[Photo above: Bed in the snow.]
I guess Linda’s and my canvasing on election day 2018 paid off! The Blue victories continue to roll in. And His Less-than-Excellency increases his squirming and deceit as his options become more limited and his escape less likely. Perhaps he can be put to work raking the forest floor in the Sierras after his removal from office.
There are many more serious things, now that the House is retaken, to consider, such as all the dire and believable reports tumbling in concerning the climate changes coming to our globe. And we (mankind) are still building coal-powered electrical generating stations at a rapid clip and mining the black gold at a ferocious pace all over the world. The anticipated Mars InSight mission, landing on the Red Planet on Monday, may yield important scientific information for us but can anyone possibly think that an escape of 6 billion people to another planet is a solution to fouling our own nest? Or of 6 people?
After publication of Paul Erlich’s The Population Bomb in 1968 there were decades during which fretting about overpopulation was in the public media and consciousness. But we hear little about it now, which further suggests to me that our collective will to remember impending catastrophe is remarkably limited. If we had intelligent leadership, and leadership by example, I think most people could get behind efforts of self-sacrifice and change in order to preserve our amazing planet for our grandkids. Or for those of someone else.
Speaking of grandkids, we just finished a 4+ day marathon with 10 of us staying in Linda’s home. It is large enough that it didn’t feel crowded. And we devised a cover for the dining room table that makes it 10’x 3 1/3’, comfortably accommodating the 13 people for Thanksgiving supper. Linda, as is her wont, totally knocked herself out with fabulous food and breads and pies and hospitality. The Little Ones, James and Amelia, were darling. We all hiked around MDI (Mount Desert Island) on two separate days in very cold weather. With 8” or so of snow and record-setting low temperatures (-12C), noses freeze and appetites build. I can see how the Inuit can sit in igloos for months, chewing on blubber, fat having 2x the calories of carbohydrates or protein per gram.
It is 33F and raining now, so the snow will melt. We had the traditional bonfire two nights ago, burning downed trees from the surrounding woods, circling it in warm clothing, drinking hot libations (mulled wine), and commenting on how amazing it was that we could create a successful fire with wet, snow-covered wood and only 1 ½ bottles of charcoal lighter fluid! As I was spraying it, I recalled how Milton Rosenbaum, the chief of psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, squirted some on his barbecue in the 1960’s and the can exploded in his face, burning him badly. I was ready to toss, tuck, and roll if the flame came back up the stream into the container.
I also recalled my elder brother, Roger, holding a match in front of his mouth and spraying a stream of lighter fluid out 6 feet or so to make a flame thrower. This was in a bar and an onlooker, a bit soused, tried it without the proper pressure and his mouth and throat lit up. Lighter fluid burns at a pretty low temperature, so he wasn’t seriously injured. But don’t try it! Roger performed some amazing feats in his youth, like stealing a beer truck and tossing the beer off the end of the town pier. The water was 40’ deep and only he and his friends would know to go there for retrieval on a warm summer night. As his forebrain matured, he became an excellent Navy jet fighter pilot (never saw combat, happily), he got a PhD in physics, married a lovely woman, and had 3 splendid kids. Anyone who knew him misses him a lot, especially his immediate family.
It is a bit strange, joining an already-formed family. Everyone is very nice to me, yet when the memories start flowing I am clearly an outsider. Our guests from the UK, reduced to one couple as the male (Chris) of the other couple was hospitalized in Oxford for weeks on oxygen with cryptogenic organizing pneumonia, were as fun and lovely as can be. They, Penny and Paul, came for an American Thanksgiving and got that plus the Arctic cold wave. They were wonderful sports and seemed to enjoy all the chaos and good cheer. That Chris, a picture of robust, muscular health, should be felled by this is sobering to us. And by a disorder of which I’ve never heard. He is gradually recovering, hopefully to his former state.
I received permission to apply for a visa, which I’ll do tomorrow. Another strangeness is that it will only be good for 70 days, before which I must re-apply for another. I sent off 55# of books and teaching videos. And I am beginning to hear of places to rent. I’ll fly out of Boston on 23 December and have a hotel, equidistant from Medical University 1 and Children’s Hospital of Yangon, booked for 10 days.
My next chapter is gradually coalescing. I hope all who read this had a good Thanksgiving. [And all others, as well, knowing that isn’t likely.]
A Psychiatrist in Myanmar 