Make your own Moleskine-like journal

Michael Shannon's instructions and illustrations make it all easier than saying, "journal."

And here's another how-to that makes it very clear.

Amazing News: Ban lifted on Needle Exchange

What an amazing piece of news! The Democratic Congress has lifted the ban on federal funds for needle exchange programs.

As a former member of the Harm Reduction Movement, I am thrilled that another path is possible for reducing HIV and AIDS through the safe exchange of clean needles with potential federal funding.

Heretofore, initiatives have been set up on a State-by-State basis, underfunded or privately supported and caused internal and external wrangles that often created public health nightmares.

Scientific studies, conducted as early as the 90s, concluded that needle exchange programs were effective and as the name implies, "harm" reduction that would save lives.

Roz' Superstitions and an Exacompta Sketchbook

Photo via Writers Bloc ©

I have been comparing, contrasting and most importantly using my sketchbooks and journals almost daily. I've started a new sketchbook a few days back, although I have a few others in use, for those moments I want to say something in words and images that is project driven. Spurred on by Roz' superstitions, and how these have occasionally worked against me, I am arting through the gut while using my head.

Here's an example:

Sketchbook, 25 June 09 ©

In '01 I broke my wrist, and a tendon in my thumb. The torn tendon went undetected for weeks and in December of the same year I had surgery. Recently I have been experiencing a great deal of discomfort and pain in that hand and arm.

Instead of just thinking about it, I celebrated it with a journal page using an Exacompta Sketchbook.

The Exacompta Basics Sketch Book, described on the The Writers Bloc, contains heavy weight 100g paper. If you like to sketch using a fountain pen, this is the book for you! The off-white paper is pH neutral, made up of 25% cotton and has a bit of texture to it. The cotton fibers and a water mark can be seen when the paper is held up to the light. The binding is sewn so that no pages will fall out and the journal lays flat when open. The board cover is available in black with silver cloth binding and silver edging. Includes 100 sheets of blank paper and one ribbon marker. Size: 5 1/2" x 8 1/4". E9920.

Thus far I'd say this is a terrific sketchbook. It took watercolour washes, some heavy acrylic (not shown), Noodler's HoD fountain pen ink with a Safari, Slicci doodling and a plain ole pencil.

The sketchbooks run about $12.00 and can be bought at several online outlets: The Writers Bloc, Vickerey, Wetpaint Art, Swisher Pens and many others.

HIV Testing: possibly standardized

The issue of routine testing for HIV has been on the table at most health departments and at the CDC for at least ten years. This article seems to imply that Massachusetts, and its DPH, will move forward with such standardization.

If confidentiality is retained, and destigmatisation is moved forward, I am all for it. However, as each State has its own confidentiality law, some of the issues that have prevented the routine administration of a test with other blood work has always been prohibitive because of those laws.

It seems from the few statistics in this article, the number of new cases has not decreased in a decade, and the serious and warranted concern of transmission remains a severe challenge for health and social services without new testing procedures.

Massachusetts changes will most likely affect other health departments, and those changes if introduced with care might well prove efficacious in decreasing the number of people infected and potentially affected--providing prevention messages are retained and enforced.

VF and beyond on Palin

Courtesy of AP photo / J. Scott Applewhite

I am late to the party with my words below, because since 1 July when I started to think and write about the Governor from Alaska, her latest news conference--I am quitting--hit the airwaves.

It isn't news in Germany or the Netherlands and doesn't appear to be among the top stories in Britain (although another Governor seems to be getting press).

And I have been following it with great interest. Why? Why? Why?

And while I have not found an answer that satisfies my curiosity, I did find Ruth Marcus' remarks here at TruthDig worth thinking about in light of my own disdain for the almost former official. As a woman I'd like to see more women reach the top of their fields, any field. Something irks me about the Governor's role in how women are viewed in her shadowy rambling perspectives.

And this new piece at Huffington Post on narcissism, and the Governor is quite telling and cautionary.

Written on 1 July: Vanity Fair, once a magazine to miss, now provides some excellent reading material and has offered some of the best journalism articles in print.

Its story on Governor Sarah Palin here covers some of the high and low points of the nearly one year the Palin name appeared on the Republican ticket.

I not only dislike the Governor's stands on most issues, I detest almost everything she stands for: the dumbing down of America, conservative hypocrisy, religiosity at its extreme, using a pretty (or beautiful) face to sneer at foes, wink at debating partners and whine when she is criticized. She is now threatened to sue, yes sue, several news reporters and blogger for suggesting that rumours are floating around about her sudden resignation.

What is even more troubling is all the press she gets, some good, some bad, some nasty, but continuous, unrelenting looks into her twittering babbles.

The coverage gives her credence.

But it seems that sensational or tawdry sells. If we take a quick peek at what stories are read most at Yahoo, Huffington et al., they invariably are articles like the Governor of South Carolina's dalliances.

In fact, Motown, salacious emails, celebrity deaths and the like pushed the Iran election controversy off the front page(s), and buried troubles in North Korea, a coup in Honduras, the economic crisis and the importance of health care reform in the United States.

The article seemed somewhat measured. While it did attempt balance, it did not include a personal interview with the Governor (she declined), but did address her political past, both in Alaska and on the national stage.

Yet it seems that I may have a lowered reading level than some as this Yahoo piece implies prejudice on the part of the writer.

But whether my reading level has decreased or not, it is my contention that the Governor does not deserve the air time she receives, that Senator McCain made a huge professional and personal mistake in bringing her onto the world stage and elevating another narcissist to contend with on the political right of center.

Perhaps what irks me the most is the Governor's disparagement of the mind. If she had one perhaps she'd embrace it rather than reduce her sound bits to gushy platitudes and meaningless populism.

But who am I to condemn either the right or the Governor, after all more Americans watch FOX news than any other channel, and lap it up as if it were the newest ice cream flavour.

Liz Trotta on FOX....seems to agree with me:



And the Governor of Pennsylvania, speaks out here.

Books: A Copyright Collage

Salinger sues, and is granted an injunction to stay the publication of a parody (says the Swedish author) of Holden Caulfield of "Catcher in the Rye" from a teenager to a 76 year old.

The book has been published in Britain, where apparently the talk by its author is that the suit denies Americans the opportunity to catch up on Caulfield's life.

I don't recall many incidence of copyright dispute of this nature, but it is one that often occurs in visual art translations, collages in particular and iconic images frequently. Mickey Mouse was among the first to meet his doppelganger in copyright court and Disney won roundly.

Perhaps if Mr. Fredrik Colting, pen name John David California, had asked, Mr. Salinger may have granted him the right for this purported sequel.

A Book Club Friendship

Boston Common, courtesy MIT ©

A most remarkable story, one that makes me smile and gives me hope, hope that folks are still talking and reading, and making remarkable friendships.

A Boston attorney and a man without a home meet in the Boston Common, and start a book club.

What an inspiring read, literally and figuratively in the Globe.

Book Review: A Mercy, Toni Morrison

When I ran out of my own reading material in Pittsburgh, I went through R's stack of unread books and randomly selected Toni Morrison's "A Mercy." The New York Times review from November '08 here; mine below.

I've read the Nobel Prize winner's books before, but never really took to her as a writer. However, this book has captivated me in small and big chunks.

The language is neither English, prose or poetry, but rather a combination of each, with a stream of consciousness approach to sentences and whole chapters. This flow can occasionally be difficult to follow, but nonetheless creates a profound connection to the characters' voices. And the characters' voices change, readjust and gather in spirit, if not always on a physical or linear plane, in resonance.

Morrison will spare you nothing. She digs into souls and resurrects the pestilence of 17c slavery.

Sorrow becomes Complete. Florens turns to Wildness. Sir dies. Mistress becomes Cruelty. Lina drowns in silence Alone.

But it is Mother who calls for Mercy, and it is Morrison who takes it away.

Whether a fan of Morrison, an avid reader or a searcher of unsung songs, a must read book.

Ann Goldstein coming to the Stedelijk Museum

Undergoing renovation and closed for many years, the museum will reopen with a new artistic director, Ann Goldstein, now at the LA MoCa. The first buitenlander (foreigner) and first female.

In the year I lived on the P.C. Hoofstraat, around the corner from the Museumplein, I spent 3 of 5 weekdays drinking coffee in the cafe, chatting with my good friend Beppi, then a curator of prints and admiring contemporary art.

Most businesses, including museums, gave their employees two coffee breaks, one in the mid-morning, the other around half past three. The length of the breaks permitted us quite a bit of chatter.

I loved those coffee hours!

But I suspect all these years later, years of renovations and reconstruction, I might not recognize my old neighbourhood.