Operation Slimdown - A Day Late

Yea, yea....i know i usually do my OS post on a Tuesday but yesterday was Mick's birthday so we had cake with the family after work and then i cooked his favourite dinner ( Sesame Beef ) and we had quality time together, sans baby and blog. But nevermind that - onto the results!

I gotta say, the last fortnight i've been living in a state of anticipation. I've been trying to eat as healthily as i can, i've exercised ( when i can ) as hard as i can and i've been successfully drinking at least a 1L of water a day, most days almost 2L. So, lets go to the tale of the tape. Last time i did my measurements, that fateful week that ut me into a fitness funk and saw me chuck just a little tanty , this is where i was at:
Bust - 100.5cm
Waist - 85.5cm
Hips - 104.5cm
Bum - 109cm
Thigh - 67cm

That was October 26th. So, a month after almost packing it and giving up on shedding some excess kilos, these were my measurements on November 27th:
Bust - 96.5cm - down 4cm
Waist - 82cm - down 3.5cm
Hips - 102.5cm - down 2cm
Bum - 108.5cm - down 0.5cm ( i cant believe i actually, finally, lost a little from my bubble butt! )
Thigh - 67cm - no change

So hey, there ya go - down, down, down, down! Didnt i say my pants had been feeling loser, and i could actually see a little of the change around my waist? It has me slightly puzzled why my top half is shrinking at faster rate than my bottom half ( although i've always been pear shaped... ) but i'm happy with those results. And what about my actual weight you ask:
November 15th - 76.6kgs
November 27th - 75.8kgs
So only an 800g drop in 2 weeks, but, combined with the drop in measurements, i'm satisfied with that. I would really, really, REALLY love to be at 70kgs by New Year, which is only 4 days shy of my original goal date. I'm not sure if its going to be possible coming into the Christmas period, what with all its rich, yummy food and lazy days ( and rain, rain, rain by the looks of the weather forecast... ) but i'll see how i go. Wish me luck!

Dearest Santa Baby...

Its Blog This! challenge time again and i have to say, this one is season appropriate. This week the blog post directive was:
Now's the time to start putting together your Christmas wishlist. And I want you to share the top 5 items on your Christmas wishlist with everyone this challenge.

Don't let money stop you either, make your list as realistic, or as wishful as you want!

Dearest Santa Baby,

Its Amy - remember me? I havent written for a while, and i'm not exactly a " girl " anymore but in the spirit of the season i'd thought i'd send you out a copy of my wishlist for this year. I promise i've been very, very good ( and even when i was bad, i was very good...wink, wink, nudge, nudge.. ) so if you could see fit to gift me with any of these five things that would be ace. In no particular order:
1. Some more charms for my Pandora bracelet - i dont have my eye on any in particular ( ok, except the little book stack - its cute and appropriate for me! ) but if you're going to pick me up some coloured ones, i'm thinking blue will look nice with orangey-pink ones i already have.
2. A publisher for my childrens story - I'd love to share " There's A Giraffe In My Bath " with the little masses. Or my latest work - " There's A Sheep In The Shed ". The more i think about, and talk about it with my family, the more i adore the idea of being a childrens author and making kids and their families happy. I've been doing a lot of research into how you go about these type of things ( that is, writing good stories and getting them published ) but it would be waaaaaaaay easier if you could just drop a publishing contract right in my lap.
3. Some cds and books to add to my collection -  its been so long since i bought myself a brand spanking new cd. Oh, yes, thats right, i dont do digital downloads - i'm still a cd kind of gal. This past year i've been hearing some great pop music on the radio and would love to be able to bop around the house to it whenever i wanted to. I'm thinking maybe some Pink, some Adam Lambert and some Robyn? Ooh, and if you could just scout around and get me some great new reads that would be wonderful also.
4. An overseas trip - i know i'm already going to be going on a honeymoon next year ( to the Gold Coast ) but i'm just gonna be a little greedy and ask for an overseas trip aswell. Europe would be nice seeing as i havent been there yet but i'll settle for a return trip to SE Asia so i can show Mick around ( he's never been outside of Australia you see and i'd love to share some of the world with him ).
5. Some weight loss and a new wardrobe to go with it - you know i'm trying to get this one on my own but a little magical Christmas help would be much appreciated.
And thats all. I'm not going to be like a typical child and ask for, like, a million things.... just one ( or two ) of those five will do. Oh, and world peace and all that jazz would be nice aswell, if you have enough room in your sleigh.
Love, love, love!
Amy

Visiting Freud and Mandela's homes and Freire's thoughts

Last wednesday I was in London to discuss (amongst other things) how we might best involve services users in the assessment of student nurses. As I was two or three stops away from Finchley Road Tube Station, I very cheekily took an hour off and when across to visit the Freud Museum, in Hampstead. I had always wanted to go and the opportunity was too good to miss. The museum is actually in the house that became the home of Sigmund Freud and his family when they escaped the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. The house stayed as a family home for Anna Freud, who died in 1982.

She lived in the house for 44 years and during this time continued to develop her pioneering psychoanalytic work, especially with children. It was Anna Freud's wish that when she died the house would become a museum to honour the work of her father. Somewhat fortunately, when they left Austria, they were able to bring all their furniture and Freud's enormous collection of different artefacts.

The house was an absolute oasis of peace and calm. It was hard to believe that just a 100 meters away was one of the main roads into and out of London. The centrepiece of the house was Freud's study. This had been left just as it had been during his lifetime. It was crammed to bursting with his huge collection of Egyptian, Greek and Oriental antiquities, many of which were ancient figures related to birth, fertility and early life.

For me, however, the most exciting element in the room was Freud's couch. The couch, covered in a richly coloured Iranian rug and bright cushions had presence. Freud's chair, battered but still functional was placed at the head of the couch. This was the very couch that the Wolfman (amongst others) had lain and conversed with Freud. Just being there was a hugely emotional moment.

It was sad that everything was roped off – but perhaps that is more a reflection of the state of our society. Strangely, while I was there I recalled also going to Nelson Mandela's house in Soweto.

Like Freud, Mandela's house in Soweto has become the Mandela Family Museum. However, unlike Freud’s house, in Mandela's house I was able to sit on his bed. Although not as grand a building as Freud's London house, visiting Mandela's former home provides for an equally emotionally turbulent experience.

Mandelas house is where the 1976 students' uprising began, where the youth leadership met to change the face of South Africa. Close by, in Vilakazi Street, is Desmond Tutu's house. Of course it is worth remembering that both Mandela and Tutu are Nobel Peace Prize winners. Like Freud's house, Mandela’s home has come symbolise the huge changes to society when oppressors are challenged and change occurs.

Sometimes, oppression can be slow and insidious. It was, for example, Florence Nightingale who warned nurses to keep the integrity of the nursing profession distinct from that of medicine. Despite her belief that Nursing's difference makes a difference in healing, she noted that in a hospital setting, nursing as a profession had tended to beome subsumed under medicine and in so doing, often displayed the characteristics of an oppressed group.

I was reminded of this while reading one of my student's draft doctoral thesis this week. Interestingly for me, part of the theoretical basis of the data analysis drew upon the work of Paulo Freire and in particular his classic ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’.


Whilst there is not time or room in this blog to explore his ideas I recommend to readers to have a look at his work. However is it just me or is there an uncanny physical likeness between Freire and Freud.

Answers on a postcard please!

We found the Fisheye :)

Books!Books!Books! - How Many Have You Read?

So.... i came across the meme on Kylie's page over at A Study In Contradictions   and i thought i'd play along. See, apparently the BBc has published a Top 100 booklist ( i'm not sure of what the list actually is tho - best books ever in, like, history? Bestsellers? Who knows... ) and they've come to the conclusion that the majority of people have only read 6 of the 100 books listed. Really? Only 6?
The aim of this game is to highlight in bold those which you have read, and italicize the ones you started but didnt finish, or have read parts of.
Feel free to play along!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen ( one of my top 5 favourites.. )


2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien


3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (also a top 5 pick )
6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott  ( i read this when i was 11ish - i would love to revisit it now )
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare ( i've read " Romeo and Juliet " and " Taming of the Shrew " )

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger ( i have to admit though for all its hype, i wasnt really a fan... )

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame ( started this as a kid - i dont recall ever finishing it )

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen ( This is my current read - i'm halfway through and i gotta say Emma is not a likeable character at all... )
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (One of my Top Ten)

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ( loved the book, loved the movie... sooooooo want Keira Knightleys green dress! )

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (read this earlier this year and really enjoyed it )
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ( its kind of short, but its really ...well...good. Inspiring good. )

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ( read some of the books as a child, but not all of them )

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Operation Slimdown....Its Back! Week 2

" Operation Slimdown " time again!


I have to say, i'm not feeling too bad about the whole excess weight thing this week. Hell, just thsi morning i looked at my tummy in the mirror this morning and it didnt make me cringe. Its still a soft little " mummy tummy " but i can see the abs i used to have underneath the layer of pudge. And even if i couldnt see that definition i worked hard for, Mick says he likes my tummy - its all soft and womanly and whatnot. A compliment from a fella always helps a ladies self-esteem...

Plus, i think my work pants are a little less snug this week - but i'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch. I'm not doing measurements or a weigh in until this coming Saturday ( which will be in next Tuesdays post ) so i cant be sure if anything really is happening or not. What is happening is exercise. I wasnt overly diligent with the whole exercise schtick this past week but i DID exercise. I did my usual Zumba class on Wednesday night ( which i'm still enjoying - yay! ) and went for my usual morning walk with my sister on Friday. Unfortunately we had to skip Thursdays walk because i had to go into work for the morning but that was unavoidable. But never fear!There will be more exercising than that this week - 1 hr of Zumba at class, two morning walks, i'm going to try and fit in a half hr Zumba session at home, and then there's the zoo.

I live in a town which is home to the largest open range zoo in the world ( Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Google it ). Sunday it is having free entry to celebrate the opening of new picnic grounds and play area so Mick and I are taking Flynn out for the day. The best thing about it - other than the free-ness - is that we'll be parking our car and walking around, which is a 5km long walking trail....which equals exercise! But hey, the rest of the zoo thing will be a whole other post so stay tuned...

TSA, Students, and the Fourth Amendment

Whenever possible, I weave in contemporary issues to exemplify concepts I’m responsible to teach in my 20th century US History course. Recent furor over full-body scans and pat-downs at airports is one issue likely to be decided in light of the Fourth Amendment. When asked if they’d personally gone through airport screening, about 80% of my students indicated they had.“Take out your laptops,” I told them, “and go to ‘Google Images.’ Then type in ‘19 highjackers.’” They did and the familiar lineup of Arab Muslim men showed up. “These men hijacked four planes on September 11th and flew three of them into buildings. They had put small knives to the throats of stewardesses and took over control of the planes. Ever since, small knives - even nail clippers - have been seized from airline passengers.

“Now type in ‘Richard Reid.’” They did and various images of the shoe bomber’s face showed up. “This guy joined al Qaeda and tried to blow up a plane over the Atlantic by lighting a bomb made with plastic explosive hidden in his shoe. Ever since, airline passengers have been forced to remove their shoes for inspection.

“Now type in ‘Mohammed Gulzar & Umar Islam.’ In 2006, these two and six other British/Arab/Muslim terrorists plotted to blow up seven US-bound planes over the Atlantic with liquid explosives hidden in soft-drink bottles. Ever since, airline passengers have been forbidden to carry on containers of liquids with more than 3.4 ounces. “Now type in ‘Christmas panty bomber,’ I instructed. “This guy tried to set off a bomb in his underwear on a flight from London to Detroit. As a result, airline passengers have been subject to pat-downs, and now to full-body scans which produce an X-ray image of passengers revealing all their intimate body parts, as you can see in those images near the ‘panty bomber’s’ picture.

“Turn to page 884 in your textbook,” I told them, “and read along as I recite the Fourth Amendment in our Bill of Rights: ‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ What part of this Amendment applies to the full-body scans and pat-downs?” I asked.

“Where it says ‘right to be secure in their persons,” suggested a girl.

“That’s right,” I said, “against ‘unreasonable’ searches. Given how these security procedures have evolved, are they ‘unreasonable’? Who thinks they are?

Only three or four raised their hands in each class.

“Who thinks they’re reasonable?”

All the others raised their hands.

“Why are they reasonable?” I asked.

“Because we want the planes to be safe,” said another girl.

“If you don’t want to let them search you, you don’t have to fly,” suggested a boy.

“So, it sounds like most of you believe what the TSA, or “Transportation Safety Authority” does to search people is reasonable, right?” I asked.

Most of them raised their hands.

“Okay,” I said. “Now consider this case. A guy named John Tyner got tickets from someone who invited him to go on a hunting trip. He went online to check out security procedures at the airport in San Diego where he lives. He didn’t want to go through the full-body scan because of radiation and embarrassment, and the airport web site indicated it didn’t use them. But when he got there, some passengers were randomly picked for full-body scans and he was one. Most of the passengers just had to take off their shoes, etc. and go through the metal detector like most of you have. He said he was willing to do all that, but he was unwilling to have a full-body scan or an ‘enhanced” pat-down.’ When a TSA person tried to pat him down, he said, ‘Don’t touch my junk or I’ll have you arrested.’ ‘Junk’ is a slang word for his private parts - a new one to me.”From their reaction, I got the impression they knew the term already.
“The TSA person then reported Tyner to his supervisor. Tyner decided he didn’t want to go on his trip if he had to go through all that and just wanted to leave the airport. TSA, however, is filing charges against him and he’s subject to a $10,000 fine.”

I waited for all that to sink in and asked: “So, is Tyner’s experience with TSA reasonable?”

“TSA should have just let him go through the metal detector like the rest of the passengers,” said a girl.

“He shouldn’t be charged with anything if he just wanted to go home,” said another girl.

“TSA claims that if he went into the security area, he has to complete the process,” I explained.

“That’s ridiculous,” said a boy.

“Well,” I said. “We’ll have to see how a judge thinks the Fourth Amendment applies here and what he or she thinks is reasonable. That’s how our system works and the US Supreme Court would be the final judge of whether Mr. Tyner’s and other people’s rights are being violated or not.”

"Looking at pictures of the hijackers, what did you notice they had in common?" I asked.

"They all had dark complexions," said a boy.

"Anything else?"

"They all had dark hair," said a girl. "They looked Muslim."

"You mean they looked Arabic," I suggested.

"Yeah."

"Jews in Israel are more frequent targets of attack by Radical Muslims, but when I flew there and back three years ago, I didn't have to go through security procedures US airports require," I told them. "Israelis profile terrorists and give passengers who fit the profile extra scrutiny. Should US airports do that too instead of treating all passengers as if they could be terrorists?"

"No," said a girl.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because if they weren't terrorists, they might feel bad that they were singled out," she said.

"Okay," I said. "In September of last year, an al Qaeda terrorist tried to assassinate a Saudi Arabian prince with a bomb hidden up his rear end and set off by remote control. The prince was only slightly injured and the bomber was blown apart. One report I read indicated that rectum bomb could have blown up the fuselage of a passenger jet causing it to crash. Will all American airline passengers be required to submit to body cavity searches next?"

"Ee-yoo," said the girl.

"At that point, maybe profiling wouldn't sound like a bad idea."

Off My Plate

You know that expression - to have something " off your plate "? As in, " Glad thats off my plate! " Yea, welll, i'm starting to think i might have too much on my plate for the next few weeks and some of it is making me anxious. Dont get me wrong, some of it is going to be way cool heaps fun, but some of it is just bogging me down mentally.

* I've still got to get around to actually organising my sons first birthday party - which means actually decided on a guest list ( to invite his little mothers group friends or not ? ), what time of day is appropriate ( i'm thinking to start around 11am and run through til 12:30pm ) and what i'm going to feed the guests (and where i'm going to find the funds to pay for food ).

* Finish the Christmas shopping - this one isnt too bad because i have one more toy layby to get out ( thank you Target! ) and then i only need to get " Santa " presents for Flynn and buy a little something for Mick. Its more the " where am i going to find the money for it all ? " bit thats doing my head in a little. I'm trying not to worry, and its not like we're sending ourselves broke or anything, it justs that i really want to make our first Christmas as a family special and a little extra disposable cash would come in so handy right now ( i know - join the club right ? )

* The collapse of my "best " friendship - i know i've already written about it, and i know your probably tired of me harping on about it but.... i just cant get past it. I'm still so angry - i've never been the angry girl before ( i've been the sad girl, and the tired girl but not the angry one ) and right now i'm trying just to sit in the anger, to take it in, let it out and to let myself have that moment and be done with it. But the more i try to just " let it be " the angrier i get. I just feel so cheated and lied to and resentful. I've never been resentful before, and i dont like it. Its the resentment thats tearing me up. This is one i REALLY want off my plate, and soon...

And the rest? The rest is the way cool heaps fun stuff - birthday parties, Christmas parties, a day at the zoo, Santa photos with my awesome photographer friend, visits to the park, " Save The Date " cards, cooking and Mario Kart marathons. Stuff to keep me busy. Stuff to keep me smiling, and to keep me sane. I just gotta get some of that other crap off my plate first!

Gaining a Chair, Finding a Seat, and the Impact of Edinburgh

I had a great week! Monday was a 6 – 6 back to back meetings day. However, for much of Tuesday I was able to get off the meeting merry-go-around and spend some quality time with great colleagues interviewing some powerful candidates for our Professor in Midwifery post. It was an extraordinary and privileged day to part of. Each of the candidates had prepared well and the quality of the interviews and presentations was high. We were able to make an appointment, and if everything goes as planned, we should have a new Chair in Midwifery early in the New Year!

Wednesday was the School Executive Planning Day. This time was an opportunity to think about what we had achieved during the last 12 months and what needed to be considered for the next 12 months. It was clear that our world had changed dramatically. As a group we explored how to build upon the progress made to date. It was good to recognize the contributions made by colleagues across the School, and it was reassuring to know that in such a turbulent time for the University and public sector we had access to some wonderfully skilled and knowledgeable colleagues. Early Wednesday evening I got on a train and headed for Edinburgh.

This is a journey I have long hankered after doing. Up to now I have only flown to Edinburgh. I was an External Examiner at Dundee University for a number of years, and would regularly fly up to Edinburgh and then be picked up in a chauffeur driven limousine and taken to Dundee. It was very swish but slightly embarrassing. Doing the same journey by train was something I had long looked forward to. The countryside between Manchester and Edinburgh is some of the best in the country. Unfortunately, on Wednesday evening it was dark, the train was overcrowded and very cold.

Thankfully for me, I have a very effective PA’s. I never have to worry about getting a seat as she always makes sure I have a reserved seat, sitting at a table facing the way to train is travelling. She works out my travel arrangements with a degree of precision that I think is fantastic – and for me such arrangements have been totally reliable. And so it was on this occasion. While many people struggled to get on the train and find a seat, I was able to get to mine and sit down and start working before the train had left the station. It is Jennie’s birthday this week, so many happy returns – 21 again!

I was in Edinburgh on behalf of our Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. I was there to attend a working group meeting looking at the results of the recent pilot projects aimed at capturing and presenting case studies of the impact of research undertaken by Universities. Impact will form a new and major part of the next REF exercise in 2014, and much preparation is in hand collating research outputs (publications) and developing the kind of high quality case studies required to demonstrate the reach of research.

 David Sweeney (the irrepressible Scot who heads up the Research, Innovation and Skills Directorate of the Higher Education Funding Council (England)) was quick to point out the importance in the recent Governmental Comprehensive Spending Review of being able to demonstrate the return on the investment made for research for the wider British society. Although research funding was to be cut, the extent of the cut was reduced by being able to show this impact.

I ate my lunch with a colleague from the Scottish Agriculture College, Edinburgh. Interestingly, his College and ours had much in common. For example, both Colleges undertake research into gait analysis, we do this with people, he was doing his with cows – but we both do it in exactly the same way. Likewise we work in geographically diverse locations, yet we both have to deal with many similar socio-economic and demographic issues.

 I came away from the day realising that we had a great deal of work to do. Simply getting four papers published was not going to be enough. Demonstrating Impact was going to be a very different challenge. However, papers that might form the foundation of the evidence base might more often from practice based publications NOT high impact journals. Finally, the day taught me it was possible to provide the evidence of the impact of our research – it won’t be easy, but it is possible, and going forward, this will be the most important thing we have to achieve.

A Short Post Entitled - " What Has Channing Tatum Done To His Head " ?

What has Channing Tatum done to his head? No really - what has he done, and more importantly, WHY, WHY, WHY ?

Oh Channing, you were so hot in " Step Up " and " She's The Man " ( yep, i've seen those movies, dont pretend you havent... ) and now....THIS.
Ladies - discuss.....

Opinions - Please?Please?Please!

Ok - so remember a while back when i said i would like to write a childrens book one day? Yea well, i need your help on something. See, inspired by my son dumping one of his toys in the bath a few nights ago i sat down and wrote myself a little story entitled " There's a Giraffe in my Bath ". I've read it to a few people and one in particular encouraged me to see if i could get it published. I laughed it off but she said to me " Amy, if i can change careers in my mid-30's, a widow and a mum of 3....YOU can be a writer ". Fair enough. Unfortunately, there is already a childrens picture book called " A Giraffe In The Bath " ( by the very talented Mem Fox, which as far as i can tell isnt like mine at all, just shares a first line ) but i thought i might just post my little effort here and see what you beautiful mummy type people thought of it. Here goes:

There’s a giraffe in my bath

He’s quite big and tall
With him already in
I’ll have no room at all!

I scrub his long neck
And clean under his chin
Then he moves over a little
So I can get in.

I slide in with a “splash! “,
Settle down in my bath
I’m a little bit squished
Up against this giraffe.


The water is warm
And there’s plenty of bubbles
But if mum catches us both
We’ll be in big troubles!


“ Could you pass me the soap? “
I ask with a smirk.
A bath with a giraffe
Is such difficult work!


I have a quick scrub and
Get as clean as I can
But a big, tall giraffe
Wasn’t part of the plan!


Its time to get out
Before the water goes cold
“ You have to go now “
The giraffe is told.


He stands up and climbs out
And he shakes himself dry
And off into the night
Goes that strange giraffe guy.


I smile and laugh
Cant help shaking my head;
I’m done in the bath,
But now who’s in my bed?

So there you go...thats it. If you could give a quick opinion on it, and maybe link it on your blog so i can get as mnay opinions as possible, i would be really really appreciative!

Holiday! Celebrate!

So - i think its about time that i participate in another " Blog This! " challenge. I know, i know...its been a while. Anyhoodle, this weeks challenge is:
Holidays! This week's challenge is to share you favourite holiday photo with everyone! It doesn't matter how old it is, or how old you were, share it with us and tell us the story behind it!
A photo challenge hmm? I had to go a little ways back through the files for this one but here you go:

Thats me in front of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, back in 2007. I did a 19 day trip through SE Asia, taking in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand with a company called Geckos Adventures ( whom i totally recommend by the way. I did a trip in Peru with them too .)

SE Asia was awesome - i'd definately go back, given the chance - but the temples at the Angkor complex were one of the highlights. Besides being able to get my Lara Croft on ( Angelina Jolie filmed the first " Tomb Raider " film there ) i also got to marvel at what human beings were able to do WITHOUT technology. Its amazing that hundreds of years ago humans were able to build these huge, complex structures without the aid of cranes, backhoes, trucks etc etc. And that the buildings are a testament to their intense faith in their Gods is inspiring. I dont believe in God or, indeed, in organised religion ( its nice for other people, its just not for me ) yet i found comfort and inspiration in what man can do in the name of something they feel so strongly about.

So there was that - other highlights of the trup include:

* A guided motorcyle ride around the city of Hue, and out into the country to meet some of the locals

* A beautiful mud bath and Vietnamese massage

* Shopping at the markets in both Siem Reap and Bangkok

* Delicious, delicious food

* And all the friends i made!

*NOTE* - See how slim i look in that photo ( ignore my billowing hiking shorts )? I was about 63kgs in that photo - THATS where i'd like to be again someday soon!

Deficits in Dublin

There are lots of beggars on the streets of Dublin, but only a few are the obvious drunks I’m used to seeing in American cities. Most look in the 20-40 range and many are women. They put a cushion on the sidewalk and sit with their backs against the wall and a blanket over their knees holding out a paper cup. They sit silently or they ask passers-by for change, but they don’t have the ravaged faces, haunted eyes and slept-in clothes of street drunks. They’re dressed decently and look well-nourished. I didn’t give them anything, but some say “thank you anyway” as I walk away.I’d eat breakfast in buffet-style restaurants, sit down next to someone and mention how cold and windy it was. Without my prompting, the conversation would turn to Ireland’s economy. Once people realized I was American, they’d ask about the Tea Party and whether I belonged to it. I explained that there were no forms to fill out, and that people belonged if they worked to shrink government. When visiting Ireland in the spring of 2009, they all asked me if Obama was going to straighten things out, but neither Americans nor Irish put hope in him anymore.On light poles in front of Trinity College were posters calling for violent revolution, and put up by the Socialist Workers Party. If the SWP were anything like I remembered it in Massachusetts during the 1970s, they weren’t much of a threat to civil order. A look at their web site indicated they hadn’t changed much.

A British newspaper, The Observer, said last week about Irish economist Morgan Kelly of University College Dublin: “Kelly . . . was laughed at, scorned and even threatened when he correctly predicted, as long ago as 2007, that Ireland's property bubble was heading for a spectacular explosion. Now he is forecasting mass mortgage defaults and an ugly popular uprising. The first stirrings are already visible, he says, with ‘anxiety giving way to the first upwellings of an inchoate rage and despair that will transform Irish politics . . .’”

“People are angry,” said a middle-aged custom-guitar maker I met in an O’Connell Street pub, “very angry - and they can’t express that directly at the ballot box the way Americans did last week. They vote directly on government only every seven years, and the last election was two years ago.”

“There could be a vote of ‘no confidence’ though, right?” I suggested. “That would bring elections sooner, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, but it would require a vote by the MPs, not ordinary people.” He seemed to be suggesting that another kind of protests might occur in the interim, but he had to go meet someone at that point, and I couldn’t ask him.Irish government employees are accepting pay cuts. People on the dole are accepting cuts in benefits and in medical services. At another pub in the government district called “Doheny & Nesbitt’s” I spoke at length to a just-retired, big-government liberal. He was critical of bankers for over-extending as they rode the real estate bubble, but he could not conceive of government leaving them alone to fail. When I suggested his government could have refused a bailout he was incredulous, looking at me like I had two heads. “Well, then the banks would just collapse,” he said.

“Uh-huh. But then taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook for banker foolishness. Investors and depositors would - but they’re the ones who chose to put their money into those particular banks, right? So, oh well.”

He paused and looked as if he were just considering that option for the first time. “Yes, that might have been possible,” he said, “but government did step in - as it had to - and here we are.”

I snapped a photo of patrons on the sidewalk as I was leaving. One government type turned his head around and said, “Come over here, will you?” He seemed much like politicians in America: dark suit, sharply-creased pants, long black or navy blue long woolen coat, hair spray, and an arrogant manner. “I own that image,” he said.“Is that so?” I answered. “But it’s in my camera. How do you propose we resolve this?” I stared at him defiantly. The men around him went silent for a second or two, until one of them said: “He’s American. He’s not a journalist,” and he held his hand out to me. I shook it. “We’re pretty tense lately,” he said. “It’s that bitch in Germany.”

“Angela Merkel?” I said.

“Yeah, her, if she is a woman a’tall. We thought you were a journalist.” I thought it prudent not to mention that I was a columnist in America.

“No worries,” I said, and he patted my shoulder. His arrogant friend walked back inside without speaking. We chatted like old buddies for a while until I went on my way.

In the hotel bar where I was staying, I had a brief conversation with the hotel-owner’s son and I made the same suggestion: that the Irish government should have just let the banks fail and refuse to bail them out. “But then a lot of ordinary people would lose their money,” he said.

“Uh-huh,” I said, and he looked at me like I was Ebenezer Scrooge. “What’s the unemployment rate in Ireland?” I asked him.

“Somewhere around 13% I think,” he said.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s higher than the official rate in America. If people are laid off, does government provide them with assistance?” I asked.

“Oh yes,” he said. “Of course.”

“Well,” I said, “In our country someone ‘collects unemployment checks’ as we put it, but those checks run out after 99 weeks.”

He looked appalled. “But what will people do then?” he asked.

“Scrounge around for work,” I said. “Rely on family - on the kindness of strangers - whatever they can,” I said.

“But how will they make their mortgage payments?” he asked.

“Any way they can, or face foreclosure.”The EU is about to step in and impose reforms as they did in Greece. Will the Irish riot as the Greeks did? They have a long history of armed rebellion - much of it quite recent. That was against Great Britain which they perceived as a foreign invader, though it had ruled Ireland for centuries. Will they revolt against their own, democratically-elected government? I doubt it, but we’ll see.

The custom-guitar maker said, “With this crisis, we Irish are only proving we’re incapable of governing ourselves. There are tough times ahead.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach is what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

God uses it to prepare and equip his people

to do every good work.

This past weekend my youth group hosted a DNow weekend. It's pretty much a stay at home retreat where we brought in SWAT (students with a testimony) to be our councilors. It was great. For me, it's a jump start in the middle of the semester to get me back into wanting to be on fire for God. This year's theme was Get Off The Fence. Read Revelation 3:15 and it will get you a good idea of how God feels about people stuck in the middle.

I didn't feel like I learned much new but I was reminded of several things. One of those was just how important scripture memorization is. Reading your Bible is sometimes put in a higher place than hiding God's word in your heart and don't get me wrong reading your Bible is VERY important but so is memorizing scripture. I forget that. I just read and say "Oh that's an awesome verse," and then forget about it. Then when I need that verse I can only remember the gist of it.

A couple of my friends and I are going to work on that. We've agreed to memorize a verse a week and hold each other accountable. This is going to be a good challenge for all of us. My verse for the week is at the top. I thought it was a good verse to jump start why I'm memorizing God's Word.

So to equip and prepare myself I hide God's Word in my heart.

Operation Slimdown....Its Back!

So - the weekly " Operation Slimdown " post is back! I was considering calling it " Operation Slimdown - Mach 4 " but that sounded a) a bit pathetic ( like how many times do i have start this bloody thing over ?! ) and b) its not like i fell off the diet bandwagon for good. I just .... umm...took a two week break from blogging about it.


Ok, and i took a break from the exercise bit but i promise i kept up with the healthier eating part. I was just so disheartened by the lack of good results that i had a bit of a dummy spit and went " Poo to you excess kilos - you suck! " Which they do - and so did my attitude. I'm a grown, sensible, reasonably intelligent woman , yet somehow i let logic slip away from me when confronted with those all important numbers. Of course my weight is going to fluctutate from week to week, and of course the measurements can be effected by things such as how much water i've drunk that day or (ahem) " that time of the month ". I know these things but, just like many a sensible, reasonably intelligent woman before me, i let myself become a blithering mess, all over a couple of stupid numbers.

Well - no more i say! Those bloody numbers are not going to get me down anymore...in fact, i'm going to get THEM down! Clearly its not going to be easy ( see the last four " Operation Slimdown " posts for further evidence of this fact ) and its going to take me longer than i thought, and had hoped for. The good news is that when i weighed myself on Sunday the scales showed up 76.6kgs - which is less than the last weigh in, so boo yea to me for that!

Oh, and lastly - i've decided not to weigh in every week. I'll still post about how my week has gone physically and nutritionally but i'm only going to weigh and measure myself once a fortnight ( or even less ). I'm not on " The Biggest Loser " - my scales are not going to show fantastic numbers every week, and my weight loss is going to be on the go slow. I think if i can just plug away and work at it and then see an improvement over a longer period of time, i can keep my spirits up and keep motivating myself. Wish me luck!

A Little Ray Of Sunshine

Well - my blog has been a whole sack of sad lately hasnt it? My apologies for that people, and i hope that it hasnt driven too many of you away. I think we all ( usually ) blog about what we know, and what we're going through at the time, and the last month or so has just been a steaming pile of wah, wah, wah for me.

But fear not! Not everything in my life is dreary - we're on the downhill slide towards Christmas ( which is almost always a highlight ) and, 2 days after that, my little Flynn will be celebrating his 1st birthday! I know i'm not the first mother to say this but holy bloody boojesus - how did we get here so quick?! I could swear it was only a few months ago that i was wearing XXL polo shirts to work and had slowly lost sight of my ankles but no, here we are, a mere 41 days off me having a " one year old ". Good bloody gravy.

Also, i'm into week #4 of being back at work and i have to admit it aint half bad. I was so NOT looking forward to going back, i was so sure i was absolutely going to hate it and i was going to have to haul myself off to work 3 mornings a week smiling through clenched teeth but... i'm kind of, sort of, maybe enjoying it a little. I feel like i've gained a little of "me" back ( even if it is " work me " and not " Sunday-afternoon-naps-on-the-lounge " me ). I dont have an adorable little monster attached to me all day long, and nor am i chained to the dirty washing pile... i'm back in a familiar environment, doing familiar things, but i'm doing them on my own. Achieving a little something again that doesnt have anything to do with crawling, teething or learning to sleep through. Granted, its not like i'm going to be volunteering to do extra shifts anytime soon, but at least i'm coming to work with a smile on my face and leaving ( on time! Thank you " i have to get Flynn from daycare " excuse... ) each day not dreading having to go back.

And there we be. In the 41 days til Flynny's birthday i plan on getting a little crafty by making him his own Santa sack; making/organising " Save the Date " cards for my wedding next November; and co-planning with my Dad this years Christmas menu. Anyone for Christmas icecream pudding ?

Ben and Being a Nurse, Goodbye Gorecki (and Beasley?) and Breathtaking Burma!

I was in London last Wednesday. I had been invited to present a paper on the need for nurse educationalists to find more creative ways to prepare students for the emotionality of practice. The event was sponsored by the Health Service Journal and the Nursing Times, and was aimed at developing mental health nursing services for the future. It was a great opportunity to not only talk about the good work going on internationally within the mental health nurse education community of practice, but also to talk more specifically about the approaches we have started to develop here in the School of Nursing & Midwifery at Salford.

Throughout the day, the debate was high level. I was pleased that my thoughts on the differences in preparing individuals to ‘be’ nurses rather than producing individuals to ‘do’ nursing was well received. There was real interest from the Chief Executives and other managers responsible for delivering mental health services in why developing a future practitioner who would be comfortable (and perhaps uncomfortable) at working at the edges of knowing and not knowing was an important ambition to work towards.

I was able to have a conversation with Ben Thomas, Director of Mental Health and Lead Nurse for the Department of Health. He was at the event to speak about the new Mental Health Strategy. It was clear that there will be more opportunities (and challenges) for mental health nurses arising from what are likely to be more innovative developments in the provisions of future services for people with a mental health problem.

The sad part to Friday, was hearing that Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki had died. Gorecki was a Polish musician, perhaps most famous for his Third Symphony (the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). I discovered his music while I was writing up my PhD thesis. At the time I was house sitting for friend who had a cottage on an island in Morecambe Bay (yes there is one). Twice a day the island was complete cut of by the tide. One afternoon, bored with writing my thesis, I started to look through the CD collection and came across Gorecki’s Third Symphony. I played the music and was captivated by the sadness and emotionality of what is a very haunting collection of music and songs. The main inspiration for the piece was the suffering and survival of those imprisoned in Auschwitz, and his own experiences of living with numerous health problems. As a young boy, Gorecki suffered tuberculosis and spent long periods in hospital receiving treatment, but he was plagued by serious illness throughout his life.

Released in 1992, over the next year the CD sold over a million copies. The success of this work pleased and puzzled Gorecki. No one, he observed, could explain why this music had been successful. ‘Perhaps people, especially young people, find something they need in this piece of music, something they are seeking’. He was reported to have said that: ‘If they are buying my disc rather than cigarettes, I am saving lives all the time'.

Friday I was in Wolverhampton for the Mental Health Nurse Academics (UK) meeting. As usual the day was partly about networking and catching up with colleagues from around the UK. The lunch time talk was around whether the Chief Nursing Officer’s post at the Department of Health would become a victim of the CSR cuts. With Dame Christine Beasley expected to step down next March there was a real sense that the Coalition Government will remove the post as part of its reforms. The post holder advises the government of the day on nursing policy and provides professional leadership to nurses across England. Nursing is by far the largest element of the workforce and accounts for most of the expenditure in the NHS. Being without such a high profile nurse voice in Government would not serve the profession or service users well. Wolverhampton also provided the most bizarre moment of the week. Before getting back onto the train home, I found myself standing amidst the Wolverhampton rush hour traffic and Friday night shoppers, speaking to my boss who happened to be in India at the time. Trying to have a sensible conversation in such circumstances was difficult, and the fact we were able to even attempt to talk in this way was surreal.

And the best news of the week, Aung San Suu Kyi being allowed to walk to freedom from house arrest in Burma today. It was a brilliant and breathtaking moment for both Aung San and Burma.

Mountains and Monasteries in Wicklow

Been talking politics and economics in Dublin. I sit next to people in breakfast shops and in pubs and strike up conversations. I don't have to bring it around to the above subjects because they do. It's depressing. It's also been cold and windy for a few days, so when sun was forecast for Saturday I took a bus into the Wicklow Mountains. Trouble is, it started raining as soon as I got there.Took all these photos at the extensive Glendalough Monastery ruins in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains. I went around by myself, but I overheard a tour guide tell his group that Jesus was Irish. “How do I know that?” he asked. “He had eleven drinking buddies and lived with his mother until he was thirty-three.” Sacrilegious? Maybe, but funny.

The sensor on my Nikon D-60 is sensitive enough to pick up plenty of light on overcast, rainy days, and for that I’m grateful. I knew I was framing some beautiful scenes while resting my umbrella on my head as I adjusted my lens, but I wasn’t sure how they’d come out. I’m very pleased. The sun emerged as the sun was setting and offered some mist to hang over the mountains on one side of the long valley.Vikings had raided this monastery every 20-30 years for centuries before Brian Boru defeated them. I wondered how many slaughtered monks lay under these stones.The wind-twisted cedar struck me. It's not hard to see where the prevailing wind comes from as all the trees - and even the gravestones - seem to lean north. This tree symbolized the Viking violence monks endured for so long. The Vikings would wait long enough between raids to let the monks rebuild and accumulate more things to steal.St. Kevin liked to get out of the city too and he went to Glendalough sometime after 500 AD to find refuge from the outside world. These stones on a mountainside overlooking Glendalough's upper lake (or "loch" as they say here) are all that remain of his "cell." It's assumed that he had a stone beehive structure on the site similar to the ones found in Dingle and dating from about the same time.Always been drawn to ancient trees, especially those with the general signs of age like moss and curiously-shaped limbs. There were several on the so-called "Green Road" to the upper lake at Glendalough. Some seemed like characters out of the Wizard of Oz.It's an enchanting place, as so much of Ireland is to me. This is my third trip and I don't think it's the last. If Ireland's economy continues to tank, perhaps it'll get even cheaper to travel here. That assumes the US economy doesn't collapse along with it though.After a few centuries and half-a-dozen raids, monks built this round tower to hide in when the Vikings came by. Guess it worked because it's still there.As these pictures attest, Ireland has survived travails for a long time and it will get past the one looming now as well. Can't be any worse than a Viking raid, can it?

Go Now, Into The Light

I have just come from the funeral of the schoolmate i mentioned here.

I cried - i cried tears of empathy for his mother and the mother of his children, both whom were shuddering with big, animalistic sobs. I cried tears of grief for his children, who will grow up without a daddy. And i cried tears of happiness for myself, that somewhere inside i found the strength that he could not, and escaped the same fate.

And i was ashamed. Who cries for themselves at a funeral? I have every empathy for his family, even more so that i am now a mother, and each moan that escaped his mothers body broke my heart. My own parents have had to bury a child, so i have some understanding of how much strength it would have taken for her to stand in front of everyone and place loved possessions on her sons coffin. I hate that they have so many unanswered questions, and that they'll never get the chance to have them answered, except when posed hypothetically. I cried tears for all of that, for their heartbreak and their grief and their anger. Yet, mostly, i cried for myself. Everytime suicide was mentioned my thoughts turned to how close i came to that decision, and the lyrics of the songs his family chose to farewell their son, brother and friend brought me further undone.

I didnt attend the internment - i felt i didnt have a close enough relationship to be at this more intimate rite of a funeral, and that my presence at the funeral ceremony was enough to show my respect. Instead, i drove straight home and gave my son the biggest hug i could muster, and sent Mick a message telling him how much i love him. Its all i could do and i hope, in case of dire circumstance, it will be enough....

I'm Still Here People

Well - i've been absent for a few days. Why? No reason. I've been good, feeling ok, not down in the dumps or anything....just somehow everytime i've sat down to blog my mind has gone blank. Blah. Nada. Not a single interesting thing to write. And come to think of it, this is just a " hey, i havent died! " post and isnt actually anything interesting at all.

So, in the interests of keeping my blog alive and trying to unblock my stopped up brain, this is todays post. I hope you enjoyed the blah.
P.S Also - that last post? That was a bit of creative writing. I may find my blog writing brain backed up, but i find myself itching to write a proper, creative, piece of prose again. Good idea or no?

Country Mice and City Mice

Conservatives made gains last week, but there’s pain ahead. Government must be pruned back drastically. I say this not just as a conservative who believes it philosophically; I say it as a rational human being, because it’s mathematically impossible to sustain. What government has promised to do for people it simply cannot do. It cannot pay medical bills for the poor (Medicaid) and for the elderly (Medicare) too much longer. It cannot continue to pay pensions to the elderly and disability payments to whomever at current levels.Via Gateway Pundit

According to one study, “. . . the [Social Security Disability Insurance program] will continue to grow until its rolls include almost seven percent of the non-elderly adult population, a 70 percent increase over today's enrollment rate.” Fourteen percent of Americans get food stamps and that’s rising. States are straining too. California, already going bankrupt, borrows $40 million per day just to pay unemployment. We’ve already gone too long pretending we can do all this indefinitely. It’s past time to admit we cannot. People are going to have to learn how to take care of themselves as they did before progressives created the almost-bankrupt, nanny state we have now.

We have to cut it all back 5-10% per year for the next several. If we look at riots in Greece and France after cutbacks there, the entitlement class will likely push back here too. It's going to be difficult, but not as hard as it would be should it all collapse at once. That's what will happen if we don't start taking incremental steps now.

There are few alive today who remember when people didn’t look to government to take care of them if they were unable or unwilling to take care of themselves. Where did they look back then? To family. To church. To private charity. Not to government. Now government is the first place they look - and for just about every American under the age of 80, it’s always been that way. That has to change, and the change is going to be painful for millions who have become dependent for their living in whole or in part - either temporarily, or for their entire lives - on government.

Last week, for the first time in half a century, Mainers elected a conservative Republican governor and a Republican legislature. According to one analysis in the Portland Press Herald, it was Mainers from rural areas who gave us Governor-elect Paul LaPage: "With the exception of sort of the area right around Portland, LePage got virtually every town with a population under 1,000," said L. Sandy Maisel, professor of government at Colby College. "More than any election that I can recall in Maine, it was a rural-urban split."

Maine had been moving steadily left under liberal Democrats for decades to the point where it had more generous welfare benefits than other states and attracted dependent people from other areas. As a sanctuary state, it attracted illegal aliens from other countries. Democrat Governor Baldacci passed down an executive order preventing any state employee to question anyone’s immigration status when they applied for benefits, or even when they applied for driver’s licenses. That was quite a departure from Maine’s long tradition of self-reliance and last week’s election results can be understood as backlash.

When I moved to rural Maine 33 years ago, I was struck by local people’s pride and self-sufficiency. Very community-minded, they were more than willing to help anyone in need. However, they disdained those who were able-bodied but relied on government, saying they lived “on the town.” That was the ultimate put-down.That city/country split exists for the rest of the United States as well. If we look at the red/blue electoral map for the past three presidential elections, liberal-Democrat/big-government/nanny state support comes from urban areas, especially on the coasts. People in rural America are overwhelmingly conservative and seen as stupid rubes by coastal urban liberals. Country people see urban liberals as pseudo-intellectual elitists. That disdainful divide became clear when the red/blue US map by county was published after the 2000 election. Ten years later, it has grown wider.

While campaigning in the ultra-liberal San Francisco area in 2008, elite, urban, liberal Senator Obama described rural Americans thus: “ . . . they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”New Orleans flood

On conservative blogs that year were many comparisons between how local people reacted to a flood in Iowa and how they had reacted to a previous flood in New Orleans: “We're not seeing hordes of Iowans sitting on their roofs looking stupid and waiting for someone else to come save them,” for example, and “We're not seeing Iowans blaming everyone except themselves while they sit around watching everyone else clean up their neighborhoods,” and “We're not seeing Iowans demand that the rest of us rebuild their old houses for free.”

John Edwards was right when he said there were two Americas, but not for the reasons he outlined. Call them red/blue, conservative/liberal, rural/urban, or whatever you want, but the real divide is between the America that wants government to leave it alone, and the America that wants government to take care of it cradle to grave.