flaneuse.org

I almost forgot to mention that I had two photos accepted to a gallery show on campus, an international travel photography show. They are two pictures from Quebec and while they aren’t the best I’ve done, they did qualify for “international” and it’s the first time I have ever had anything accepted into a show. Chris keeps telling me I’m going to be famous, which I know not to be true but the fun thing is that I will get to see them mounted and framed in a gallery!

If you’re interested in seeing more of my work, you can visit it here at my flickr page. I will try to upload smaller versions of the photos that were accepted in the next couple of days. I also have more to get developed and upload, from Christmas and the Nashville trip — and I am definitely taking my camera on next weekend’s trip to southern Colorado and northern New Mexico to see the migrating cranes (more on that later…)

Maybe it’s all the headaches or all the meds, but I am writing something right now and none of the right words will come. Another example: I looked for my keys seven times the other day. That’s hours of time wasted trying to find something each week. I feel like I am fighting through fog to think straight and that, when I talk, the words come out all mixed up and complicated. ARGH.

This is from the Environmental Defense Group

New Jersey has some of the country’s worst air pollution. By Environmental Protection Agency estimates, residents of the Garden State breathe air that is 1,600 times dirtier than allowed by federal safety guidelines. This translates to more asthma attacks, cancer risk and heart disease - and huge costs to taxpayers. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, asthma alone costs New Jersey residents $300 million annually in direct medical expenditures and indirect costs.

One of the things I am thinking about more and more is how our environment impacts our health and quality of life. While I was in Nashville, surprisingly I didn’t have near the sinus problems that I have here. Back home, it’s simple allergies — no major congestion. I come back to New Jersey and can’t breathe.

I’ve been tested for the usual allergies — and mold is one of them, and yet shots had no major effect on my breathing (maybe I didn’t do them long enough? Not my fault my allergist got divorced and moved out of state, I guess. : ) What I am beginning to wonder is if I am exposed or sensitive to something environmental. Julie and William have switched to organic, in an effort to address both health issues and quality of life, and some of the research she shared with me scared me to death. I’m not unfamiliar with it either, having been interested in environmental issues my entire life — just that the ways I thought of it before had more to do with the survival of threatened animals and ecosystems, rather than myself. And yet. Breast and other cancer rates are through the roof in certain parts of the country, across all types of people. Toxic chemicals continue to pollute the air, and children’s asthma rates are rising. Food poisoning, particularly related to e coli, which comes from contact with fecal bacteria — a known by product of unclean factory farming — continues to occur.

And here’s an interesting fact: Essex County, in which I live, has air quality that is 651 times worse than the EPA standard. I kid you not, information here. I just put in a call to Environment New Jersey to check this and other facts. Hello???? How did I not know this? How do we all not know this?