Undersung

This moves me powerfully. I know that it will move you as well, particularly if you have been the caretaker of a child with a disability for more than ten years. It is a clip from a documentary, not yet completed, being made by poet Heather McHugh and filmmaker Adam Larsen, "celebrating and giving voice to one of the most 'under-sung' of human communities: long-term, full-time caregivers of disabled family members."



Read more about it here.

Mothering, Disability and Race

Lisa sent me the link to this video this morning, and I urge those of you interested to watch the whole thing. It's about mothering, race, disability and where and how they intersect. It's funny and moving and sobering.

I know it's not simple,

but I'm wishing today that California Governor Jerry Brown hadn't vetoed adult day healthcare legislation. It sounds to me that once again, the elderly, the poor and the disabled are getting the shaft with only a weak argument from the old liberal himself.

Shame on you, Governor Brown.

Honestly? Can we keep the elderly and the disabled out of the budget? Or are we headed toward Depression times when the old, the infirm and the destitute were left in the streets to starve or perhaps caged in filthy, abusive institutions?

Shame on anyone who thinks the infirm and the disabled have to make sacrifices for our greater good.

For Robert Williams, 51, that combination of services has been invaluable. He moved across the country to care for his 81-year-old sister, Shirley, when Nolcox’s center alerted him that her memory had deteriorated to the point where she should not be living alone.

"She loves going to the daycare center," he said. "She has camaraderie, they keep her active, they exercise.... It gives her a reason to get up every day."

It took Williams nine months to find a job with a security company. Now he’s afraid he might have to quit if he can’t find another program for her.

"My sister is just one of thousands of people who need these services," he said. "And for them to be taken away is really a grave injustice.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

O.K. I'm a Pittsburgh Fan

I hate football. It's with secret glee that I read a story today about early dementia in football players who've suffered multiple concussions. I'm not gleeful about these injuries -- it's just a bit of "I told you so" said to those who claim football is anything but barbaric.

But I digress. Because I read this article, here, and decided that I will cheer for the Steelers this weekend.

And hopefully wave a terrible towel.