If the Times says it...

(When I first became ill with this disease after an energetic life, a busy career, I went from doctor to doctor, when able to drag myself to an office, terrified of the symptoms and hoping for help. For the most part, I received redicule instead. I was told:

1)I was crazy
2)I just needed a 'little rest' and it would go away
3)I must REALLY be depressed etc.

One doctor , a neurologist, ridiculed me and laughed at me to my face. An ENT I went to for inner ear testing, looked at the results, which said my inner ear was fine, and told me quite solemnly that I had a 'neurotic depression'. I told him I was a clinical psychologist who used to run treatment units and I'd never seen depression manifest this way and that this was no depression. He gave me a sorrowful look and said 'we never see it in ourselves'. Sigh.

The CDC said we were depressed and the world believed it, treating us this way. It also diverted research funds as did NIH until an investigative reporter discovered these diversions, a committee in Washington investigated, and things began to change. The CDC now has proclamied the illness as 'real'. Oh thank you , CDC, but no real funds go into research yet--more so into campaign ads.

We are truly the 'forgotten illness')

Please read the following article from The Times:

Frontline Report:
Chronic Fatigue No Longer Seen as 'Yuppie Flu'


By DAVID TULLER
Published: July 17, 2007


For decades, people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome have struggled to convince doctors, employers, friends and even family members that they were not imagining their debilitating symptoms. Skeptics called the illness “yuppie flu” and “shirker syndrome.

But the syndrome is now finally gaining some official respect. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which in 1999 acknowledged that it had diverted millions of dollars allocated by Congress for chronic fatigue syndrome research to other programs, has released studies that linked the condition to genetic mutations and abnormalities in gene expression involved in key physiological processes. The centers have also sponsored a $6 million public awareness campaign about the illness. And last month, the C.D.C. released survey data suggesting that the prevalence of the syndrome is far higher than previously thought, although these findings have stirred controversy among patients and scientists. Some scientists and many patients remain highly critical of the C.D.C.’s record on chronic fatigue syndrome, or C.F.S. But nearly everyone now agrees that the syndrome is real.

“People with C.F.S. are as sick and as functionally impaired as someone with AIDS, with breast cancer, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” said Dr. William Reeves, the lead expert on the illness at the C.D.C., who helped expose the centers’ misuse of chronic fatigue financing.

Finish this article at The New York Times Online/

Then and Now: My college friend visits.

Marilyn and I were friends throughout college. During our senior year, her brother who'd been in the service, came to Stetson, too. We hit it off and dated throughout my senior year. The top picture is Marilyn and me mugging for the cam yesterday. Below it is a picture taken the summmer after college when Marilyn and Dick came up to Pageland, my hometown, for a visit. You can see how much attention brothers pay to their sisters:-)

Anyway, I'm tired, but enjoying the visit. It's extra special when a friendship lasts this long.

Click to enlarge.

Oh, on the poetry front, I just had another poem accepted by Empowerment4Women and a couple of haiga accepted for Sketchbook. Life moves on.

Is Hiliary the new AntiChrist? The Republicans surely think so!

Isn't it wonderful being a female candidate for President? Irregardless of whether you're for her or against her, it seems odd to me that the Republican candidates seem to find that attacking her is the biggest assurance they have for gaining applause or laughter in a speech. Is it just Hiliary or is the thought of a woman running this country still too damn scary for men to even contemplate? Were her anatomy different, would she be subject to these attacks that grow daily? Wow, Hiliary, I'm so afraid. Let me act like a sixth grader again and call you names. Maybe you'll go hide behind mama's skirt and won't try to play with the big boys again.

Yes, this kind of behavior makes me furious. Mud-slinging in any campaign is campaigning at its lowest. Why should I expect any different from the party that brought us George Bush,though?

See today's Washington Post online article:



GOP Primary Story Stars a Democratic Antagonist

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

They mock her proposals, utter her name with a sneer and win standing ovations by ridiculing her ideas as un-American, even socialistic. She has become the one thing the Republican candidates for president can agree on.

Hillary Clinton.

Earlier this year, the senator from New York was the subject of an occasional laugh line from former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Now, the trickle has become a torrent as the leading GOP candidates seek to one-up one another in a Clinton-bashing contest aimed at energizing their party faithful.

"The competition inside the GOP for who's the most anti-Hillary is going to pay dividends," said Greg Strimple, a GOP pollster and consultant who is not working with any presidential campaign. "Looking for that piece of anti-Hillary energy is what you're seeing right now."

Read the rest of this Washington Post article HERE

Lee Herrick brought back some old memories...

...by posting a youtube video of this group. This is one of my all time favorites by them. Now, if you don't know these guys, you were born 'yesterday'.:-)

Keeper of the Heads

(In the movie, Coming Home, Jon Voight speaks of the other side of war the Vets have to carry...they have to live every day not only with what was done to them and their buddies, but with what they did, themselves. It's an awful burden to carry. My former brother-in-law was in the jungles. After, he came to visit us and laughed about the ears on belts, throwing Cong out of copters, but he wandered for three years, lost and stoned. I would never wish war on anyone on either side, but it goes on...and the orphaned children roam the streets , selling their bodies for food)

_____________________________


Nights, when the rain falls like bullets
and lightning shocks the ground
with bomb-white flashes,
the heads in my basement talk to me.

My grandfather tells me I'm such a good girl.
My mother asks if I want rice.
My grandmother offers to brush my hair.
My father grunts in his sleep.

They speak for hours about the old days;
days before Ho Chi Minh wielded his fist.
Before the French. Before the Americans.
Days when our land rose in green stair-steps
to kiss the morning heat, and flowers
formed a rainbow along the jungle's edge.

My brother yanked their bleeding heads
off the posts surrounding our slaughtered village,
ears sheared clean for the Americans' belts.
He and I had been sent searching for roots.

I brought them here, well hidden,
even from my G.I. husband, the man
I seduced, married, and ultimately killed,
the man whose house I still inhabit.

Blood taken for blood given.

He never knew I killed many before him
during my days first as orphan, then bar girl.

My looks saved me.
I'm still beautiful, though silver threads through
my hair like tears.

Tears for our trampled rice paddies.
Tears for our streams bubbling with blood.
Tears for the slain water buffalo and barren trees
leaning into a sky burned orange by Napalm.

Tears, too, for lost innocence and
hands that will never again wash clean.



Pris Campbell
(c)2005

Shameless Lion's Writing Circle

Pepe the assassin just gifted me with this award. Thank you Pepe!

First a description of the award:

The Shameless Lion's Writing Circle says : Those people I've given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc etc. Let's send a roar through the blogosphere! The image above can be copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.

I would list these three things:
-solid knowledge of the craft
-courage to write honestly
-unusual approach to ordinary subjects

I would pass this on to the following:

Collin Kelley
Burning Moon
Lee Herrick
Colleen: Loose Leaf Notes
Arlene Ang

*These represent only a handful of the very fine poets on my links list, btw.

Featuring David Caddy: A wonderful video and a new book out!

David Caddy reads 'Stag' from his forthcoming collection Man in Black, available from www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk Filmed in Salisbury by Christopher Milner. Go to the site to order.

David Caddy is editor/publisher of Tears in the Fence, an excellent print U.K. journal, and is active both teaching poetry and doing readings throughout England.

My own book is on order. I'm looking forward.

Pris

Amy Winehouse and her F Me Pumps (youtube)

My friend, Jim Knowles sent me this note and the youtube link on Facebook this morning after reading my Jimmy Choo poem in Women4Empowerment (link two posts down). Thanks, Jim. This is a fun song and I love her style.

Your shoes poem
reminds me of some
early Amy Winehouse




(If you want to watch this full screen on youtube, the URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EGk8nI9fvg)



I looked up the lyrics to F Me Pumps:

When you walk in the bar,
And you dressed like a star,
Rockin' your F me pumps.

And the men notice you,
With your Gucci bag crew,
Can't tell who he's lookin' to.

Cuz you all look the same,
Everyone knows your name,
And that's you whole claim to fame.

Never miss a night,
Cuz your dream in life,
Is to be a footballers wife
You don't like players,
That's what you say-a,
But you really wouldn't mind a millionaire.

You don't like ballers,
They don't do nothing for ya,
But you'd love a rich man six foot two or taller.

You're more than a fan,
Lookin' for a man,
But you end up with one-nights-stands.

He could be your whole life,
If you got past one night,
But that part never goes right.

In the morning you're vexed,
He's onto the next,
And you didn't even get no taste.

Don't be too upset,
If they call you a skank,
Cuz like the news everyday you get pressed.

You don't like players,
That's what you say-a,
But you really wouldn't mind a millionaire.

Or them big ballers,
Don't do nothing for ya.
But you'd love a rich man six foot two or taller,

You can't sit down right,
Cuz you jeans are too tight,
And your lucky its ladies night.

With your big empty purse,
Every week it gets worse,
At least your breasts cost more than hers.

So you did Miami,
Cuz you got there for free,
But somehow you missed the plane.

You did too much E,
Met somebody,
And spent the night getting caned.

Without girls like you,
There'd be no fun,
We'd go to the club and not see anyone.

Without girls like you,
There's no nightlife,
All those men just go home to their wives.

Don't be mad at me,
Cuz you're pushing thirty,
And your old tricks no longer work.

You should have known from the jump,
That you always get dumped,
So dust off your fuck me pumps


Amy Winehouse Lyrics from http://www.lyricsmania.com

Publication in Sketchbook Journal.

I just discovered that my halloween haiga has already been published in Sketchbook and two poems will be in their December issue. How very nice. Another journal I like. Those of you who are interested in this publication need to join the Outlaw Yahoo group. The journal publishes short forms AND free verse poetry.

My WHOO HOO Jimmy Choo Shoes in Empowerment4Women

You'll find the poem under the link, Expressions, in Empowerment4Women, a fantastic journal well worth checking out.



Cover art by Lidia Simeonova. You'll find a link to her work in the journal.

Well, I'm back in one piece. (click to enlarge the photos)

I was super dizzy after the car ride up, but rested while my husband scouted out some places to visit the next two days. It turned out this timeshare was in the hub of what has to be the biggest center of tourist attractions in most of the U.S. I'm a quiet vacation sort and seeing fast food places every other building, tourists racing to get to DisneyWorld, SeaWorld, Younameit World, to stand in long lines and buy overpriced junk...well, it can blow your mind.

The timeshare layout was very nice, but we discovered to our horror that the approximately 100 A/c units on the roof directly above us(with no insulation) came down into the rooms day and night. No, there was no quiet to be had there. In fact, we were due to check out this morning, but agreed after two nights of the deafening noise and on a sagging mattress (so much for opulence lol) that we would drive that night and get home to sleep in peace and quiet on a firm mattress.



This is me lounging on the (sagging) bed:-)



steve making call in the sitting area of one of the two joined units





Me, vamping on the balcony

On the very positive side, despite the noise, the confusion, the tourists, I DID get away for my very first trip and did okay. I was dead tired by the second day, but we saw a few things both days. Day one we went to a place called Old Town. It was out to sell stuff, too, but it was pretty and relatively quiet. We even found a blouse I liked and then, in a head shop that had just opened, I got a really net black tee shirt with the cover for Abbey Road on it. I really wanted Janis Joplin, too, but not in my size. On the way home we found a chinese bouffet with really good food for an astounding six dollars a person.






me in Old Town on my Harley, cleverly disguised as a wheelchair.



steve not wanting his pic taken at the restaurant

Day two we went to Disney City (NOT Disneyland). It was loud and not worth the trip, in my opinion , but my husband's friends had said there was a good sandwich lunch place...only if you wanted to stand in line for an hour (or in my case, sit). We left and went to this eerie place Steve had seen that he said reminded him of The Stepford Wives, a place called Celebration City. It's a 'perfect little town' with houses and stores made to look like old fashioned towns, but nobody was going in and out of the post office, the drugstore, nowhere. The pool was deserted, as was the playgound and tennis court. The sidewalk restaurants on the parallel streets overlooked a small lake and so we had lunch there. The breeze was cool and birds were everywhere. I googled Celebration when home and found out that it belongs to Disney and is an experiment in community living. That explains a lot about why it looked so surreal.



Over by the water in a quieter section of Disney Town



...and a bird scavenging for food in Celebration city where we ate



map of the general area. you can see all the tourist places

That was it for me. If I go anyplace like that again, if it's top floor I'm not going. The wife of my husband's friend told us she wished she'd gotten a sleeping pill to take (she told steve this by phone after we were already there...gads).


I need to rest today, so you may not hear much more than grunts for even a couple of days in response to any comments.

Gone from Tuesday through late Friday (hopefully)

Friends aren't using a time share so are giving us the last 3 1/2 days north of here by 3 hours. I still have this cold, but I plan to go. My first away since CFIDS began 17 years ago. Now the problem is the dog. He's never been ill since we had him. Stopped eating late Saturday. To the Vet early this morning. Nothing obvious in the physical so blood was drawn and we'll get it back tomorrow. A teenaged boy is feeding the pets and letting them out so now things are iffy. If the bloodwork is okay, we'll assume he got into something and needs time for it to get out of his system and go. He has an antibiotic now as a precaution. If the bloodwork shows some liver or kidney problem, I just don't know.

My husband wants to delay a day anyway, but for me, with my trouble traveling, to go three hours to spend one day and night and turn around and come right back will only be exhausting and not restful.

Cross your fingers and assume I won't be back online until Saturday.





teddy waking my husband up 2007




Sabrina, the cat we adopted after she moved her new litter into our garage before Hurricane Wilma hit. (the witty 'poem' by Geoff Sanderson of Yorkshire, U.K.:-)

Pris

EDIT: Barring anything else foreseen, we're going. It turns out his friends got this week's timeshare for free for sitting in on a sales talk trying to pursuade them to buy. I saw the brochure this morning and it's unbelievable. I've never been anyplace like this. Just on the grounds are conservation walks, all sorts of activities, swimming pools with every building. I'm adding the layout below. We'll be staying in two rooms. BOTH have a kitchen, TV set, bed, etc and the larger room has a jacuzzi in it. This is true opulence! For those with wireless connection laptops, the main building in each area has high speed wireless connections. The room tv's are cable with every station.



(click to enlarge)

Countdown to Halloween--30 years ago this month

(these are entries from my logbook from the sailing trip of 1977)

Lognotes Oct 23-Oct 29 Moored at Bucksport, S.C. and picked up by my parents to visit our home in Pageland. Returned to the boat loaded with vegetables from my father's garden..sweet potatos, eggplant, tomato, watermelon, mustard greens, okra and peas (frozen). A feast!
---------------------
Oct 30, 1977 South Santee River
We decided to make maximum mileage tonight and anchor in the South Santee River. Anchorage area okay. Windward Star and other boats were there. One boat from Cape Cod. We rowed over with Albert, traveling in tandem with us, who needed kerosene and took them some fresh vegetables to exchange. They gave us bacon. Wore my halloween mask in anticipation of tomorrrow.

The sunset was beautiful tonight. Albert and Suzanne joined us for fresh fried eggplant and green tomatoes for dinner.
-----------------------------------
Oct 31, 1977 Weighing anchor, bound for Charleston,S.C.
Small craft adviseries on the coast this a.m. We started early. R wore a devil's mask and I wore my face mask whenever a boat passed. Countryside here is low with strong currents and many trees. Midday it began to rain and get chilly , so we cut the run short and anchored in Hamlin Creek, above the Ben Sawyer bridge to dry out. We put our trusty flowerpot (makes a makeshift heater) over the kerosense stove to dry out our socks. It rained into the night. This anchorage is along a cut leading out to the ocean so we set bow and stern anchors to avoid a full swing in the strong tide change and possibly uprooting the anchor. Albert and Suzanne anchored nearby after going into shore for supplies. We were hailed by Windward Star on the radio, a huge sailboat, from Charleston. It was blowing hard there, they said, so they invited us to tie up to their boat when we arrived. Their storm anchor was out. The bridge past Charleston was down so the area was packed with boats waiting to move onward. Late October seas are too rough to go outside and down.
-----------------------------------

halloween day


...and later, into Georgia on a sunny day..



wearing our 'little adventure' tee shirts (our boat name)

More sailing adventures (taken in part from a note to a friend)

(click to enlarge any photos)


Sailing isn't all blue days and balmy winds. Sometimes it can be downright scarey. We were 'weathered in' at Nantucket for twelve days while 50 knot winds blew in the Vineyard. The first two days there were good weather, so we planned to leave the next day to stay ahead of the cold months as we moved south at the rate of five knots (a bit over five miles an hour...hull speed of our 22 footer). That night a storm hit from the side of the harbor where the jetty is and no trees. Pitch black, and one by one, boats are slipping their anchors ahead of us, dragging back and hooking and uprooting other anchors. We could hear all thse sounds in the night, then the ghosts of boats slipping past us. We ran the engine to keep the strain off the anchor and just prayed nobody would come down on us or our anchor. By midnight, we were in the front line of boats still anchored. At dawn, we saw the other boats anchored en masse behind us. A few people found a dock slip the next day. The winds inside the harbor were more sheltered but a chop stayed.


map of Nantucket



We started to run out of ice and since the man I was traveling with (my future husband, then ex-husband) was more handy with heavy anchors and engine starting, I hailed the marina skiff...they charged 5 dollars for a ride to shore and back...took the backpack and went in for ice and some supplies. We couldn't do anymore sightseeing and leave the boat unattended. When I was in that ice, a huge power boat came in. A woman stepped out of the cabin all dressed up. Inside I could see a lounge chair and a TV!!! I asked how the seas were and she said 'you'll have to ask my husband. I was inside the whole time'. How anybody could be out in those seas and not have a clue was beyond me, but she was dressed more for dinner at a restarant than salty brine. (Sailors and 'stinkpotters' didn't tend to mix and match much out on the water).

Her husband was busy, so we decided to leave the next day despite reports still of high winds outside. Going down the jetty a big fishing boat passed us, hailed us and told us to turn back, that it was still too dangerous out there, then a coast guard boat flew by, leaving a crashing wake just as we were turning. Since we'd decided last minute to go for it, I hadn't finished securing things inside the cabin and the boat rocked from side to side,sending things flying. Monster jumped onto my lap, claws extended and I felt something warm and wet. I realized she'd peed out of fright. Then I realized that I'd peed out of fright, too. What a mess. We got back in, anchored, cleaned up the boat, cleaned me up and by the next day the weather was okay to leave.


photo of the infamous 'pee-er'



Another scary time was our night trip down the Jersey coast, with sails battened down and only the storm jib up, surfing the waves rolling out of the darkness behind us.




Down the fast moving East River beside Manhattan towards the Twin Towers and the Lady on out to Sandy Hook, N.J. We left early the next morning for the trip down the Jersey Coast.


Taken at twilight, before the storm hit.



I won't even get into when our new outboard failed us in Cape May, NJ, before heading up the Delaware Bay and down into the Chesapeake Bay where we spent a month. We had to stay in Cape May for a week in a dock since the holding ground there was horrid and we'd slipped the night before. We had to hitchhike a ride in a pickup truck to go get the motor, bring it back and mount it without dropping it into the water behind the boat.


This shows the size of our cabin. No room to stand. A small V-berth for sleeping was beyond my feet. The photo was taken as we moved into the cooler months.

A couple of slices of the endless adventures of that six month trip!