More ranting:

Recently, Jeb Bush decided it'd be a good idea to close the Florida State Library. (For more information about that, go here.) I sent him the following letter:

"Governor Bush--

Congratulations. In the fine tradition the best lawmakers of this Union, you have courageously embarked on a brilliant new scheme to slash government waste and remove unnecessary programs. I applaud you for your insightful, well-thought budget, sure to remain an example of fiscal responsibility for years to come.

Only kidding. What kind of half-bred moron would actually think that dismantling the Florida Division of Library and Information Services is a sound policy? One of our greatest treasures as a developed nation is our ability to create entire institutions for the maintenance and development of knowledge. While the Florida State Library is not the Smithsonian, it is still entirely asinine to consider closing ONE library, let alone the State Library! On one hand, we bemoan the lack of educational opportunities for today's children. On the other hand, we close LIBRARIES?

And if this is some horribly backhanded way of "punishing" those who would like to preserve the ballots from the 2000 Presidential election--I ask you: What do you have to hide?

Your astonishing lack of leadership has become a nationwide embarrassment.

I remain disguisted,

Sarah Hasler
Eugene, Oregon"

Email to a tall friend of mine:

I just saw something on tv right now and I had to bitch to you about it, because I know you will understand.

It was a commercial for a catologue for men's big and tall clothes.

And it made me think--How long has this been a category of menswear? About forever, right? And no one thinks twice about a guy who has to shop at a big and tall store. It's just one of those things. And all the clothing their is just like the men's clothing in every other store, except it's cut so that it will fit men who aren't 5'11" and 150 lbs.

Wouldn't it be nice if it were like that for women? If there was a store that you and I could go to--you being tall, me being big--and we could get nice clothing that looked just like all the other womens' clothing, except that it would be cut so that fits tall women and non-size-8 women? Wouldn't that be nice? Instead of you constantly having to look like you're waiting for the water to rise, and me desperately searching for clothes that will fit me without following the ever so popular "Muu-muu-wearing-Cow" or "My Grandmother Has Something Just Like This" school of women's dressing?

But then, this is some sort of crazy fantasy world where we have a president who actually elected on merit and it's commonly accepted that people should be able to work and get enough money to pay their basic bills.

Besides, everyone knows that Big and Tall men are nothing to comment on, but tall women are freakish and fat women are all slobs.

*end rant*

sarahchia

"Are you hitting on me or insulting my intelligence?"

"A little of both."

My sister found a new comic and it sure is good.

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if you grabbed your HP flatbed and scanned your cat? Neither have I. But apparently A LOT of people have, and this here website's gonna show you all about it. Really, really REALLY worth seeing.

Do it poorly.
Do it for love.
Do it because you can.
Do it because no one else is.
Do it for free.
Do it because there's nothing on tv.
Do it for a friend.
Do it for your mother.
Do it as a favor.
Do it secretly.

But do it.

a bit of found poetry:

"Because we are not born poets,
those of us caught in its maw.
If we were poets,
would we be there
in the church basements,
mouthing our platitudes
to get through
another day?
And if poetry had the power to cure a soul,
would we still be reading aloud
from a text written in halting and severe prose
by a stockbroker and a doctor?
If poetry could cure a soul,
what of all the poets
dead of drink and flung off bridges in icy despair?"

--put in verse from a column by Cary Tennis

Some People Have Siblings that Love Them, Then There's My Sister

Whilst (I love that word. Can I just say it again? Whilst. Whilst. Whilst.) cleaning out my email account, I came across the following email sent to me by my sister when I still lived in Albuquerque:

"sarah-

there was an article in the news paper today about a terrible smell in new mexico that is killing wildlife and giving people headaches.

i think it is time that you bathed.

emily"

Feel the love.

This is a classic link that should never be forgotten.

A few things to ponder when considering the United State's famed War on (Some) Drugs:

Drugs which are Legal: Made in privately-held factories at immense expense. Some are addictive. Some aren't. Some are wonderfully effective and save lives. Some don't. Some are safe. Some are dangerous.

Drugs which are Illegal: Plants, including (but not limited to), Psilocybe sp., Cannabis sp., Iboga tabernathe, etc., or other substances historically used for shamanic/euphoric purposes. Some are addictive. Some aren't. Some are wonderfully effective and save lives. Some don't. Some are safe. Some are dangerous.

Drugs which are Suspect: Commonly found plants ANYONE can grow in their backyard or find in a nearby vacant lot (the common hysterical cry and hue is about "issues of safety", which is nonsensical if you consider that most common culinary spices are used medicinally, and "issues of standardization", which are equally as absurd when you realize that this issue really only rears its ugly head when you're talking about highly purified isolated compounds, e.g. lab-created drugs). Some are addictive. Some aren't. Some are wonderfully effective and save lives. Some don't. Some are safe. Some are dangerous....

THIS SITE IS AMAZING!

Okay, maybe not for *you*, but for those of us who are both herbalists AND chemistry buffs, it's a wet dream. Go see what I mean.

It's been said before, but it needs to be said again--and again. Bad news sells. Right now, unless you're a corporate raider or a mass murderer or you steal from someone's grandma, you're probably not news. Nobody wants to hear about success or goodwill, unless it's in some horribly saccharine columnist's once-a-month "Chicken Soup for the Soul"-style column. For example, this quite impressive meeting of just about all of the world's major religions leaders went largely unnoticed.

So, dear readers, I have a challenge for you. Send me a link--any link--that contains good news. Preferentially, good news that is actually global in nature, or at least national. Heartwarming stories about a successfull local bakesale at your tot's Sunday school are nice (and feel free to share the good stuff), but I want ya'll to find me stuff a little broader in scope. Speaking of frivolous, this one is a little Chicken Soupy, but it's still cool.

Grade A USDA certified timewaster

We don't have to live with globalization.

Jesus Christ. Read it.

Most people reading this here blog are aware of the Onion, but if you aren't, you should be.

Eugene is nauseatingly gorgeous. I mean, really. Come on. It's January, which is a month in which most self-respecting states have the sense to be grey and nasty. Not Oregon. Oh, sure, it's grey, but it's more like a pearlescent grey that gently caresses the light gossamer mists wafting down from the mountains, through the majestic pines. And yes, it's damp, but only so that the sidewalks and brick walls can be charmingly moss-covered. The grass is still green, people around here consider 40 to be "cold", and even the rain is less unpleasant than you might think. Eugene is shamelessly, artlessly, ridiculously beautiful.

Disturbing fact of the day:

Bob Dylan and Adam Sandler look somewhat alike. No, really. Go look at a young picture of Dylan.

Creepy, isn't it?

(complements of my friend Emily Pacheco).

the store is open.

living earth herbs is taking over the world.

John McWhorter is very smart. AND he's a linguistics professor. Which makes him doubly kick-ass.

Shamelessly lifted from Robert Anton Wilson's site:

"Bush's War on the Sick and Dying
13 Hephaistis 82 p.s.U.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
United States Constitution, 10th Amendment

As most of you know by now, my photo went all over the country as the first patient to receive medical cannabis from the city officials of Santa Cruz on September 17; I assume the organizers pushed me up front because of my age, my white beard, my wheelchair and my general resemblence to a colorful Gothic ruin.

I've had a lot of experence with civil disobedience, dating back to Vietnam War days, but this occasion seems unique, in that the mayor, the former mayor, the city council and various other local officials participated [not as patients, but as supporters.] In fact, we all acted perfectly in accord with local and state law: Californians voted to legalize medical cannabis by a 55% majority, and Santa Cruz County by a 75% majority. The TSOG [Tsarist Occupation Government], however, has thrown the tenth amendment into the same garbage heap with the first nine. The Bill of Rights exists now only as a historical curiosity, although you can still find it in the back of a good fat dictionary.

I suggest that you check this out by looking into your own dictionary before His Royal Fraudulency George II has this subversive document removed and thrown down the memory hole.

What will Tsarism in America engulf and devour next? Having invaded medicine -- not only in the present case, but in banning stem cell research-- will the TSOG move on physics next and allow the pointy-headed bureaucrats to decide which of the eight theories of quantum mechanics professors may discuss in class? Will they issue dogmas about mathematical set theory? Will they raid Chinese neighborhoods, indefinetly "detaining" those who prefer herbal meds to allopathic ones? Nothing seems impossible: Tsarist governments use a special logic with deuces, eights and one-eyed jacks wild.

I wonder how many of the serfs even remember that the founders intended to create a free country here."

"Religion, religion.
There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning"

--Jimmy Buffett

HYPERACTIVITY & ANTIBIOTICS
178 of 383 hyperactive children (46.6%) were found to have used three or more courses of antibiotics during the first three years of life, compared with 42 of 148 (28.4%) non hyperactive children. Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with poor absorption of micronutrients and/or peptides. The children with high antibiotic use were found to have lower levels of zinc, calcium, chromium and selenium, possibly due to the harmful effect of antibiotics on microflora in the digestive system (Nutrit. Pract. 2001, 3(3) 12). Promising results were found following the treatment of 36 children with ADHD with ginkgo biloba and ginseng, with a 74% improvement in ADHD and hyperactive-impulse activity and a 44% improvement in social problems after one month of use. (J. Psychiatry & Neuroscience 2001, 26(3) 221-8).

--posted by Robert Sesnon to the American Herbalist's Guild forum

I like Poe.

Ya'll head on down to the Onion's A.V. Club to hear Berke Breathed go on about an unnamed student who secretly released hundreds of baby alligators into nearby Lake Travis now, y'hear?

short deconstruction of the recent "echinacea doesn't work" study done at the University of Wisconsin:

a) relatively small dose of 1 gram/day. I would probably use doses more in the lines of 3-5 gram/day for an acute cold, probably even starting out with a higher dose the first day. Echinacea, when used in an acute situation, is often used FREQUENTLY and IN HIGH DOSES. This is how I personally use it. This is how many herbalists that I respect and honor use it. This is how I was taught. While not *all* herbalists use it like this, I would venture to say that enough of them do to make this low dose highly suspect. also ENTIRELY agree with Michael Tierra's statement that Echinacea should be reserved for "the nasty stuff", and that a simple cold can be handled much more effectively with other herbs. How about a good diaphoretic, something to support the mucous membranes, and plenty of fluids and rest?

b) Shaklee herbs? They used Shaklee herbs? Like the same folk that make cleaning products? Um. Personally, I don't know about their herbs. Never heard of them. Didn't know that they even made herbs. Which tells me that they probably don't interface with the herbal community at large very much. Which makes me wonder....Besides, I also have a long-standing rule of thumb: Buy your medicines from companies that make medicines. If a company is totally focused on making quality herbal medicines, chances are, they'll be better than a company trying to do eight other disparate product lines concurrently. I would hesitate to buy a car from a company that started out making paper products.

c) Capsules weren't just echinacea. They also contained small amounts of thyme, peppermint, and citric acid. Has anyone done research on what the volatile aromatics in thyme and pepperment may do to echinacea's polysaccharides when stored for a long period of time in a capsule? Anyone? Anyone? While I don't think that adding thyme and peppermint would necessarily create a problem, it surely does change the study from one on "echinacea" to one on an "echinacea-containing compound". How 'bout traditional use? Is there any traditional use to support the addition of these herbs? Last time I checked thyme didn't grow on the Plains. I doubt very much that someone would formulate a study on aspirin, use one of the ubiquitous aspirin-caffeine combos, and report it as a study done on aspirin.

d) The activity report on the constituents did not test for polysaccharides or essential oil content.

It is definitely an interesting study. But I do feel that it could have been a much *better* study had they chosen to get more input from the professional herbalists' community. Once again, a lack of communication between "conventional" researchers and us "wacky herbalists" meant dollars misspent and a study that doesn't actually give us all that much information.

I will finish the guide to Chicago, someday, somehow...But I moved to Eugene yesterday, and with the store opening in a few days (Wednesday!!!) I'll be a bit busy for awhile.

A Guide to Chicago

Now that I'm leaving, it seems like I should give ya'll a little personal tour before I'm gone--also to remind me what I love about this city. Without further ado:

If you're coming into the city for the first time, by far the best way in is Interstate 290, which dumps you directly onto Congress Avenue. You go under the Post Office and into downtown, past the Harold Washington Library (which I liked, but than an architect friend of mine pooh-poohed it as a "big uninteresting box", and so I looked at it from a few angles and decided he was right, but then I was driving into town via I-290 and I looked up and saw the enormous copper roof ornaments and I was exhilarated again and so I decided that from certain angles, I still love it.) You will dead-end at the Buckingham Fountain, which you already have seen if you've ever watched the opening titles of "Married with Children". Take a left, go to Monroe (notJackson, the lights are timed better if you go to Monroe) and get on the Drive going North. You can stop at Navy Pier if you're feeling touristy, but I never did except once with my sister, to visit her girl scout leader who worked at the Chicago Children's Museum.

But if you're me, you'll cruise on past, around the huge curve by the beach, and get off (to be continued...)

if you are going to change
how are you going to change?

will you wake up one morning--that's it--and never miss buying an iris again with its greenpurplegold or will you get old and boring cranky bugging your children? I want to learn to weave constantly incorporating the new and exciting rather than doing my best imitation of an aging leather book stiff with age and cracked with disuse.

wake up and walk to a cliff and throw ribbons and cheeses to the ocean below.

lecithin

Oh yeah. And to be less self-critical and more patient, let myself love the journey and stop looking for the destination, blah blah blah.

But I'm focussing on cheese.

My new year's resolution is to stop eating cheese for 6 months.

super whoopty-cool

From the Vatican. Whatever you may say about the Church, they sure have a lotta cool books.

This small exhibit does serve to remind us how old the European herbal tradition is. Most of those plants--if not all--are plants still used by myself and others trained in the Western tradition. Not to mention that a lot of the common plants like dandelion and motherwort are used wherever they grow.