UNPLEDGED ALLEGIANCE

She stood up on the soapbox and screamed fury at the world. 

Now a continent away from her country of birth, but still tethered to it -- some notion of history and ideals, the founding of a nation that would promote liberty and representative government. Freedom and good governance. She'd loved history class with Mrs. Currie and her hefty junior high-school textbook with its 1950s narrative. Flawed with ideals.

Every morning, her right hand over her left heart, she, along with two thousand others within those walls, pledged allegiance to 48 stars. She thought of it as a kind of religion: you could partake and bear witness simultaneously. You did not have to believe in 'under God' (added in 1954);  you simply said it and let it pass like a foreign language you didn't speak. 

This was her bond of loyalty - her country was an entire world, a moral, social and industrial giant,  winner of a terrible war,

More than sixty years later it had cut its own wings, condemned women's rights and legalized weapons that slaughtered everyday people.

The  soapbox was soggy. Between sleep and non-sleep the box creased and collapsed. No strong wooden slats from another century propped her up.

She reached for her phone, contemporary life-support system, opened Notes and typed:

                                               You Sanctimonious Bastards

SUPREME COURT TURNS ITS BACK ON WOMEN - brackets on [[[ROE vs.WADE]]]

 Was working on another entry but I've been side-swiped by the news.

We knew the Supreme Court in its present formulation was going to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Of course we knew it. Without quite believing it. So it's no surprise.

But it's a profound shock to the system, our system, our rights, our safety, and the governance over our own bodies. 

Does a woman look forward to an abortion?  Hell NO, but there are times and circumstances when this procedure is necessary: from the quality of life of the mother and to avoid bringing an unwanted child into our fraught world to suffer its indignities. Not to mention forces majeures like rape, incest, underage pregnancies, poverty, too many children, drug addiction, illness.......Is it unfortunate to have to do it? Hell YES. But that doesn't mean a court can give freedom to individual States of the Union to determine what a woman chooses.  

I remember, and so do all of my friends and associates: back in the day women were butchered or butchered themselves and died of infection. Illegal abortions were highly dangerous, clandestine, unprotected. I knew women who travelled from other states to New York, where it was still 'illegal' but relatively easy to obtain and far safer -it was a place of refuge. A terrified, unhappy woman had to make the trip to New York - and it was still not truly legal. It was terrible. I helped one of them on her unhappy journey -- she came over from France in 1967 -- desolate and disoriented.

The court has closed a bracket on Roe vs. Wade --  a bracket that included a better, freer, remarkable period of time: despite horrible attacks on abortion clinics and their staff, it was legal, possible and relatively safe. 

Now it will be over in many states. Will this discourage courageous women from travelling to another state? No, but the poor, who can't afford the trip, and the young and powerless, who don't have the wherewithal, will suffer the most.

This is a shock. Off with the brackets, get back to sanity.

COGNITIVE RESERVE

 

Cognitive Reserve

The life raft for fading university graduates?

The buzzword of the year?

The little change purse of tricks to use when a common word eludes you? Like a small federal reserve, all in your head (well, you hope....).

Cognitive Reserve is a sexy topic these (post-Covid) days -- good for Baby Boomers. The Harvard label (branding?) implies Valid Research, Credibility, Academic Backing, Intelligent Perspective, Help For You Who Are Afraid You're Losing It. You can pay for online courses and exercise your flabby brain for hours. Ah, maybe this will do it! Boxes and flow-charts and sequence narration and memory games.

Your private Cognitive Reserve doesn't recall names all on its own. It needs care & feeding, the right diet, supplements in the form of gross pills and gel capsules, extracts and syrups, plenty of exercise, plenty of rest.. the right proportion of work / social life / hobbies / pursuits....i.e. A Meaningful Life. So help me...This is supposed to slow down dementia, which may or may not get you in the end.

It's all vague woo-woo, let's be good to our minds and bodies so maybe the old Alzheimer Witch won't come knocking at your cranium. Being a tad ADD,  'good to our bodies' puts me in mind of those healthy extracted fruit and vegetable juices - what are they called now? Ah yes, Smoothies! a late twentieth century term.

I'm still on the Harvard Health mailing list. I once ordered their booklet on hand injuries and arthritis and how to address them with the appropriate doctor, the right imaging, great rehab exercises. Complete with scientific illustrations and charts. (Or did I get the general arthritis manual?). Harvard Health appeals to hypochondriacs and true sufferers. I haven't yet purchased other wares or signed up for the privilege of asking questions on any medical issue that crosses my mind at 2 am.

Conversations! Famous Whoevers you try to fish out of the murky pool of memory in the course of a relaxed conversation....gone until your Cognitive Reserve kicks in (if you're lucky) and feeds you a hint, a rhyme, a song that will retrieve it. Hearing the song Lili Marlene I suddenly recall the exotic actress and gifted inventor with patents in her own name.....ah  yes, Hedy Lamarr! Music evokes memory. So does relaxation, when the name of that elusive flower comes to you at the end of a nap -- yes! Digitalis!

For now I take in Harvard's kind recommendations without paying for more detailed brochures (which I'd probably mislay) and try to lead a healthier life. I want to love life for whatever it is at the moment.