Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican celebration of those dearly departed on November 1st, All Souls day, the day after Hallowed Evening.


Last night I saw the Crested Butte Dance Collective's Dance of the Dead performance at the historic Ute Theater in Saguache, CO.  It was a wonderful performance and a timely moment for me to reflect on the family members I've lost this year and the friends far away in time and space whom I haven't seen for a long time and may never see again.

The shorter days & the brilliant last color of the tree leaves of the 'dying time of year' inspire reflection of what and who we have and how all things change. 

Take some time this season to love on your peeps and remember those who were with you before.

October 3, 2012 lecture Kellogg Institute/Dev Ed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ffrqr_dYfc&feature=edu&list=PLE7615019A4F25BA5

Maybe I should make an educational porn video

In class today, we had Joel Korngut, the Equal Opportunity Officer/Omsbudperson talk to students about legal ramifications of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Joel met with the male students for half the period, and then met with the female students for the remainder of the class.

Joel was going on about how women need to protect themselves from risk, how 25% of college students are sexually assaulted, how men predate women.  (see also mansplaining)

It didn't sound fun at all.  Sex equals bad.  Risk. Trust no one.

I interrupted.  "I'd like to give a woman's perspective. Sex and parties can be fun, and there are safe ways of going out/meeting people.  Here's how my girlfriends and I do it when we go out: we have a way of communicating with each other, 'hey maybe I might hook up with this guy' and we all carry condoms and make sure she's got one, and then tell her to give me a call next week" etc.

These first year female students--many of them appear to not yet 'hookup'--who is their role model for this sort of good communication behavior?  Do they know what their own voice sounds like when they 'give consent'?  Do they know how to make sure their partner wears a condom?  Do they have a plan for how they want to react to the "I don't like the way it feels" or whatever speech for not wearing a condom?

So, perhaps I should make an instructional video.  Not the panting/moaning kind, but the comedic play-by-play where I can pause it right there to say "here is where I explicitly give consent--when I reach into the bedside table drawer to pull out a condom."

And then show the outtakes: here is where he said, "oh, duh, I don't have a condom.  I promise I'll pull out." To which I replied, "no problem.  I have a condom!" etc

Food Security, I want it

This summer I spent some time at the fantastic restaurant F.A.R.M. Cafe eating well-prepared local food and occasionally serving/cleaning up.  F.A.R.M. stands for "Feed All, Regardless of Means," and the model of the cafe is that people may pay a suggested sliding scale donation or volunteer for an hour to receive a meal.

One of the things I learned talking with the chef/director was that a number of the students at the local university participated in the volunteer/eat program.  Some of our students experience "food insecurity"--hunger and the inability to access food.

The USDA defines food security as "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life."

There are a few things that distress me about students and food insecurity.  1) Their hunger is largely invisible.  People who are hungry generally don't want to look like it, and will go out of their way to hide any sign of vulnerability or need.  I am grateful for programs like F.A.R.M. cafe and the student-run food bank at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, for making food accessible in a way that preserves the dignity of the person. 2) I want to expand the definition of food security.  We are not certain that GMOs, for example, are a safe "edible foodlike substance" to ingest, and in fact there is some evidence that GM wheat is toxic because it contains a protein that humans haven't evolved to digest.  Have you tried eliminating wheat from your diet for a week?  I've been off wheat for a few months and my gut feels much better. In addition to GMOs, what is the risk of the prophylactic antibiotics used in Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) to human health?  What is the risk of pesticide residue on human health directly and through its environmental impact?

In fact, maybe more of us are less food secure than we think.  Do you think organic food is too expensive for most people to buy?  Isn't there something wrong if I can buy 2 toxic taquitos with whoknowswhat kind of meat in them for 99 cents? 

Fort Lewis College's student-run Food Bank

Enjoying the Benefits of Good Clean Living

Perhaps you can file this post under 'common sense,' but I admit I haven't always followed these bits of advice.

I have noticed that making healthy choices, what I'm calling "good clean living," has led to positive health outcomes. (See related post about how academic success is a result of specific actions that students take.)

For example, choosing daily exercise, a good run or bike ride or dogwalk or yoga, or whatever way you like to move your body outdoors, can lead you to good energy and focus during the day and good sleep at night. 

Making choices that lead to a good night's sleep can lead to a fresh morning.  Have your materials ready for the next day.  Go to bed early.  Getting plenty of quality sleep can lead to feeling energized, alert, engaged. Don't make me start quoting Ben Franklin.

Eating nutritious food leads to feeling fueled/energized/healthy and to a happy gastro-intestinal system.

Getting good nutrition and good vascular health also leads to good sexual health.  That's nice too.  Making good choices about planning ahead for protection feels empowering and frees the mind to enjoy.

Practicing good mental hygeine, including avoiding synthetic drama, leads to clearer thinking, more balance, integrity and stability.

Exercising moderation with alcohol and other substances (including sugar!) leads to less drama for the liver, pancreas and gall bladder.

Flossing.  My dentist has a sign in his office that reads "Floss only the teeth you want to keep." I like taking care of my teeth, and I positively beam with pride when my hygenist praises me at each cleaning.  "I wish more of my patients were like you, Karen."

Getting off the treadmill

My life functions at a relatively fast pace.  It is not unusual for me to start my day with 7 am yoga, work all day, dinner break, evening meeting or rehearsal, fall into bed. I have friends whose lives function even faster--a friend who has had his furniture in storage for 10 years because he travels so much for work; a friend who still pulls "all nighters" to get work done.

We are a little bit crazy.  Maybe more than a little bit. It is also exhilarating to live fully, to be engaged in one's community or profession.  It is also satisfying to mentor others.

And from time to time, we have the conversation.  It goes something like this: "yeah, one of these days, I should maybe settle down.  Maybe move out of the city. Get a farm. Buy some goats."

I should write a related post about the time I decided to take the goats, on leash, for a run, and my subsequent injuries.  Note the absence of leashes in the photo.  There is some nice symbolism for 'letting go of control' here.

If I were to make a movie of my life, I'd have to include an episode from a few years back when I was running on a treadmill. I was jogging along at a good pace when I mis-stepped and was conveyed at a high speed toward the back wall of the exercise room.  I wasn't hurt, but I felt deeply embarrassed.

This is turning out to be a blog post about the fear of looking ridiculous, plus the fear of actually getting hurt.  My point: Transitions.  Transitions can be awkward, scary. But to live authentically, sustainably, well, and in balance, we need to make the transition through different paces.

Letter to the Editor 10/9

Dear Editor,

The Alamosa Mosquito Control District is meeting Tuesday, October 9^th, at 6pm in the district office 511 4^th Street in Alamosa to discuss the 2013 budget.

In this meeting, the board will discuss how much to tax the district and on what those tax revenues should be spent: targeted larvacide vs diffused aerial spray, for example.  Larvacide may be upwards of 90% effective for killing baby mosquitoes, while the aerial spraying is moderately effective at best and is shown to be too broad of a killer, threatening the health of non-target species such as honeybees and humans.

I personally do not wish to have tax dollars spent on aerial spraying operations and urge the district to allocate the majority of their mosquito controls dollars to larvacide which is specifically applied to areas where mosquito larvae are present and which targets just the mosquito larvae.  Other districts in Colorado have moved their mosquito control efforts in this direction as well, abandoning aerial spraying because of its unproven effectiveness and prohibitive cost.

This summer, the district purchased an airplane which sits unused.  Purchasing decisions like this one show that the district is collecting much more revenue than it needs, and perhaps it is time to reduce the tax rate to 3%. If you are interested in how your property taxes are spent, I urge you to learn more about the proposed budget for 2013 and express your opinions in person, by phone or by email to 719-589-5409 or moscasa@mosquitobytes.org.

Thank you,

Karen Lemke