Surgery Report

 Well, Jill spilled the beans about my health situation on Facebook, so I guess there's no point in keeping it quiet any longer.

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer last summer. At the time, it did not appear to be serious and my doctor said we could simply monitor it and see what happens. In his words, "More men die with prostate cancer than from prostate cancer." Alas, that was not to be my fate. 

All the indications were that it was getting worse. Blood readings called PSA were increasing, the tumor itself was pressing against the wall of the prostate. When conditions crossed a red line back in March, he said we needed to make a decision--either remove the prostate or treat it with radiation. For someone of my age, he recommended the surgery.

So, Friday morning I had my prostate removed it what seems to have been a successful and uneventful operation. I came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. I'll be using a catheter for about a week and then begins the work of retraining my bladder and sphincter to control things. I've laid in some incontinence supplies.

As for right now, I am in no serious pain. Bending is a bit stressful, but walking--even climbing stairs--is not impossible. Full recovery may take a few months.

But I'm OK.

Posting Interruptus

 Some personal stuff will keep me from posting regularly here over the next few days. I hope to be back to a normal schedule no later than June 1.

Too Long to Vote?

 The most recent complaint from the GOP in my area is that the paper ballots we now use (after decades of electro-mechanical machines that provided no individual hard copy record of each vote) "take too long" to fill out. The ballots use the "fill in the bubble" system we're all familiar with from standardized tests in school and are then scanned (just as our old test sheets were) to record the vote electronically, while the original ballot is secured for any possible future need (such as a recount).

Of course, this system was mandated by a Republican federal law that requires a hard copy of every vote and then backed up by a Republican vote in the state legislature that approved the specific system being used. Many of the complaints argue that it took up to 10 minutes to fill out the ballot in the recently completed primary election.

I find that hard to believe. I voted by mail and filled out my ballot at home. Although I did not time myself, I know I did not spend anything like 10 minutes filling in bubbles...it might have taken 5 minutes. Perhaps the problem is that there were four questions on the ballot in addition to the candidates...and, if you had not familiarized yourself with the issues being voted on, you might have needed time to read and digest them before casting your vote. But that is not a fault of the system--it's a fault of the individual voter, especially since the text of the questions was posted in every polling place for voters to read before getting their ballots and marking them. 

What's more--I know there were poll workers from both parties outside every polling place, handing out literature that included explanations of those questions and the party's stand on each. 

Oh, and the GOP preferred position on all of those questions--including two very controversial ones that the Democrats opposed--won.

Ch-Ch-Changes

 Has life gotten easier where you are? In some ways, I think it has, here...and in many ways, I think it has not. Some stores have posted notices that masks are no longer required if you fully vaccinated for COVID (but, of course, unless they are going to ask for proof--which they are not--there's no way for them to know), some have removed any notices about masks (so there's no way to know what the official policy is), and others are still requiring masks for everybody. (I should note that even those in the first category are still requiring masks for their employees.)

Traffic around here has picked up as well...still not up to pre-pandemic levels, but there are decidedly more cars on the road, especially during morning rush hour (that may be because most of the schools here have gone back to at least partial in-person classes...and may stop in a few weeks when school ends). Public transportation commuting still seems lower than 18 months ago, though even some of that is busier than six or eight weeks ago. The parking lot at the local commuter train station is three-quarters full most mornings now, whereas it was virtually empty in February. OTOH, the overflow lot a few blocks away, which used to be completely full by 8 AM, is still mostly unused.

Of course, lower traffic than normal may make life easier. It's faster to get most places these days than it was in 2019. It's also made things quieter in our house, since we live on the main drag through our town.

What's changed around you and what do you think will be a permanent change?

Doom and Gloom?

 Yesterday afternoon, on MSNBC's Deadline White House, frequent guest Dr. Peter Hotez expressed the opinion that the CDC had dropped the guidelines for mask wearing by vaccinated people too soon, saying there were still too many places where the number of vaccinated was too low and the case count too high.

It worries me when people of his stature contradict or criticize the CDC. It worries me because it gives the COVID-deniers and anti-vaxxers ammunition for their claims that either the experts don't know anything or that the while thing is overblown. It also, I think, discourages those who might be on the fence from getting vaccinated.

Furthermore, it encourages those who are not vaccinated to go ahead and blatantly ignore the calls to continue to mask up until they do get the shot. And it makes it more difficult for businesses who want to open up to the vaccinated...which is the only way we're going to get out of this.

I have friends--fully vaccinated friends--who are still hunkering down in their homes, getting everything delivered, and wearing masks outside even when only walking to the edge of their own property (to pick up the mail or put out the trash). I worry about their long-term mental health in that kind of seclusion, especially if they take the opinions of experts like Dr. Hotez to heart and are still isolating themselves long after the danger is past.

The New Voting Normal

 Headline story in today's local paper is that results from yesterday's primary election are not yet available, connected to a Republican complaint that some precincts ran out of GOP ballots (although no one was prevented from voting, since they were given the option of using the system for the disabled, which utilizes a touch-screen).

I suspect we will simply have to get used to the idea that--now that PA is using paper ballots in all counties--vote counts will simply take longer. Previously (as I know from working the polls in the past), all the tabulation was done in the machine, with a printout giving totals for each candidate. All we had to do was read the printout, fill out the reporting form, and send it to the county seat. Now, each ballot has to be scanned (or read by hand), a much more laborious process.

Nothing nefarious going on--just the result of switching to a system that provides greater reliability, as there is a hard-copy record of every vote (even for that touch-screen system, as it prints out a filled-out ballot when completed).

Trust?

 In a discussion of the current situation in Israel and Gaza, I was asked why Israel should ever trust the Palestinians. I responded with these words from "The Song of the King" from The King and I:

Is a danger to be trusting one another
One will seldom want to do what other wishes
But unless someday somebody trust somebody
There'll be nothing left on earth excepting fishes

Fighting Vaccine Hesitancy

 It seems the biggest concern as we move out of the pandemic is now "vaccine resistance" or "vaccine hesitancy"--the people who flat out refuse to be vaccinated or are hesitant for a variety of (other spurious) reasons. I have a proposition to help alleviate the problem.

Every employer who wants to be able to open fully--whether as an office, a retail establishment, a restaurant, an entertainment venue, whatever--should mandate that their employees be vaccinated: "no shots, no salary". Naturally, there would have to be exceptions for those with valid medical reasons (the immuno-compromised, for instance) and valid religious reasons (but "the vaccine was developed using fetal tissue" is not valid, IMO). Those with valid religious concerns are, to me, Christian Scientists and some old-order Amish.

Of course, this can't be governmentally mandated...but it can be strongly encouraged, perhaps through executive orders (at the federal, state and local level) that government agencies cannot do business with companies not following this rule--just as there are governmental policies related to hiring and prevailing wages. Actually, come to think of it, under local health codes, perhaps any company dealing in food service could be mandated to have only vaccinated staff.

And, obviously, government agencies at all levels can set up similar rules. "You want to be a teacher, cop, firefighter, etc.--get vaccinated."

Your thoughts?

Our Difficult Constitution

 This morning on Morning Joe on MSNBC, Linda Colley, professor of history at Princeton University and author of The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen, suggested that perhaps our founding fathers made it too hard to amend our constitution and that it is now severely out of step with the modern world.

She compared it to the second oldest constitution still in operation, that of Norway (1814), which she said had been amended numerous times and is constantly being amended even now, as circumstances require. Colley specifically noted that the Constitution makes no mention of political parties and is far more concerned with the threat of a landed aristocracy than with wealth accumulated and held by an increasingly small number of people--a plutocrat class.

Of course, changing the Constitution so that it is more easily amended would require, in and of itself, one of those very difficult to get amendments. And Colley readily noted that making any such changes now, in the midst of one of our most politically divided periods, could be perilous.

What was refreshing, however, was that when asked for how she would rectify the situation, she gave that rarely heard response on television: "I don't know."

COVID Freedom Day

 Jill and I got our second Moderna vaccine shots two weeks ago today so, as of this morning, we are both fully immunized (or at least as far as the current science came make us).

That means, if you are also vaccine-complete, should we meet in real life, we can all remove our masks, shake hands, hug, and act just as we would have 14 months ago. There are people reading this, I'm sure, who I can't wait to greet again as we once would have.

Happy Mother's Day

 As my own mother passed last year, as did Jill's, this will be a somewhat quieter, more somber celebration than in the past...but we do expect to hear from both our boys later on.

And I pass on tidings of the day to all the other mothers of my acquaintance--my sister Cathy, our friend Cat, the very many moms among my theater friends  (especially Cathy Mostek, Ruth Brittain, Jess Stinson), and all the ones in my church community as well.

My Heroes

 When you hear the word "hero" what comes to mind?

To me, a hero is a person with firm principles built on justice, truth, understanding, and love (in the Biblical sense of charity to all). Who are the heroes of my life? In fiction, there are two great ones: Superman and Atticus Finch.

Superman because, unlike so many other comic-book characters, his decision to work for the greater good is based on his own moral character, on his belief in the innate goodness of all beings. He's not operating out of vengeance (like, say, Batman) or as a member of some larger agency (like the Green Lanterns). Add to all that his immense power, a power that could easily allow him to enforce his vision on everyone--and the fact that he continues to not do that--and he is the very essence of what I consider a hero.

Atticus Finch (if you're not familiar with him, stop right now and go read To Kill a Mockingbird or watch the movie based on the novel) is a hero because he stands up for what he believes to be right in the face of overwhelming community opposition. He models righteousness not only for his own children but for the whole town. As his neighbor Maudie tells his children: “There are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us.  Your father’s one of them.” That is another prime example of what a hero is and does.

Do I have real-world heroes who live up to those ideals? Good question...I have to think about it.

Belated Star Wars Day

 The rector of my Episcopal parish posted this on Facebook yesterday and I decided it was too good not to share more widely:

Never Wrong?

 I wonder if I'm the only person who keeps hearing the military and security analysis commentary on President Biden's announced withdrawal from Afghanistan and gets echoes of the same class of people regarding Vietnam in the mid-1970s.

"Without our support, our allies are doomed." "If [Afghanistan/Vietnam] falls to the [Taliban/Vietcong], it is a massive threat to US security." "We should stay until [Afghanistan/Vietnam] has a stable democratic government."

Had we listened to that advice 60 years ago, I think we'd still be in Vietnam today...and Vietnam would not be the stable, prosperous country it is now, a country that is one of our strongest economic partners in Asia (despite being nominally "Communist"). We spent about 15 years in 'Nam before realizing our goals were unachievable; it'll be 20 years in Afghanistan by September, and we actually achieved our stated goals years ago--getting the terrorist organization that masterminded 9/11 (including the killing of Osama bin Laden).

I suspect that the reason these people keep arguing against withdrawal is the same reason they had about Vietnam--they simply cannot stand to be proven wrong.

M'aidez

 Say the title in proper French and you'll get it.

Tra la, it's May, the lusty month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra la, it's here, that shocking time of year
When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear
It's May, it's May, that gorgeous holiday
When every maiden prays that her lad will be a cad
It's mad, it's gay, a libelous display
Those dreary vows that everyone takes
Everyone breaks
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May

Whence this fragrance wafting through the air?
What sweet feelings does its scent transmute?
Whence this perfume floating everywhere?
Don't you know it's that dear forbidden fruit

It's May, the lusty month of May
That darling month when everyone throws self-control away
It's time to do a wretched thing or two
And try to make each precious day, one you'll always rue
It's May, it's May, the month of yes you may
The time for every frivolous whim, proper or im-
It's wild, it's gay, a blot in every way
The birds and bees with all of their vast amorous past
Gaze at the human race aghast

Tra la, it's May, the lusty month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra la, it's here, that shocking time of year
When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear
It's May, it's May, the month of great dismay
When all the world is brimming with fun, wholesome or un-

It's mad, it's gay, a libelous display
Those dreary vows that everyone takes
Everyone breaks
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May

 --Alan Jay Lerner