my small meals 7AM Snackwells
Cookies (my early indulgence) 9AM Raw Almonds (13) 11AM Protein bar 1PM
1/4 cup sunflower seeds 3PM Greek yogurt 5PM small salad/vegan chicken
patty/veggie burger/turkey burger with 1 cup steamed vegetables, 2 sugar
free Popsicle. I may switch up and have yogurt for breakfast and
cookies as a snack, or switch cookies to graham crackers, I keep my fat
grams under 30 and calories at 1100 minimum 1200 maximum. I plan
walking, weight training, hiking, biking, yoga, and calisthenics 6 days a
week and on my "day off" I clean the house. <br />
So
far I think I am jump starting my metabolism I use Live Strong My Plate
to make sure I am staying in my recommended calories and make sure that
I eat 1100 calories (after I burn them so if I eat 1100, burn 600
means I have to eat 500 more calories in lean, low fat high protein, so
egg white omelet with Parmesan cheese or Kashi go lean is often a
choice.<br />
SO I have been doing really well
and thoroughly enjoying my cheat days without remorse or guilt, except
yesterday I "relapsed" I ate 600 calories, burned 400 and didn't eat
anything else. I woke up this morning hunched over, barely able to
move, my joints, ribs, and fascia were swollen, I immediately ate a
yogurt, then my stomach started growling like a large cat, so I ate a
graham cracker. It ws so bad my doctor called in a scrpt for Lyrica and
made me promise to take the night off from working out and eat some
simple carbohydrates.<br />
<br data-mce-bogus="1" />I
am learning. I am stronger than I think and at the same time I need to
remember I have a Chronic Degenerative Disease with no cure and little
treatment. A friend said "a car can't go with an empty tank" I nodded
unimpressed, then my friend Joe said "A carafe can't make coffee without
being filled with water" and somehow THAT was my Ah ha! moment. KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-35357764379320119242014-05-29T11:09:00.000-07:002014-05-29T11:09:39.800-07:00Twerking OutSo I have actually been working out 3 or more hours a day since last August of 2013. BUT I had not reimplemented weights and only biked.<br />
<br />
Now I am mixing up cardio doing hiking, walking, and cross training along with eating at least 1100 calories a day, increasing my protein, and doing high impact calisthenics.<br />
<br />
So I have been trying really hard to keep to my diet and exercise, only hormones, stress, and chronic illness and injuries threaten to derail me. <br />
<br />
My right ankle has been shattered twice and broken 3 other times. I have chronic Costochondritis (swelling of th fascia between the ribs) migraines, and neuropathic pain.<br />
<br />
It is hard, every day I have to wake up and plan a workout into my day, just as I have to plan iceing my ribs, and ankle, taking my meds, stretching, and eating.<br />
<br />
Eating has been hard, I was anorexic in college and old bad habits (not eating all day, only eating 500 calories a day, over exercising) seem to pop up even though I know better.<br />
<br />
ON most days that I get enough calories I have to tell myself over and over not to over do it on exercise.<br />
<br />
So I am documenting my feelings/journey here.<br />
<br />
Solidarity<br />
<br />
KJKJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-42147197574335889982014-05-08T05:19:00.001-07:002014-05-29T11:21:27.014-07:00Summer time flea controlI am a big DIY and natural here at Casa TooManyMammals. That said I have been known to break out the emergency capstar or advantage when I see the neighbors cats have fleas.<br />
<br />
NOW however I use all natural stuff and we have nary a flea outbreak (4 years going, finger crossed!)<br />
<br />
What I found out about Flea collars was that they are 1. Dangerous and 2. Ineffective. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/flea-collar-on-pets/">http://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/flea-collar-on-pets/</a><br />
<br />
Once I started making my on flea deterrent I found nary a flea. Step one was making my own "flea spray"<br />
<br />
I use a small spray bottle, and fill with two cups boiled water (cooled)<br />
5 drops Cedar essential oil<br />
5 drops tea Tree<br />
5 drops lavendar<br />
5 drops pine<br />
<br />
I have about 20 essential oils on hand you can use any combo, the importance is 10 drops per one cup water.<br />
<br />
I spray this about every other day on my dogs neck and back before we hike (Yep, we hike, in the woods, plains, ANYWHERE and nary a flea or tick!)<br />
<br />
I also vacuum using a flea deterrent mix:<br />
<br />
1 cup diatomaceous earth<br />
1 cup baking soda<br />
5 drops lavender<br />
5 drops Cedar<br />
<br />
I sprinkle this on carpets, let sit for a few minutes, then vacuum it up. I also put a little in the vacuum container.<br />
<br />
clean, fresh, no fleas (and no worms either!)<br />
<br />
I hope this helps! I am not against meds. I treat my dog and cat with ivermectin 6 months out of the year for heartworm prevention but I don't waste money on flea collars and sprays when this stuff has worked really well!<br />
<br />
EDIT: I no longer treat my American Bulldog with Ivo-Mec every month, I do a 30-1 dilution (appropriate for TINY dogs) for him instead. So far he has tolerated it well.<br />
<br />
Good Luck and happy summer! <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-85145633234466735712014-04-22T15:35:00.001-07:002014-05-29T11:17:33.786-07:00Awkward moments in pet parenting.So many people know I have 4 cats and a dog. No kids (thank goodness) because my pets are all crazy enough that adding kids MAY have driven me insane by now.<br />
<br />
So we have "special" pets. For as good as they are I have had to have many awkward pet moments with vets, bosses, and neighbors.<br />
<br />
SO I thought I would make a list of some of the best//worst moments in pet history:<br />
<br />
Kayne Michael Armstrong<br />
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This lovable rope-a-dope dog.<br />
Loves squeaky soft animal skins (aka stuffed animals with stuffing removed and stuffed with squeakers or plastic bottles) <br />
<br />
Kayne hates having his nails clipped, so I have to buy acrylic nail files and file his claws down once a week, during which he routinely falls asleep.<br />
<br />
Kayne is allergic to grass, wheat, soy, corn, dairy, pollen, cedar, plastic, rubber, nickel, and most laundry detergents.<br />
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Kayne enjoys eating cat litter covered poopies from the pan when he is angry at us.<br />
<br />
Kayne loves kittens and has brought home 13 to date, I only let him keep 2.<br />
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Kayne has to be sedated during thunder storms or he turns into the hulk and breaks shit.<br />
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Kayne has to have special lotion applied to his pads every night, he enjoys the taste.<br />
<br />
Kayne eats lip balm, and will wait until you are asleep and try to lick it off your lips.<br />
<br />
Kayne once scared a burgler away from a neighbors house when we were walking past. He almost pulled away from me and the man who was trying to open a window got scared and ran off. The neighbor bought him a pound of bacon<br />
<br />
Kayne got so scared during a severe thunderstorm he pushed open our front door to the deck, let himself out, locked himself outside, and climbed onto the roof where he sat howling, crying and barking until the cops came and called animal control. LUCKILY they know me, called my cell phone and said "Joy, your dog is stuck on the roof in a thunderstorm..." My boss was nice enough to let me go home to take care of him.<br />
<br />
Kayne and I saw a coyote once, Kayne ran behind me and tried to run away and leave me there. I like to think if I was eaten he would have told someone.<br />
<br />
<br />
Ani Louise <br />
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Ani Louise is "special"</div>
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Ani is about 13 now. we found her outside a house where a 13 year old punk kid was spraying raid under a house trying to get her to come out and stop meowing.</div>
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I admit said kid had the literally piss scared from him when I had two sheriff deputies come and detain him for "severe animal cruelty" They let him go saying they were going to be driving by his house every day for a month, then they did. Its good to have big scary bald sheriffs who love animals as friends.</div>
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Ani can't see out of the sides of her eyes, so often she sort of Stevie Wonders her head looking for toys and listening for us.</div>
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Ani loved Kayne's dog collars. She licks them, sleeps on them. rolls on them, seeks them out, but does NOT like the dog, just how his collars smell.</div>
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Ani likes licking lotion off your hands and feet while you are trying to sleep. She and Kayne share a love of lip balm.</div>
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Ani gets stuck in the carpet and cries until he relaxes enough for her claws to retract, or one of us goes and picks her up.</div>
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Ani stands in the litter pan and poops over the side</div>
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Ani will cover up food after the other cats have eaten from the bowl like its poop. This offends the other cats.</div>
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Ani LOVES fresh water, she still jumps in the tub to drink shower water, the sink to drink the drips and drinks out of unguarded glasses of water.</div>
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Jayne River Armstrong<br />
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Jayne came to us with 5 kittens (before we got Kayne so we can't blame him for all the cats) She is best friends with Kayne, follows him around, eats out of his bowl, grooms him and sleeps next to him whenever she can.<br />
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Jayne refuses to stand on the floor to eat instead demanding her food be up on the table.<br />
<br />
Jayne will not eat after Dodger or Klaude taste her food.<br />
<br />
Jayne will scream for HOURS if she is unhappy. Single cat poops in a cat box, warm water, "tainted" cat kibble, a purse on her table, all of these things cause her to scream until the situation is corrected.<br />
<br />
Jayne had made herself an "apartment" in the bottom cupboards in the kitchen. She will push out anything that encroaches her "apartment" including bags of food, crockpots, and other things that don't belong in her space.<br />
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Jayne once cost 300 dollars because bit her own cheek and was drooling for a month. 300 dollars later we found out she had gotten scratched by her own claw and got an infection in her cheek. She had to wear baby bibs for month and a half.<br />
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Klaude Wesley<br />
<br />
Klaude has FIV. He enjoys staring down the dog, biting his brother Dodger on the testicle pouch (he is neutered) and swatting me in the face in the morning until I wake up and pet him.<br />
<br />
Klaude requires twice a day grooming with a wet one, a brush and q-tips. He waits until I am sitting in the bathroom then comes in, lies down and lays back to think of Jesus until its over.<br />
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Klaude can't meow so instead he sort of bark/growls.<br />
<br />
Klaude ONLY plays with toys at midnight, they must be loud, heavy and preferably filled with bells.<br />
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Klaude will not let me cut his toeails, so we have to do one at a time per day, he sounds like a tap dancer most days.<br />
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<br />
Last but certainly not least is Dodger.<br />
<br />
I had a hard time trying to find a picture of Dodger that didn't include Kayne. He and Kayne sleep together, play together, go outside on their leashes together...Kayne brougt Dodger home from a walk and let him in to our house.<br />
<br />
I catch Dodger trying to ride Kayne like a horse, lick Kayne like a cat, and play with Kayne.<br />
<br />
Dodger can't meow either (Klaudes his dad) so he has a very high pitched squeak that sounds like a kitten.<br />
<br />
Dodger enjoys ambushing the dog by running around corners and popping out at him.<br />
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He enjoys lying in any collection of dirt, dust, or detritus he can find and rolling like a dust mop.<br />
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Dodger enjoys sleeping like the dead, arms flailed, mouth open, paws akimbo.<br />
<br />
He also enjoys harassing the other cats, and has forced us to make him wear a small brass bell so we know where he is at all times.<br />
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<br />KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17380480.post-56704442737528828792014-04-20T08:43:00.000-07:002014-04-20T08:43:06.416-07:00Happy Easter EveryBunnny!Paint your pagan eggs, get dusted with soot, dress in purple, or whatever we are supposed to do today...GORGE ON CANDY and HAM!<br />
<br />
Headache, don't get to spend Easter with Family (I have to work @ 3PM-10ish) I harbor back to memories of church dresses, special pancakes Nana made me and coming home to Easter baskets that had antique toys that had belonged to my Nana and Uncles that we had to leave on the basket on the couch so the Bunny could "bring them back next year and make repairs" <br />
<br />
Finding chocolate eggs MONTHS after we thought we'd found them all, Easter grass coming out of the cats butt, the kids in the neighborhood having an Easter egg hunt with shared stash and high school kids offering to hide it ...then later setting up the same later for neighborhood kids, nephews and nieces. <br />
<br />
I remember our dog finding the eggs, sucking them until only foil was left and spitting it out. She and later HE were very good at finding chocolate eggs..thank god we always got the kind that only made them have the brief runs!<br />
<br />
Now it is just me, the hubby and the fur brigade. I dyed Easter eggs with a clients kid, who BTW had a TON of fun doing it, I thought about dying a few eggs, but I hate hard boiled eggs so... <br />
<br />
Huh, I guess Easter is growing on me. WELP! time to try and bust out a grad paper, dress the dog in Easter ears and take his picture, because everyone needs traditions, and get Chris ready to go with his sister and make sure he remembers the treats I bought for the girls.<br />
<br />
Happy Easter everybunny, now send jellybeans.KJ Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149652144080933322noreply@blogger.com0