Chicago Day 3

Posted on May 29, 2011 by ruthek

B's wonderful birthday party was last night. There were 40 people, all relatives, except for me and one other friend—a great celebration. B is one of my best friends for 50 years, at least. I wanted to bring a present, but we 70 or 80 year olds don't need much. She certainly didn't need another chachkie. One day, while I was pondering this question, we talked on the phone about roladexes and keeping track of people's addresses. B mentioned that she wanted a birthday book—a kind of diary where you entered the birthdates of friends and relatives–popular during our girlhood and earlier Victorian times.

There was my solution: make a birthday book. I emailed B's son asking for pictures and birthdates and he contacted the rest of the family. Sometimes it was like pulling teeth, but most were wonderfully cooperative. Once I got all of the photos and information, creating the book on the computer was relatively easy. Then I had to select and acquire the paper I wanted to print on and make all the decisions about the binding. I knew that B loved grayed green colors so I chose an olive green text weight paper. The book is 5.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep. I printed two pages on each side of 8.5 by 11 inch sheets, then trimmed and folded the sheets in three page signatures. Each signature was then wrapped in a translucent sheet with roses printed on one side and another piece pasted with double-sided tape to form a pocket for additional photographs. There are four signatures with a total of 48 pages, not including the translucent pockets. The first 12 pages have family pictures and info. The remainder have the month names heading each page with lines for names and space for photos. I made two books, giving the second to B's sister with some modifications.

The books are covered with a handmade (no, I didn't) paper with ferns and rose petal incorporations.

One of the pockets. There is a story about the roses, also. Maybe I'll tell that next.

Family pictures inside the book.

The week is nearing its end

Posted on May 26, 2011 by ruthek

and I have survived. Among other things, tomorrow I am driving to Chicago for one of my dear friends 80th birthday celebration. I've been making something special for her (more to come on that) so that's part of what made the week difficult. One of the other things is that I am going to move. Not to New York, as I might have enjoyed, but to another place in Pittsburgh. Although I think not connected to my argument with the landlord, he raised the rent $150. I figure for that kind of rent I can get someplace with more services. I began looking about a month ago and found little that pleased me. Most of the rentals here are in converted single family homes–no services. There are a few large places like the one I chose to get away from in New Jersey, but they're expensive and, so far, nothing I want.

Now I am looking at places to buy. That's the next step. I want a place where I do not have to take my trash to the curb; where the common areas are really kept clean, and where the snow is removed promptly. I don't think it's asking too much.

This week was my birthday. My artist neighbor made a card for me with my portrait. I must say, she got it exactly right.

That's me, peering at the computer amid all the chaos of my life.

Back soon with more.

Another tree

Posted on May 15, 2011 by ruthek

I have no excuse

Posted on May 15, 2011 by ruthek

I just didn't feel like writing.

My infection seems to have gone, although I won't be convinced for another week or so. My Osher classes began this week. I wasn't taking anything for the last month because I expected to be away; I'm glad the new term has begun. Tuesday morning I'm in a class called "Representing the Devil." Last week we looked at readings from both the old and new testaments. This week we are reading Christopher Marlowe's, "Dr. Faustus." We will also read "The Master and Margarita" and "No Country for Old Men." I started reading M & M and it's excellent. So is the professor; I'm very pleased.

Tuesday afternoon is a film class. We watched "Sunset Boulevard," which I saw back in 1950 or 51. I remembered absolutely nothing except the shooting scene. Amazing how completely these things disappear.

Wednesday afternoon is a journaling class. You're probably laughing. How can I keep a journal when I can't even keep up with the blog. We are supposed to write three pages a day. I wrote something yesterday, but not three pages. There are many things I don't want to put in the blog. Keeping a journal would be a good thing if I wasn't so lazy.

Thursday afternoon's class is called "Behind the scenes at the Carnegie Museum." I don't think this will be the best class. We only get behind the scenes once, the rest of the time we're in lectures. I've spent lots of time volunteering at the Field Museum in Chicago and often got behind the scenes. It was fascinating. I'm sure the Carnegie would be also. Maybe I'll look into volunteering there.

I got back to the health club. I've been walking (even did the 5k Race for the Cure last weekend) but avoided other exercise because of taking Cipro. I don't know if I'm happier with or without all the exercise. I'm certainly happier without the Cipro.

Facebook is using me

Posted on May 4, 2011 by ruthek

Last night I saw a link to something that's supposed to show you what you will look like in 20 years. Since I don't really expect to be around to see what I look like at 97 I tried it. Before I saw the picture they asked for too much information from me. I closed the screen and thought that was the end of it. Uh uh. The link was posted to all my friends on Facebook. I'm really pissed. There seems to be no easy way to reach the Facebook minders, so I'm telling everyone how annoyed I am.

This week

Posted on May 1, 2011 by ruthek

Lots of things happened.

Still taking Cipro (until Tuesday). Slightly better each day, but still a problem.

I am going to move again. I didn't really plan to do this, but I've been unhappy with this apartment for some time now. After my fight with the landlord I think it's best if I get out. So I've been spending a lot of time looking, online and otherwise. There are lots of apartments for rent but not many I want or can afford.

Because of this, and because I should do it anyway, I'm trying to get rid of stuff. Last week I shredded or threw out tax returns from 1988 through 2002. I didn't even know I had them. They came with my divorce.

Last weekend I went to a benefit concert for Japan, actually the second one I've been to. This was at Pitt and included some Japanese cultural things as well as good music. This photo is from the tea ceremony.

I found it strange and interesting to have the camera man right in there with the participants while a ghostly image of the action was projected onto the screen behind. It reminded me of the Bunraku performance I saw in Osaka where the puppet masters stand directly next to the life-size puppets. All the camera man needed was a black hood around his head.

More beautiful trees from the 'burgh. These are in a somewhat run down park that was once the site of George Westinghouse's mansion.

Pittsburgh is Beautiful in Spring

Posted on April 25, 2011 by ruthek

Everywhere you look the trees are blooming and there are lots of spring flowers. Here is a tree bursting out from a tiny patch of dirt between two buildings on a street with blocks of nothing but buildings.

I took this on the way to the oral surgeon. I am better, but not good. This is my sixth day of the antibiotic. My past experience has always been that two days brought great improvement. I had only a little after three days. He thinks he should remove the implant and that will clear up the infection. Then we'll try again. I hate to do it, but I'll probably go along with that. Nasty, nasty.

For some time now, I have thought about making portraits of trees. Here is my first one: in my backyard, the shadow cast by the tree in the next yard.

The week that was

Posted on April 21, 2011 by ruthek

Last Wednesday I took the Megabus to Philadelphia. Except for the fact that there's no way to get up and walk around, it's a decent way to travel. Of course, they leave before dawn, which meant I had to get up at 4:30, but it was OK. I met Renee in Philly and we went to the Chagall exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art. Very nice. We also walked around South Street; went to the Magic Garden, Reading Market, and Eastern State Penitentiary; staying overnight to do all of this.

Finally, exhausted, we got on another Megabus and went to New York, where I went to the Japan Society to see Bye, Bye Kitty, a really good exhibit put together before the earthquake, but entirely appropriate to the circumstance, and then spent time at the Met. I can't go to New York without spending time at the Met. Also went to visit friends who have just moved into a new apartment.

Robin and Steve drove in on Saturday and we had dinner with Steve's family: Renee, Michael and Rosemary. On Sunday Renee went to Boston to have a Passover Seder with Steve's sister, Robin and Steve moved to the apartment (musical apartments) and we had our Seder with friends in Teaneck. Our friends have a mixed marriage: he's Ashkenazi; she's Sephardi. The Seder is always a blend of their traditions, making it more interesting for us.

Now comes the bad part:

We were supposed to stay until yesterday morning, but I had a problem so my kids very kindly brought me back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Two weeks ago I had the implant inserted where my tooth had been pulled. It became infected, although I wasn't certain of it until Sunday. Monday morning I called the oral surgeon and got a perscription for an antibiotic, but it didn't seem to help. Feeling worse on Tuesday, with obvious swelling of my cheek, we drove back. Yesterday, I spent the morning back at the oral surgeon's. You don't want to know the details. I'm still swollen and not certain it's getting better. I am allergic to penicillin and tetracycline, and I've had bad side effects from levaquin. It makes it very hard for me to take antibiotics. They've been alternating between two arithromycins, but now they don't seem to be working. So I'm taking cipro, a levaquin-type, and keeping my fingers crossed.

Past pollution meets present day corruption

Posted on April 15, 2011 by ruthek

I often speak to my ESL students about democracy. Most of them don't really understand what we are all about (I'm not sure I know lately, either), and most of them are unrealistic about the US, loving us, or hating us too much. I am always pleased when I have an opportunity to demonstrate some of our professed values in action.

Back in December, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran a series of articles about air pollution in Western Pennsylvania–how fine particulate in the air causes asthma, lung cancer, other lung diseases and heart disease. They told stories about the problems individuals and families living near our coal fired power plants have, and presented statistics showing a huge number of deaths above the national average from these causes. You can read the series here.

In order to keep the message alive a meeting was held at Chatham University, attended by me, my two students and several hundred others. The reporters gave an overview of the problem and several of the affected individuals told their horrifying stories—children suffering with asthma, proliferation of lung cancer deaths within their communities, well water polluted so that it was not only not drinkable, but caused skin rashes when they showered with it corroded pipes and faucets so badly they had to be replaced every two years.

I was hoping to show my ESL students that this is the way democracy should work. What did we learn? My Chinese student learned that the Chinese aren't the only ones with pollution problems. He was clearly impressed with that. My Russian student lived in Sweden for twenty years before coming here. I'm not sure what she learned. I learned, not for the first time, that our elected officials have no shame and don't care about what happens to their constituency, so long as the industry involved continues to support their tenure in office.

The lessons are clear: in the name of creating cheap power we allow the industry to be lax and shift the cost away from all of us and on to the backs of a few individuals who pay dearly. The most obvious lesson is the ineffectiveness of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which seems to be protecting only the companies creating the environmental problems.

All of this has to do with rectifying past sins, but we have learned nothing. The day after the meeting, the head of the Pennsylvania DEP announced that all permits and enforcement actions for Marcellus shale drilling would be issued by his office. We know he isn't concerned about air or water quality. His only concern is to give the gas drilling industry the greatest freedom possible. Pennsylvania is not taxing or taking any kind of removal fee. The only authority looking out for the public interest is the DEP and they sold out. See the links below for more information.

We haven't learned our lessons from air pollution, now we will poison our water supply.

This is the story I told during my fifteen minutes of fame at the Waffle Shop. But I made one mistake. The interviewer asked me what she could do and I talked about contacting elected officials. That's obviously hopeless. These college kids should be out marching in the streets, just like they are doing in the middle east. It's their water and their air we are poisoning. Because of my age and the fact that I already have heart disease, it won't matter so much to me; it should matter hugely to them. We have allowed our democracy to be sold to the highest bidder. Our children will pay more dearly for this than they will for the debt the Republicans are screaming about.

Ronni Bennett, at Time Goes By, has a wonderful post about the choices we face for our democracy. If you haven't read it, go there now.

Links

Post-Gazette Air Pollution series

The sell-out

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11089/1135894-100.stm

http://blogs.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/opinion/a-fine-point/26250

http://blogs.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/opinion/a-fine-point/26250-shale-cops-now-state-enforcement-will-be-in-political-hands

http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2011/04/the-fight-of-our-lifetimes.html

Sunday stroll

Posted on April 3, 2011 by ruthek

The sun was shining when I left home, although they promised rain or snow for tonight. Even though I wasn't going to do it, I walked more than four miles today. I'm not as tired as last week, so we'll see what happens tonight. This time I walked to East Liberty and the Waffle Shop. They have a live feed broadcast where they interview people. I decided I wanted to be interviewed: never done that before. The live feed is only on until 2 pm, (they keep strange hours) but I was assured they would edit the video, eventually, and it will appear online. This is a student enterprise (CMU) so don't expect to see anything very quickly. I should be able to post it here after it appears.

This walk took me past the soon-to-be Target, and something that will replace the bus station. This area has been under construction for several years with no apparent change or improvement. Now they've made it almost impossible to walk.

In order to get off the pavement you have to cross that fairly high block of concrete or else walk in the street, a scary business. I was able to haul myself up on the pavement by hanging on to the fence. I was actually afraid I would knock it down. My legs don't want to do this kind of climbing anymore.

There is a new sculpture in Mellon Park. It's pretty nice.

They don't tell you anything about it, who did it, or why it was placed there, but just in case you want to get a concrete slab, there is an informative label.

I also thought the placement of this bench was interesting. It was there before they placed the sculpture, but they could have turned it around. There's nothing very interesting looking the other way.

I'll tell you about the subject of my interview soon. The host started to ask me about my favorite song, or my favorite artist; she wouldn't know who I was talking about if I told her. I stopped her and took over the conversation: serious, but she got into it. More to come. Here she is with her previous guest.

100 Books Before I Die

Ruthe Karlin

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