PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO

Today I am sharing my passion for photography.

The portfolio posted is a traditional version developed for an intro digital photography course. It was designed to show a variety of kinds of work.

Frankly, there are a few clunkers in the mix. Another flaw is a repetition in subject: i.e. three close-up shots of windows. This serves as a good reminder to edit portfolios to include only 12 to 15 stellar shots.

And the slideshow format used on Blogger is poor. See how the images are not shown full frame? The top and bottom of the photos are cut off. In addition, there is no way to enlarge the viewing screen. YouTube is a better option for posting shows because you have the capability to show the slides full screen.

I decided to post this basic portfolio here as an educational tool for others.

For creative inspiration, I always recommend reading the books of Freeman Patterson, a photographer with the spirit of a poet. "Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image", "Photography and the Art of Seeing", and "The Photography of the Natural World" are just a few good titles. Although the books may reference pre-digital technical stuff , his personal philosophy, practical exercises, and refreshing vision make these books timeless treasures.

Check out "Doing Documentary Work" by Robert Coles for thought provoking writing on the ethics of photography. While I may not agree with every point made, there are valuable insights that prompt dialogue about our right to photograph others and our responsibilities to those whose pictures we take.

And another classic that always has a place on my bookshelf is John Berger's "Ways of Seeing".

I end with some quotes I enjoy related to this pursuit:

You don’t need to go anywhere to go everywhere. I can think of no situation —none whatever– where exciting visual possibilities do not exist. —Freeman Patterson

…to stop rushing around, to sit quietly on the grass, to switch off the world and come back to Earth, to allow the eye to see a willow, a bush, a cloud, a leaf, is an “unforgettable experience.” —Frederick Frank, “The Zen of Seeing”

I think a good portrait ought to tell something of the subject’s past and suggest something of his future. —Bill Brandt

…the sight of stars always sets me dreaming just as naively as those black dots on a map set me dreaming of towns and villages. —Vincent Van Gogh

THE WOODEN BOX

FIESTA WARE

The power of choice. Improving one's day by choosing a particular color of Fiesta dinnerware to use is admittedly an assertion of minimal power limited only to the sphere of the domestic. Yet, from consumer or economic theories to psychology, sociology or even public policy, the beneficial values of autonomy and self-determination remain undisputed; the concepts of control and intrinsic motivation are seen as essential for individuals’ psychological and even physiological well being.

I happen to like Fiesta ware but I might be advocating its use because I emotionally connect its bold color and design to happier days of childhood. Manufacturers are well aware that consumers bond with the products of their youth, hence the immense amount of advertising dollars spent marketing to a younger demographic. Nostalgia sells products.

Sheila Tucker knows this. Her popular website Hometown Favorites carries hundreds of products to satisfy the cravings of childhood nationwide.

According to the NY Times, regional companies are also beginning to cater to the demands of consumers trying to track down items no longer on the shelves at their local supermarkets. "Unable to find their favorite foods anymore in the big box stores, consumers are desperate, admits Richard Bella Barba, the president of the company Taste of Philadelphia. "Business has tripled since we hit the Internet in 1977."

"And then there is Tastykake, the Philadelphia-area line of Hostess-style baked goods. ''Someone took it upon themselves to call Philadelphia International Airport and do a report on the X-ray machines,'' said Kathy Grim, the director of corporate and community relations for the manufacturer. ''They asked, 'What do people take with them most?' And the answer was Tastykake.''

And so I wonder about my Fiesta ware video manifesto. Am I guilty of nostalgically spreading brand propaganda while mistakenly thinking I was sharing a love for color?

PINK QUARTZ

drunk on rocks

drunk on perfectly painted toenails
no longer perfect
I am alive
and growing
and that is a good thing
drunk with my head under a bush
I nap with my cat
after taking a rock picture
at 2:45 pm.
and not the golden hour
drunk on knowing
it will be washed out
over exposed
and A O.K.
drunk on thinking
bad poetry
I laugh
drunk on remembering
Cornell Capa's obituary

Cornell Capa, Photojournalist and Museum Founder, Dies at 90

By PHILIP GEFTER
New York Times

Published: May 24, 2008

Cornell Capa, who founded the International Center of Photography in New York after a long and distinguished career as a photojournalist, first on the staff of Life magazine and then as a member of Magnum Photos, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 90.

Petr Tausk, courtesy of the International Center of Photography

Cornell Capa in 1983. More Photos »

Multimedia

Slide Show

Photos by Cornell Capa, 1918-2008

Enlarge This Image

Cornell Capa/Magnum Photos, courtesy of the International Center of Photography

A photograph by Cornell Capa of political dissidents arrested after the assassination of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua in 1956. More Photos >

Enlarge This Image

Cornell Capa/Magnum Photos, courtesy of the International Center of Photography

Cornell Capa's photograph of John F. Kennedy's Hands, North Hollywood, California, September 9, 1960. More Photos >

His death was announced by Phyllis Levine, communications director at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan.

Mr. Capa had three important incarnations in the field of photography: successful photojournalist; champion of Robert Capa, his older brother, among the greatest war photographers; and founder and first director of the International Center of Photography, which, since it was established in 1974, has become one of the most influential photographic institutions for exhibition, collection and education in the world.

In Mr. Capa’s nearly 30 years as a photojournalist, the professional code to which he steadfastly adhered is best summed up by the title of his 1968 book, “The Concerned Photographer.” He used the phrase often to describe any photographer who was passionately dedicated to doing work that contributed to the understanding and well-being of humanity and who produced “images in which genuine human feeling predominates over commercial cynicism or disinterested formalism,” he said.

The subjects of greatest interest to Mr. Capa as a photographer were politics and social justice. He covered both presidential campaigns of Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s and also became good friends with him. He covered John F. Kennedy’s successful presidential run in 1960, and then spearheaded a project in which he and nine fellow Magnum photographers documented the president’s first hundred days, resulting in the book “Let Us Begin: The First One Hundred Days of the Kennedy Administration.” (He got to know the Kennedys well; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis would become one of the first trustees of the International Center of Photography.)

In Argentina Mr. Capa documented the increasingly repressive tactics of the Perón regime and then the revolution that overthrew it. In Israel he covered the Six-Day War. The vast number of picture essays he produced on assignment ranged in subject from Christian missionaries in the jungles of Latin America to the Russian Orthodox Church in cold war Soviet Russia, the elite Queen’s Guards in England and the education of mentally retarded children in New England.

His work conformed to all the visual hallmarks of Life magazine photography: clear subject matter, strong composition, bold graphic effect and at times even a touch of wit. In his 1959 essay about the Ford Motor Company, for example, one picture presents a bird’s-eye view of 7,000 engineers lined up in rows behind the first compact car, which all of them were involved in developing: a single Ford Falcon.

“I am not an artist, and I never intended to be one,” Mr. Capa wrote in “Cornell Capa: Photographs,” his 1992 book. “I hope I have made some good photographs, but what I really hope is that I have done some good photo stories with memorable images that make a point, and, perhaps, even make a difference.”

It was because of Robert Capa that Cornell became a photographer. He was Cornell’s mentor, along with Henri Cartier-Bresson and David Seymour, and on his coattails Cornell Capa first became affiliated with Life magazine. In 1947, Cornell Capa’s three mentors founded Magnum Photos, which he would join after Robert was killed on assignment in Indochina in 1954.

“From that day,” Mr. Capa said about his brother’s death, “I was haunted by the question of what happens to the work a photographer leaves behind, by how to make the work stay alive.”

The International Center of Photography was born 20 years later, in part out of Mr. Capa’s professed growing anxiety in the late 1960s about the diminishing relevance of photojournalism in light of the increasing presence of film footage on television news. But for years he had also imagined a public resource in which to preserve the archives and negatives of “concerned photographers” everywhere. In this regard, his older brother’s legacy was paramount in his thoughts when he opened the center, where Robert Capa’s archives reside to this day.

Born Kornel (with a single l; he later added a second) Friedmann on April 10, 1918, in Budapest, he was the youngest son of Dezso and Julia Berkovits Friedmann, who were assimilated, nonpracticing Jews. His parents owned a prosperous dressmaking salon, where his father was the head tailor. In 1931 his brother Robert, at 17, was forced to leave the country because of leftist student activities. In 1935 his eldest brother, Laszlo, died of rheumatic fever.

Cornell initially planned to be a doctor, joining Robert in Paris in 1936 to start medical studies. But first he had to learn French. Robert, who had become a photojournalist in Berlin before settling in Paris, had befriended two other young photographers, Cartier-Bresson and Seymour. To support himself, Cornell developed film for the three and made their prints in a makeshift darkroom in his hotel bathroom. Soon he abandoned plans to be a doctor. He also adopted his brother’s new last name, a homage, in variation, to the film director Frank Capra.

In 1937 Mr. Capa followed his mother to New York City, where she had joined her four sisters. When Robert came for a visit and established connections with Pix Inc., a photography agency, he helped get Cornell a job there as a printer. Soon after, Cornell Capa went to work in the Life magazine darkroom.

In 1940, Mr. Capa married Edith Schwartz, who assumed an active role in his professional life, maintaining his negatives and archives, and also those of his brother. They had no children, but she provided a home away from home for hundreds of the photographers they came to know. Mr. Capa wrote that Mrs. Capa, who died in 2001, “deserves so much of the credit for whatever I have accomplished.”

After serving in the Photo Intelligence Unit of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, Mr. Capa was hired by Life magazine in 1946 as a junior photographer.

“One thing Life and I agreed on right from the start was that one war photographer was enough for my family,” he wrote. “I was to be a photographer for peace.”

The historian Richard Whelan wrote in the introduction to “Cornell Capa: Photographs” that Mr. Capa “often quoted the words of the photographer Lewis Hine: ‘There are two things I wanted to do. I wanted to show the things that needed to be corrected. And I wanted to show the things that needed to be appreciated.’ ” That is what Mr. Capa dedicated his life to doing.

BURN BABY BURN

Not all of us share my same photographic dread of family snapshots stuffed in drawers, crammed in albums, or framed and forgotten, collecting dust.

When I was in India, I was often invited to look at family photo albums. Their love of family was so encompassing it spilled beyond the threshold of their own homes. Time and again, people I had just met were eager to share their pictures with a total stranger. What I view as a curse, others view as a blessing.

And in the case of adoptees, it can be a blessing denied.

Thinking of family photography, I contemplated the plight of my friend who soon turns 40. Trish has struggled for decades to frame her own identity in the absence of family history and Kodak pictures.

It was not until she was in her mid-teens that she learned from Roy, a schoolmate, that she was adopted.

Roy himself was adopted, a fact that did little to mitigate Trish's consternation after suddenly learning she was not the biological daughter of the Foleys. Simultaneously explosively angry and excitedly optimistic, Trish confronted her "parents", pressing them for information about her birth mother.

Trish pressed and pleaded again and again. She got nowhere.

Almost thirty-five years have past. Trish still knows nothing about her birth, her mother, her father, her relatives. Her father, now in his 70's, keeps her adoption papers secure under lock and key.

It is hard to imagine what it is like not to know your own nationality. When others talk proudly of their ancestry, she is left to question, "Am I Irish, Italian, Scottish, Russian? Who am I?"

How does it feel to be unable to fill out health forms? What goes through your head when you unable to answer questions about your family's history of breast cancer, diabetes, or other potentially fatal diseases? How do you deal with the fact that this lack of data puts you at greater risk while wondering if you could possibly obtain that information if you were not denied access to it? How do you deal with the anger and frustration?

And, what is life like without pictures of your biological family? I have heard Trish ponder aloud if she has her biological father to blame for her chin and her mother to blame for her breasts. What is it like to look in a mirror every day and never have an answer? Although I rail against clinging to pictures of unknown ancestors, Trish would treasure such images.

What is it like to always question but never know one's roots simply because others legally have the power to withhold that information from you?

Trish knows only one fact. She was adopted in Ohio.

Thinking about her plight, I googled to discover if she could legally access her adoption records in Ohio. Unfortunately, in yet another cruel twist of fate, individuals adopted in Ohio after 1964 are barred from accessing their personal adoption records. A recent Ohio bill to open adoption records was squashed in the legislature.

Unless her father reneges, Trish has no way to learn more.

Bastard Nation "advocates for the civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children. Millions are prohibited by law from accessing personal records that pertain to their historical, genetic and legal identities. Such records are held by their governments in secret and without accountability, due solely to the fact they were adopted. Bastard Nation campaigns for the restoration of their right to access their records."

Across the nation and around the world there are many individuals and organizations lobbying for open access to adoption records. Australia, the U.K, and some provinces in Canada have opened their records. In France, Finland, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Norway, and Israel adoption records have never been closed. Isn't it time the United States follow suit?

What can be done?

Get involved. Join the campaign. Sign online petitions. Lobby on behalf of adoption rights.

THE PRICE OF COOKIES

There is an old Japanese koan, "What would you do if you could not fail?". Contemplating this question often prompts people to think about what it is they truly desire to do and spurs them to voice their secret inner callings.

Once they do, the questions begin: "How will I make enough money working as a performance artist to pay the rent?" "Will I be a success?" Will I have to live out of my car?" "What will my family and friends say?"

When desire meets reality, questioning may reveal that our desire is more related to a psychological need for approval or an ego-boosting need for recognition. It's a great question for getting to the core of what you desire and why.

When we attempt to creatively act we often are faced answering questions that have no easy answers. Some questions can only be answered by taking the risk to jump into the unknown and dealing with the challenges as they arise.

Fear of the unknown often makes us uncomfortable. We avoid risk because we want to avoid failure. And sadly, we often choose to walk away from the struggle of reality, retreating to the safety of imagined futures where in our dreams we never fail. There is an old saying, "A horse will go back to a burning barn because it is familiar."

In this 1932 photograph by Cartier-Bresson we see a man in a bowler hat take a chance. He may appear conservative yet he is bold. He leaps alone.

And yet, does he? We see his reflection in the water. We also see a poster with two leaping figures and its silhouette in the water. The angle of the man's legs is mirrored by the angle of the city's rooftops. And in the distance, a man who did not leap watches.

Psychologists' studies have repeatedly shown that achieving true satisfaction involves successfully overcoming challenges and taking risks. Perhaps, this is one reason I love Bresson's photo. It is a hopeful image. We see a conservative man in bowler dressed in a suit willing to risk a puddle drenching, willing to risk embarrassment if he fails.

We might actually end up happier if we we struggle and fail along the way to meet our goals. Imagine that! In fact, failures can teach us how to fine tune and refine our thinking. We can then close the gap between what it is we think we want and what it is we really want.

We alone must determine when and how to leap. Yet, we are always connected to others. We must take risks to follow our own paths, charting a creative course carefully balanced between those two realities.

Remember the cookies. You might get burnt jumping headlong into risky situations without looking. On the other hand, you will get nowhere if you never try to leap.

THE NUTMEG GRINDER

Nutmeg has been the source of problems for centuries. Nutmeg has been tied to everything from hallucinogenic drugs, to the plague, to smuggling, to scams, to abortion, to the birth of capitalism. And you thought it was only good for eggnog!

Originally found only on the tiny volcanic islands of Banda in equatorial Eastern Indonesia, traders soon found it was a hot commodity.

Ancient Indian and Chinese societies used nutmeg medicinally and recreationally. Members of the royal courts were said to carry small ivory boxes filled with powdered nutmeg and sprinkled the exotic spice in their wine to intensify the hallucinogenic effect.

Later hippies in the '60's experimented with nutmeg. Most concluded the buzz was bad and the stomach cramps worse.

In Elizabethan times nutmeg was said to ward off the plague. And we know how well that treatment went...

In 1393, a pound of nutmeg was worth 7 fat oxen in Germany. That price dipped in the 15th c. when Europeans established trade in Indonesia. However, by the 17th c. the Dutch had locked down a nutmeg monopoly after massacring most of the native inhabitants of the Banda islands and destroying almost every nutmeg tree in East Indonesia except for a few remaining trees under their control.

This is where smuggling comes in.

Tired of paying high prices and wanting in on the action, the French successfully smuggled out nutmeg saplings to Mauritius, where they died. The British planted their contraband nutmeg in the West Indies, where they flourished.

Nutmeg later migrated to the U.S., where American profiteers suckered the gullible. Scrupulous businessmen manufactured wooden carved nutmegs and sold them as the real thing. That's how the state of Connecticut became known as 'The Nutmeg State" and the term "wooden nutmeg" came to mean a scam.

Victorian housewives found another use for nutmeg besides adding it to pumpkin pie and holiday drinks. According to historical medical records, nutmeg was ingested to abort unwanted pregnancies. Although the spice may have unwittingly supported rapid population growth leading to industrialization and the birth of the urban economy, it proved to be useless as an abortion aid.

Sometimes reflecting on the past can give us better perspective. Perhaps it is time to stop feeling guilty about losing that nutmeg grinder. If history is any indication, a little nutmeg leads to a lot of trouble.

Sources:
Nutmeg History
Food Tale: Nutmeg

THE CLOTHES DRYER

Clothes dryers can be hazardous not only to your brother's health but to the environment as well. Clothes dryers burn over six percent of the total electricity consumed in the U.S. That's a lot of electricity.

Fortunately, there is an alternative...

A clothes line. Even if you hang your clothes outside to dry half the time, you'd save money and do your bit for planet Earth.

Although line drying is the best option, it may not always be possible. I live in Seattle, Washington, where 150 out of 365 days it rains.

And in some communities hanging clothes outside to dry is illegal, although environmental activists such as Project Laundry List are lobbying for legal changes.

Statistics show that only 50% of the population in the U.S. has access outdoors to dry clothes.

Inside drying racks and green gadgets may be the answer.

Bean Sprouts' Melanie Rimmer did a consumer test and found that although scented dryer laundry balls don't necessarily live up to the hype when it comes to replacing dryer sheets, they did cut drying time 50% for a normal load of wash.

Ah, but there is a catch. We live in a perfectly imperfect world. There are pros and cons to these spiky energy savers.

One big environmental con is that PVC is used to make the dryer balls. PVC is not only an environmental hazard when it comes to manufacturing it also creates hazardous waste when it comes time to dispose of those dryer balls.

On the flip side, we must burn approximately 800 lbs. of coal a year to power one electric dryer. 8000 lbs. over the ten-year life of a dryer. And according to the U.S. Dept. of Energy an electric dryer can use between 1800-5000 watts of power. Dryer balls could cut those numbers in half.

It is another one of those "plastic or paper" dilemmas.

TOO CLEAN OR NOT TO CLEAN

I am not going to waste my time or yours time by discussing how to clean faster. I am more interested in figuring out what else we can do with free time besides cleaning house.

After years spent chasing the clock, I fell ill. I spent a lot of time and energy making doctor appointments, having medical tests, undergoing nasty procedures, and filling prescriptions.

Finally, the day came when I was in recovery and feeling better. I went in for a check up.

My doctor asked me to review a wellness wheel. The purpose was to determine if I had begun to restore balance to my life after spending more time than usual caring for my physical health.

There is no need to wait for a doctor's orders to take advantage of a wellness wheel. Wellness wheels can be used anytime. Primarily used as a self-evaluation tool, wellness wheels help people to gain insight on personal satisfaction levels in regards to different aspects of their lives such as physical, intellectual, social, environmental, emotional and spiritual health.

The wellness wheel below is a simple model used by health educators. Why not take a few minutes to reflect on your own health?

Read over the characteristics of each spoke on the wheel and then assess your weaknesses and strengths.

Once you have targeted areas that may need be changed, take a deep breath. All of us can improve our health. So, relax. Share your concerns with others who will support helping you find ways to achieve better balance in your life. Forget cleaning. Take the time to take good care of yourself.

SOCIAL

People who are socially well have a perception of having support available from family, friends, or co-workers in times of need and a perception of being a valued support provider.

Traits of a Socially Healthy Individual

• Interacts easily with people of different ages, backgrounds, races, and lifestyles they are unfamiliar with
• Develops a network of friends, family or others for support
• Recognizes a need for "fun" time in your life
  
• Budgets and balances time to incorporate social, or fun, activities along with meeting obligations
• Contributes time and energy to play an active role in the community

ENVIRONMENTAL

Individuals with environmental wellness have positive interactions at work and with the broader natural world they live in.

Traits of a Environmentally Healthy Individual

• Finds satisfaction and worth in work but does not overly define oneself by work and spend a disproportionate time working at the expense of other aspects of life
  
• Ensures work environment and relationships are comfortable
• Possesses awareness of the natural environment
  
• Recognizes opportunities that lead to new skills and acts on those opportunities
• Works to ensure the stability and longevity of our natural resources

EMOTIONAL

People who are emotional well are secure about their self-identity. They seek to reflect on their own actions and accept themselves for who they really are. They encourage self exploration and improvement. They also have the ability to cope with and/or improve unpleasant mood states.

Traits of an Emotionally Healthy Individual

• Is comfortable with and likes self
  
• Communicates feelings
• Has methods to reduce stress before and after it arises
• Knows personal limits and acts accordingly without overextending themselves
  
• Keeps a generally positive attitude
• Takes responsibility for own behavior
• Views challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles
• Functions independently but knows when to ask for help
• Is aware of common mental health problems, issues, and signs of detection
  

SPIRITUAL

Individuals who are spiritually well strive for a sense of satisfaction and confidence in personal spiritual beliefs. They encourage individuals to increase their understanding of values, ethics, beliefs, which can add direction to their lives. They have a growing set of beliefs that can help support them mentally and emotionally. They have an overall sense of well-being, peace, and connectedness that helps them find meaning in life.

Traits of a Spiritually Healthy Individual

• Spends time reflecting on themselves as a person
• Gives time to volunteer or participate in community service activities
  
• Spends time defining your values, reevaluating them over time, and making decisions that complement them
• Participates in activities that protect the environment
• Is open to those of other religions and belief systems
• Cares about the welfare of others and acting out of that care

INTELLECTUAL

Intellectually healthy individuals have a srong desire to learn and maintain curiosity. They value shared experiences and are stimulated by new ideas, sharing knowledge, and pursuing learning.

Traits of a Mentally Healthy Individual

• Enjoys learning because you want to - not because you are told to.
  
• Explores and shares new experiences (e.g. arts, theater)
  
• Observes the world around us
  
• Listens
• Questions

PHYSICAL

Individuals who are physically well apply knowledge of nutrition, fitness, personal hygiene, and self medical care (such as taking ones temperature or using over the counter medicine) into their daily living. They work hard at maintaining a high level of energy and lead a lifestyle that enables them to stay healthy. They are aware of the effects that physical stresses and personal needs have on their bodies and do not place unnecessary demands on themselves.

Traits of a Physically Healthy Individual

• Exercises safely and regularly
• Understands basic nutrition information
• Eats a balanced diet
  
• Gets regular physical check-ups
• Performs self-medical exams
• Avoids drugs, such as tobacco, that hinder physical health
• Washes one's hands after using the restroom
• Takes medication properly
• Evaluates physically risky situations and moderates actions when needed
  
• Possesses strategies for managing stress
• Gets an adequate amount of sleep

Sources: University of Washington Primary Care Center
Vanderbilt University Wellness Wheel

MARASCHINO CHERRIES

Maraschino Cherries....

Whether you say "marascheeno" or "maraskeeno", I say "YUK" or is that "YUCK"?

And yet, for how many years did I eat the horrible things?

Way too many.

But, perhaps the more important question is why? Was I simply caught up in sibling rivalry, fighting for every last bourbon-soaked cherry in my grandfather's cocktail glass? Did I acquire a taste for alcohol at a young age? Or, was I trying to win approval? Maybe it was a combination of all of the above.

How many times have you said "yes" when you wanted to say "no"? Are you the type that tries again and again to make others happy bur yet feel unappreciated and unhappy? You may be a people pleaser.

Read about people-pleasing behavior patterns identified by Jay Earley, Ph.D.

• I try to be who someone wants me to be.
• I am afraid to rock the boat.
• It is hard for me to know what I want.
• I avoid speaking my mind.
• I find it easier to go along with what someone wants or with their opinion.
• I fantasize about a strong person taking over my life and making it work.
• It is hard for me to express my feelings when they are different from someone I’m close to.
• It is difficult for me to say No.
• I avoid getting angry.
• It is hard for me to take initiative.
• I try to be nice rather than expressing how I really feel.
• I want everyone to get along.

If this list reminds you of your own life, take the time to check out the article and links on learning how to curb excessive people pleasing at SocialDesire.com


Quit eating the maraschino cherries of life.

TOOL OF TORTURE

So, what lessons do kids learn in such educational environments? More importantly, are schools places where children have positive, constructive experiences that lead them to creative, independent thinking and action?

Is there an alternative to the current public school system?

I googled to find the answer.

Did you know that there are over 200 places offering democratic education in more than 30 countries, working with over 40,000 students?

What is democratic education?

According to the International Democratic Education Network (IDEN), participants in the democratic educational system established in Berlin 2005.

IDEN is a network of schools, organisations and individuals all round the world that uphold such ideals as:

• respect and trust for children
• equality of status of children and adults
• shared responsibility
• freedom of choice of activity
• democratic governance by children and staff together, without reference to any supposedly superior guide or system.

The self-selected members agreed to the following statement:

We believe that, in any educational setting, young people have the right:

• to decide individually how, when, what, where and with whom they learn
• to have an equal share in the decision-making as to how their organizations—in particular their schools – are run, and which rules and sanctions, if any are necessary.

Imagine that!

HAMMER & NAILS

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas.
I am afraid of the old ones. —John Cage


Play around without breaking a sweat in the Idea Workout Gym. "This is the place to come if you feel your brain getting moldy or it seems that your ideas are coming out like hard little cubes stuck firmly in a very, old box, very rigid box. So break out and flex those synapses!. These exercises only take a few minutes but can change the way you think all day.

Make your own music on a Virtual Drone Gambira with clicks of your mouse. Oh, come on, how could you resist finding out what a drone gambira sounds like? And, there's more! You can also play the GameGongs and GameChimes!


Spelling CAN be fun. Check out Spell With Flickr

Just go the website, enter a phrase, and it will generate the phrase using images of individual letters and numbers on the Flickr site. While on the site, you can click different letters to swap out individual letters.

The site also offers code you can copy and paste to either repeat the exact same set of images, or another copy of code that is JavaScript and will dynamically create a new version each time the page loads.


Or, just unchain yourself from your computer and go improvise!

Improv Everywhere Global was formed after the success of a recent a worldwide improv event held on Saturday, January 12, 2008, where nearly 2000 people took participated in the NO PANTS subway rides pants in ten cities around the globe.

Why not join a future Improv Everywhere Global event or organize your own?

CREATE & HAVE FUN!

PARTY LINES

Just how important is the telephone in our daily lives?

I'll admit it, I have a cell phone with me always. I have a land line in order to access high speed internet services here on the peninsula where I live. And yes, I plan to succumb to consumer marketing hype and purchase an iPhone when the next generation is birthed by Apple perhaps in the summer of '08.

I may no longer have a party line these days but I am still plugged in to Ma Bell.

Thanks to meticulous reporting around the world since as early as 1884, there is a wealth of statistics on the number of telephones in homes and offices around the globe.

According to Robert J. Chapius, author of One Hundred Years of Telephone Switching, "One can follow step by step, very exactly, the development and expansion of the telephone service over the years since these have been published by every country, from the time its telephone service was introduced."

Chapius points out, "There are probably few economic or industrial activities in the world for which precise and comprehensive statistics exist, with chronological series covering such a long period."

But, who cares?

Economists. Social scientists. Corporate managers. Politicians. Power brokers. Money mongers. Movers and shakers of all kinds.

Ever hear of Jipp's Law? Almost no one has, including Google.

Apparently, this economist is credited with linking the number of telephone stations in a country with its GNP, or gross national product. He discovered there was a direct correlation: the higher the GNP, the greater number of telephone stations.

At this point, you may be saying, "Duh!" If a country has more economic resources, it can afford to have more phones.

But, why is this important?

Whether you read Karl Marx or use common sense, you are not likely to deny that technology changes society. Chapius goes so far as to claim, "The impact of technology may thus far outweigh that of successive generations of men born or elected to public offices and indeed, it transcends factual history."

You mean my iPhone will leave a longer lasting legacy than George W. Bush? Hmm....maybe in terms of positive contributions to society. And it would be hard to sift through all the lies of his administration to determine the "factual" history of Bush's terms in office. But, I digress.

So, let's draw some inferences from Jipp's Law as it was applied to telephones. The technological ability to communicate locally, nationally, and globally is symbiotically tied to a country's prosperity, its economic health as measured by GNP "wealth". If we provide access to information, open the lines of communication, then economic development should occur.

Then, why are some people in power attempting to lock down access to information?

Could it be connected to distribution of wealth? Could it be tied to corporate profits?

If you agree that information should be free, check out these resources:

Creative Commons : Are you a blogger? Creative Commons offers six "some rights reserved" copyright licenses that permit you to protect your work yet share it with the world. After you have chosen the type of license you would like to use, the non-profit site automatically creates the HTML code for a Creative Commons button and explains how to add the code to your blog

Electronic Frontier Foundation : tips on how to not get sued for downloading information and other ideas to avoid being treated like a criminal.]

Media Access Project : read disturbing testimonials from everyday citizens who fought for intellectual property rights and learn about this non-profit advocacy group. Created in 1972 after 1960's litigation "involving the failure of a Mississippi TV station to serve the African American community", MAP now works to "defend citizen's rights in the emerging digital culture."

Node101: An open source, collaborative project created to teach and spread videoblogging worldwide, this non-profit's goal "is to teach media literacy as a life skill and to change the current media landscape from being a lecture to being a conversation. Of, For and By media makers, Node101 is here to support and provide resources to anyone willing to take action to teach videoblogging."

And, if you want to avoid roaming charges, use your phone anywhere in the world, and are willing to pay $7.99 to gain phone freedom, check out: Wirelessunlocking. I can't vouch for them but they use PayPal for payment, which means your investment is covered.

And speaking of phones, I would like to thank the hackers who cracked iPhone security, permitting users to use other networks besides AT&T, albeit for a brief time. Their technological innovation also prompted Apple to release a software update.

Opening lines of communication spurs creativity.


P.S.: Last but not least, I would like to thank Google for designing a Google phone. I can't wait for the day it reaches the "open" market. It will change communications and the world will be better for it.

BAD EGGS

A recent NY Times report warned high levels of mercury were found in tuna sushi sold in Manhattan. In 2004 the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency issued an advisory, "...to warn women who might become pregnant and children to limit their consumption of certain varieties of canned tuna because the tuna might damage the developing nervous system."

But, get this! The FDA did not include fresh tuna in the advisory.

"Most of the tuna sushi in the Times samples contained far more mercury than is typically found in canned tuna."

Tuna is not only potentially dangerous to pregnant women and children. "Over the past several years, studies have suggested that mercury may also cause health problems for adults, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and neurological symptoms", cautions the Times.

"Dr. P. Michael Bolger, a toxicologist who is head of the chemical hazard assessment team at the Food and Drug Administration, did not comment on the findings in the Times sample but said the agency was reviewing its seafood mercury warnings. Because it has been four years since the advisory was issued, Dr. Bolger said, 'we have had a study under way to take a fresh look at it.'"

Bolger also pooh poohed the risk a few weeks ago, stating, "'...there is no concern'" when questioned about the safety of mercury levels found in sushi-grade tuna in Milwaukee,
according to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel news report

I smell something rotten and it is not a can of bad tuna.

Over seven years ago the FDA was urgently requested to warn the public about consuming fresh tuna as well as canned tuna.

Typing in the words "fresh tuna" in the search field on the FDA's website, I discovered:
[The full document ]

After meeting with the FDA regarding consumer guidance on methylmercury exposure, Patricia Lieberman, Ph.D. staff scientist, and Diane Zuckerman, Ph.D., executive director of the National Center for Policy Safety for Women & Children, sent a follow-up letter on November 16, 200, to Joseph A. Levitt, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition , after meeting at the FDA. They strongly recommended that the FDA issue a consumer advisory regarding methylmercury exposure in fresh and canned tuna:

Based on the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on the potential adverse effects of chronic methylmercury exposure, we are convinced that the FDA must do more to protect vulnerable populations (pregnant women, women who might become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children) from the risk of that exposure. In our experience, NAS is very cautious, so when they suggest that 60,000 newborns each year may be at risk for neurological problems due to methylmercury, we take that estimate very seriously.

In the absence of complete information about the levels of methylmercury contamination of fish, we believe that the FDA should warn vulnerable populations not to eat swordfish, shark, and fresh tuna, since they have been previously shown to contain unsafe levels of methylmercury. We believe that the risks outweigh the potential benefits since at-risk consumers can simply switch from eating swordfish, shark, and fresh tuna, to other fish and seafood that have equal nutritional benefits but are not contaminated with methylmercury. When consumers purchase swordfish, shark, and fresh tuna that is either prepackaged or packaged at a fish counter, the package should bear a label that tells pregnant women, women who might become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children not to eat it. At restaurants, a similar warning should be on menus if those items are served.

Yes, the FDA was fully aware of the hazards of fresh tuna when they issued their advisory concerning the consumption of canned tuna four years ago.

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition also chose to ignore their own Food Safety Survey data. These surveys were periodically conducted to provide a "summary of major trends in food handling practices and consumption of potentially risky foods".

The 2001 survey stated that the number of Americans consuming "potentially risky" fish had alarmingly jumped from 9% in 1998 to 15% in 2001.

The New York Times reported that in December 2003 the FDA proposed releasing new guidelines on eating fish. These guidelines did not mention the potential dangers of eating tuna. A federal advisory committee of scientists and physicians vehemently objected.

The FDA then revised the guideline to caution pregnant women, women who might become pregnant, and young children of the risk of eating more than the FDA's recommended daily amount of canned tuna.

It has been eight long years. "Sushi bars and restaurants have swelled 250% in the last decade to about 9,ooo nationwide, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan," states the Sentinel.

Early in January 2008, prior to the NY Times Manhattan sampling, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Public Investigator Team tested 10 pieces of raw tuna sold in local restaurants and a grocery store. They discovered dangerously high levels of mercury.

Was this sushi-grade tuna safe to eat?

It depends on who you ask.

The EPA says no. The FDA says, "Eat your sushi."

"A 130-pound person who ate eight ounces (about six to eight pieces) of either tuna sampled by P.I. would exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard - or suggested maximum daily intake of methylmercury by more than 35 times," states the Journal-Sentinel.

"Yet, by U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards this fish is legal to be sold and served. Barely legal, that is.

"While both Canada and the European Union set their legal levels of mercury at 0.5 parts per million, the FDA's legal maximum for mercury is 1 ppm." That is double the amount permitted in some other industrialized nations.

Why is there a discrepancy in standards?

First Milwaukee, then Manhattan. How many other cities will have to test raw tuna before the FDA will act?

What will it take to get the FDA to issue an advisory about raw tuna?

Does the fishing industry have the answers?


P.S.
Although things may be fishy at the FDA, stop to consider another statistic from the 2001 Food Safety Survey: almost half the population, 53%, continued to eat raw eggs even after the FDA issued an advisory in 1999.

How many of us will still order tuna roll at the sushi bar?
.

A SHOW OF HANDS

To set the record straight, I am in full favor of hand washing, at least once before you eat a meal, or once after you pick up road kill.

"The number of bacteria on your body right now is greater than the number of people in the United States", states The University of Georgia, who makes a convincing case for hand washing.

And if you are a person in a hospital or healthcare facility who has a weakened immune system, washing hands may be a matter of life and death.

CBC News reported in 2007, "Every year 250,000 Canadians pick up infections when they are in hospitals being treated for something else. That's a staggering one out of every nine patients who are admitted to the hospital.

"Every year those infections kill more than 8,000 people.

"That's more than will die of breast cancer, AIDS, or car accidents combined. Most of those deaths can be prevented — by simple hand washing.

"In the wake of the SARS outbreak that hit Toronto in March 2003, hand sanitizers have become common in hospitals and other public buildings across the country. Many people use them — others don't.

"A CBC-TV Marketplace investigation found that doctors often walk past the sanitizers even while going from patient to patient. Dr. Michael Gardam — the infection control expert at the University Health Network in Toronto — says doctors are the least likely to wash their hands.

"Many clean their hands only 10-20 per cent of the time", warns the CBC.

It may come as no surprise that we can become more sick or even die in hospitals from infectious disease.

But, what about when you are out of the hospital and on the football field or wherever artificial turf is found?

"Missy Baker recalls the moment when she realized her football-playing son, Boone, didn't just have the flu.

"'He told me he was paralyzed,' Baker said. "'I said, 'What do you mean? I just saw you walk to the bathroom two hours ago.'" And he said, "'Mom, I can't move my arms or legs.'"

"Sixteen-year-old Boone, a wide-receiver for Texas's Austin High School, was suffering from a recurrence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which his doctors said he got through an abrasion from playing on artificial turf, Baker said."

MRSA, "... is a virulent strain of drug-resistant staph bacteria that plagued hospitals for decades and migrated into the general population in recent years, said Edward Septimus, an infectious disease specialist in Methodist Hospital System in Houston. Without proper treatment, it can spread to internal organs and bones after reaching the bloodstream, causing organ failure," warns Septimus in a Bloomberg news report.

"Football players often become infected at the site of a turf burn are misdiagnosed, said David Smith, co-author of a study showing that MRSA-related hospitalizations in the U.S. more than doubled from 1999 to 2005.

"'These turf burns themselves are just the kind of minor skin injury that MRSA can exploit,' said Elliot Pellman, medical liaison for the National Football League, which also has had infections among its players.

"Football dominates high school sports in Texas, which has more participants than any other state. Seventy-four schools have stadiums seating more than 10,000. The sport provides 22,041 full-time jobs and generates $2.88 billion in annual spending, said Ray Perryman, president of Perryman Group, a Waco economic and financial analysis firm.

"Football also produces more MRSA infections than any other sport, said Marilyn Felkner, the epidemiologist who led the Texas studies. The department wasn't able to obtain enough data to establish a statistical link between artificial turf and MRSA infections, she said.

Although, "MRSA causes more deaths than any of the 51 infectious diseases tracked by the Center for Disease Control, including AIDS, according to CDC data," the Bloomberg report points out that the CDC doesn't require medical professionals to report MRSA cases.

I guess the CDC just wants to be a good sport and wash their hands of any possible link between artificial turf and MRSA.

BASEBALL

My father loved baseball.

And I can still remember as a kid jumping on a swing, sailing high above the ground and singing at the top of my lungs, "Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the fun, buy me some peanuts and CrackerJacks, I don't care if I ever come back!"

Yet, I am glad that my son did not inherit a genetic disposition or even a social predilection to enjoy the game.

Based on the latest reports of drug use in Major League Baseball, perhaps the new theme song should be, "Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the fun, buy me some steroids and coke or crack, watch all the home runs I then will whack!"

And in response to the revelations of the MLB commission, the U.S. Congress has called for an investigation into steroid use in baseball.

Hello, Congress??? Aren't you forgetting about waterboarding? What about warrantless wiretapping? What about global warming and the Kyoto Protocols? Why not take a look at the growing list of Bush scandals?

Here's why.

This is not a move to end baseball as it is today. It is a diplomatic endgame. Politicians are wiggling in their seats, avoiding tackling controversial issues that might negatively impact the current presidential election campaigns. Our elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, are ostriches, trying to stay out of trouble and pass the time until George W. Bush has left office.

And in case you are wondering how many months, days, hours, and seconds it will be until you can rejoice, there is a handy online clock that will give you an official Bush countdown.

BOOZE

Got problems?

As much as I might hate to admit that Steigl will not solve all problems, sometimes it is wiser to share your thoughts and feelings. Just pick up the phone and call someone.

Well, of course, unless you dial the secret number of President George W. Bush, the way Vifill Atlason, a 16-year old from Iceland, did recently.

Vifill introduced himself as Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the actual president of Iceland.

"'I just wanted to talk to him, have a chat, invite him to Iceland and see what he'd say,' Vifill told ABC news."

He did not get the chance to actually speak with George W, but Vifill did get the chance to talk with the U.S. Secret Service who showed up at his doorstep after he placed the call. Freedom of speech in the U.S. only goes so far.

So, if we can't call the U.S. President to chat when we have problems, what can we do legally?

What if the time to talk directly to someone has long past but the need to express oneself remains?

PostSecret is a creative option to share your secrets without fears of arrest. Design your own confessional postcard, audio message, or video, then send it to:
PostSecret, 13345 Copper Ridge Road, Germantown, Maryland, 20874, U.S.A.

How does PostSecret work? " Frank Warren, who created the project in 2004, when he passed out 3,000 postcards to strangers, asking them to mail him their secrets, reveals:

"You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a hope, regret, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.

"Create your 4x6-inch postcards out of any mailable material. If you want to share two or more secrets, use multiple postcards. Put your complete secret and image on one side of the postcard.

"Please consider sharing a follow-up story about how mailing in a secret, or reading someone else's, made a difference in your life."

PostSecret also has online chat sessions, if you feel the need to talk about your secrets to Frank Warren, the creator of the PostSecret project.

Since the project's inception in 2004, Warren "has received more than 150,000 postcards and they continue to come at a rate of about 1,000 per week. Every Sunday, Warren posts secrets on his award-winning PostSecret website, which has been viewed more than 100 million times."

Just remember, once you mail the postcards, these secrets now are the property of Frank Warren. The postcards may end up not only on the PostSecret website, but in an international art exhibit, or in a book. You are granting PostSecret a perpetual, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute your postcards and otherwise exercise all copyright and publicity rights in regards to them.

A BOX OF CRAYONS

Color. Have you ever met the kind of person who insists,"See that mountain in the distance? Isn't it a beautiful shade of dark violet tinged slightly with deep navy, a hint of teal, and a few splashes of cornflower blue like the Crayola crayon color?"

And you say, "You mean that purple mountain over there?"

Do you know someone who seems to see colors you don't?

If this person is female, she may be one of the 2% to 3% of the world's women are tetrachromats, who perhaps see 100 million colors, thanks to their genes , according to Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"It may be impossible for us trichromats to imagine what a 4, -color world would look like. But mathematics alone suggest the difference would be astounding, said Jay Neitz, a renowned color vision researcher at th Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. Gabriele Jordan of Newcastle University in Great Britain conducts genetic tetrachromat research. To identify a true tetrachromat, "Dr . Jordan started working backwards from certain "color blind" boys to their mothers."

"About 8% of the world's men have color deficiency, which is the term vision researchers prefer to color blindness."

"Most of them inherit two red or two green cones along with the standard blue cone, making it impossible for them to distinguish between red and green peppers, or tell how well-done a steak is, or pick out matching clothes."

Thanks to Vischeck, computer simulation software, you can gain a glimpse of how color deficient males might see this blog page or any other website, or image file.

Vischeck also has a program, Tiny Eyes, that lets you see the world the way babies do the first six months of life.

The world can be seen many different ways.

THE TRAVEL SIZED BAR OF SOAP

Soap, for thousands of years it was the last word in clean.

Yet, in the West up until the mid-19th century buying a bar of soap solely for personal cleansing was a luxury few could afford. All-purpose soaps for the cattle, the kids, and the kitchen, usually homemade, were found in the home.

Then Pears and Lever in England, and Proctor and Gamble and Kirk's in the U.S., began marketing the notion of personal soap only for human skins, promising white, soft, gentle skin and promoting cultural racism at the same time.

Nicole Cohen, author of Selling Soap , states, "You could say that advertising is soap's little dirty secret."

"It started during the colonization of North America, when European settlers wiped Aboriginal populations off the land that is now Canada and the United States. According to Andrea Smith, who wrote Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide, in order to justify the elimination of indigenous people, settlers had to construct Aboriginal bodies as "dirty" or "impure". An ad for Proctor and Gamble's Ivory soap helped popularize the myth of the "dirty native". The ad read:

We were once factious, fierce and wild,
In peaceful arts unreconciled
Our blankets smeared with grease and stains
From buffalo meat and settlers' veins.
Through summer's dust and heat content
From moon to moon unwashed we went,
But IVORY SOAP came like a ray
Of light across our darkened way
And now we're civil, kind and good
And keep the laws as people should,
We wear our linen, lawn and lace
As well as folks with paler face
And now I take, where'er we go
This cake of IVORY SOAP to show
What civilized my squaw and me
And made us clean and fair to see.

"The ad suggested that Ivory soap "civilized" Aboriginal people, while further fueling the colonists' racists ideas about them being dirty and uncivilized."

Judy Shoaf details the filthy advertising history of soap manufacturer Pears: "Two of the brand's promises in the 1890's through the 1920's were that the use of Pears would "civilize" and "whiten" a person." African Americans were demeaned in 'humorous' racist ads from the late 1890's:

"a little white girl on an outing comments of a passing black girl: "She needs to use Pears"; a little white boy gives a little black boy a tub bath,with the result that the latter is white from the neck down, or a black boy washing his hands in a bucket under the eye of a little white girl finds that his hands turn white, or a couple of black children comment, as a mother struggles to give her baby a tub bath, "She's gwine to turn that nigger white!"; a "native minister wins back his wandering congregation by washing with Pears, which turns his skin white."

Now, you may argue that the examples I am citing are from over a hundred years ago. This is where the dirty secret of soap advertising gets even dirtier.

Take a look at the Pure Fun: Ivory History web page and Pears' handy, dandy advertising retrospective.

Did you notice anything?

Well, the taglines today are interesting in terms of positioning the corporations in the publics' mind.

"IVORY, "The Name You Trust for Good, Clean Family Fun." "Don't worry! We aren't racist. It's all good, clean family fun.", is that the corporate message Ivory is trying to sell us now?

PEARS INTERNATIONAL...I like their new tagline, too: "Clearly kind to skin for generations." Obviously, racism is not skin deep when it comes to Pears. And, isn't it ironic that this venerated British soap manufacturer that promotes itself in one ad as the Queen's soap of choice, is now made exclusively in India, a country that once fell into their category of "uncivilized"?

But, what struck me as most amazing was the fact that in both of these advertising histories you will not see one example of their racist advertising from the past. Of course, it should come as no surprise that they cleaned up and "whitewashed" their corporate websites, should it?

After all, they sell us soap.

POTS & PANS

TO LIVE IS SO STARTLING IT LEAVES LITTLE TIME FOR ANYTHING ELSE. —EMILY DICKINSON

MORE OF ME COMES OUT WHEN I IMPROVISE. —EDWARD HOPPER

GOD INVENTED THE GIRAFFE, THE ELEPHANT, THE CAT. HE HAS NO REAL STYLE.
HE JUST GOES ON TRYING THINGS. —PABLO PICASSO

PLAYING WITH FIRE

It is late. It has been another long fourteen-hour day. I have just finished my third consecutive five-hour evening of foster training after spending eight hours on the computer.

It was an emotionally wrenching class tonight. We watched videos on physically, sexually, and emotionally abused children. We hear an alcoholic father shout obscenities at his daugher at the dinner table before forcing her to have sex with him that night. She is six-years old. We listen to Ken, an intelligent, good-looking teen, admit his foster parents did nothing wrong and then three seconds later burst into an angry tirade, stating that in the end everyone lets you down. We later learn he became a male prostitute. How can anyone undo the damage done to these children?

The last thing I want to deal with now is a problem.

I flip open my cell phone and listen to a message I received from a friend while in class. "I need your help. I think my boyfriend ___________ has a heroin problem. I suspect he is secretly using."

My friend lives thousands of miles away. With the three-hour time difference it is now past 3 a.m. on the East coast. What can I do?

I drive home, switch on the computer, and email her information on the signs of heroin abuse. I then text her a message of loving support.

It is the age of electronic comfort.
I wonder if a hug would have mattered more.


SIGNS OF HEROIN ABUSE

"There are many signs of heroin abuse to look for if you suspect someone you care about is using. Heroin abuse affects the user's brain. It enters the brain quickly and slows down the way they think, their reaction time, and their memory. This affects the way they act and make decisions. Nine out of ten heroin abusers when questioned about their heroin abuse will deny it. However, there are several early warning signs of heroin abuse that may serve as pointers.

"One of the many signs of heroin abuse takes place when the heroin abuser wakes up in the morning. On waking up, the heroin abuser rushes to the bathroom. But unlike most people, they spend longer periods of time. This may extend to well over an hour because heroin, being a narcotic, causes constipation. Also, while high the addict is disoriented in time. It is also possible to detect withdrawal symptoms when the addict wakes up in the morning. This usually manifests in a running nose and eyes, restlessness, yawning, coughing, sneezing, gooseflesh, fever, chills, cramps in the abdomen, back and calf muscles, muscular twitching, aching joints, loose motions, vomiting and mental confusion.

"Another one of the many signs of heroin abuse includes the user's eating habits. The heroin abuser generally has a poor appetite. This can make it easier for parents to notice that their child is eating less or losing weight fast. On an average, a heroin abuser will lose 22 pounds by the time they complete one year of heroin abuse.

"There are also changes in heroin abuser's food preferences. There is a sudden craving for sweet dishes. Often, the heroin user may interrupt his or her meal and go to the bathroom to vomit. Also, the user may slip into a heroin 'nod' and doze off at the table. Their sleep pattern becomes owlish. They stay awake during the night. At times the sleep is punctuated by bouts of coughing. In the later stages of addiction, the abuser does not seem to sleep at all.

"Some addicts when interviewed also revealed that heroin initially triggered off sexual promiscuity. Male heroin abusers talked of frequenting brothels. This is because, during the first few days, heroin serves as an aphrodisiac, and delays ejaculation time by as much as 45 minutes. However, after a month or two, the sex drive wanes. Users often complain of impotency. The impotency that sets in is reversible. In about a month after giving up, the patient is back to normal. Depression sets in at this point. An average college male, who has a keen interest in the opposite sex, suddenly loses all interest. (This is usually more marked from the third year of addiction.)

"There are other tell-tale signs of heroin abuse. If the heroin abuser is allowed to smoke cigarettes in the house, the contents of the ashtray will be different from the non-abuser's. There will be loose and un-burnt tobacco. This is because a little bit of tobacco is removed from the cigarette to create room for the heroin to be added. If the addict is chasing the drug, one can notice matchsticks much more in proportion to the cigarette butts. The match sticks will be burnt to the end. If the drug is smoked in cigarettes, then one finds that the cigarette is smoked down to the filter."