This is a kind of continuation of my last post. Working at the Cleveland International Film Festival has been a wonderful experience every year. This year has been made even better by the fact I have learned enough sign language to be able to communication with many of our deaf patrons. The practice has given me incredible highs (when I'm able to communicate), and terrible lows (when a deaf teenager completely befuddled me).
A group of deaf students from Max Hayes High School came in again yesterday morning for the "Film Slam" event, where high schoolers get a chance to see a collection of short film subjects. After the students were all seated, I went into the theater to see some of the shorts. A couple of the films were filmed in a way that no words needed to be spoken, nor any closed captioning (subtitles) required in order to understand the film’s action and intent. A few of the selections from other countries required closed captioning. These two devices were perfect for the deaf students. However, nearly half of the films included in the collection, although splendid in their own right, were completely reliant on aural communication in order to be understood. During these films the students simply had to sit and watch the characters roam around the screen meaninglessly. A few scant times it was possible to read the character’s lips, but impossible the majority of the time, and of course, completely ridiculous when it came to animated characters. The students still had a terrific time overall, but their experience could have been heightened tremendously.
After the movies had ended I approached one of the teachers and apologized for the lack of subtitles. I told her that perhaps next year we could put together a collection of films that all had subtitles. I also suggested next time she take them to one of the other collections since we offer French and Spanish short programs. At first she said this would be incredible, but then she said "these children are learning ASL and subtitles are typically in English, which can be difficult".
This was the main reason I had difficulty communicating with one of the teenagers; he was using strict ASL, while I was using the "common language" of the deaf community called PSE (Pigeon Signed English). ASL (American Sign Language) uses a different word order from English while PSE follows English word order. For example, in PSE you could say "I went to the store", while in ASL you would say "Store, I go to finish". There are some other rules, like adding rhetorical questions to some sentences and so on. This is the main difference between common subtitles and actual closed captioning for the deaf too. Much "CC" occurs in ASL form.
However, I don't understand how the kids read books since they are not written in that order.
Running concurrently with the Cleveland International Film Festival is the RIT Deaf Film Festival in Rochester, New York. Many Northeast Ohio deaf residents travel to this festival in order to see films which feature sign, are interpreted by signers, or are closed captioned. A large number of the films feature deaf actors or are about deaf subjects. The CIFF does not need to compete with this festival by specifically targeting deaf subject matter. However, local area deaf students rarely have the resources to travel to New York in order to take part in a film festival.
More later.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
on Deaf Communication
Robert and I have been taking an intensive class on PSE (Pigeon Signed English) which is like American Sign Language but the sentences are in English word order. It is the way deaf people sign to each other typically. If I do say so myself, we've gotten pretty darned good.
The other day we were at the Coit Farmer's Market for breakfast. It is the oldest operating farmer's market in the city, out near (or in) Collinwood. At one point we both heard the unmistakable sound of a deaf woman's voice; the voice that comes from never having heard the hard consonants, full open vowels or subtle tongue placements of the English language. Although Robert was extremely nervous, he approached the woman and asked in sign if she was deaf. The woman enthusiastically answered in the positive and a short, pleasant conversation commenced. It was just like our teacher Jen Carrick told us, the deaf community is so isolated in a hearing world, they get excited when someone can actually communicate with them. Later, I had my chance to sign with the same woman as we both looked at some baby goats. It was wonderful and I felt two inches taller.
The opening night film for the Cleveland International Film Festival was named "Hamill" and was about a deaf wrestler who went on to become a champion. We had been able to secure a few extra tickets (thank you Marcy, Patrick and the rest of CIFF!!!) and offered them to some of our classmates and a married couple whom I had never met. The wife was an interpreter and the husband was a deaf actor. At the extravagant gala after the film screening, I wanted to meet the couple, but I did not know what they looked like! So, I spent a good portion of the evening walking around the crowded rooms looking for anyone who was signing. Since the film was about a deaf man, there were many, many deaf people in attendance, which made my job difficult. However, each person I tapped on the shoulder was genuinely excited to speak with me and even though they were not the people I was looking for, they were eager to ask me many questions and tell me many things. I tapped the shoulder of one woman and then apologized for the interruption (in sign of course). I went on to ask her if her name was Mary Ellen (the wife in the couple I was searching for). This woman smiled warmly and then as slowly as her fingers could possibly move, she signed "my name is Cindy" and then showed me the deaf-sign for her name which was a "C" hand hovering around her chin. I laughed and told her, "Thank you for going so slow with me". The most delightful thing happened then. She asked me if I was from Cleveland and if I had gone to a local school for the deaf. I was immediately embarrassed and explained I was actually a hearing individual. Instead of being insulted, she was pleased I was learning. Again, I think I grew two more inches. I eventually found Mary Ellen and her husband Michael and we also had a wonderful conversation. By the end of the night my head was pretty darned huge!
The Film Festival has this thing called Film Slam, where local high school students can come by bus (with a teacher) to see short subject films in the morning. I always help out with this event because it is chaotic and difficult and I like the punishment. Imagine literally hundreds of inner city high school students arriving, usually at the same time, into a fairly narrow concourse. You have to guide them quietly to the proper theater and then keep them shushed while the film is going.
It is actually a lot of fun! This morning there was a contingent of deaf students from Max Hayes High School. Again I was able to put my signing into use! I leaped to action and started signing with the teacher. Again I was able to carry on a great conversation. He told me that I was really good at signing and was so thankful I was there. He told me most people in the world refuse to communicate with deaf people. I didn't bother to give my opinion that most people simply don't know the language, but I got his point well enough. God my head swelled up.
Then the teacher went to the restroom and one of the students started talking to me. His hands flew so fast I could barely even see them. My brain recognized some of the signs, but I couldn't put them into a flowing sentence. I think he said something like, "Film you ____ got _____last_____day_____not_____do you____question____over_____yesterday______" and on and on. I told him to please go very slow and perhaps he did by some slight percentage. He smiled but I could tell I was frustrating him a bit. He used a handful of signs I've never seen before and punctuated them with a question mark. He finger-spelled, but the letters weren't the perfect finger-positions of a teacher, they were the "lazy" fingers of a teenager, still done at breakneck speed. I continued to show the signs for "slow", "puzzled", "what?", and "missed it", and he continued to try to talk to me. Finally I shrugged, apologized and said, "I am stupid, sorry". He smiled and walked away.
My head probably shrunk down to the size of a pea. This was the real trial by fire and I flunked. Reading the sign of a teacher, or even an adult at a party who can recognize I'm slow is quite a different thing to trying to talk to a teenager. Of course I can take a little solace in the fact that hearing teenagers can be very difficult to understand too. Very little solace.
The other day we were at the Coit Farmer's Market for breakfast. It is the oldest operating farmer's market in the city, out near (or in) Collinwood. At one point we both heard the unmistakable sound of a deaf woman's voice; the voice that comes from never having heard the hard consonants, full open vowels or subtle tongue placements of the English language. Although Robert was extremely nervous, he approached the woman and asked in sign if she was deaf. The woman enthusiastically answered in the positive and a short, pleasant conversation commenced. It was just like our teacher Jen Carrick told us, the deaf community is so isolated in a hearing world, they get excited when someone can actually communicate with them. Later, I had my chance to sign with the same woman as we both looked at some baby goats. It was wonderful and I felt two inches taller.
The opening night film for the Cleveland International Film Festival was named "Hamill" and was about a deaf wrestler who went on to become a champion. We had been able to secure a few extra tickets (thank you Marcy, Patrick and the rest of CIFF!!!) and offered them to some of our classmates and a married couple whom I had never met. The wife was an interpreter and the husband was a deaf actor. At the extravagant gala after the film screening, I wanted to meet the couple, but I did not know what they looked like! So, I spent a good portion of the evening walking around the crowded rooms looking for anyone who was signing. Since the film was about a deaf man, there were many, many deaf people in attendance, which made my job difficult. However, each person I tapped on the shoulder was genuinely excited to speak with me and even though they were not the people I was looking for, they were eager to ask me many questions and tell me many things. I tapped the shoulder of one woman and then apologized for the interruption (in sign of course). I went on to ask her if her name was Mary Ellen (the wife in the couple I was searching for). This woman smiled warmly and then as slowly as her fingers could possibly move, she signed "my name is Cindy" and then showed me the deaf-sign for her name which was a "C" hand hovering around her chin. I laughed and told her, "Thank you for going so slow with me". The most delightful thing happened then. She asked me if I was from Cleveland and if I had gone to a local school for the deaf. I was immediately embarrassed and explained I was actually a hearing individual. Instead of being insulted, she was pleased I was learning. Again, I think I grew two more inches. I eventually found Mary Ellen and her husband Michael and we also had a wonderful conversation. By the end of the night my head was pretty darned huge!
The Film Festival has this thing called Film Slam, where local high school students can come by bus (with a teacher) to see short subject films in the morning. I always help out with this event because it is chaotic and difficult and I like the punishment. Imagine literally hundreds of inner city high school students arriving, usually at the same time, into a fairly narrow concourse. You have to guide them quietly to the proper theater and then keep them shushed while the film is going.
It is actually a lot of fun! This morning there was a contingent of deaf students from Max Hayes High School. Again I was able to put my signing into use! I leaped to action and started signing with the teacher. Again I was able to carry on a great conversation. He told me that I was really good at signing and was so thankful I was there. He told me most people in the world refuse to communicate with deaf people. I didn't bother to give my opinion that most people simply don't know the language, but I got his point well enough. God my head swelled up.
Then the teacher went to the restroom and one of the students started talking to me. His hands flew so fast I could barely even see them. My brain recognized some of the signs, but I couldn't put them into a flowing sentence. I think he said something like, "Film you ____ got _____last_____day_____not_____do you____question____over_____yesterday______" and on and on. I told him to please go very slow and perhaps he did by some slight percentage. He smiled but I could tell I was frustrating him a bit. He used a handful of signs I've never seen before and punctuated them with a question mark. He finger-spelled, but the letters weren't the perfect finger-positions of a teacher, they were the "lazy" fingers of a teenager, still done at breakneck speed. I continued to show the signs for "slow", "puzzled", "what?", and "missed it", and he continued to try to talk to me. Finally I shrugged, apologized and said, "I am stupid, sorry". He smiled and walked away.
My head probably shrunk down to the size of a pea. This was the real trial by fire and I flunked. Reading the sign of a teacher, or even an adult at a party who can recognize I'm slow is quite a different thing to trying to talk to a teenager. Of course I can take a little solace in the fact that hearing teenagers can be very difficult to understand too. Very little solace.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
on the new NIV Bible
I've been talking a lot lately about words, translations and history. This topic falls squarely within that realm. The new NIV Bible is coming out soon. It has taken over 25 years to create this version. The publishers feel they have made good decisions about controversial passages and possible past mistranslations. They have looked at each name and its root to see if it was really translated into the correct gender, and found in many cases "he" had been chosen in earlier volumes where the word should have been more neutral, such as "they".
I read an editorial blog, which was really nothing more than a press release for the NIV publishers, but what really interested me was the comments section. Many people are very upset about this new translation. They feel this is the work of the devil to "obfuscate" or misdirect people from the true word of God. Many of these upset people used biblical verses to illuminate their point; and here's where I became amused. The quotes were in English, many from the King James version, but not all. I wonder how many of them realized the original form of these quotes had been in Greek, Hebrew, and ancient Hebrew or Aramaic. Jesus did not speak English. These people's very cases were ironically lampooned by the very language they chose to reply with.
There are little tracts, about 3" x 1.5", in flip-book form, printed in black and white by Chick Publications. You can find them in many places. A local Hispanic church was handing one of them out a couple of years ago at their free public fair. The tract they handed out was fairly innocuous, it simply showed how Jesus was crucified and how he died for our sins; typical Christian fare. However, the Chick Co. prints a whole menu of these little tracts and not all of them are so innocent. A good number of them depict grotesque caricatures of Middle Easterners who live depraved lives as Muslims and finally see the light and become Christian. They depict hooked nosed Jews who are greedy and vile. They show nineteen-thirties style African Americans speaking in Amos & Andy style dialects. Name a derogatory stereotype, any xenophobic, homophobic, other-religion-phobic caricature and Chick has printed it. They have cleaned up their website, and you have to dig pretty deep to find their "off the beaten path" comics and tracts, but they do print them, by the thousands. But they don't stop there.
Jack Chick helped found a particular religious movement. It is called the "King James Only Movement".
First, some history: Back when King Henry VIII (Henry Tudor) wanted a divorce, so he asked the Pope for the appropriate separation. The Pope refused. Angered, King Henry set up the official Church of England, called the Anglicans (Episcopols) and got his divorce. The entire kingdom was Catholic at this time and now suddenly they had a new church that was being supported financially by the government. The people rebelled and this is where we get the longest word: antidisestablishmentarianism for those people who didn't like the government pulling funding from the Catholic church.
Anyway, years later Queen Elizabeth took the throne. Her cousin Mary Queen of Scots thought she'd inherit the country, but Elizabeth had her arrested for treason. Mary's son was James VI. James eventually sided with Elizabeth, his mother was beheaded and James became Elizabeth's close ally. The country was still divided, but was mostly Protestant now and Catholics were being caught and burned for their "heresy" and "sedition". James eventually became King, called King James I. The Catholic church had the Latin Bible, but the Protestants had a concoction of mismatched passages, so in order to better unite the English people James commissioned a Bible written in "plain English" of the time. Of course the language spoken in that time is very different from the one we use today.
Jack Chick's group believes that King James I was divinely inspired and that God himself directed the translation from the Latin Vulgate Bible of the Catholics, along with some original first Century Greek manuscripts into the English version we still have today. Therefore, any other translation is heresy and the work of the devil. Therefore any religious body, any person, congregation, pastor, priest, etc. that doesn't use the King James version is not a real Christian because they have not actually heard the legitimate word of God.
Funny how worked-up people get over language, huh?
I read an editorial blog, which was really nothing more than a press release for the NIV publishers, but what really interested me was the comments section. Many people are very upset about this new translation. They feel this is the work of the devil to "obfuscate" or misdirect people from the true word of God. Many of these upset people used biblical verses to illuminate their point; and here's where I became amused. The quotes were in English, many from the King James version, but not all. I wonder how many of them realized the original form of these quotes had been in Greek, Hebrew, and ancient Hebrew or Aramaic. Jesus did not speak English. These people's very cases were ironically lampooned by the very language they chose to reply with.
There are little tracts, about 3" x 1.5", in flip-book form, printed in black and white by Chick Publications. You can find them in many places. A local Hispanic church was handing one of them out a couple of years ago at their free public fair. The tract they handed out was fairly innocuous, it simply showed how Jesus was crucified and how he died for our sins; typical Christian fare. However, the Chick Co. prints a whole menu of these little tracts and not all of them are so innocent. A good number of them depict grotesque caricatures of Middle Easterners who live depraved lives as Muslims and finally see the light and become Christian. They depict hooked nosed Jews who are greedy and vile. They show nineteen-thirties style African Americans speaking in Amos & Andy style dialects. Name a derogatory stereotype, any xenophobic, homophobic, other-religion-phobic caricature and Chick has printed it. They have cleaned up their website, and you have to dig pretty deep to find their "off the beaten path" comics and tracts, but they do print them, by the thousands. But they don't stop there.
Jack Chick helped found a particular religious movement. It is called the "King James Only Movement".
First, some history: Back when King Henry VIII (Henry Tudor) wanted a divorce, so he asked the Pope for the appropriate separation. The Pope refused. Angered, King Henry set up the official Church of England, called the Anglicans (Episcopols) and got his divorce. The entire kingdom was Catholic at this time and now suddenly they had a new church that was being supported financially by the government. The people rebelled and this is where we get the longest word: antidisestablishmentarianism for those people who didn't like the government pulling funding from the Catholic church.
Anyway, years later Queen Elizabeth took the throne. Her cousin Mary Queen of Scots thought she'd inherit the country, but Elizabeth had her arrested for treason. Mary's son was James VI. James eventually sided with Elizabeth, his mother was beheaded and James became Elizabeth's close ally. The country was still divided, but was mostly Protestant now and Catholics were being caught and burned for their "heresy" and "sedition". James eventually became King, called King James I. The Catholic church had the Latin Bible, but the Protestants had a concoction of mismatched passages, so in order to better unite the English people James commissioned a Bible written in "plain English" of the time. Of course the language spoken in that time is very different from the one we use today.
Jack Chick's group believes that King James I was divinely inspired and that God himself directed the translation from the Latin Vulgate Bible of the Catholics, along with some original first Century Greek manuscripts into the English version we still have today. Therefore, any other translation is heresy and the work of the devil. Therefore any religious body, any person, congregation, pastor, priest, etc. that doesn't use the King James version is not a real Christian because they have not actually heard the legitimate word of God.
Funny how worked-up people get over language, huh?
on the power of words
Words are funny things. When you look at them remotely, they are merely a string of sounds which stand for concepts we wish to communicate. However, people have always had a feeling that words hold some kind of mystical, magical power. Ancient people truly believed saying certain words with intensity could curse someone and cause them harm. Likewise, saying a kind word would confer a blessing upon someone, giving them good luck, health, etc. Saying "Gesundheit" to someone who has sneezed gives them good health and saying "God Bless You" after the sneeze helps the person recover from a wives-tale-potentially lethal situation.
I've already posted about how Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) holds the concept that the utterance of words have power, especially the name of God.
If you think about it, it's actually pretty strange our television and radio networks ban certain sounds so that children and sensitive adults won't hear them. The F-word for instance, which of course is just the sound of the teeth on the bottom lip, some vocalization and some push of air. However, as a society we believe this word has too much power, even though the actual concept behind the word (to fornicate) is lost in most of its uses.
Think about someone from a foreign country who has never heard that word before, nor understands its connotations. To this person the word is merely a string of short sounds. Imagine their surprise when people cover their ears, cover their mouths and and cover their children's ears in horror when the sounds have been uttered. It's really an odd idea, isn't it?
Words do have power though. They may not have mystical, magical properties like the Ancient's believed, or that extremely religious or spiritual people still believe, but they definitely have some power. While the F-word has lost a lot of its power due to overuse in our society, it still holds some shock value. HBO and Showtime series for instance make sure to throw in an F-bomb here and there to make sure you know that you're not watching regular television. Then there's the C-word. Now that word still has a lot of power for me and a large segment of the population.
The beleaguered N-word. I still cringe whenever I hear it, and I never, ever think the word, as if it could maybe poison my mind. Hate speech is where words definitely hold power. We were all probably taught as children the old maxim: "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me", yet we all know its not true. If enough people use hateful words to belittle and bully someone it can have dangerous affects. If we allow people free reign to use certain words in a derogatory way, then other derogatory actions become "allowed". For instance, get enough people to use the pejorative forms for gay people and an increase of violence occurs with the perpetrators believing the violence is somehow acceptable. Get enough of the population to discriminate and use foul words to describe Jews, Serbs, or Sufis and very soon you have a population "okay" with genocide.
Right now our government is conducting hearings about radical Islam. After 9/11 most of Americans are okay with denigrating Muslims. Words like Sharia, Hijab, and Mosque have a negative connotation in many Americans' minds, regardless of their true meaning. Cities, counties, and states are hurriedly enacting new laws to "protect" the citizenry from "Sharia law".
Sometimes we can 'take a word back'. For instance, the N-word has been re-appropriated by the younger generation in the Black community. It's still not alright for anyone other than Black people to use it; the meaning can suddenly change when a Caucasian utters the word. The word 'gay' started being used by kids to mean 'detestable' or 'stupid'. Although this still gives the word a negative connotation, most of these kids don't associate this use of the word with homosexuals. In a sense, they're rendering the word a bit powerless by giving it another use.
I've already posted about how Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) holds the concept that the utterance of words have power, especially the name of God.
If you think about it, it's actually pretty strange our television and radio networks ban certain sounds so that children and sensitive adults won't hear them. The F-word for instance, which of course is just the sound of the teeth on the bottom lip, some vocalization and some push of air. However, as a society we believe this word has too much power, even though the actual concept behind the word (to fornicate) is lost in most of its uses.
Think about someone from a foreign country who has never heard that word before, nor understands its connotations. To this person the word is merely a string of short sounds. Imagine their surprise when people cover their ears, cover their mouths and and cover their children's ears in horror when the sounds have been uttered. It's really an odd idea, isn't it?
Words do have power though. They may not have mystical, magical properties like the Ancient's believed, or that extremely religious or spiritual people still believe, but they definitely have some power. While the F-word has lost a lot of its power due to overuse in our society, it still holds some shock value. HBO and Showtime series for instance make sure to throw in an F-bomb here and there to make sure you know that you're not watching regular television. Then there's the C-word. Now that word still has a lot of power for me and a large segment of the population.
The beleaguered N-word. I still cringe whenever I hear it, and I never, ever think the word, as if it could maybe poison my mind. Hate speech is where words definitely hold power. We were all probably taught as children the old maxim: "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me", yet we all know its not true. If enough people use hateful words to belittle and bully someone it can have dangerous affects. If we allow people free reign to use certain words in a derogatory way, then other derogatory actions become "allowed". For instance, get enough people to use the pejorative forms for gay people and an increase of violence occurs with the perpetrators believing the violence is somehow acceptable. Get enough of the population to discriminate and use foul words to describe Jews, Serbs, or Sufis and very soon you have a population "okay" with genocide.
Right now our government is conducting hearings about radical Islam. After 9/11 most of Americans are okay with denigrating Muslims. Words like Sharia, Hijab, and Mosque have a negative connotation in many Americans' minds, regardless of their true meaning. Cities, counties, and states are hurriedly enacting new laws to "protect" the citizenry from "Sharia law".
Sometimes we can 'take a word back'. For instance, the N-word has been re-appropriated by the younger generation in the Black community. It's still not alright for anyone other than Black people to use it; the meaning can suddenly change when a Caucasian utters the word. The word 'gay' started being used by kids to mean 'detestable' or 'stupid'. Although this still gives the word a negative connotation, most of these kids don't associate this use of the word with homosexuals. In a sense, they're rendering the word a bit powerless by giving it another use.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
on healthy food
I recently read a report on a health food blog site which gave the ingredients of a McDonald's hamburger bun. The blogger gasped at the concept that the bun had high fructose corn syrup along with a list of mysterious sounding chemicals and preservatives. First off, I don't know why anyone would be shocked to learn McD's uses HFCS in their buns; I mean, it's everywhere! Secondly, by looking at the list of chemicals and preservatives, nothing stood out to me as being so terrible. Sure, the buns have a lot more preservatives than a home-baked loaf of bread, but most of the other chemicals would be present in your mom's recipe, just under less mysterious sounding names.
I remember a television show host once said, "if you can't pronounce an ingredient, it's probably bad for you". Unfortunately many naturally occurring ingredients would be hard to pronounce if we used their actual chemical names. For instance, we all know that baking soda is actually Sodium BiCarbonate, right?
Here's a quick exercise. I'm going to list the ingredients of a food and you judge for yourself if it's something you'd ever want to put in your body, alright?
2.3 grams Fiber
95.3 grams Water
0.3 grams Protein
0.4 grams Lipids
0.6 grams Organic Acids
3mg Sodium
145mg Potassium
6mg Magnesium
7mg Calcium
65ug Manganese
480ug Iron
100ug Copper
120ug Zinc
12mg Phosporus
11.8 grams Carbohydrates which are:
2210mg Glucose
6030mg Fructose
50mg Palmitic Acid
10mg Stearic Acid
510mg Sorbit
600mg Starch
2470mg Sucrose
20mg Oleic Acid
100mg Linolic Acid
20mg Linoleic Acid
45mg Carotene
490ug Tocopherol
5ug Phytomenadione
35ug Thiamine Pyrophosphate
30ug Riboflavin
300ug Nicotinamide
100ug Pantothenic Acid
45ug Pyridoxil Phosphate
8ug Bitoin
7ug Folic Acid
12mg Citric Acid
2mg Chloride
7ug Fluoride
2ug Iodine
6ug Selenium
Flavonoids
Polyphenols
16mg Leucines
15mg Lysine
12mg Valine
10mg Isoleucine
550mg Malic Acid
500ug Oxalic Acid
310ug Salicylic Acid
3mg Purines
So...would you eat it? I should tell you that Tocopherol is commonly known as Vitamin E, Phytomenadione is Vitamin K, Thiamine Pyrophosphate is Vitamin B1, Riboflavin is Vitamin B2, Pyridoxil Phosphate isVitamin B6. Yet I think most people would look at those chemicals and think "yecch".
The above exhaustive list is actually the ingredients of a naturally grown medium sized apple (without the seeds).
I am always suspicious of websites, advertisements, etc. that claim one or more ingredients in a food has been "linked" to some condition or disease. I'm not saying the ingredient hasn't been linked, or isn't harmful, but I'm always suspicious. For instance, take the above list of apple ingredients. Salicylic acid is commonly found in facial scrubs, but always carries a warning about getting it in your eyes. One could say Salicylic acid has been linked to eye damage. Notice that the much maligned Fluoride is present in apples, as are Sucrose, Glucose and Fructose. Apple skins contain polyphenols and flavonoids which have been linked to cancer; of course both of these have also been found to reduce cancer risk.
However, if you or someone you know has an allergic reaction to a particular type of food or ingredient, or if by cutting out an ingredient or food helps you or they feel better, then by all means get rid of it. A friend of mine cut soy out of her diet and has truly felt wonderful ever since.
The long and the short of it is, I guess we should all take everything we hear with a grain of salt, or 2mg of Sodium Chloride.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
on History
It is said that history is written by the victors. This is most certainly true when it comes to history about Rome. Historians contemporary to an era that criticized the Emperor were usually banished or killed, whereas those who were sympathetic and painted a flattering picture of their ruler were hailed and celebrated. However, as soon as the tides turned and the Emperor was overthrown and a new regime installed, such sycophantic historians were summarily destroyed along with most of their writings. This makes it pretty difficult to find anything we could label as accurate. Each historian had an agenda when writing their histories.
This holds true with the later scholars as well. After the fall of Rome and the rise of the Christian churches, many new historians cropped up, eager to tell the tale of the burgeoning religion. These historians were Christian themselves and believed in the new religion whole-heartedly. Rome had a long history (before Constantine) of treating Christians poorly, therefore many historians of this age painted Rome as a dark, twisted playground for debauched Pagans. Unfortunately we get most of our history about the Roman Emperors from these historians. Nero, who tortured Christians mercilessly for the burning of Rome, is nearly always painted as a cruel tyrant, wracked with insanity, hated by the common folk. However, we know from the scant contemporary sources that Nero was actually quite beloved. After his death, the Emperor Otho reinstalled statues of Nero because he was so popular. Nero was hated by a number of Senators because he sang in contests, and singers and actors were caste in with the likes of prostitutes and vagabonds. When Rome caught fire, it started in the poorest areas where the buildings were wooden and very close together. Nero was at his vacation villa and by the time he arrived in Rome nearly one quarter of it had already burned. He ordered the tear-down of many unscathed houses so there would be a fire-break. This was an unpopular decision, but it did end up stopping the fire. I won't go on and on about Nero, his many inventions, his incredible ideas on architecture and art, because this blog entry is about history.
History is a record of events as described by a person. That person may not have even been around during the events, and may in fact have lived hundreds of years afterward. This historian probably had a reason to write their history, and we must always take this reason into consideration when reading their history.
Bias is nearly always present in histories. Modern historians are not immune from bias. Glenn Beck's favorite historian is a man named David Barton. Barton has written many books and papers and made numerous appearances on radio and television shows and is a self proclaimed expert on America's founding fathers. He is also the founder and president of Wallbuilders, a Christian "pro-family" organization which focuses on using history of the founding fathers to help guide modern people. In his most recent book "America's Godly Heritage" he asserts a number of historical events which prove the nation was founded on Christian principals by Christian fathers. Of course a cursory review of these events will provide a number of factual errors Barton has either created himself or borrowed from negligent sources.
One such story is about George Washington. In fact Barton's book cover uses a painting based on this often repeated tale. The story says that Washington, while at Valley Forge, was seen by a man named Pots, to be praying by the river. Pots went home and told his wife Sarah about the scene and how it moved him. The problem with the tale is that Pots didn't marry Sarah until many, many years after the event was to take place. Pots owned the farm where Washington's men were camped, but he wasn't actually there. Pot's aunt lived there, alone. Since the story is so suspect, does this mean Washington never prayed? Of course not, we have many instances of letters and documents where Washington called on God, but this one little story doesn't prove it. It's bad history. It's biased history.
Barton goes on to claim that founding father Adams was a paragon of Christianity. However, Christian author John Fea quotes Adams in his new book "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?":
[Adams] could not accept the historic Christian belief that Jesus Christ was God or that his death atoned for the sins of the world: "An incarnate God!!! An eternal, self-existent omnipresent Author of this stupendous Universe suffering on a Cross!!! My Soul starts with horror, at the Idea." Adams thought the notion of "a mere creature, or finite Being," making "Satisfaction to the infinite justice for the sins of the world" was a "convenient Cover for absurdity." These doctrines were not part of the pure and undefiled teachings of Jesus as found in the Gospels, but were rather created by the leaders of the early Christian church who "misunderstood" Jesus' message and thus presented it in "very paradoxical Shapes."
The Tea Party lauds the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as evidence the founding fathers were Christian. However, we have numerous letters from the Anti-Federalists who were against the creation of the Declaration and the Constitution because the documents were not "Godly" and didn't invoke the name of "Jesus" anywhere.
One of my favorite stories is that of Paul Revere and his midnight ride. The story we all know is actually from a poem by Longfellow written to stir the hearts of men during the Civil War and is not a record of what actually happened back during the Revolution. In fact, Paul Revere never really got anywhere during his ride. He was captured by the British, so he never got a chance to wave any lanterns.
How will the recent events in the Middle East or Wisconsin play out in our history books? How will historians' bias affect the way future generations learn about the events?
This holds true with the later scholars as well. After the fall of Rome and the rise of the Christian churches, many new historians cropped up, eager to tell the tale of the burgeoning religion. These historians were Christian themselves and believed in the new religion whole-heartedly. Rome had a long history (before Constantine) of treating Christians poorly, therefore many historians of this age painted Rome as a dark, twisted playground for debauched Pagans. Unfortunately we get most of our history about the Roman Emperors from these historians. Nero, who tortured Christians mercilessly for the burning of Rome, is nearly always painted as a cruel tyrant, wracked with insanity, hated by the common folk. However, we know from the scant contemporary sources that Nero was actually quite beloved. After his death, the Emperor Otho reinstalled statues of Nero because he was so popular. Nero was hated by a number of Senators because he sang in contests, and singers and actors were caste in with the likes of prostitutes and vagabonds. When Rome caught fire, it started in the poorest areas where the buildings were wooden and very close together. Nero was at his vacation villa and by the time he arrived in Rome nearly one quarter of it had already burned. He ordered the tear-down of many unscathed houses so there would be a fire-break. This was an unpopular decision, but it did end up stopping the fire. I won't go on and on about Nero, his many inventions, his incredible ideas on architecture and art, because this blog entry is about history.
History is a record of events as described by a person. That person may not have even been around during the events, and may in fact have lived hundreds of years afterward. This historian probably had a reason to write their history, and we must always take this reason into consideration when reading their history.
Bias is nearly always present in histories. Modern historians are not immune from bias. Glenn Beck's favorite historian is a man named David Barton. Barton has written many books and papers and made numerous appearances on radio and television shows and is a self proclaimed expert on America's founding fathers. He is also the founder and president of Wallbuilders, a Christian "pro-family" organization which focuses on using history of the founding fathers to help guide modern people. In his most recent book "America's Godly Heritage" he asserts a number of historical events which prove the nation was founded on Christian principals by Christian fathers. Of course a cursory review of these events will provide a number of factual errors Barton has either created himself or borrowed from negligent sources.
One such story is about George Washington. In fact Barton's book cover uses a painting based on this often repeated tale. The story says that Washington, while at Valley Forge, was seen by a man named Pots, to be praying by the river. Pots went home and told his wife Sarah about the scene and how it moved him. The problem with the tale is that Pots didn't marry Sarah until many, many years after the event was to take place. Pots owned the farm where Washington's men were camped, but he wasn't actually there. Pot's aunt lived there, alone. Since the story is so suspect, does this mean Washington never prayed? Of course not, we have many instances of letters and documents where Washington called on God, but this one little story doesn't prove it. It's bad history. It's biased history.
Barton goes on to claim that founding father Adams was a paragon of Christianity. However, Christian author John Fea quotes Adams in his new book "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?":
[Adams] could not accept the historic Christian belief that Jesus Christ was God or that his death atoned for the sins of the world: "An incarnate God!!! An eternal, self-existent omnipresent Author of this stupendous Universe suffering on a Cross!!! My Soul starts with horror, at the Idea." Adams thought the notion of "a mere creature, or finite Being," making "Satisfaction to the infinite justice for the sins of the world" was a "convenient Cover for absurdity." These doctrines were not part of the pure and undefiled teachings of Jesus as found in the Gospels, but were rather created by the leaders of the early Christian church who "misunderstood" Jesus' message and thus presented it in "very paradoxical Shapes."
The Tea Party lauds the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as evidence the founding fathers were Christian. However, we have numerous letters from the Anti-Federalists who were against the creation of the Declaration and the Constitution because the documents were not "Godly" and didn't invoke the name of "Jesus" anywhere.
One of my favorite stories is that of Paul Revere and his midnight ride. The story we all know is actually from a poem by Longfellow written to stir the hearts of men during the Civil War and is not a record of what actually happened back during the Revolution. In fact, Paul Revere never really got anywhere during his ride. He was captured by the British, so he never got a chance to wave any lanterns.
How will the recent events in the Middle East or Wisconsin play out in our history books? How will historians' bias affect the way future generations learn about the events?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
of Marshmallows
Oh the wonderful marshmallow, soft and sweet, pillowy and wonderful; where do you come from?
Marshmallows were a kind of confectionery originally made from starchy balls that are found in the roots of the mallow tree, specifically the mallow trees that grow in marshes, hence the marsh-mallow tree. The starchy balls are also known by their other name: Tapioca.
So there you go, Tapioca = marshmallow. Now you know. Go forth and eat marshmallows or bubble tea.
Marshmallows were a kind of confectionery originally made from starchy balls that are found in the roots of the mallow tree, specifically the mallow trees that grow in marshes, hence the marsh-mallow tree. The starchy balls are also known by their other name: Tapioca.
So there you go, Tapioca = marshmallow. Now you know. Go forth and eat marshmallows or bubble tea.
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