It was a bit odd traveling to Randolph in 2020. All the usual events were canceled. The town was incredibly quiet - kind of eerie. Here are some insta posts. You'll notice that I complained about how my cell phone camera would not capture foliage colors. I bought a new phone since, so, if I get up there for foliage season this year, I'll get better pix.
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
A spiritual response to fake news
I am trying to formulate discussion questions for my Friends Meeting (Quaker) on the topic of truth in today's environment. Here is my current formulation. I may add things later
- What does the 9th commandment mean to us? (not to bear false witness against our neighbor)
- Mens rea (state of mind) – In the law in the USA, there are generally 4 levels of mens rea: intentional, knowing, reckless, and negligent. We don’t lie intentionally, but what about these other levels of mens rea?
- How do we evaluate sources of information? What is our trust network? What is the trust network of the person we are talking to? How does one choose a trust network? Memes/Conspiracy Theories/Urban Legends
- Looking at ethics statements from News Media. Do they indicate their standards for evaluating sources? Do they indicate policy on getting more than one source? How might we be news media ourselves as we repeat things we hear online?
- What is the emotional content of information? What is our tone? How are emotions being manipulated? How does tone add to or detract from truth?
- When is misinformation important? When is correction of an error merely legalistic or pedantic? When is misinformation hurtful? Defamation? Bullying?
- What is the motivation? Profit? Hatred? Love? How are we serving someone else's purpose by reacting to or conveying information? Who is profiting by our being upset? News media as purveyors of drama, for instance.
- What can we communicate to other faith groups? How would they respond to a request to develop and disseminate standards?
- What might we do to influence the public on this issue, e.g. a website, brochure, or other resource for communicating our beliefs about truth?
- How do we address “alternate facts?”
Some links of interest
- list of codes of ethics of newspapers https://members.newsleaders.org/resources-ethics
- Reiss article/jewish perspective https://www.jlaw.com/Articles/RabbinicCounseling1.html
- wikipedia on code of ethics in media https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_ethics_in_media
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On July 5, 2021, I facilitated an interest group with New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends on the topic of "Seeking Truth: A Spiritual Response to Fake News." Another topic came up that I wanted to add to this blog:
- Looking at the bias of a news source: conservative? liberal? business interests?
Friday, April 30, 2021
recent selfies
You can see larger versions of these photos if you click on them.
Also, here are some shots from January 2020 that were done as an alternate for a commercial
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Chemo pix
I keep having friends who are going through cancer. It's distressingly frequent. I have 4 friends on social media right now who are going through treatment for breast cancer.
One thing that I notice is that some people are horribly afraid of chemo before they start it. Some of them refuse chemo out of fear -- a treatment that might considerably prolong their lives.
I am often a bit reluctant to share about having had chemo. I'm afraid that acting gigs might discriminate against me if they knew.
I'm realizing that I should share though. I was in chemo twice and I had a positive experience both times. It's not so bad.
The first time I had the carbo-platin/taxol combination. The taxol is what makes you lose your hair. The carbo-platin is what makes you nauseated.
What people don't realize is that there have been huge advances in anti-nausea drugs. I never threw up once during chemo. I had a few instances of breakthrough nausea but I just took some extra ginger or Xofran and I was fine.
I was often fatigued a few days after chemo. Not right after, because they gave me steroids, but 3 and 4 days after. But most of the time I felt fine.
People should be aware that taxol does cause long term nerve damage. Fortunately, it's just some small numb areas in 2 toes on each foot, for me.
The second time I had chemo I had the carbo-platin/doxil combination. To my surprise, neither of these drugs caused hair loss or nerve damage.
Doxil is associated with heart damage, but I seemed to tolerate it alright, at least at the time. I have a slight tachycardia now, but I have reason to believe that that may have been there all along and worsened by my current medication, Zejula. It's well managed by Atenolol.
Again, I had fatigue a few days after chemo, but then I was fine -- and I only had to have these drugs every 4 weeks the second time.
I took selfies when I was bald during the first chemo. I had a lot of fun with being bald, and trying hats and scarves. I wasn't a big fan of wigs. I have a large head and my wig never fit very well. It was nice and warm though.
Anyway, I made up a google photo album of chemo selfies, to show you that I was having a good time with the look. I haven't been willing to throw away those scarves, because they're so beautiful, even though I don't wear them any more.
Here's the link to my google photo album
https://photos.app.goo.gl/K2QHPNc54WdfqhCr9
One of those pictures is with Don McLean after a concert by him. I even got hit on after that concert, because someone liked my headgear with the pearl fringes so much. I didn't take him up on it, but it was flattering.
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