"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" — MLK
Nick Dupree passed away on Saturday February 18th, 2017, at around 4:30 AM, just 5 days shy of his 35th birthday. Read the NPR article about his life and passing: Nick Dupree Fought To Live ‘Like Anyone Else’ (February 22, 2017) His websites and words remain available as a tribute to his creativity and spirit, … Continue reading “In Memoriam”
#USSMontgomery (#LCS 8) underway for builder’s trials @MadeinAL #MobileAL pic.twitter.com/231cl3HvvO — Austal USA (@Austal_USA) March 3, 2016 Mobile, Alabama. Pronunciation: MOH-BEAL I found the above photo posted March 3rd on Twitter under #MobileAL, and thought it striking. Uniquely illustrative of the America few actually see. The image of tranquil Mobile Bay, relatively sleepy downtown Mobile, … Continue reading “War & Peace on Mobile Bay: Springtime for Warships”
This 1986 Press-Register article about me, Jamie and Mom, especially Jamie, surviving the rare disease, was digitized by my Aunt Nancy in Virginia. Thank you. Mom gave me permission to post this here. It’s so old the newspaper was still called the PRESS-REGISTER! Back then the medical knowledge and approach to mitochondrial myopathies was much … Continue reading “1986 Mobile Press-Register Article: on specialness and surviving”
Idiosyncratic Interconnections Little Richard on an effeminate manner canceling out racism and workplace dynamics for gay black men today In this ^^ Sally Jesse Raphael interview with Little Richard, Sally Jesse refers to the “sociological” quirk that activist, web journalist, and hip-hopper Yitz Jordan (Y-LOVE) mentioned—and backed up with studies & statistics—on WNYC’s The Brian … Continue reading “Idiosyncratic Interconnections: Little Richard and *Gay on your resume* (Episode 2)”
Part of a new series, “Idiosyncratic Interconnections,” in which I unveil oddball connections betwixt two things that—most likely—only I, in my unusual mind, would notice… realizing a seemingly unrelated thing unexpectedly interconnects with another thing to explain, illuminate or give insight into the first thing. Each episode connects two things. Let me know if ya’ll … Continue reading “Idiosyncratic Interconnections: Loshon haRa and New Orleans R&B (Episode 1)”
Bringing together strands of recent thoughts … the blues… Recently I updated the “Got the blues so bad” mix/Nick’s True Blues Playlist – skewing heavily to the first bluesmen recorded vs later interpreters, the Southern backwoods “sundown comin’ & klan caught up to me at the crossroads” blues and that type of bluesman. Muddy Waters, … Continue reading “Mississippi Delta Bluesmen, as Relevant Now as Ever”
Been getting to the bottom of the bottom getting to me Holding up the mirror to everything I don’t want to see But it ain’t all flowers Sometimes you gotta feel the thorns And when you play with The Devil you know you gonna get the horns Whah-hooooooo-hooo-hooo! That visceral howl WHAH-HOOO-HOOO-HOOO in the grungy, … Continue reading “Nick Reviews Sturgill Simpson’s “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music””
When I wrote Saints commentary as the “Swami of the Swamp” Special thanks to Lee ^ for unearthing this article from his archives and taking the time to scan it for me (Click to embiggen image of newspaper article) This Superdome trip, my one and only visit inside da dome, really was a peak life … Continue reading “My New Orleans Saints community experience and Superdome trip: December 2000”
“Down in Mobile they’re all crazy, because the Gulf Coast is the kingdom of monkeys, the land of clowns, ghosts and musicians, and Mobile is sweet lunacy’s county seat.”—Eugene Walter So I was in Mobile, AL, a port city as complex as it is old, the Confederacy’s “undefeated” city, and my hometown, and I move … Continue reading “Thoughts in October 2014: Flu Vaccines, Political Example-Stories, Confederate Ghosts in the Fog, and Mobile, Alabama memories”
Ebola hemorrhagic fever affects much of the mammalian family tree: its spread should make us remember our intimate connection with other mammals and the environment All animals sustain themselves on an ecological tightrope of sorts, delicately balancing so many needs, including water, food, space and safety, all tied to the habitat they live in. You … Continue reading “Ebola outbreak directly related to our cousin mammals, environmental destruction”
Nick Analysis: Focus on Long-term Policy Choices This attack ad put out by “The Agenda Project,” an org that apparently exists solely to place anti-GOP TV spots, is aimed at the electorate voting in the upcoming decisive midterm races for House and Senate. And it is unique in several ways. Most obviously, the ad is … Continue reading “Public Health Back on the Frontburner with Ebola Panic”
The Damage Wrought by the Great Big Horrendous Financialization Ka-blooie is Real. But this was (and is) Part of a Great Change. My friends, there’s no doubt we live in interesting times. This isn’t just a recession when budget sheets show big gaps, then the economy dips into a deep lull and then comes back … Continue reading “We’re Not Just Coping with “The Great Recession.” This Is “The Great Change.””
a bit belated, but… The debut of the new Doctor—episode 8.1: Deep Breath—was great, because… 1. the female Tyrannosaur inadvertently loosed on Victorian London… CAUTION: Spoilers Ahead 2. Badass lesbian kung fu detectives, one of whom is dino sapiens, in Victorian London. Madame Vastra, actually part of the Silurian or homo reptilia race, an early Eocene … Continue reading “Why The Doctor Who Series Opener Was Awesome”
and now for something completely different… Depictions of Radioactivity Fears in 1936 Flash Gordon Serial Defining my terms: Up until at least the mid-1950s, newsreels, cartoon shorts like Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry, and this week’s chapter of your favorite movie serials were shown before or between the feature(s)—the full-length movies—and the afternoon at … Continue reading “The Hawkmen’s Sky City Runs on Radium”
My Mom Taught Me – Subvert The Dominant Paradigm remember to turn the subtitles on. [my shirt says: FREE OUR PEOPLE BIG APPLE ADAPT] When Alejandra mentioned to me that even Raul, like me one of two brothers with an uber rare muscle mitochondrial thing, on a ventilator full time and an awesome advocate too, went ahead … Continue reading “The ADAPT Ice Bucket Challenge: An #IceBucketChallenge for Community Inclusion! /memeHijack”
With New Forms of Toxic Waste from the Fracking Bonanza Piling Up, What Must Be Done? I really like the PBS documentary mini-series Constitution USA, because it brings forward the constitutional arguments that are so relevant to the problems we face in our country today. It explores a worthy cross-section of important legal/constitutional debates with … Continue reading “How Can the U.S. Constitutional System Cope When Big Fracking Bucks mean Big Toxin Dumping?”
Part 4 of 4 of the series When Life and Death is “A Matter of Policy” For part 2, I wrote an overview of some of the bad things that have occurred when people in medical settings follow policy strictly even when it leads to horrible consequences, or in the case of Eric Garner, they … Continue reading “Diamonds in the Rough ‘n Tumble Webternets: What Med-people of Conscience Are Blogging (Part 4/4)”
Part 3 of 4 of the series When Life and Death is “A Matter of Policy” In part 2, I examined some of the bad things that can happen when people in medical settings apply “the rules” strictly, unmodified by the patient involved or the dictates of conscience. Now I’ll look at the what and why … Continue reading “Human Nature, the Tendency to OBEY, Bad Incentives, and the U.S. Medical System (Part 3/4)”
Part 2 of 4 of the series When Life and Death is “A Matter of Policy” Annnnnnnnnd we’re back… in part one of this series, I detailed one policy driven by No Discernable Medical Purpose (NDMP), and that’s the “no foreign ventilator” policy hospitals have, affecting me in the past and maybe at points in the … Continue reading “Paramedics, the VA, and Eric Garner: When Deference to Authority Goes Horribly Wrong (Part 2/4)”
Part 1 of 4 of the series: When Life and Death is “A Matter of Policy” As I mentioned recently in the quasi-mission statement of the blog, I create bloggings to ask the right questions, to illuminate the unseen issues facing us ignored vulnerable groups, or that’s the goal. Within that is the idea that … Continue reading “Medical Bureaucracy: Switching Your Ventilator “Because Policy” (Part 1/4)”
Dispatches from Ventboy Alcatraz From inside the walls of the institution, Coler-Goldwater, I continued to create content, to blog, and we added video blogging from the inside. I wrote the following blog posts about the institution, where I lived from August 28, 2008 to September 10, 2009: Hey everyone I almost died again – October 15th, … Continue reading “The Coler Chronicles: Collected Bloggings of the Institution Days”
The Mississippi River watershed a post-aCARPalypse world, the Great Lakes fear Carpmageddon! Verb: zerg (third-person singular simple present zergs, present participle zerging, simple past and past participle zerged) (slang, video games, strategy games) To attack an opponent with a large swarm of units before they have been able to build sufficient defenses. From the game StarCraft (1998), in … Continue reading “OMG! Invasive Species: Asian Carp Confound U.S. System”
Tidbits of Colonial Mobile’s Economic and Legal History Through a 19th century Jewish Lens The rare book “A History of the Jews of Mobile,” a brief monograph published by Springhill Avenue Temple rabbi Alfred Geiger Moses in 1876 on the Jewish history of my hometown Mobile, AL, and now available online, records some fascinating facts. I’ll … Continue reading “Bitesized History: the Code Noir and Mercantilism in Jewish Mobile, Alabama”
Part of a new series, “In a Nutshell,” in which I try to explain an idea in 500 words or less. When the tentacles of regulation clog your toilet The Commerce Clause of Article I of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the … Continue reading “In a Nutshell: America’s Regulatory Octopus and Non-working Toilets”
Part of a new series, “In a Nutshell,” in which I try to explain an idea in 500 words or less. What is a liberal? I think of liberalism as beginning with the belief that the citizen is sovereign and has certain inalienable rights, inalienable meaning they are indestructible and unconditional, not contingent on kings, … Continue reading “In a Nutshell: Ted Cruz is a Liberal (What’s liberalism?)”
An Independence Day post (belated) – bloggery for the Founders We would do well to mark the 4th not with the flag-waving militarism and “fighting for freedom” boo-yahs that typify so many public Independence Day events, and focus on the thing that Independence Day was really commemorating: the Declaration of Independence (adopted prior to large-scale … Continue reading “George Washington’s Ideas about Technology and Transportation Infrastructure Offer Lessons for Today’s U.S.”
When law-breaking is moral and obedience is immoral Philosophical contradictions (cognitive dissonance) There have always been contradictions in the predominant (deeply right-wing) currents of political/moral thought in the state I call home, Alabama, that I have never made sense of. For example, one moment a conservative is the most believingest true believer of American ingenuity … Continue reading “Law and Order: When Is It Wrong To Follow The Law?”
Neil Young’s 1989 “comeback album” Freedom is probably Neil Young’s best work, and I think it should be considered in the rare category, “best Folk rock albums ever.” Freedom opens with an acoustic performance of “keep on rawkin in the free werld” live in concert (cut from an outdoor set he did at Jones Beach, … Continue reading “Nick Reviews Neil Young’s “Freedom””
This album, Random Access Memories, won the Grammy for Album of the Year last month, sold umpteen-bajillion copies/went platinum in an era of “people don’t buy albums,” and hit number one in over 20 countries, and after listening to it I understand why. It has the mass appeal of Europop/techno-dance, while being way more clever and … Continue reading “Nick Reviews Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories””
Part 4 of 4 of my D-cember: Dino-cember! series My Disclaimer: This post covers dinosaur evolution, and I apologize in advance for my (rather incomplete) knowledge of evolution and the evolutionary sciences, but I do know that, evolution, as phrased in Stephen Jay Gould’s essay “Scalia’s Misunderstanding” (p. 448 of the previously mentioned Bully for Brontosaurus) … Continue reading “Birdosaurs: Investigating the Evolution of (some) Dinosaurs into Birds”