| Maskara II |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|08:39 am] |
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Our good friend Lorenzo has just posted some fab pics of Maskara II, the Halloween costume party we held in Nanookville last weekend. They are here. |
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| A call for accountability |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|05:47 pm] |
More on the H1N1 vaccine rollout. We’ve been hearing that sports team and others with money and/or influence have jumped the queue on receiving H1N1 vaccine, despite not being in any category – caregivers, people with chronic conditions, etc. – that have been authorized to receive it. There have been calls for investigations and discipline of doctors administering vaccine to those non-priority recipients.
I personally was turned away at two clinics set up for high risk patients because they had no vaccine. It has clearly gone elsewhere.
I learned yesterday that H1N1 vaccine had been made available to the entire board of directors at the hospital which I deal with, the very hospital that turned me away on Wednesday because they did not have vaccine for HIV patients. This is in contravention of the policy guidelines issued by Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health. Hospital board of directors are NOT health-care workers. They are NOT entitled to priority. There has, fortunately, been an outcry in the press.
But I think those affected, and even those not, need to say enough is enough. This rollout has been – and continues to be – a disaster. For my part, I can no longer put up with this nonsense. So today I filed an official complaint with my hospital. Here is its text.
I am a patient of your Positive Care Clinic and have been for the last sixteen years. I have received extremely good service there to date, and I am extremely grateful to the team there for keeping me alive. These people care. But regretfully, I now wish to register a complaint - not with the clinic itself but with the conduct of your board and management team.
As a person living with HIV, my condition is specifically included in the list of conditions qualifying for first-line H1N1 vaccination. I just recently attended the Positive Care Clinic to get an H1N1 shot, as I had been informed such shots would be available there that week. (I previously had been turned away by my local Health unit-run clinic in Cobourg, as they had run out of vaccine, having apparently failed to prioritize attendees as required under the ministry guidelines.) I was hoping for better and more equitable treatment at St Mike's.
It turns out this wasn’t to be the case. When I attended your Positive Care Clinic on November 4 at 11am, I was told by the clerk at the front desk that the clinic had yet to receive ANY supplies of the H1N1 vaccine at all, and that I should check back again next week! I was astonished at this news, but eventually found another clinic that day in the Toronto downtown core which was vaccinating those eligible for first-tier treatment, and I got my shot.
I was therefore alarmed to hear yesterday in the national press that St Michael’s Hospital, despite having no vaccine available for its HIV+ patients, had made available H1N1 vaccine to its entire board of governors. As I’m sure you are aware, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Arlene King, has ruled that hospital board members do NOT qualify as health care workers and thus in no way qualify for preferential treatment.
The Vice President of the Ontario Hospitals Association has called the decisions made by various hospitals to treat their board members as priority vaccine recipients “an honest mistake”. Mt. Sinai Hospital has apologised. Yet I see that a spokesperson for your board, in today’s edition of the Toronto Star, chose to justify St Mike’s decision to make available vaccine to their entire board, while priority patients went without. Some have called this a “serious ethical lapse and a grave error of judgement”. As a patient who was denied a vaccination at your hospital, I have to say I agree with the latter assessment.
I have been a board member – of the Canadian AIDS Society and of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. I know what boards do. They do governance. They do NOT involve themselves in front line operations. They are NOT health care workers and unless they fall in to another high risk group, they certainly do NOT deserve special treatment. Your failure to acknowledge this, as others have done, is indeed both a serious ethical lapse and a grave error of judgement.
I believe you owe your patients both an explanation and an apology.
Could I have a response please, not from the Positive Care Clinic, who are blameless in all this, but from your hospital’s management team.
Thank you. |
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| Back from the big smoke |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|07:51 am] |
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. I like Toronto, but it sure is nice to come back home. To Meirion, to the dogs and to the entirely different world that's little old Nanookville. I’m fortunate to have a foot in each.
If these hotel shots are familiar, it's because I’m a bit of a regular here. Nice room, passing view of downtown Toronto, rather run down corridors. Bargoon at $109 a night, corporate rate.
The meeting at the AIDS Bureau was good. Although I'm a fixture at many such meetings, I’m always a bit apprehensive, as I tend to be the only one in the room – I serve on a number of provincial committees - that isn’t an employee of an AIDS service organization or similar. But I suppose I bring a new perspective, and because I’ve been around the block so many times, I get the feeling my voice is respected, and I always feel like a fully contributing member. It’s nice that my volunteer work has led to this. Meaningful involvement, largely without pressure.
Things didn’t start so well on Wednesday morning, though. I had gone to Toronto early so that I could go to my HIV clinic, where I was sure they would have HIN1 vaccine. Wrong! I was dismayed to learn they hadn’t got any yet – further evidence that the rollout plan in Canada is fucked up. They offered that I should check back next week.
This being my second attempt to get vaccinated, I was – shall we say – perplexed. But I resisted exploding at the guy at the front desk and thought of ways how I could rescue the situation, and in particular, locate a real clinic with real vaccine There must be somewhere in downtown Toronto that was vaccinating high risk patients? So, in a flash of inspiration, I hightailed it to ACT (the AIDS Committee of Toronto) the venerable organization I started my volunteer career with many moons ago. Helpful as ever, they told me of a vacination clinic that day in Metro Hall that I could probably get in. It was the only one operating that day in downtown Toronto, a city of four million people. Gawd! Some rollout!
So I did. And I took pictures of the adventure, and how my day improved. Doing the clicky thing will get you there.
( Read more... ) |
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| That Third Cup of Tea |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|12:17 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Set The Stage: The Connells: One Simple Word | ] |
Dusk Skyline
October 2009 Outside Raleighwood, NC
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Have you ever heard of the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen?
In short, it's about a guy who spent all of his time working, scrimping and saving to afford his next mountain climb. During an incredibly difficult climb in Pakistan he had to give up the final assent to rescue a fellow climber who was near death. After an incredibly arduous descent with the injured climber he became separated from his guide and was lost. After surviving a difficult, frozen night he retraced his steps and found himself, eventually, in a mountain village in Pakistan. The villagers welcomed him, nurtured him back up to health and, while trying to find a way to repay their kindness, he embarked on a journey to build the village a school.
That journey, through a generous endowment, became a life's work -- to build schools for Pakistani children, both boys and girls, in remote, poor regions of the country. And, in so doing, he's shown that the way to Win the Hearts and Minds of the Pakistani People is not through "nation building" or any other military-(en)forced method the US has managed to come up with. To show that we Respect, Trust and Value their people, their culture, their nation and their sovereignty, we need to start with the children -- providing the elders of the village with a tangible hope for their children, their future.
While the book has its faults (honestly, I respect Mortenson and what he's managed to accomplish. Personally, I'm not sure if he's managed to do it all through a battalion of angels watching over his shoulder [despite his huge ego] or if it's just through sheer, determined will and good luck] or just what -- and, for God's sake, could the guy who wrote it be just a little less Hero Worshiping in his prose? Please?) but Mortensen has genuinely done incredible amounts of good in a region that the U.S., as a Nation Builder, has yet to even come close.
When I read a book that has a section of photo pages as an insert, I never look at the photographs first. I feel it's cheating. It's just me.
I read where he met a woman from DC at a lecture given by Sir Edmund Hillary. She's the daughter of some famous National Geographic guy. They meet, they click in a big way, and six days later, they get married.
The thing is, I recognized the name. But, I think, I knew her. She was just a normal person, no airs of pretension, no "My Father Is Important in Some Circles". Heck, I even spoke to her mother trying to track her down back in... oh, '80 or '81.
Turn to the pages with with the photographs in the book and there's a picture of Mortenson, his wife and their first child.
And danged if it isn't her!
Way back when, she's center left, looking down at the white hat (just beside Grover!)
Maybe, one day, I'll track her down and see how she's really doing.
In the meantime, we're headed off for a 3day show elsewhere. The Boy is House/Catsitting for us, so we hope to return to relatively normal surroundings.
Take care, one and all.
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| It's the Only Thing That There's Just Too Little Of... |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|12:24 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Snow - The Innocence Mission - Birds Of My Neighborhood | ] |
My Two Cents
October 2009 Outside Raleighwood, NC
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Maybe I'm being naïve, but I just don't get what's so wrong or awful or incendiary about allowing two people who love each other to get married, regardless of any religious, racial, cultural, gender or language differences or similaries. I mean, we're talking about love here, right? That thing that Makes the World Go 'Round? The thing That There's Just Too Little Of? So, why wouldn't we want to encourage more of it?
I grew up in the (low) Espicopal church and don't remember anyone saying anything about who you could or couldn't love. God loves us all and commands us to love each other as we love ourselves. Does that mean in 31 states I'm only supposed to love a separate sex version of myself? And, if so, how, exactly, would I go about doing that?
This really is one of those shake my head sadly, just not getting it moments.
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| Tiny trays |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|07:20 am] |
I mentioned the other day that, out of curiosity, I had bought these weird little kids play-sets at a Japanese department stare. They come in a small box, the contents of which you don’t really know beforehand, as you are supposed to collect the set (something like the surprise element in those Kinder Egg thingies). Anyway, I was intrigued by those boxes advertizing airline food, so I forked out a few yen to see what was in a couple of them.
Turns out they are really interesting. You assemble all the pieces yourself; one of these shots includes a dollar coin, to give you an idea of the scale.
I loved the tiny plastic creamer in the shot above, even the coffee stirrer about the third the size of a matchstick.
In not unrelated news, and ever the curious soul, I stumbled across an interesting food website which is very much to my liking. It features hundreds of diptychs of people photographed with their breakfast. I guarantee you’ll love it. Here’s an example (the rest are here: http://jonhuck.com/breakfast/ )
Personally I’m relieved that I’m not the only one with healthy eating the last thing on their mind in the early hours. All of sudden, my habitual grilled cheese and coffee seems - well – a little more acceptable.
Anyway, I’m off to Toronto today, staying overnight for a meeting tomorrow. I’ll be trying to get my flu shot while I’m there. And a haircut. And a decent breakfast. |
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| Short clip |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|12:38 pm] |
Twenty-three seconds of a typical morning at Jeannine’s Backtalk Cafe. I often sit at the table at the back, but yesterday it was crowded and noisy so I sat with Meirion in the window seat. I had a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, and a coffee. It’s one of my favourites.
We don’t talk much at breakfast. I usually read the Toronto Star. Lately it’s all about the H1N1 vaccine rollout. “A disgrace”, The Star calls it. We’re behaving “like a third world country”. The few clinics that are open, says The Star, “look like rush hour at a Mexican bus terminal.” They’re right of course.
British Columbia was out of the vaccine at the weekend, so was Alberta. And Ontario seems to be prescribing it like it was precious, with understaffed, under-supplied clinics, if they exist at all. At risk people, tagged first to get the vaccine, have been largely out of luck. My own municipality – Trent Hills – has not had one single clinic. The first is scheduled for this coming Friday. It’s in a neighbouring town. There is nothing in our own community. I imagine it will be swamped, just as every other clinic in the country has been swamped. Most people have been turned away,
My own experience has been horrible. With much difficulty, because you have to search hard to find details of where to get vaccinated, I ended up at Cobourg, in a neighbouring municipality, last Wednesday. The clinic was advertized on the Health Unit website as open from 1-6pm and was designated for high risk individuals only. Immune-compromised me falls squarely in to that category. When I got there at 3p.m. there was a long line up of families, screaming kids in tow (high risk? hmmm.) And a sign that said “clinic closed”. They had already run out of vaccine.
Turns out that the small amount of vaccine designated for high risk individuals had been given to every Tom, Dick and Harry that showed up. There was apparently an official reluctance to turn them away.
Things seem to be improving this week. But after months and months of forewarning, Health Canada, the provincial Ministry of Health & Long term Care and, particularly, the local Health Units, all somehow seemed to have failed people at risk miserably, not to mention the general population too, who will suffer similar frustrations shortly, I'm sure.
Surprisingly there has been little advocacy, protest or even help for groups particularly affected by all this. Nor has there been the kind of political storm that one would expect from this kind of bureaucratic fiasco. I guess the feeling is that those administering the rollout are doing the best they can with limited supplies, and perhaps that’s true. There are people in the midst of this, on the front lines, doing a sterling job, I’m sure. But upper level mistakes are glaring. Like procuring vaccine supplies from only one vendor. Like stimulating demand for the vaccine while a) not supplying it and b) not communicating with the public properly. Like dilly-dallying on electronic health records, which would have weeded out those not deemed high risk and placed them at the back of the queue rather than at the front.
So I’ve been frustrated. It’s not like I’m 100% sure this epidemic is as serious as its been made out to be – the sceptic in me thinks I may not even need the vaccine – but as my HIV docs have always drummed in to me the necessity for it, I’m going with the flow. Anyway, I’ll be in Toronto tomorrow and will take the opportunity to crash the HIV clinic there. Strikes me I’ll have a 99% chance of getting my shot then. If not, I feel like doing a Google search on “how to launch a class action suit.” Because surely we're heading in that direction, if thousands get sick needlessly?
I was in Jeannine's this morning too. The Star headline was "Flu-shot Overhaul in the Works." But some things you should really get right the first time, shouldn't you? |
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| Time to go small? |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|07:29 am] |
Must confess that, after a week of nothing but Halloween-related stuff, I’m so OVER it. I dunno, I used to like Halloween, getting dressed up and all, and throwing ourselves in to all things, even organizing a huge party called Maskara. This year, I could hardly wait for it to be over. I’m not so much jaded, as the whole thing has been one giant piece of work.
Having said that, Nanookville really got in to the spirit of things this year. The village’s first annual pumpkin carving festival, propelled by the community’s support for its founder, hurt in a car accident just days before the event, was a success. Wednesday night saw the town hall filled with folks happily carving pumpkins. Next day they were displayed outside our candle shop. Quite impressive they looked too.
Thursday there was a fun little ceremony announcing the winners. This could be the start of something big.
Friday was all about Maskara II. This is a fundraising event Meirion and I organize for Nanookville’s Main Street improvement project. It's a lot of work; we rent the town hall, a caterer and a live band and sell tickets at $35 a head. This year was bit of a hard sell, and the attendance was down, but we broke even (just) and everyone had a good time.
Neil from Stonehouse Gardens helped us with the decor. It had to be cheap enough to execute on a budget, but bold enough to transform a rather formal space in to something fun. We avoid anything too Halloween-ish (no bats, goblins or spiders here), instead choosing to play up the masquerade theme. This year we went circus-ish, with rolls of fabric strung overhead to form a sort of a canopy over the dance floor. . .
Meirion and I made the ten-foot pillars out of chicken wire. The shot below was taken after we had more or less finished decorating the hall. Later that night, lit up from within and with the hall lights turned down low, and with spotlights directed on the dance floor, the pillars et al looked pretty effective.
The band was excellent. So was the food. On the Side Catering served very elegant hors d’oeuvres that everyone loved.
I've also learned that YMCA - two years running - is THE ultimate track to get people on the dance floor.
Attendees included The Cloyce and Lorenzo and four of their friends, all in drag. As you can imagine, their arrival caused quite a stir, in fact the guys were the hit of the party. Anyway, we always have a costume contest, and while the winner was kind of obvious, we left it to the band to decide the five finalists, and the eventual winner, in order to avoid any conflict of interest issues. Here are the finalists. (Meirion is the mad hatter on the left, helping out; The Cloyce is the big haired lady in the middle.)
And the winner is . .
( Read more... ) |
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| The Return of Banglemania® |
[Nov. 1st, 2009|12:37 am] |
Raised Rose Bangle
(I can't remember when I took this) Outside Raleighwood
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Saturday and Sunday mark the Return of Banglemania®, that time of the year when I sit in a chair for hours upon hours at a time and do nothing but bend, cut and file wire to make bangles. Ones just like that one in the picture.
The first of the two three-day shows this month rolls around next weekend and this weekend and all of the week nights are going to be spent getting ready. Bonn's been doing so for weeks and weeks; I need that Looming, Immovable Deadline to get myself motivated.
The audio book of "Beetle the Bard" (too short. annoyingly short) and a four-story collection of Philip K. Dick stories accompanied today's Crafting Activities. Tomorrow I'll finish off the other two PKD stories and listen to Gerald Durrell's stories about trying to marry off his mother.
Sleep well, everyone.
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| I’m ready |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|07:12 am] |
It started off as a pimp. Long fake leather coat with fake zebra trim, fake leather pants, hideous pink shirt and all. But somewhere along the way, with a few changes of accessories, it morphed in to aging rock star, a la Johnny Winter. Or maybe Edgar.
Anyway, I’m ready for our Halloween bash, Maskara II, and some rock and roll hoochie-koo. It happens at the Town Hall tonight.
Enjoy your Halloween. |
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| Jersey Boys |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|07:38 am] |
There is a moment towards the mid-point of Jersey Boys, just before the intermission in fact, where the audience is bathed in light so bright, glaring and in your face that, if you are sitting near the front, you start to feel uncomfortable from the heat of the spotlights. For a few minutes there is the illusion you are standing behind the backs of the Four Seasons, on stage yourself, rather than watching the show from the auditorium. It’s a brilliant theatrical trick borrowed from Dreamgirls and it works even better here. Magic!
Why we hadn't seen this show earlier I’m not sure. Everybody we know who has seen it seems to be gaga over it. My gaga factor was about eight out of ten – I like more dramatic meat on the bones than there is here, and overall it seems a bit manipulative of its audience – but I’ll recommend it heartily nevertheless. The staging is slick as all get out, the music is of course great, performed with considerable gusto and with likable choreography, and everything builds to a satisfying climax. Audiences love a big fat ending, and this show has one.
I said there could have been more meat on the bones, book-wise. Having said that, the Frankie Valli story isn’t without interest. The group’s trials and tribulations, including the financial ones, are in fact quite a revelation. Who knew? OK, perhaps I’ll give it an 8.5.
On the way to Toronto, we stopped off at the Pacific Mall. This is the huge warren of little stores, the place I got my glasses at earler this year. It's a fascinating place, just full of Asian oddities. There’s a Japanese department store there which just had me scratching my head. I bought some little toys which intrigued me which I’m at a loss to describe – intricate miniatures of food items – that I'll post about later.
We ate at Axia, the place upstairs at the mall that we enjoyed on our previous visit. Meirion had some kind of Korean seafood stew, which surprised him with a fried egg on top. I'm not sure he liked it.
Altogether, though, it was a great day out. |
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| One Week Ago Tonight |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|10:04 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | 13. Wise Up: Aimee Mann: Live At Hultsfred | ] |
Shattered by Night
May 2009 Outside Raleighwood, NC
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Driving home last Wednesday, just down the big hill to the University, I stopped at a traffic light, five or six cars away from the light. When the light changed I moved on through the intersection suddenly my left ring finger hurt like h3ll, right at the side of the knuckle.
I looked down to see if I'd been stung or who knows what. There was blood. There was also a twisted bit of exposed metal banding around the base of the steering wheel. It had been there since the very minor accident that deployed the airbags that took out my windshield back in May. I'd caught a finger on it once before. "I really need to put some electrical tape over that exposed edge," I thought.
Then I looked up and slammed on the breaks, knowing there was no way I wasn't going to hit the guy in front of me.
You know where this is going. If you're interested, ( click on through to the other side. )
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| With apologies to John |
[Oct. 27th, 2009|07:39 am] |
On the road to Campbellford, on the top of a hill that’s perhaps one of the highest points in our area, sits a pond. Right next to it is a quaint little farmhouse, with a view that stretches at least ten miles to the south, perhaps more. It’s an odd place for a pond – it must be spring-fed – which gives this spot almost a mythic feel to it. I pass it frequently, but I’ve never stopped there until yesterday, when the conditions – late afternoon light, nice cloud formations - seemed right.
A fellow photographer whose work I much admire has already photographed this place – very effectively I might add – so I’ve been reluctant to appear to infringe on his turf. But honestly, the location is irresistible, so I have.
In other news, we’re going to see The Jersey Boys in Toronto today. It’s another thing I’ve put off or years. |
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| Room with a view |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|07:41 am] |
One of the drawbacks of photographing each hotel room I stay in is that, in Toronto, it’s quite often the same hotel. Sometimes even the same room. In this case, it’s the Ramada on Jarvis, which I happen to like, despite its not so classy address. Not that there’s anything wrong with the neighbourhood; I used to live not far from here for many years when I first came to Toronto.
It’s also cheap; the corporate rate, $119, is a bargoon in downtown Toronto. Mind you, the view is nothing to shout about.
It was a grey, cold and wet day in Toronto. Even the people on the street car looked grey as I made my way to the Queen and University area. One person was coughing, not something you can do on a streetcar nowadays without getting dirty looks. So I scowled in their general direction. I’m not exactly paranoid about germs, but I’m thinking this streetcar must be a breeding ground for H1N1 et al; all those poles people hold on to. So I wash my hands when I arrive at my destination and resolve to look up where the local flu vaccination clinics are. (I go Thursday, in Cobourg.)
The two meetings I had were at the AIDS Bureau on University Avenue, a branch of the provincial Ministry of Health & Long Term Care. For those new to my journal, I’m part of a committee that looks at gay men’s sexual health issues, and that influences the way HIV prevention campaigns are delivered in this province. My colleagues are smart – educators, researchers, policy wonks and a smattering of people living with HIV, like myself who have been around the block. I have to dance fast to keep up. But I (mostly) do.
I like this kind of work. It’s challenging and it’s meaningful. Importantly, it’s also free of the frustrations of board work that inevitably arise when not everyone is on the same page. Here we laugh, we make dirty jokes, but we get things done. The provincial HIV Stigma campaign came out of this group. Which incidentally, we heard an evalauation of. Seemed we did manage to change the attitudes of those who saw it.
We are also very strict; we have a written agenda, with times allocated to each topic, and we stick to it. The meeting is set to finish at 4pm, and thats’ exactly when it does. It’s not the best time for me as I have to fight the rush hour traffic to get home. More greyness, fading to black. Takes me about three hours before I’m back in Nanookville, a whole different world.
During our lunch break I had hurried through the drizzle to the Eaton Centre for lunch. On the way, I came across a patch of sidewalk lit up by fallen leaves – a patch of colour in an otherwise grey space. |
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