update soon
By Jess | July 14, 2008
I’ll have updates soon and pix, too, but so far it’s been pretty hectic and I haven’t had a lot of access to the internet.
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Adequate health care in South Africa
By Jess | July 2, 2008
According to this article, immigrants and refugees have trouble getting access to health care in South Africa, and have been “unlawfully” denied access to HIV medicines and discriminated against. That’s a tragedy, no doubt, and something needs to be done–but the whole health care system in SA is overwhelmed, and citizens struggle to get adequate health care, too. Still, here’s an example of a true tragedy:
“MSF (Doctors Without Borders) has noted a number of cases where female refugees were ambushed and raped immediately after crossing the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa in the last few months. ‘We came across a young girl who was raped after crossing the border in Musina, for example. She went to the local clinic after the rape but was sent away. MSF found her five days later, but by then it was too late to provide her with post-exposure prophylaxis,’ says Whittall. Post-exposure prophylaxis decreases the risk of HIV infection if administered within 72 hours after the exposure to the virus.”
Topics: Africa, immigrant rights, South Africa, healing, health | No Comments »
The Quest for Healing #1
By Jess | July 2, 2008
Recently, I was talking with a good friend of mine who has just become a doctor and started his residency. Because he’s Catholic and a doctor, I asked him whether he thinks people are ever healed miraculously.
“Doctors know that only about 20% of what we do is effective—and about 80% is luck,” he said. “I understand and believe that miracles can and do happen, that God works in mysterious ways.” Then he went on to say, “Miracles pertain to our environment.” He gave an example of a Bushman who is searching for days for water, and then finds it in an unexpected place after walking for days. That’s a miracle, he said, for the Bushman.
Though I like the idea that miracles pertain to our environment, this is actually no different than saying that miracles don’t exist. Miracles in this scenario are not works of God, they’re just something that we can’t explain yet. A geologist could probably explain why that Bushman found water where he did.
I actually don’t want to be a cynic, or a “science is everything” sort of person. But it bothers me that the diseases that get miraculously “cured”—like cancer—frequently have a legitimate scientific explanation for the cure. These healings are something science can track, can explain—cancer is healed through good nutrition or chemotherapy. Yet science has never discovered a cure for the diseases that also never get miraculously cured—like AIDS. Is this a nasty coincidence? Or does it point to something?
When I was in college, a Christian urban myth circulated among some of my friends that told the story about a young Christian woman who was walking to her car when two men tried to rob her. They took one look at her and took off running. Coincidentally, she volunteered at a prison or ran into her attackers in some other capacity (the details didn’t matter too much). She asked them why they took off running when she was clearly alone and vulnerable, it was dark, nobody was around. One of them said, “Are you kidding? This seven-foot tall muscular dude suddenly appeared right behind you and glared at me.” The woman concluded that God must have sent her guardian angel to protect her.
My instant response to this story was an overwhelming rejection of it. Great, something deep inside me cried. Good for her. But what about the rest of us who weren’t protected like that? Who were raped, or robbed, or attacked? What does that say about us? Or what does that say about God?
It doesn’t seem right to me that God will intervene, miraculously, for some favored persons—and not for the rest of us. I would have to say that this is not a God I think much of. And not a God from whom I would beg healing.
Topics: religion, Social Issues, Cultural categories, art, women, healing, health | 2 Comments »
Questions on Healing
By Jess | July 2, 2008
Here are some of the questions I’ll be asking in South Africa these next few weeks. Please let me know if you have suggestions!
What does healing look like for people with an incurable disease? Are the words “healing” or “health” even used or how would we use them or why? What do they mean in this context?
What does healing look like in a country ravaged by disease, where the death rate is high? How do people think about the topic and how do they approach healing and health care?
What rumors do people create about healing and disease, under these circumstances?
Why don’t scientific theories replace traditional beliefs about healing and disease?
In what way has the healing of psychological wounds from apartheid taken a back seat to the pure medical work of this crisis? Where do we see those psychological wounds seeping through?
How is the white community in South Africa reacting to the crisis? The black community? The colored (mixed race) community?
What alliances are being created in light of the crisis?
How do doctors feel about traditional healing? Historically? Now? How do healers feel about the medical system?
How are faith healing churches handling the crisis and what unusual alliances are they making as a result?
I have a ton more questions I need to ask, depending on who I talk to, but suggestions are always welcome!
Topics: Africa, religion, Social Issues, politics, women, South Africa, witches, AIDS/HIV, traditional medicine, traditional healing, sex, race, healing, health, HIV/AIDS | No Comments »
My father: a museum artefact
By Jess | June 26, 2008
Here’s a blog posting about the recent unveiling of some of my father’s scientific work at the Kansas Underground Salt Museum. My father may be a museum artefact but he is very much alive, and so is the 250 million year old bacteria that he and two biologists uncovered in the layers of salt where Dad does much of his geological work in New Mexico. Enjoy!
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The Confessional goes paperback
By Jess | June 26, 2008
By happy accident, I discovered today that Knopf is bringing out The Confessional in paperback this coming January. Yay!
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Stephen Pinker and What Swear Words Do To (or For) The Brain
By Jess | June 26, 2008
A few months ago, I was listening to the radio (Talk of the Nation, I think) and heard an interview with Stephen Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought. Because it was radio, and he was talking about swear words and racial epithets, his host made the comment that it cost $325,000 per word, per usage if he actually used a swear word on the air, due to FCC violations. Interesting. Anyway, Pinker made some interesting comments about why words have so much power, how racial epithets and swear words alike stimulate the part of the brain that arouses anger and hatred–that there is a literal connection between the words and the effect on the brain. Sounded like his book was an interesting one to read.
Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Global warming website
By Jess | June 25, 2008
From the creators of Arts & Letters Daily comes a new website, Climate Debate Daily, that shows both the popular view of global warming and dissenting voices.
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Smell of Old Lady Perfume–Interview with Claudia Guadalupe Martinez
By Jess | June 23, 2008
Recently, I wrote an article for El Paso Magazine and interviewed Claudia Guadalupe Martinez, whose new young adult book Smell of Old Lady Perfume, is due out from Cinco Puntos Press in July. I’m republishing the interview in its entirety here, since most of it couldn’t be used for the short article.
Q. What inspired you to write Smell of Old Lady Perfume?
Martinez Answer: My dad passed away when I was eleven. Back then, we didn’t really talk about it. We were kind of expected to be strong and not to burden my mom any further. When you grow up in a community where you have a lot of older brothers and sisters, they affect how you should act and carry yourself, and I remember them telling us to be mature about it and not be a burden to her and try to be strong, which is not very realistic for a kid that age. We just dealt with it internally, so when I started writing about it, it was an opportunity to deal with it externally. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Young Adult, Books & News, Children's, Social Issues, El Paso, book review, literature, women, writing, publishing, latino/a | No Comments »
Tearing Hair Out
By Jess | June 18, 2008
I’ve been tearing my hair out getting Ken’s book off to press. If anybody knows people who blog about fiddle music, poetry, folksy stuff, or both–especially if people read their blogs!–let me know so I can send a copy of the Advance Reader’s Copy to them.
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