L'aura del Campo

How long is life? How much enough?

Not all groups of Americans have the same life expectancy. What is yours? A poll asking how long you think someone like you should live. Wrote to music at a class on 'voice'. The weather is definately cooling. A poem about how gossip at the office kills friendships.

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███████          L'aura del campo
███████          SUMMER: 12 'Izzat (19 September)
███████          Weather outside: cool and pleasant.
███████          Weather inside: a bit depressed and aimless.

'é a lua,  é a lua,  na quintana dos mortos'          
~    Federico García Lorca

How long should we live? Part Deux

How long should anyone live? And should we all have the same oportunity? Biologists, geneticists, pathologist and all that rot will tell you that each of us does not have an equal chance.

A recent study showed that Asian women in New Jersey live to be 91. Native American men in South Dakota live to be only 58. That is more than a generation of life, or not.

Although it is easy to come to quick conclusions, there truthfully are great differences in social structure, diet and alcoholism between those two populations. Here in the alleyways of this city we see many a Lakotan from the Rez. It is a picture of despair.

Other groups are also vulnerable. Any group with high rates of obesity, diabetes, smoking, drinking and the ingestion of bullets will have lower rates. When these cluster life expectancy goes down.

The question is how acceptable these findings are. Education and preventative medicine have only apart of the answer. The other part rests in the individual and the culture surrounding them. In Africa they say that it takes a village to raise a child. Evidently, it takes a village to keep them alive.

The link to the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060912/ap_on_he_me/american_longevity

████████████ Still hot? Think cool like here!
████████████ Weather where I am: 65º and brilliant sun.
████████████ Weather in Norwich, NY where Sentimente lives: 64º.
████████████ Weather in Manila, Phillipines: 77º at 3 a.m. where all our pinoy and pinay friends ought to be in bed!

IMAGES

Thoughts on the way to the Art Center:

The autumn clematis blooms in ivory masses. White, pink and purple vincas huddle in the concrete city pots their limbs bending to the breeze. Monday past the vesper hour the trees are lit by the slanting sun and folks are out. Shadows rise on buildings in front of the center for the arts where the rusty sculptured heart shows off its keyhole.

MY WRITING LIFE

Well, went to a class on 'voice in writing' by an excellent teacher, Tasha Haas. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to go. Everything costs in this town. Although the price is quite reasonable. She had us write to the subject 'I remember' while playing excerpts from music in the background. I wrote over 300 words and read it to the class. It actually shows some promise.

We have an assignment to write 100 words using only one syllable per word. Do I hear the beginnings of an Anglo-Saxon beat? Gerard Manley Hopkins used what he called sprung rhythm. In using English words of Germanic origin, this happens naturally. Most latinate words are longer. Like defecate, urinate, and fornicate instead of their equivalents. My process will be to write something about 100 words. Then work on replacing all words with more than one syllable. Then edit, edit, edit .

MY PERSONAL LIFE

... is on hold. Watched too much television and read too many blogs, so I've been home far more than I should be.

POETRY? YOU CALL THIS POETRY?

Gossip at the office

Looking through the window at our friendship
they saw only what they chose to see,
said afterwards what others chose
to hear and stabbed
our hearts.

Our joy thus torn asunder burst and bled
in reddened streams that gathered,
made cement to build the
walls between us.

Ah, for the love of a window
a ladder to see you
again.

[163.356] inspired by a poem of Nizami Ganjavi

BLOGVILLE

Two great entries: "Invalid Entry"  where galinago takes us to the marsh before dawn in and "Invalid Entry"  about how AL is a miracle worker! Every keeper-of-the-house should read it.

TREASURE OF THE DAY

Since it is pitch dark, you navigate on a compass bearing and use a headlamp to avoid stepping in deep holes and stepping on the reptiles. The high spots have western diamondback rattlesnakes, the low spots have cottonmouths. Everything in between is filled with at least five species of mosquito and four species of biting flies. It’s paradise!

~ galinago from entry: "Invalid Entry" 

How long will you live? 

How long does your family live? Your friends, your neighbors?

Do you smoke, drink, have hypertension, diabetes, depression? Do you eat properly?

How long do you expect to live?

      Over 100. I expect to party when I turn 110!
      In my 90s. I swim, I dance, I boogie!
      In my 80s. And damn proud I'm wise enough to go.
      In my 70s. Three score and ten is average.
      In my 60s. Not as long as some.
      In my 50s. But long enough for me.
      In my 40s. Elvis here I come!
      In my 30s. Brilliant poets die young!
      In my 20s. Live fast, leave a beautiful corpse!