Those interested in how food arrives on one's table should be interested in my review of the new book, James E. McWilliams' Just Food, which will be published by The Internet Review of Books in its November issue, which will be available on the 15th of November.
It is interesting to watch the interaction of the new Boxer puppy with our older dogs. We have two Boston terriers, a nine-year-old female and a four-year-old male. The female is the Alpha dog, and she has began disciplining the young Boxer, now firmly named Daisy.
We are dog people, my wife and I. I am so by nature. I have had dogs since I was six. She says she was free of the disease until infected by me.
We now have another dog, a Boxer puppy, a young female who came into our life because six years ago my wife met a handsome Boxer named Trooper in a hotel elevator in Rochester, Minnesota. Since we have moved from Springfield, and we now have room for a large fenced area, Belinda scratched her six year itch by acquiring Daisy.
And so now, there is this: I am enthralled with Daisy's behavior, her interaction with the other dogs (a male and female Boston terrier, both adults), and her integration into the pack that lives in this house (which besides the dogs includes a cat and four adults). Because I often think in terms of story, I have skated close to the idea of writing an imitation of Marley and Me, and calling it The Year of the Dog.
Is there not something about any dog that begs for a story to be told?
Beth wore blue jeans and a pale pink bra when she slapped me. And the rest was familiar too. Our bedroom, hardwood floors, the desk and the lamp, and our wedding picture above the bed. Beth's black hair, ice pale eyes afire, the weight of her breasts, and the slope of her belly, and the cradle of her hips.Sphere: Related Content
There is an article in The Daily Princetonian celebrating Peter Singer's ten year anniversary at that institution.
Of no special import, this article, other than it accused one of the groups leading the opposition to Singer's appointment -- the disability rights organization, Not Dead Yet -- of staging "violent protests."
The misstatement has been retracted, but it is interesting to read the article and see (if the quotes are more accurate than the words about Not Dead Yet) how many students and graduates were captured by Singer's utilitarian logic.
Of course, many people who dissect Singer's work -- for example, his theoretical idea that infanticide in certain circumstances is the proper choice -- will recognize he wrenches utilitarianism into a corkscrew twisted enough to fit through the keyhole of logic.
Were we to substitute any other class of people -- chronic alcoholics, those with five felony convictions, those in permanent custodial care because of mental disease, etc. -- for infants born with disabilities no doubt we would see support dwindle rapidly away for his so-called philosophy.
The issue of the so-called "Dignity Wheelchair" came up for discussion about people with disabilities who can sometimes influence the media. One person took action, Brewster Thackeray, AARP's Disability Community Liaison.
Thackeray wrote me, "I just had a good chat with Jeff Deutscher, the media contact at Dignity Medical Services. Very nice guy. He was not familiar with disability terminology but was highly receptive to the points I made and felt they were very helpful. He and I did some marketing brainstorming and I shared a lot of disability perspective. He understood that both from a disability advocacy and an AARP-style caretaking perspective the term wheelchair-bound is misguided. He has promised to revise that term and also change "the disabled" to people with disabilities. I also learned a bit more about the product, which itself sounds rather promising."
I appreciated his action, especially since I didn't act myself. But, as I told him, the name "Dignity" continues to rubs me the wrong way, to coin a phrase. As far as I am concerned, evacuation of one's bowels or bladder is "dignity-neutral," and to imply that I need a certain type of potty/shower chair to preserve such doesn't suit my idea of myself.
Thackeray responded. "I don't use a wheelchair myself, though I have a disproportionate number of friends who do. The name didn't rub me the wrong way. I agree with you that going to the loo should be dignity-neutral, but I have seen how avoidable transfers can cut into the dignity both of the chair user and caretakers. I totally respect of course that transfers are often needed, and even desirable for circulation, etc., which is a separate discussion topic. But I can see how this chair in some circumstances could help avoid "indignifying" situations."
Perhaps I am overly radical.
I keep a Google Alert running for "confined to a wheelchair" and "wheelchair bound" simply because [1] I don't like the terms and [2] I am curious about how they are still used in the English language.
This press release came up via my alert settings earlier this week, and after I read it I found it was
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