Category : Opinion

Given that cortisol is public enemy number one, getting high on music is one of my favorite pastimes. Songs that match my inner mood resonate like internal endorsements – no matter what I’m feeling, I can listen and I know I’m okay. At certain points in my life, there have been tunes that mean so much they’ve changed my entire outlook, including my body chemistry. Endorphins are great, no?

A humble collection of fave artists and songs, including those heart-achingly, gut-wrenchingly beautiful songs that lifted my spirits and made me want to write music, sensual gems that get my juices going (over and over again, yes!), floor movers and ass-shakers, some socially conscious protest numbers that stick to the brain, and then some. This is just a small selection here – a Volume One, if you will (there will be others!) – and I don’t discriminate by genre. “It’s all music to me…”

A Richard Ashcroft & The Verve :: Probably one of the best singer-songwriters of the 90s, whether he was with The Verve or not. He can sing in my ear anytime…

Song for the Lovers – “Don’t wanna wait…Lord I’ve been waiting all my life but I’m too late again I know but I was scared…and DJ, play a song for the Lovers…tonight…”

Sonnet – “Yes, there’s love if you want it…don’t sound like no sonnet, my lord…” The choruses on this one will lift you up and over the clouds, and gotta love that out – it sounds like Mr. Ashcroft is personally escorting me into a heaven all my own.

The Drugs Don’t Work – “If Heaven calls, I’m comin’ too…” There’s something about his voice when he sings this line that hits a nerve.

A Nadia Ali :: Anything this woman sings/is featured on. Hers is one of those unique voices – you always know it’s her. Good to have that with EDM, otherwise some of it starts to sound alike…

A Anastacia :: Sick and Tired – “I lost my peace of mind somewhere along the way…I knew there’d come a time you’d hear me say…I’m sick and tired of always being sick and tired…” Is Anastacia singing about her ongoing fight with cancer, or is it really all about leaving behind some bad love? In any case, what a song, what a voice. Be well…

A Tasmin Archer :: Sleeping Satellite – “Have we lost what it takes to advance? Have we peaked too soon? If the world is so green…then why does it scream under a blue moon? We wonder why the earth’s sacrificed for the price of its greatest treasure…” Another unforgettable vocal performance, from ethereal whispers to the gritty. Two instrumental bridges wind their way around this tune as it just keeps building and building expectations, kind of like the abandonment of space exploration the song laments so well. Have we lost it? I worry about this in 2016 as I write this compilation piece, because look what’s happening all around: Backlashes against progress. Isolationism. Fear. Lack of follow-through. The tendency to look back on eras that never really existed, except in someone’s wishful-thinking mind. My response in just two syllables: Forward! 

B Borgeous :: Wildfire – Stuck-on-the-ceiling orgasmic! Romantic. Sensual. Breathless. I first heard this driving through the desert from Vegas to LA on BPM via satellite radio. Can’t get enough of the passionate urgency and brilliant shifts of energy in this…and truth be told, I’d not mind at all a collab with this Miami-born LA transplant. If he would have me.

C The Carpenters :: Superstar – Ahhhhhhhhhh, wow, what a song, what a tragic ending to the life and career of Karen Carpenter, whose voice often soothed me to sleep as a young kid…this woman is right up there with Freddie Mercury as far as the loss of a truly singular voice. Love to do my own version of this, which I listen to often when love (and other things) suddenly and inexplicably disappear.

C Christopher Cross :: Ride Like the Wind – “It is the night…my body’s weak…I’m on the run…no time for sleep…I’ve got to ride…ride like the wind…to be free again…and I’ve got such a long way to go…to make it to the border of Mexico…” This song always gives the escapist inside that spectacular feeling of being in motion, of running, of the wind in my hair, blowing across my skin. It is that good, and by far the best tune as backdrop for all my offshore planning needs…and all those trips to Mexico to retrieve the good health I once had, and now have again, thanks to that wonderful country.

D Dido :: Dido’s No Angel album soothed me into a different world at a time I’d felt like I’d been banished, for health reasons, to a different planet. Pulled this one out often to get into healing mode; just her syrupy voice is enough to sweeten any sour mood.

Here With Me – “I don’t want to move a thing, it might change my memory…” Oh, I am what I am.

Hunter – “If you were a king up there on your throne, would you be wise enough to let me go…for this queen you think you own wants to be a hunter again…I want to see the world alone again.” How’d she know the first thought on my mind waking up every day the past couple of years? Wanderlust has taken strong roots…

Don’t Think of Me – GREEEEAAATTT. SONG. How’d she get the Bee Gees to do backings? LOL!

D Dixie Chicks :: Not Ready to Make Nice – I really get this one. I mean really. Censorship abounds, lucky for the DC they already had a platform. What happened to them after speaking their first amendment-protected truth was nothing short of disgusting. But it wasn’t their exercise of free speech that cost them – it was the bad behavior of those too insecure to acknowledge another opinion. Their plight confirms that music industry blacklisting is alive and well – and don’t I know it.

D The Doors :: Touch Me – “Can’t you see that I am not afraid?” Something in Jim Morrison’s intensely deep, resonant, overtly sexual and intoxicatingly seductive voice just gets me every time. And his poetry in The Lords and the New Creatures is intriguing to say the least. Favorite line? The one where he declares television to have reduced us “from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark.” 

E Earth, Wind & Fire :: Fantasy – I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the studio where this was produced. Amazing, just the spatials alone. One of the inspirations for my naming my ASCAP publisher January 32nd Music – “Our voices will ring together…until the twelfth of never…we all will live love forever, as one…” Oh, yeahhhh!!!

F Filo & Peri :: Anthem – Took me away from first listen. “This is an anthem for…the world of yesterday…” Love the acoustic guitar juxtaposed with the club sound here, that’s the sort of contrast that reminds me of what happened in my past as compared to how much better my present is. I’m still here, right? LOL!!!

F Fuel :: Yep, it’s a band from Penn’s Woods…transplanted from Tennessee though they may be.

Shimmer – “And I’m somewhere in between…I never really know a killer from a savior…’til I break at the bend.” Yeah, and you really don’t. Not until you’re broken in half, which is when all things come to light, because in that place, you’ve got a real view to seeing things clearly.

G Jeffrey Gaines :: Hero in Me – There’s something about a song that starts with the line: “He’s lived as long as he possibly can, given the circumstance” that is absolutely jarring. Then, once you’re already hooked and slightly off-balance comes: “Here in my security…I’ve put a limit on my self-potential…and my possibilities…” and now you know you’re squarely in rock-bottom, reality-based territory, full-on.

The relief comes with the crescendo: “And I sleep and dream of the person I might have been … and then realize that there’s got to be some hero in me,” and all of it just hits…every. Damn. Nerve.

This Pennsylvania singer-songwriter has so much guts and nails it in just as many ways with this tune that has gotten me through sicknesses, silences, adversities, catastrophic misunderstandings, breakups and family matters that literally shattered me to the core. Simply one of the most hauntingly spot-on human compositions I’ve ever had the disturbing, yet hopeful pleasure of hearing. I feel like I’m inside this song when I listen to it.

G Garbage :: Perfect mix of rock, pop, metal and electronic. Genius = Vig + Manson.

Vow – When Shirley Manson belts “you crucify me, but I’m back in your bed…like Jesus Christ coming back from the dead…” well, now, that’s sayin’ somethin’…

G Marvin Gaye :: Mercy Mercy Me – A song truly ahead of its time. And an artist who needs no introduction.

J Freedy Johnson :: Bad Reputation – “Suddenly I’m on the street … seven years disappear below my feet … been breaking down … do you want me now? Do you want me now?” Yeah, I do want you now, but this tune is what losing years to anything…a long, baaaad roll in the hay, or a multi-year cancer case that just takes everything “you know I haven’t got.”

M Manic Street Preachers :: If You Tolerate This – “And…if you tolerate this, then your children will be next…” An absolutely stunning song that reminds me to learn from the past…or live on infinite loop. The Spanish have a recent memory of fascism…in their back yards, front yards, houses and streets…and that explains why they are out in the streets all time, building pyramids out of people, occupying their own spaces, making their presences known and felt. The chorus on this one is so fucking killer, it lifts, haunts, enthralls and always sends chills down my spine.

M Sarah McLachlan :: I’m convinced Sarah McLachlan’s voice can raise the dead; it has raised this songwriter from deep sleep into pre-dawn, just-awakened poetic repose. She is only one of a few singers that manage to wake me from my dreams…and she sends me straight back into dreamland with her beautiful vocals and striking lyrics. These are just two of a long list of faves from this talented songwriter:

Possession – “Oh into the sea of waking dreams…I follow without pride…nothing stands between us here…and I won’t be denied.” This song possessed yours truly from its very first note. No, I won’t be denied. The spirit is strong, it is resilient, and it lives on to so many new days, bridging new connections to new experiences, intertwining with whole, new lives. So haunting, so frightening…so beautiful and alive!

Sweet Surrender – “It doesn’t mean much…it doesn’t mean anything at all…the life I left behind me…is a cold room…I’ve crossed the last line…from where I can’t return…where every step I took in faith betrayed me…and led me from my home.” I feel the same. I left home, left the fold to deal with things on my own. But, that past is gone. A lot of it lived in those cold rooms – of illness, of loneliness, of trying to disassociate from it all…but then learning from it, finally, after all the resistance, which is a killer in itself. Sweet surrender indeed, a concept as close to divinity as can be, and no wonder it’s such a rarity to actually achieve it in this life. This driving tune takes hold and never lets go until its message sinks in while swirled-in vocals take me elsewhere. Great for the road, driving, travelling…or for just plain listening-and-losing-yourself in those pre-dawn hours in expectation of the sun’s next appearance. Surrender…it will be there!

N Shane Nicholson :: I first heard this guy while streaming Nordwestradio from Germany, part of my habit to hear something different. Simply a great singer-songwriter (among my most-loved genres) whose album Faith & Science soothes the inner beast.

Faith & Science – A Rhapsody page with snippets as I can’t seem to find the vid for Set Me Up: “Cause I’ve been waiting for something beautiful to blow up in my face…and I’ve been looking for something dangerous to come and take it’s place…” My thoughts exactly.

N Nine Inch Nails :: Trent Reznor, another Pennsylvanian. Shows that some of the most interesting music comes from small-town PA…

Head Like a Hole – When he sings “God-Money’s not looking for the cure,” you can believe it. I’ve lived it. Had to go outside of God-Money’s borders to find it.

Q Queen :: The Show Must Go On – “I guess I’m learning, I must be warmer now…I’ll soon be turning, round the corner now…outside the dawn is breaking…but inside in the dark I’m aching to be free…the show must go on…” The day Freddie Mercury died was among the worst in my life. Just to know that voice, belonging to that riveting, tower-of-energy showman, was really gone was enough to crack my heart and soul into bits and pieces. RIP.

R Rush :: Love Rush, love how Geddy Lee uses his bass as the lead. Always in awe of these three people making ALL THAT MUSIC. Among my must-listens…

The Pass – I don’t even remember how many times this song saved my skinny arse (and it’s still happening): “All of us get lost in the darkness…dreamers learn to steer by the stars…” Best line ever.

Subdivisions – “The future pre-decided…detached and subdivided in the mass production zone…nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone.” Says it all.

Red Barchetta – “Suddenly ahead of me across the mountainside…a gleaming alloy air car shoots towards me, two lanes wide…” Reminds me of one of the many constituent inventions in my father’s barn lab in Pennsylvania.

S Scorpions :: Send Me an Angel – “Wise man said find your place…in the eye of the storm…seek the roses along the way…just beware of the thorns…here I am…will you send me an angel…” This song floors me. Unabashedly lovely, and in the face of all wisdom, not at all afraid to ask for what it really wants. Why not an angel? If you’re going to go for it, go for it all.

S Al Stewart :: Broadway Hotel – An achingly lonely song from an album I can only describe as spy novel by one of the best storytellers in 3/4 timing I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. “Love was a smile away…just a defile away…I sought it every way…no one came near.” And those violin solos just lay me flat every time I hear them.

Year of the Cat – “She comes in incense and patchouli…so you take her, to find what’s waiting inside…” Simply gorgeous! And those pianos…mmmmmmmm.

Roads to Moscow – “The eyes of the city are opening now, it’s the end of the dream…” Epic.

S Bob Sinclar :: World Hold On – Loved this one from first listen. The repetitive nature of club, house and other EDM sub-genres I’ve found to be quite helpful in getting my body moving (movement doesn’t lie) and my brain reprogramming. Being a fan of pop songs, I tend to like pop-structured dance music like this one, though some deep house has been flowing through my veins lately.

S Jon Secada :: Just Another Day (Without You) – This song saved my (romantic) life on more than one occasion…and it always works 🙂 Impassioned, unique vocal arrangement on the verses on this one, part mellow backing layers woven in with strong leads. Takes hold and never lets go (maybe that’s why it works?), LOL!

T Tears for Fears :: Advice for the Young at Heart – “Soon we will be older, when we gonna make it work?” Hmmm…now there’s a question.

God’s Mistake – I remember a few people who had a real problem with this one. Whatever for? “God does not play dice…yet if he’s everywhere…he’s in casinos with aces to spare…oh, love is god’s mistake…”

U U2 :: Beautiful Day – This song is pure magic eco-spiritualism-with-a-warning. The song describes the beauty of nature, and don’t let it get away, because there’s traffic, there’s tuna boats clearing the seas out. I love how Bono’s voice reaches up during the second verse in that nice build/contrast from the very conversational first verse: “You’re on the road…but you’ve got no destination…” and that great line, “You’ve been all over…and it’s been all over you.” It’s almost as if to revisit that saying, “Wherever you go, there you are.” And so are our destructive habits.

Unforgettable Fire – “Ice…your only rivers run cold…” This song wasn’t played much on the radio as I remember, and what a shame. One of U2’s absolute best.

W Ween :: “These guys have no future.”  – Beavis and Butthead

Local guys from New Hope, Pennsylvania no less…coolest experimental act since Zappa, saw them at parties and gigs all the time. So many great memories; they did NOT ignore their hometown crowd. Best Ween memory: When Route 611 became a parking lot outside their Tohickon Tavern gig in 2001 just after I’d gotten back from Australia. Best. Show. Ever!!!

Voodoo Lady – “I feel you now inside me…never once did you deny me, doin’ that stuff that you do…knockin’ me out with your voodoo…”

W Bill Withers :: Ain’t No Sunshine – This song is sent to us from heaven, through Bill Withers. Just incredible and sensual, and there are sooo many times when I need nothing more than just that.

Y Neil Young :: Philadelphia – “Sometimes I think that I know…what love’s all about…and when I see the light…I know I’ll be all right…” Another mind-blowingly gorgeous tune from beyond the stratosphere, from the Philadelphia movie soundtrack, where mind-blowing songs and performances from gifted actors abound. If any song on this list can bring on the tears, it is this one – ohhh, those piano riffs, how they tug on this listener’s heartstrings. How is it possible to write a song this sad and beautiful?

It was a pleasure to participate in the 2019 Women’s March in Washington, DC, this past Saturday, January 19th. The spirit was high, and so was the generosity among my fellow marchers at Freedom Plaza.

When a metro train is full of your fellow protesters, you just know the day is going to be great:

But, then there was a surprise visit from…Mike Pence, the most overpaid protester of all. And…like so many of his right-wing brethren, he was pantsless, but this time not behind closed doors with his mistress:

Oh, this poor guy, to go through life looking like that robotic, remote-controlled nutjob. But, he is doing good things with his god-given lot, such as collecting money for worthwhile organizations such as VoteRunLead.org…love on ya, man, for doing so much for the good of all of us.

As always, there were plenty of great signs with fantastic messages…and great girls and ladies holding them:

There’s nothing like taking out the trash, is there? It reduces the stink…

Good news, if you run like a girl…

…and do you see that “Free Food” sign to the left in the above photo? It was true…there was a stand that had hot drinks, water, homemade baked goodies and even burritos, free for protesters.

Okay, enough about the food…now, it’s on to the hair styling. Prepare yourself, this is one looooooooooooooooooooong-ass combover:

…but no worries, We Shall OverCOMB!

And, of course, some men of quality showed up:

Love on ya, guys…

No, those who are secure in themselves do not fear equality, they welcome it. Equality lifts all into positions where they can make all things possible. We need it, bad, and for sure, we don’t need any more hearts of ice:

One of the most to-the-point signs I saw came as we rounded the corner during the March on the way back to the rally point:

’nuff said, and perfectly at that.

There’s been a lot of talk about draining the swamp, so this last image says it all:

Down the drain with that swamp-thang…and those who enable them. The nation is paying too big a price for coddling a block of the most ignorant voters.

Resist on and be well,

Alison

January 20, 2018 – 11 am

The 2017 Women’s March was unforgettable. Never have I seen so many people on the streets in DC, or felt such a resurgence of energy for all things equality.

While it was Las Vegas, Nevada that hosted the main Women’s March in 2018, we who showed up at the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool for the 2018 Women’s March to the Polls in DC weren’t exactly disappointed, either.

It was cold, and just a day before, the anti-individual liberty, consumption-uber-alles crowd had shown up, leaving their “Defund Planned Parenthood” signs in the rubbish, right where they belong:

As I, along with my awesome, feminist boyfriend (a real one, not one of these gaslighters offering you praise on facebook and abuse-talk in private) made our way toward the Lincoln Memorial, I ran into plenty of kindred. Having been called a “witch” on several occasions by the woman-hating crowd, I really got into this person’s costume:

I’ve been called plenty of interesting names by those who purport to “wuv da wittle baybees,” including those who’ve lovingly told me in their best Jesus-loves-you voices they were “glad I got cancer” because I “would kill babies.” These woman-hating totalitarians don’t fool me with their claims of “sanctity of life” – it’s more like $anctity of the Almighty Dollar and its next-of-kin, consumerism.

Republican opposition to ACA (and its on-board birth control), and to programs like WIC and SNAP mean a baby’s life ain’t so precious, but it sure as hell is lucrative when, as of 2017, it means a $233,610 injection into Trump’s made-in-China economy. Yep, that is how much raising a child in the US costs. It’s no wonder having a kid plunges so many into poverty, which is the real shame going on here.

And regarding all those “heartfelt” pleas to adopt? Once again, please follow the money: The average cost of newborn adoption in the US through an agency is $43,239, while an adoption through an attorney is $37,829 (and yes, this would obviously be on top of the $233,610 figure, above, for raising a child). It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that many of these agencies embrace every two-bit piece of no-choice legislation, every roadblock to abortion they can get their money-grubbing hands on, complete with those tearful, bleeding-heart conservative cries of “life.” If you’ve fallen for those, congrats – you’ve been marketed to (or perhaps a better word, considering the times, is “conned”).

Having had a casual discussion with an adoption attorney years ago at a party who was hinting at having me bird-dog “marks” (iow, scared, pregnant girls) for him at Penn State, I’d say it’s the latter. He backed off when I told him to…and after I stated I was pro-choice and that he should just pull himself up by the bootstraps instead of cashing in on female bodies.

Adoption is big business, and no wonder I read about so many coerced adoptions these days. And – update – what about those 1500 “lost” kids separated from their parents at the US/Mexico border? If all those children were “relinquished,” what would they be worth to adoption industry profiteers, using the average agency cost of adoption of $43,239? Multiplying $43,239 by 1500, that would yield the nice juicy sum of $64,858,500.

Yes, that’s $64,858,500. Wow – and that’s just for adoptions. Adding in the figure to raise all of those 1500 children – or $305,415,000 – we get a grand total of $415,273,500. What a godsend those anti-abortion laws and family separations are to those running adoption agencies, government child support services, diaper manufacturers, clothing manufacturers (China, big time), and baby food…and, and, and! Coerced childbirth pays off, and it’s easy to see why and for whom. And – of course – it’s women’s bodies being used to deliver the profitable “product” – a newborn consumer.

But, the pussy-grabbers and money-grubbers left out some very important things, like individual liberty and, if you’re a believer, god-given free will. Those pesky things! And to think, women were actually born with brains, the nerve! We should just all be headless wombs for profiteering, bodies for the taking. No worries, mates – sexbots are on the way, but be warned: You will have to pay for them.

It is no mystery the fetishization of the fetus – i.e., all those signs you see, showing a disembodied, curled up embryo with the woman on whom it depends nowhere to be found – is all the rage among the profiteering right and their pornographic, wallet-driven obsession with my uterus. I was happy to stand in front of them at the March to the Polls:

[Photo by Matt Neufeld]

But, think I will, and choose I do. As the sign below says, My Pussy, My Rules. I make judgement calls every day, from all options available, my uterus being no exception. It’s called informed consent. I alone have the last word regarding what happens to my body, as well as who – whether it is cancer treatment or the right to end a pregnancy I don’t want…or who I share a bed with.

I’d say this lady sure as hell knows what she wants:

Not everything goes as planned, which is why freedom of choice rules. It is no accident that these times give us so many inventive forms of birth control just as we have a environmental and overpopulation nightmare going on (I’d say that’s what “god’s plan” is). Technology advances for a reason – to allow us choices we would not have had back in, say, the 1950s. (If you don’t like technology, then stay the heck off them airliners – god didn’t give you wings, right?)

Coerced pregnancy does not have a place in a free society. A theocracy, yes. A totalitarian society, yes. And in those societies, note how coerced abortion is the other side of the same coin as forced childbearing. It’s an easy flip of the switch, once the totalitarian machinery is in place.

But not here in the Land of the Free, at least, not for real Americans. Real Americans don’t vote against freedom of choice, or individual liberty, or god-given free will.

Reading the Roe v Wade decision, we see that there is no requirement to have an abortion. There are no protesters outside maternity wards, screaming at women not to have their babies. You are free not to have an abortion just as you are free not to have a kid. It’s the same “on all sides,” this freedom of choice thang. But, if legal abortion threatens your “faith,” then that ain’t a faith worth having – and I’m having none of it.

If you don’t have my back on all of that, you don’t have my vote:

We’re at a point in human history where we don’t need to have kids. They don’t complete everyone’s picture, and cost-wise, they are a luxury. I am not about to shirk my responsibilities in helping resolve some of humankind’s problems now, instead of lazily passing them off to the next generation of unknowns. We need clean air now, not 40 years from now, and it may be a woman who will solve this issue – if she isn’t saddled with another unplanned corporate consumer.

Motherhood – and parenthood – is only genuine and loving if it’s freely given. Otherwise, it is mere production. Thus, I err on the side of making this a society where every child is absolutely wanted and cherished, and dripping with their parents’ love and ever-present attention.

I wish the US was a country that loved children, but it isn’t. It has a fantasy-like love affair with fertilized eggs and beliefs, but no respect for the effort it takes to actually carry a fetus to term and then raise the resulting child in what can be a very harsh reality.

So, how can we love kids through meaningful action? Let me count the ways:

But don’t worry your pretty little head on that last one – you can still pay $1000 a month for insurance if you want to. I assure you, insurance firms will come up with a plan, just for you! And they will take your money, if that’s what does it for you.

As Nancy Pelosi, Tim Kaine and many others spoke in front of the Lincoln Memorial on this cold, but sunny and beautiful winter’s day, I snapped this picture of the woman in front of me, and it’s a perfect way to end this blog, reminding everyone to vote, because if you’re a woman or person with a uterus, your life is on the line. If you’re a man, just think of anti-abortion laws as mandatory fatherhood and child support payment laws, because that is just what they are, if you #FollowtheMoney.

Be Well and Free,
Alison

PS – Thanks to Matt Neufeld for two photos in this article, including the featured photo of me at the 2018 DC Women’s March to the Polls at the top of this blog, and where indicated via caption. All photos © Alison Lorraine or Matt Neufeld.

April 29, 2017 – What a too-hot-for-the-season People’s Climate March we had today in Washington, DC, where climate change was on display all afternoon! With so many people sweating and trying to stay hydrated, it was hard to believe this was a day in late April. It felt more like mid-July.

That’s been happening a lot lately, and that was the whole point behind today’s march – that climate change is real, it is caused in no small part by humans, of which there are approximately 7.5 billion now on the planet…in 1970, it was 3.7 billion.

The subject of human population is more important than ever, and it’s among the least talked-about things in popular or political parlance. I find it shocking that humans are still permitted – or even freely volunteer – to reproduce at the rates we do, without so much as a thought for the very environment that supports all things living. And then there’s the cost of raising a child, which in the US as of 2017, was $233,610.

I often think that if the high school sex education conversation included the real environmental impact of another baby on the already environmentally stressed on the world, we’d see yet another drop in pregnancies on top of all the successes in that direction under the Obama administration.

An excerpt from the Guardian article, “Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children,” says this:

The researchers found that government advice in the US, Canada, EU and Australia rarely mentioned the high impact actions, with only the EU citing eating less meat and only Australia citing living without a car. None mentioned having one fewer child. In an analysis of school textbooks on Canada only 4% of the recommendations were high impact.

So, considering this level of denial – and it goes on worldwide – how can we change the conversation? One way is to put a bumper sticker on your car, saying something to the effect, “Hate Traffic? Have Fewer Children.” It will apply every single time you’re in a tie-up, and I’m sure it will get some to think…and perhaps make a few traffic lovers very, very angry.

Another way is reading…and discussing books that deal with sustainability and population issues with others.

I’m with him…and wouldn’t you know it, there was a makeshift bookstand, right smack in the middle of the Mall, with many titles worth getting into. So, yes, dude-with-cool-sign, you can protest and read, too…

…and note the book near the middle, titled appropriately, “Too Many People?”

In an overpopulated world, it’s good to know I am not totally alone.

My mind spinning on all things population as I made my way through the thick crowd, I soon found my group, thanks to the the well-organized People’s Climate March map of where various types of groups were gathering. As I made my way to the Sierra Club contingent on Jefferson, I saw this:

This was right behind where Green America and Sierra Club were gathering…and doesn’t it just have Ben & Jerry’s written all over it? 😉

I’ve been a member of SC for a few years, as it meets the requirements for my investment and involvement: 1) Strong litigation capabilities, 2) Solid infrastructure for individual citizen action, and 3) Fun! But not just any sort of fun – there are groups in every state going out to preserve, protect and enjoy the planet, from hikes in local parks to (hopefully sustainable) group trips around the world.

Finally, the March started, and as we were rounding the corner from Independence onto Pennsylvania avenue, I turned around and saw this person, in costume and on stilts. Just stunning!

But it wasn’t long before I saw him, the Hottest Guy at the DC People’s Climate March, wearing a polar bear suit on a 92-degrees Fahrenheit late April day:

At least he had the sense to take off the top portion of his costume and breathe…and that was when I realized, yep, HE WAS TOTALLY HOT!!

LOL…but this little girl or guy wasn’t so lucky…s(he) was kinda stuck with the condition known as Permanent (Cute) Furry Head.

…but, s(he) had a message:

And, aren’t we all??? Don’t we all deserve policies that help us avoid the cancer, avoid the diabetes, avoid all the sickness brought about by overpopulation and pollution and their damage to our one and only climate?

It was just more proof that the dogs already know the secrets of the universe! I don’t see them picketing women’s clinics, or insisting that Dog/God hates gays, do you?

Next, the obligatory photo marching up Pennsylvania with the Capitol in the background…

…where an impromptu sit-in happened:

After that, the March marched on, and on until we got to the Washington Monument, the White House, or wherever your activist feet took you.

Along the way, I noted something very disappointing, and so here’s a reminder: Please make your signs with recycling in mind. I saw a lot of them simply dumped on sidewalks and streets (not even at Lafayette Park), forcing DC sanitation workers to gather and stuff them into trash cans. We’re supposed to be the good guys, right? Standing for environmental cleanliness and all? I’m all for leaving things better then we found them…

And speaking of signs, I’ll finish off with what I thought were two of the most clever signs…there’s something truly magical about a whole new word that really just says it all:

And this next one says it all, in a very familiar word: DENIAL. Those living along the coasts might do well to invest in a costume like this one:

Hopefully we’ll get our act together, throwing out all present and future Trumps, realizing that if we don’t, it is us who will be sidelined with not only rising seas from climate change, but cancer from the pollution that causes it.

In my case, it’s not “will be sidelined” – it’s “have been.”

Think…and be well,
Alison

April 22, 2017 marked the day of the outstanding Doylestown March for Science, and I can sum it up like this: The Kids Are Alright. Meaning the high schoolers from the Central Bucks School District who put the whole March together. Aside from the 2017 People’s Climate March in Washington, DC, this was the most well-organized march I attended all year.

Lots of people showed up with great signs, and the streets of Doylestown were filled to the brim near the intersection of Main and State Streets, where the crowd gathered for the short march up Main and onto Court Street, where a rally would take place that featured several speakers, all speaking up for the importance of science in our society – and the importance of sustained, effective activism.

Many causes interfaced at this march, immigration being just one:

It should be said that if not for the scientific advantage of the US, World War II might have been lost…to someone now emulated by Donald Trump, who was installed by that 538-member junta known as the Electoral College in the US.

The student emcees of the Doylestown Science March struck a non-partisan pose, but we know the deal. The Republican Party has descended from supporting science and the ERA back into the dark ages of a religious nature, but I have yet to figure out which religion it actually is.

As we marched to the Bucks County Courthouse, it became apparent how big the crowd was, to my left…

…to my right…

…and behind me…

…there were a few people in front of me, but I had a great spot to see the speakers, which included the emcee from CB West, Hina Rub, and Doylestown mayor Ron Strouse…

Soon after, we heard from an array of science-based business owners, scientists, educators and experts, along with environmentalists and other organizers:

 

 

And, of course, lots and lots of great signs populated the crowd, representing all stripes. One that caught my attention in particular was this gentleman’s sign, which put two and two together and illustrates how we are all interconnected:

And then, there was my own contribution, which arises from my experiences with science as it has been corrupted by money in the US pharmaceutical industry, where not all treatments for cancer are honored. Often it is only patented medications, which can be profited to the hilt from under the current healthcare system, offered to cancer fighters by mainstream medicine – and thus is its own form of ignorance:

There are many treatments for cancer, all science-based, but not – or no longer – patentable. That is all about the money, and if I am to be fair, I must demand fairness in medicine regarding medical treatments, along with the acknowledgement that sometimes the simplest things, like peroxide and vitamin C, neither of which are patentable and are too cheap for mainstream medicine to profit from with the long roster of players with their fingers in the healthcare pie.

Can we please have a system that is fair, scientifically-based and all-inclusive, instead of one where certain medicines and treatments are weighted differently according to profitability? This is one thing I’m working toward, because I never want to find myself subject to treatment by science which has been corrupted by money to the point where many simple and effective treatments are left completely off the table.

Resist on,

Alison

Saturday, April 15, 2017. A day that will live in infamy. In a big “fuck you” to the American public, the US president, who was not elected, elects not to share his tax returns. I – along with my boyfriend and several thousand others – decided to publicly make our demand for accountability known.

A crowd gathered at Thomas Paine Plaza at 14th and JFK in Center City on this not-too-cold day in anticipation of the 2017 Philly Tax March, which would take marchers around Philadelphia City Hall and down Market Street to Independence Hall. An enterprising group offering to recycle signs occupied one corner of the Plaza while great sign after great sign walked by…one that nailed white male privilege right on its head, another that offered a writerly theme…and even T-Rex showed up:

  

My sign was actually one of many that shared the same theme, “If You Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine.” There were quite a few of these, but they always got a laugh.

That said, the fact that a sitting US president has refused to show his taxes to the public only says one thing – and that is everything. It tells me he has lots to hide. It also tells me that his followers – this is President Twit after all – accept him at his word, and are neither intellectually curious nor are they concerned with democratic principles that center on accountability and transparency, which the crux of the issue here.

The march ensued, taking us to Independence Hall, where we heard several speakers calling for accountability – and where I saw the best protest sign – or was it a protest salad bowl, complete with sugary-swampy gummy worms? – of the Tax March:

This was an instant classic!

As for those seeking public office who don’t want to show their financials, take a hike…and not at Camp David, aka Catoctin Mountain National Park in Maryland, where the state Senate has approved a bill to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns.

This is a silver lining of the erection of Donald J. Trump is that state legislative efforts have taken on critical importance, and have refocused our efforts on winning state and local elections. This will take time, money and effort, but we’re doing it. There simply is no other choice.

It amazes me that the United States – where presidents have held a tradition of releasing tax returns since Gerald Ford – would be willing to turn the other cheek for an obvious grifter like Trump. But I am glad to see states writing and passing strategic legislation such as this in an attempt at codifying democratic principles and common sense into law – and that also raise the bar for those running for president. After a reality TV actor with a shady financial past gets in, accountability and transparency are more essential than essential has ever been.

Resist on,

Alison

Dear Electors, US Citizens and Fair Readers:

I’ll never forget the first time my junior high school social studies teacher pointed out to me the section of the US Constitution that rendered slaves as “three fifths” of a person. Yes, that’s 60%.

In a word, sickening.

I was heartened (read: not at all convinced) to learn the 13th Amendment had come along to abolish slavery, but not before my teacher went on to tell me his view of what the Electoral College really was: A way for rich slave owners to keep hold of power.

As Wikipedia defines the Three-Fifths Compromise:

The Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise reached between delegates from southern states and those from northern states during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. The debate was over whether, and if so, how, slaves would be counted when determining a state’s total population for legislative representation and taxing purposes. The issue was important, as this population number would then be used to determine the number of seats that the state would have in the United States House of Representatives for the next ten years. The effect was to give the southern states a third more seats in Congress and a third more electoral votes than if slaves had been ignored, but fewer than if slaves and free persons had been counted equally, allowing the slaveholder interests to largely dominate the government of the United States until 1861.

That concept found its way into the US Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

Flash forward to 2016 and the ERECTION of Donald J. Trump. Yes, I said erection. Because this prick, like George W. Bush in 2000, was NOT elected. He was erected, by the racket called the Electoral College system, which has aided the elite class in making modern day slaves out of most of us through institutionalized inequality and the purposeful dilution of voting power.

So, just how much of a slave does the Electoral College make of YOU? How much does your vote for President really count? Do you have full personhood status, where 1 Person, 1 Vote (1P1V) applies in your state? Or are you just a measly little percentage, a lesser-than, a half-measure?

What I’m about to show you is just how disenfranchised we (except for those in Wyoming) really are, at the hands of an archaic, white male privilege-based system that has now put our nation in the gravest danger in its 240-year history.

Using Slate’s excellent Electoral College Map based on 2010 Census data and the state of Wyoming (WY) as my reference point, i.e., the “1P1V State,” we get the following chart showing just how much of a slave the Electoral College renders you, by state. It’s a long graphic, but all that scrolling allows one to watch the little person’s voting power fading away, state by state, telling us by just how much we have been disenfranchised:

Note the fair state of Delaware (DE) is the last of eight states where voters are valued more than that of a US Constitutional Slave, i.e., more than three fifths, or 60% of a person. My fellow Nevadans (NV), are you feeling 42% today? How about my homies in Pennsylvania (PA), are you up to your usual 29%?

THE NUMBERS

I’ve used 142,741, which is Wyoming’s (WY) number of persons aged 18+ per Electoral Vote according to Slate’s map, as my basis for 1P1V in my calculations. Wyoming’s 142,741 persons of voting age per Electoral Vote is the lowest in the country, so that means using it for figuring out just how disenfranchised voters for US President in all the other states are.

For example, using Slate’s 2010 Census data for Delaware (DE), which has 230,723 persons of voting age per Electoral Vote, we get the Voting Power Percentage for Delaware:

142,741 (WY) / 230,723 (DE) = .618668

Dividing Wyoming’s 142,741 by Delaware’s 230,723 gives us .618668, or rounding up to an even percentage, 62% voting power, which is just barely squeaking above the US Constitution’s slave status of 60%, via its shameful Three-Fifths Compromise.

You can do the same by dividing 142,741 by your state’s number of persons of voting age per Electoral Vote.

And by now, you probably have realized this: If we must get our calculators and charts out to figure out what our votes are really worth, we’re not living in a democracy.

From my Excel spreadsheet, I’ve also captured the following to show how many Electoral Votes there currently are for each state…and the number of Electoral Votes necessary for each state to achieve 1P1V:

For this, use the inverse of each state’s percentage, then multiply it by the number of current Electors for that state:

1 / .618668 = 1.616375 = Inverse of Delaware (DE) Percentage

Then,

1.616375 * 3 Electors = 4.84912 Electors 

That’s 4.84912 Electors — round it up to 5 if you like — needed for Delaware voters to achieve undiluted, 1P1V status in their state when voting for President.

CASE LAW

For those who like to see case law and Constitutional language in support of the concept of 1P1V in the US, here you go. 

My arguments based around the concept of 1P1V center on the US Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause within the 14^th Amendment. I deem the Electoral College as unconstitutional, as it does indeed disenfranchise entire classes of voters, the definition of “entire classes” in this case being the current voting age populations in every US state except for Wyoming (WY).

Because of the Electoral College, we have 49 (50, if counting the District of Columbia) “classes” of voters being disenfranchised every four years relating to the US Presidential Election, to one degree or another, as less than one “person.”

Personhood is clearly defined by the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, where the Equal Protection Clause states:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.“

And then, we have Reynolds v Simms, a 1964 Supreme Court Case that deals precisely with 1P1V. From Casebriefs.com:

“The Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) notes that “[l]egislators represent people, not trees or acres.” If the State gives voters in one part of the State much more weight in the vote of their legislators, the right to vote of voters in underrepresented parts of the State has been diluted.

“Although the federal legislature has a separate apportionment for its two houses, there is no such need at the State level. Hence, apportionment of state legislatures needs to reflect a one-person, one-vote policy.

“Reynolds v. Sims establishes the principle apportionment doctrine of the United States Constitution (Constitution): one-person, one-vote. The Supreme Court gets around the non-justiciability of political questions by framing the argument as an Equal Protection issue: ‘To the extent that a citizen’s right to vote is debased, he is that much less a citizen.’”

IN CLOSING

So…have you had enough of the Electoral College system of dilution and disenfranchisement?

Our nation’s founders could not have anticipated the advent of computers and Big Data, which have reduced our national Presidential elections to strategies where a candidate need not win the majority of the nation’s hearts and minds, but only needs to win “here, here…and here” (something along the lines of “PA, WI and MI” in 2016).

This is why I’ve come to see the EC for what it is – a Trojan Horse that can be manipulated by advances in technology – including, but not limited to hacking – which is more than enough reason to dispatch it to the annals of history.

Ask yourself: Who needs voter suppression laws when we have the Electoral College?

If this is not a case for compulsory voting, in addition to all the other voter suppression tactics out there, I don’t know what is.

In addition, the Electoral College does the United States the following grave disservice: It reduces our most populous and arguably one of our most influential states, California, to a minor player in national elections – and it is this which I partially blame for our nation’s lurch to the right.

So once again, to our Electors: I’ve read many good arguments as to why and how you should exercise your power to protect this country. My final arguments are threefold:

Electors, our country’s future is in your hands — and I will be among those holding you accountable.

#DoNotRecognize,

Alison

 

 

When people ask me what is most effective to keep the cancer cell count down to a minimum, I respond that chief among my medical therapies is the use of IV Vitamin C drip, or Intravenous Vitamin C.

To date, I’ve taken these treatments, which usually take a couple hours apiece, in both Mexico (Tijuana) and the US (Las Vegas). The cost in Mexico: $100. In Las Vegas: $160. In other words, Las Vegas is comparable enough cost-wise that the extra $60 is still a savings on the travel costs to Mexico, if you are just going for a standalone Vitamin C IV drip (which, at times between trips to Mexico for more all-inclusive health services, is the case).

The treatments themselves involve a needle-stick into a prominent inner-elbow vein, followed by the drip itself, which comes via plastic tube down from an IV bag, from which 50 grams (my dose, specifically) of Vitamin C is delivered, straight into my bloodstream.

Its actions are well-known…here are a few of the highlights:

I know quite a bit about that last one, having had some kidney weakness rear its ugly head from time to time. The desert environment of Las Vegas provided the treatment – namely beneficial minerals in small, steady amounts and liquids to match – but I can attest that at 50 grams per drip, I’ve never felt better.

Sensation-wise, it feels like an almost-high to me…I can literally feel my veins expanding to accommodate the IV drip’s contents. The first time I had this treatment…it was a bit disconcerting, it was like I was being “filled up,” but in a very good way 😉 Still, I wondered if I would really be okay…you know how those thoughts travel across your mind…but…I felt so much better and clearer in the head afterward, I was sold.

As for frequency of these treatments, that depends on the person and where they are in their treatment, what their treatment goals are, how many treatments they can tolerate, etc. Even though I say here that the Vitamin C IV drip bypasses the kidneys – i.e., the renal system – large amounts in your system can still affect renal function. The lesson: It is always best to start small – and I know some individuals who started with 10 grams and worked their way up to more, once it became clear the treatment was beneficial. As with every other treatment, everybody’s different, meaning every BODY is different, and thus your individual profile, including your sensitivities, must rule the day.

When choosing a Vitamin C source, please take very good care. I know some people for whom the treatment worked great…until they changed their provider and ran into serious problems because they received a different source for making their IV drips. All ingredients – including additives and preservatives – should be disclosed in full to anyone receiving an IV drip – this is going directly into the veins. If something is in your drip that doesn’t like you, you’ll know it – and most likely very quickly, so don’t end up on the wrong end of that equation.

To this end, a wonderful doctor in Las Vegas gave me the bottle that he used to make my IV drip, fresh on the spot. Take a look at the following image, which shows the ingredients for a drip which made me feel great and has no preservatives:

And of course, check out the image behind this content or at the very top of this post for the “front page” of that same bottle…and note where it says “Preservative-Free.”

So it really is worth checking out Vitamin C IV drip therapy as a possible cancer treatment. Cancer is one of those things where I don’t want to leave any possible stones unturned. Vitamin C IV therapy has worked many wonders for me, and it is possible it will for you as well.

As always, do the research. Know thyself! And find great doctors – as guides, not gods – to help you.

Yours in Great Health,

Alison