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January 7 , 2023
VOL 2 – NO 6
My Dad's Blog -
My dad has been and done a lot of things, but at the core, he’s a psychologist. He knows everyone has a rich internal life, and he has a deep need to connect with whatever lies below the surface. He likes trying to make store clerks laugh by telling them a joke. For him, it’s not just a way to have fun or kill boredom. He wants to eke out any genuine human connection he can get from their brief interaction. He wants to touch their soul, at least a tiny bit.
His natural foil is “customer service drone” types who speak in scripted platitudes, revealing nothing of themselves. I’m not sure he’s ever fully made peace with the fact that some people will never open up to him.
Once, when I was little, my dad and I were in a carpool with another kid and their mom. My dad tried to start a conversation with the kid’s mom: “Do you think there are people who are insane, but they still put their clothes on straight, go to work on time, and no one really notices?” I don’t remember what she said, but I don’t think she was impressed. I remember wondering: “Is he really talking about himself? Does he feel insane?”
Maybe you’ve got to be a little insane to have the kind of faith in humanity he does. But I’m grateful he’s my dad not just for his parenting skills, but also for the stories he has shared with me; unique experiences that could only have happened to someone like him.
Immortalizing some of his stories in writing, and allowing future generations to gaze into his soul, is exactly what my dad could be expected to do. And I truly believe it constitutes a public service.
Steven K-Brooks: "WHO I AM"
Editor turns 77
Court Case
©Steven K-Brooks
[True story – changed names]
In the end, the judge flipped a coin, like I knew he would. My 5 year old son, Lars, had told me. Just as I got my jacket on, taking leave of Lars and his mom, heading out to be early for the scheduled 2pm hearing; Lars looked up from his blocks, and said:
“The judge is going to decide the case by flipping a coin.”
Lars is always right when he gets that look on his face and speaks with that assurance; so when it did happen at almost 5 PM, I was not surprised, yet I was still amazed. The mystery for me when Lars said it was: How could that possibly happen? (I could not imagine any set of circumstances that could realistically result in a Windham County Superior Court judge deciding a case by flipping a coin.)
It was the small claims division, in that old firehouse on Route 30, toward Townshend. The Court finally got to my case a few minutes after 4. I explained how Mark Holiday had stiffed me out of a $100 share of a commission. For evidence, I had email proof that we agreed on a $100 intra-agency referral fee if my client, a relocating African lady, entered into a transaction for which Mark got the contract. And I also had documentation from the closing, which — together with the (emailed) referral agreement — made it an air-tight, closed case.
Only Mark had some argument, claiming that I had abandoned the Buyer.
Then, as the judge pondered, Mark spoke up: “I’m willing to settle for $50.”
The judge asked me what I think. I was outraged. “Holiday steals $100, and when cornered offers to ‘compromise’ by being permitted to steal ‘only’ $50!” I turned down the deal.
Then the judge spoke:
“It sounds to me like you are at $100 and he is at zero. He has just offered to split the difference. What’s wrong with that?” Then, pointing to the clock, he added: “I’ve had a long day. Today is the last day of the current Court term. On Monday, I will be in another county. If we cannot finish this case today, if we cannot settle this case now, this Court will call a mistrial, and adjourn, and you will have to get on line for the next term, with a wait of at least 6 months.
Then, as an alternative, the judge offered to flip a coin.
I went for it, Mark also agreed. The judge said that I should call it, while it is in the air. I called: “Heads!” It came up tails. Amazed, I turned to the judge:
“This is amazing!!! This morning my son said, ‘the judge is going to settle the case by flipping a coin!’”
The judge leaned forward, looked me in the eye and said: “Your son and I have a deep psychic connection.”
I Almost Drowned At Jones Beach
Treading water pretty far out, I glanced back to see who the lifeguard was coming after and saw no one. Pretty soon he was in front of me, passing over a grippable, wooden torpedo on a rope, so that he could tow me in.
With each wave — many excitingly large — had come an immediate undertow, lifting my toes from the ocean floor and pulling me another few feet deeper into the Atlantic.
By now, I was in over my head, which did not bother me because I was strong and could keep my head up by treading. The relevant questions were as follows:
- How long before I would become fatigued from treading? and;
- Was I a strong enough swimmer to go against a great force of nature — the current — to get back to shore?
The problem was that I was not thinking analytically, just having a great time, soon to end forever was it not for the lifeguard.
It was not just his powerful swimming that saved me: It was the power of his analytical mind, attentive presence, and ability to act quickly. He correctly evaluated the situation, which — to my mortal jeopardy — I had not.
Wow!
I would hate to drown. Imagine, grasping for breath but instead of filling your lungs with air, getting water?
Steven K-Brooks
November 3rd, 2022
VOL 2 – NO 4
Virological Drama
GAIN OF FUNCTION
BACKGROUND:
“A decade ago, researchers used serial passage, as this procedure is known, to learn how new strains of influenza evolve. Flu strains start off in the guts of birds, and sometimes manage to mutate into a form that can spread among people.
“Two teams of researchers — one from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the other at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands — designed experiments to identify which genetic mutations were essential for a successful jump from birds to people. They injected bird flu viruses into the noses of ferrets, waited for the viruses to replicate, and then transferred the new viruses to new ferrets. Soon the viruses evolved to become better at replicating in the ferrets.
“When news of the experiments broke in late 2011, a controversy exploded. Some critics said the research was reckless and shouldn’t be published, for fear that other researchers would copy the work and accidentally release a new pandemic strain of flu.”
Quoted from: “Fight Over Covid’s Origins Renews Debate on Risks of Lab Work.” NY Times, June 20, 2021 – Updated Oct. 12, 2021.
During Senate testimony by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gain of Function ignited and explosive exchange with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. In the words of above-cited Times article:
“At a Senate hearing on efforts to combat Covid-19 last month, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky asked Dr. Anthony S. Fauci whether the National Institutes of Health had funded ‘gain-of-function’ research on coronaviruses in China.
“’Gain-of-function research, as you know, is juicing up naturally occurring animal viruses to infect humans,’ the senator said.
“Dr. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, flatly rejected the claim: ‘Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect, that the N.I.H. has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute.’”
Fauci has since been accused of lying under oath.
Appearing on https://www.congress.gov/ is a November 4, 2022 Newsweek “TECH & SCIENCE” article titled:
“Fauci Was ‘Untruthful; to Congress About Wuhan Lab Research, New Documents Appear to Show.” [link]
The story is a well-written journalistic account of statements made, not by Fox crazies, but by a Rutgers University professor, molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright. I am providing a link to this story, so that the you, dear reader, may decide for yourself.
My only comment (at this time) is that Dr. Fauci has cover from an unequivocal NIH statement:
“Based on outbreaks of coronaviruses caused by animal to human transmissions such as in Asia in 2003 that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(link is external) (SARS), and in Saudi Arabia in 2012 that caused Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(link is external) (MERS), NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have for many years supported grants to learn more about viruses lurking in bats and other mammals that have the potential to spill over to humans and cause widespread disease. However, neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported “gain-of-function” research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans. [emphasis added]
“NIH strongly supports the need for further investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Working with a cross-regional coalition of 13 countries(link is external), we urge the WHO to begin the second phase of their study without delay.”
The Real Anthony Fauci
(book and movie)
by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is so good a writer, it hurts that his journalism is rotten. Not rotten because he lacks talent. Rotten because he makes easily-checked, important falsehoods, like the whopper he tells at the start of the recently-released movie.
Discussing Event 201, a symposium to simulate a hypothetical corona virus outbreak and discuss strategy for dealing with a global pandemic (one of several conferences since the 2002 Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. and later MERS, and Bird Flu; narrating 4:15 minutes into the movie, Kennedy states the following:
“The major hosts included not only Gates, but also Avril Haines, who’s the deputy director of the CIA. What is the CIA doing hosting a simulation on public health? The CIA s not a public health agency. It is an intelligence agency. It does not do public health.”
Turns out to be a whooper!
The CIA was not one of the hosts. The conference hosts were The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Haines was at the conference to speak as a panelist as one of 15 experts, but she had not been a deputy director of the CIA since 4 years earlier.
Journalism 101 warns a factual error as trivial as getting someone’s name wrong will undermine your credibility because people may wonder if you also got other, more important, facts wrong.
Telling his audience that the CIA hosted Event 201, when he had to know darn well that it did not, amounts to intentional fraud, does it not?
The book is a powerful expose´of the Medical Establishment, Big Pharma, and corrupt government Regulatory Agencies, axis of evil. Although (unlike in his movie) in the book, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. correctly states Haine’s position, AND he does not claim that the CIA had been a host of Event 201; nonetheless with sensationalizing, whopper-telling, propagandist, Kennedy’s name on it, is the book credible?
Unindexed and with no Table of Contents, The Real Anthoni Fauci is a bit difficult to look up specific items; however with extensive footnotes, in appears formidable. As it turns out, though, the majority of footnotes reference trivial and non-controversial documentation. OK, that’s not a problem. But there is something else which is:
Every so often Kennedy throws in an allegation — often for something major going well beyond an expose´of regulatory collusion with Big Pharma, facilitated by the Medical Establishment.
In the Introduction, Kennedy promises that:
“You will read how Dr. Fauci’s strange fascination with, and generous investments in, so-called ‘gain of function’ experiments to engineer pandemic superbugs, give rise to the ironic possibility that Dr. Fauci may have played a role in triggering the global contagious that two US presidents entrusted him to manage.” And of, “falsifying science to bring dangerous and ineffective drugs to market, suppressing and sabotaging competitive products that have lower profit margins even if the cost is prolonging pandemics and losing thousands of lives–all of these share a common purpose; the myopic devotion to Pharma.”
Kennedy further alleges that Covid-19 remedies more effective, safer, less expensive, and more quickly available than vaccines — particularly ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — were arbitrarily rejected and stigmatized, despite numerous peer-reviewed studies, such as one published on April 22, 2020, titled: Potential use of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and azithromycin drugs in fighting COVID-19: trends, scope and relevance, by R. Choudhary and A.K. Sharm (which like others) found the following:
“Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were known to act by creating the acidic environment and inhibiting the importin (IMPα/β1) mediated viral import. Azithromycin was found to act similar to the hydroxychloroquine as an acidotropic lipophilic weak base. All the three categories of drugs seemed to potentially act against novel coronavirus infection. However, their efficacies need to be studied in detail individually and in combination in-vivo in order to combat COVID-19 infection.”
But the big Kennedy assertion is that Fauci had to suppress ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine because vaccine emergency authorization can only be granted if there is no other viable treatment.
Another Whopper?
Where is Blog88 going with this?
The assertion that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine treatment had to be stopped because they stood in the way of vaccine emergency authorization, seems not only to be a major underpinning to The Real Anthony Fauci, but is also quite amenable to fact-checking.
If there are historical examples of vaccine emergency authorization being denied because of effective but less extreme remedies; those would a benchmark with which to compare. On the NIH website, I have read PubMed, peer-reviewed studies showing efficacy of ivermectin (prescribed in human doses) as Covid-19 remediation.
No doubt there are only small studies because there are insufficient financial incentive to fund large-scale, double-blind ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine studies. While the NIH does not debunk the majority of existing studies, nonetheless, “The [NIH]Panel recommends against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19, except in clinical trials (AIIa).”
There is no way I can fact-check every statement in this 476 page book. My plan, as I continue to read and study the Kennedy Opus, is to report back to you what I find; particularly regarding checkable, statements of fact of a character qualifying them as foundational to the credibility of Kennedy’s book.
Rabbi Weiss Was Not Billy Graham
The Rabbi was our synagogue’s spiritual leader for a decade or more. Since it was my childhood, it seemed like forever. For me, Rabbi Weiss will always be The Rabbi.
When my family arrived in the newly-minted post WWII lower-middle class community, the Jewish center consisted of Rabbi Weiss working from a desk in the back of a real estate office, with Hebrew School classes in members’ basements. There was a building fund for the future synagogue, which at the time was Rabbi Weiss’ impossible dream.
The rabbi was fired a few years after the shul was built. Suddenly, it seems, the governing board replaced Rabbi Weiss with a younger guy, who wore a United States Air Force Reserve uniform to his very first public appearance at the Jewish Community Center of Bayside Hills. My mother disapproved. She felt it was flamboyant, not fitting for a Rabbi. “They got rid of Rabbi Weiss” my mother said, “because they want Billy Graham!”
Rabbi Weiss may not have been Billy Graham, but to this day I am still chewing over one of his sermons. I do not recall at all the Rabbi’s sermon at my Bar Mitzvah, but the sermon a week later when Alan Silver was the Bar Mitzvah Boy stays with me forever.
Here is what the Rabbi said:
“Alan, when G-d told Noah that he was going to flood this evil world and ordered him to build an Ark, Noah did what G-d told him. But when G-d told Abraham that he was going to destroy two evil cities, Abraham argued with G-d.
“‘Will you destroy the cities if you can find 100 just men in them?’
“‘No, said G-d. For the sake of 100 just men among them, I will spare these evil people.’
“‘Then will you save the two cities if they have 99 just men, because you are everywhere, Oh Lord, so you will be the hundredth.’
“G-d agreed to Abraham’s terms, but after checking He returned to say that he could not find 99 just men.
“So Abraham got G-d to agree to save the cities for the sake of even 10 just men, and then 9 since G-d would be the tenth. But to no avail, G-d could not find even 9 just men in Sodom and Gomorra. The cities and all their people were destroyed as Abraham and his brother Lot left with their families and servants. G-d ordered them to look only forward, but not back upon the destruction of those cities, but Lot’s wife turned around to look anyway, and she turned into a pillar of salt.” (I wondered if you could see how she looks as a pillar of salt if you were to go there today).
Now the part that really got me was Rabbi Weiss’ conclusion:
“Do not be like Noah, Alan,” said the Rabbi, “Be like Abraham. Argue with G-d!”
What? Don’t obey G-d? I had always understood that Noah was a righteous man. But the Rabbi’s admonition was not to be righteous and obey G-d, but to argue with Him!
That day — at the age of 13, one week after I had officially become a man — began my lifelong struggle to grapple with religion.
September 3, 2022
VOL 2/NO 2
Fair Housing?
. . . a father, concerned — not with legal theories — but with the well-being and safety of his children, had asked for my help, trusting that I would care enough to give an honest response. Yet the fair housing experts said that I should have played it safe and demurred because a genuine response would violate the formula.
Following the “do’s and don’ts, of fair housing rules is simple… right?
Blockbusting, redlining, and steering are illegal. Housing discrimination by, “Race, Color, Religion, Sex, Handicap, Familial Status, National Origin, Age, Genetic information, Veteran status, violates Federal law. Many states include additional classes of protected people.
But what happens when real life does not neatly fit the formula? My client — a relocating family with two young children — had viewed homes in several towns, and were now looking in an area across the Connecticut River with recently-built homes on well-manicured, two-acre lots. The father, Lawrence, turned to me and said:
“Do you think my daughters will be the only Black children in the school and get picked on by the White kids?”
Later, his wife, Brenda, took me aside. She explained that her husband holds a strong philosophical principle that there are no black people, no white people: just human beings. So she was surprised by what he had said. “That Lawrence even mentioned black and white, he must really have a strong gut feeling worrying him about this area.”
Later, I discussed the concern with Brenda and Lawrence. I told them that I know a Black man who has lived in that town for 20 years. I offered to ask him if he would mind speaking with them.
When I called to ask him if it would be OK for me to give my clients his contact information, he commented that the neighbors would not burn a cross on their lawn, but also they would not likely invite them over for a cookout. After speaking with him, my clients decided to move on.
About a month later, Lawrence and Brenda chose to buy a home in a rural Vermont village. A couple of months after moving in, they told me that their new neighbors were friendly, and their children found lots of neighborhood kids to play with.
During a continuing education course on Fair Housing, I told this story and was admonished by the instructor that my actions had been an egregious violation of Fair Housing laws. By suggesting a discussion with another black person (according to my understanding the fair housing instructor’s critique) I had given Brenda and Lawrence disparate treatment on the basis of their color or race.
I brought up this incident again at another class with another fair housing expert. This time I was told that I should simply have told Lawrence and Brenda that I am unable to answer the question.
Here a father, concerned — not with legal theories — but with the well-being and safety of his children, had asked for my help, trusting that I would care enough to give an honest response. Yet the fair housing experts said that I should have played it safe and demurred because a genuine response would violate the formula.
What do you think?*
– 30 –
*To post on a [soon-to-be-created] blog88.org, online forum, email your comment to skb.blog88@gmail.com
Fair Housing Comments
Ed Liebfried — We liberals are responsible for the new take on racism where passive racism is recognised, etc.
We’re also responsible for political correctness being a “thing” – mostly a good thing but a thing that bugs the hell out of centrists and mild conservatives.
Much like almost any comment to a woman can now be seen as misconduct, pretty much any interaction with a minority can be seen as racist.
Much like a good samaritan getting sued for trying to save a life and not succeeding . . .
SKB, I’ve worked with you as a realtor (buyer agent) in the past and will say that you’d have answered any question about the locals in a neighborhood I was considered similarly – maybe providing a local resource with whom to talk.
Sadly the system appears to favor “do nothing” and cover your ass” over going the extra mile.
Sad.
This from a liberal but not libtard view – I think.
Alisa Scipio — I think you did exactly the right thing. You found someone who could answer the question asked! Nice to read more from you. Stay well, peace. Alisa
Joey Lott — When everyone is afraid to be themselves, there’s no longer a need for the police. The “upstanding citizens” who know best who everyone should behave will shame everyone into submission. (And if that doesn’t work?)
But probably not you. You don’t seem like someone afraid to be yourself. So that’s one for the side of sanity.
Phoebe Sparrow Wagner — Hi Steve
Oh my what “disgraceful” behavior, that you empathized with the family of this man and wanted him and esp his daughters to feel comfortable in their surroundings. I think it’s downright disgusting that he as a black man even needs to wonder about the neighborliness of his neighbors but such is the country we live in. Society/American culture of white supremacy is wrong and you were right according to my way of thinking — and frankly some rules need to be broken!
Best wishes
Phoebe Wagner
Editor’s Note: See Phoebe Sparrow Wagner’s writing on her blog – https://phoebesparrowwagner.com/
May 29, 2022 /VOL 2 – NO 1
IVERMECTIN
"Crackpot Treatment"
In an Oct 13, 2021 news story by Chris Mays, “Controversial COVID drug difficult to get dispensed,” the Brattleboro Reformer reported that, “Dr. Clif Steinberg at Sojourns Community Health Clinic in Westminster said he and other prescribers are facing obstacles in getting ivermectin to patients.”
. . . “’Most pharmacies ask what the ivermectin is for and if you say COVID, they refuse to dispense it,” he said. “In all my years of prescribing … I have never had to tell a pharmacist why I am prescribing a medication to a patient before they will fill a prescription. It is truly unusual.’”
Explaining that, “Many medical providers aren’t on the same page as Steinberg,” the article presents BMHs institutional opinion:
“’There isn’t good evidence of effectiveness and high doses can be toxic,” said Dr. Kathleen McGraw, chief medical officer at BMH. Overdoses are associated with hypotension and neurologic effects such as decreased consciousness, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma and death. Calls to poison control centers due to ivermectin ingestion have increased five-fold from pre-pandemic baseline.’
“McGraw encourages people who are worried about exposure to the virus or experiencing symptoms to consult with their primary care provider for ‘appropriate treatments.’”
I would be remiss not to point out that all those horrible effects mentioned by Dr. McGraw of high-dose large-animal ivermectin that you can buy in Agway with no prescription at all, are (if anything) a good argument for providing a way to get legal, prescribed, low-dose ivermectin pills.
In an Oct 15, 2021 letter published in the Reformer, Nichael Cramer complained that the Mays’ story violated press ethics with an inaccurate headline. Inaccurate because it called, “the use of crackpot treatments for COVID such as ivermectin,” controversial.
“‘Controversial'” wrote Cramer, “implies that an issue is subject to actual debate. There is no serious debate about the worthless nature of ivermectin for the treatment for COVID.”
"Follow The Science"
“There is insufficient evidence” according to the National Health Institute (NIH), “for the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel (the Panel) to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19. Results from adequately powered, well-designed, and well-conducted clinical trials are needed to provide more specific, evidence-based guidance on the role of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19.”
That was the NHI position when I wrote this piece. But a final, pre-publication fact-check discovered that — citing new data which tips the balance — the NIH has changed its position, as follows:
Science, for me, has been a life-long interest from from the time I was three, if not younger. College exposed me to Philosophy of Science. At 77, I remain informed. Yet I never heard, “follow the science” before the pandemic. What distinguishes “the science” from “science?”
After awhile, “Follow the science,” started to sound more and more like code for a decree — an imperative — not subject to discussion. This observation is expressed in ‘Follow the Science’ Is a Slogan, Not a Policy – Bloomberg, which says the following:
“Politicians who claim they’re ‘following the science’ on Covid-19 are starting to look disingenuous. Some are using it to stifle debate. ‘I think it would be wonderful if ‘follow the science’ meant we should bring science into the debate, but what it ended up meaning was ‘Our policy is the right policy and there is no alternative,’ said Rutgers Law School associate professor Jacob Hale Russell, who has been studying the relationship between expertise and populism.”
By now, you are probably wondering what I think about ivermectin as Covid treatment. The data that I have seen on the NIH website looks to me like ivermectin probably helps, at least marginally. Even studies cited to debunk ivermectin, tend to show slightly better (but not statistically significant) outcomes for the ivermectin group.
On occasion, faked study results have made it into a respected journal, which is a topic for another time.
For a serious disease, personally I want to throw everything I can at it. Since ivermectin in a normal, prescribed human dose, is considered to be particularly safe, and there is credible evidence of its efficacy as a Covid-19 treatment, I would take it together with other therapies. Unfortunately, the discussion on Covid has become polarized with few dispassionate voices.
Poverty Row
©Steven K-Brooks
Poverty Row got its name as the historic location of the town’s poorhouse. But now it is a rather nice section with a number of private vacation homes.
In the mid 1980s we lived in a cabin without utilities, wore used clothing, and spend money freely only on wholesome, organic food. Before our son was born, I took whatever low-paying job I could get.
Sometimes a low-paying job brings you in contact with wealthy people.
When I began to work for Mr. Lumbar (name fictionalized) the irony was lost on me that his home was located on Poverty Row. Some people have a second home in Vermont: Their Poverty Row house was a third home. Their first home was a Gramercy Park penthouse, and they also owned an ocean-front home with a sailboat.
Mr. Lumbar was the retired CEO of a major financial institution. You would recognize the name of this company immediately.
As an on-call, hourly aide at just over the minimum wage; I was sent to help Mrs. Lumbar with her husband, who had Parkinson’s. My presence gave Mrs. Lumbar a break, and a chance to leave the house for a few hours.
Mrs. Lumbar would call the agency on short notice, requesting my services for the minimum permitted time of four hours. It seemed that she was being frugal, only calling when she absolutely could take it no more and needed relief, and then only spending the minimum.
It was marginal for me to travel there and back to work 4 hours at $7.50 an hour, maybe 3 times a week.
When, in nice weather, I would take Mr. Lumbar for a walk. I had to keep a grip on his belt because one of the effects of his disease is that his gait would speed up involuntarily. If unchecked, he could end up unable to stop, and fall.
Other than walks, it was challenging to find productive ways to spend the time. I engaged Mr. Lumbar in conversation. I learned about his childhood. His parents had sent him to an exclusive school with a progressive agenda. He hated it: He wanted to be a regular kid and go to public school. (Shades of Rosebud!)
One day I brought my Smith-Corona portable word processor, and suggested that I would interview Mr. Lumbar about his life, thinking that we could create a legacy for his family. Mrs. Lumbar did not try to hide her dismay: She thought I was trying to get them to hire me for more hours.
One day Mrs. Lumbar went shopping and left her husband in my care. At lunchtime. I looked in the refrigerator to see what I could prepare. I saw that there was Mott’s Apple Juice and three quarts of strawberries which were in danger of excessive over-ripeness… begging to be eaten before they went bad.
In addition to proposing that I prepare sandwiches, I suggested making a blender drink of apple juice and strawberries. Of course, Mott’s Apple Juice, and the non-organic strawberries in the Lumbars’ fridge were not up to my usual standards, but I try to work with what is available.
Mr. Lumbar was shocked.
“If you put strawberries in a blender with apple juice,” he said, “and just drink them down by the glassful; you will soon go broke!”
“I will?” I thought.
And here we had been doing it all the time… and with organic apple juice and organic strawberries! No wonder we lived in an off-the-grid cabin instead of in a penthouse with two vacation homes: We had tossed all our money down our gullets, wasting it on fresh, organic food!
Soon after that I stopped accepting the Poverty Row assignment. The commute from Westminster to Whitingham was at least an hour each way: Two hours of uncompensated travel in order to work at low wages for 4 hours. I guess I am not the patron saint of the impoverished well-off.
11:54
As a kitten softly purrs
On a side street in Kiev,
I remind myself that it’s six minutes to noon.
Donna F. K-Brooks
FIRE!
From the fire, I learned what cops are made of. I learned what panic can do. And I learned that cats really do have nine lives.
The building was renovated: a 6 floor walk-up, a bit too fancy to be called a NYC tenement. Our apartment was on the fifth. On each floor, were two railroad flats running from front to back on either side of the staircase. When I smelled the smoke, I went out into the hall to investigate.
I ran into a neighbor. We agreed he would make the emergency call, while I went through the upper three floors banging on doors to alert anyone who was home. Pretty soon I saw that smoke was leaking out under the sealaed-off backdoor of the apartment below ours. I banged hard and repeatedly on the entrance door. Each apartment had an unused back door, sealed shut, but I knocked hard on that one as well.
When I was sure that no one was home there, I started to bang on the other 4th floor apartment, just as the door opened and the people left. Then the fifth floor unit opposite ours, then up the sixth floor. After knocking hard to make sure everyone was out, it was time to leave. But as I bounded down the stairs, I came face to face with a cop, who was headed up.
I assured him that I had already checked and everyone on the top three floors was out. But he did not know me, and perhaps he was from Missouri as well. The multiple doors were confusing, so I accompanied him, pointing out which were the actual apartment doors.
By now, the smoke coming out of the 4th floor apartment was thick. He banged really hard and long on that door. When no one answered, he turned to the other 4th floor apartment, even though I told him that I had seen those people leave. Then he turned back to the door with the smoke, but again there was no answer to his banging.
Perhaps he thought people inside might be unconscious.
“Is there some way to get on the fire escape?” he asked.
“Yes, through my apartment.”
He followed me up and into my apartment. I showed him the front window which lead to the fire escape. In two seconds he was out the window, heading down the metal steps. but before he got to the fourth floor landing, the window broke out from the 4th floor apartment. Fed air, the fire suddenly roared. Huge flames leapt from the window, engulfing the cop.
I don’t think he ran up the stairs, I think he flew. There was no choice now… back into the hall. The stairwell was filling with smoke and I thought we would head down, but no, he had to check the 6th floor.
“But I’ve already checked, “ I said, “There is no one up there.” He ignored me. I followed him. Finally, when he was satisfied that the apartments were empty, we headed down. He was ahead of me and kept going, not realizing that I had stopped on the 5th floor landing.
By that time the smoke was black, totally black. I could not see in front of me. Not being able to see, I panicked. My body would not move, I was paralyzed. I did not know how I would escape.
Then, the cop reappeared. I have no memory of going down the stairs, or of how he got me moving. I just remember being out on the street, and neighbors also being there.
Too late, I realized that Puss-Puss, my fat calico, was trapped. Even if she could have gotten out of a window, it was a long way down. While I was trying to warn humans, my cat had perished in the fire.
The next day, when I came back to find out if anything could be salvaged, someone came over carrying a bedraggled Puss-Puss and handed her to me.
©Steven K-Brooks (2018)
Potato Harvest: Small Boxes Big Yield
As she shoots video of me filling bags with newly-dug potatoes, my neighbor Jensen draws me out with thoughtful questions.
Worth Watching!
This video of the late Roger Ridley is a classic:
I think I am starting to get the hang of this blogging thing!
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