Daddy is (literally) on a roll...

Wowsers, lots for which to be grateful! Daddy lives, and Daddy is in a(remarkable)physical rehabilitation facility. I must give "kudos" to The Consulate, located in Brandon, Florida, for the incredibly good care they give, and the talented physical, speech, and occupational therapists they employ. I/We are incredibly fortunate to have Daddy enrolled in their programs. While still unable to stand, or walk on his own, our Daddy is (literally) "rolling" (often in a wheelchair, or rolling-walker) towards recovery. I want to thank everyone--here, and especially on Facebook, for all your warm thoughts, good energy, kind meditations,and yes--heartfelt prayers... For frequent updates, and gazillions of photos, please DO "Friend" me on Facebook. See link to the right of this post, under "Lisa's Links". You All Rock! Peace, kids.

Remembering my Sister's Wedding Anniversary...and also, my own wedding!

So yesterday(April 30th) was the fifth wedding anniversary(they wed in 2005) of my sis, Tina and her hubby, Tom.
Their wedding was an intimate, sunny affair, held dockside and with birds flying overhead. My beautifully-blond, sunny sister had chosen the perfect venue for her: filled with lightness, and sweetness.
They live faraway, so I celebrated here in my house in Georgia, by looking at pictures of that exuberant couple, and of us celebrating at their wedding.
Later at night, Hansoo(my husband) says, "Hey, remember I told you I'd look for that cd from our own wedding?"
"The one that has, like, 900 photos on it?"
"Yeah, that one..."
So, I ended up looking at all 900-and-something(no kidding, our marvelous wedding-photographer snapped that many!),and was tickled to see so many of Tina & Tom enjoying themselves, at our own wedding.(We married on Feburary 10th 2007).
The fact that may surprise you all who are reading this, is that I never saw most of these pictures from our own wedding, at all.
Why?
Because shortly after our wedding, after reviewing only a few dozen photos, I began to be absolutely "sick" of my own face. It was just dizzying...
I simply did NOT want to be saddled with "choosing" the 300 photos we were allowed for the huge wedding-album Heidi Hofman(our photographer)was creating for us.
So I gave that responsibility to Hansoo, who did a great job of selecting a mix of photos of family and friends for us, which then went into our official album.
But seeing all 900+ photographs last night(he put them in a slideshow setting, so I could watch it, hands-free, on computer) was amazing!
This time, now three years since our wedding, I could enjoy seeing my "young" face lit up in joy, and what was especially rewarding was seeing all those moments everyone experienced---and that I lived---captured!
The shots that made my lip, tremble:
my sis(and my Matron-of-Honor) Tina, kneeling, struggling--with a smile-- to get my sky-high heels onto my feet, and later shots of Breaz(my sweet niece)looking inquiringly, as I peered into the mirror.
I loved seeing my vibrant Aunt Carolyn Service(my Daddy's sis), dancing, doing kicks, and tilting her head towards me, in the way she often does, whenever we are photographed, together.It made me cry, epecially since Aunt Carolyn, on the 7th of April of this year, suffered a heart attack, and is taking some time away from her Florida Sherriff's Deputy job.
This photographer was so good, she captured everything from my nervous glance at my Dad--John, before we began the march down the aisle, to my entreating my Mom--Demetra, and cuz Gigi, onto the dance floor with pals and bridesmaids Coral and Jeanne....to the tear precariously perched just below Hansoo's left eye, as his family's dear friend, Mr. Gavin, gave a heartfelt toast. I recall Hansoo was deeply moved when Mr. Gavin spoke of how proud he was of Hansoo's many accomplishments, and especially when he spoke of Hansoo's Hominee'(maternal grandmother), who because of infirmity, could not be with us that night.
There are a couple of great shots of Mary Jean and Joe Goode, dancing a slow dance, towards the end of the reception, and they look as in-love as any pair of teenagers(they are my beloved friends from my Pax Christi group, and they are now both in their 70's). Musician, songwriter and poet, Kodac Harrison looks beguiling, as he dances with dear friend, Ellen Lindquist.Poet pal Dustin Brookshire is boogeying with the very strawberry-blond, tall and sexy poet, Jess Hand, and on and on it goes....
I saw shots of the crowd, taken near the end of the reception, and a couple of exhausted-looking folks(that would be Hansoo & I), and I was so excited seeing my dress again, I actually went to my bedroom closet, and searched through my "wedding box", just to run my hands over the silk, once again.
I hope Tina & Tom, in celebrating their five years together, are lifted-up in knowing how grateful we(Hansoo & I) are, in having them, and so many great family and friends, here for for all of us.
Happy Anniversary to that couple we saw wed, dockside, in Florida.
Happy Anniversary, Tina & Tom.
I hope my memories of my own wedding, trigger happy ones of your own.
Our photos, coming soon. Three years, after-the-fact.
Peace, kids.

MILESTONES. The Arts, and the Art of Driving(more on that, later)and The Art of Flying.
Collin Kelley has reached his 1,000th blog-post! Read more about fab poet and my eternal friend, Collin Kelley, at his blog:
www.collinkelley.blogspot.com/
As for me, I've made it to 202 posts, and plan to do a celebration, once I reach 500!
I started thinking about what kinds of "markers" we design for ourselves, and sometimes, the tasks we complete that we are most proud of, go unheralded by others. Take poetry. I did not understand how much of an apparent "subculture" I live in, until I'm reminded, via the Super Bowl, World Series, and March Madness , and I see that what I often think is a strange sub-set of humanity who live and breathe sports is NOT a "sub-set", but considered the "norm", or "the average person's pursuit".
And while physical fitness is certainly important, and sports can help with motivation, goal-setting, and team-work, it seems to me that the competitive, violent nature of all sports tends to trump these other, more worthwhile goals.
I still say that qualities like the ability to think critically, and the ability to feel and EXPRESS empathy, and kindness are what's sorely lacking in today's youth. And those qualities are nurtured through great parenting, and THE ARTS. Through the arts, children learn to value whatever their own back-story is(building self-esteem), and they find a way to express who they are, whether through music, story-telling, writing, dance, or theatre.
I have volunteered with several different groups over the years, bringing poetry to verse-starved young children; I've asked high school students what's important to them, and asked them to write about it. In every single case, the participants were surprised--because the magic of the arts is in the art of self-discovery. And I think the next magical, no, mystical thing, is the communion that inevitably occurs when one piece of self-discovery meets another!
So, what're some other Milestones?
Write me about one you've celebrated--even if the rest of the world has not noticed!
I've placed one woman's story for you, below!
Enjoy.
Peace, kids.

What a ride: Woman, 82, inducted into Hall of Fame
By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writer
Betty Skelton Erde is 82 and lives in a retirement community, The Villages, Florida, where many are content to putter about in golf carts. Not Erde: She drives a blazing red Corvette to match her red hair and really means it when she says, "I like fast cars."
An auto racing pioneer, Erde (Uhr-Dee) once was the fastest woman on Earth, setting female speed records at Daytona Beach and Utah's Bonneville salt flats half a century ago. On Wednesday, she reaches a new milestone as only the fifth woman inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in suburban Detroit.
She also becomes the 174th person honored; Erde will attend the ceremony in which Champ Car driver Michael Andretti and five other racing legends also are being inducted.
Dozens of firsts are attached to her name: the auto industry's first female test driver, in 1954; the first woman to set a world land speed record in 1956 (145 mph at Daytona Beach); and then the world land speed record for women in 1965, hitting 315.72 mph at Bonneville.
Oh, but did she tell you she really started out as a female stunt pilot?
"To me, there's hardly any feeling in the world that can equal the feeling of an airplane when the wheels leave the ground," Erde said.
Born in 1926 in Pensacola, Erde was smitten by the aviation bug early.
Spellbound, she watched landings and takeoffs at the Naval Air Station, took lessons as a child and soloed at 12. "Unfortunately, it was kind of illegal, so I had to wait until I was 16 to tell anybody," she said, laughing.
As a teenager, Erde flew when she could. After graduating from high school in 1944, she worked a night job and rented planes by day.
One day, a man organizing a local airshow invited her to perform. She didn't know any aerobatics, but learned to roll and loop a plane in two weeks.
"You really learned what excitement was then," she said.
She mastered dozens of tricks. Her signature move: cutting a ribbon strung between two fishing poles with her propeller, while flying upside down 10 feet off the ground.
In 1948, she bought a rare Pitts Special — a lightweight, red-and-white biplane suited for aerobatics. But while Erde was soaring in popularity, she also was a rarity — a young, beautiful woman in a male-dominated world of death-defying stunts.
"She's one of the women who really pushed the boundaries," said Dorothy Cochrane, curator of general aviation at Washington's National Air and Space Museum.
By the 1950s, she was wowing audiences worldwide, though her aviation future was limited. Had Erde been a man, an entire world of opportunity would have opened.
"I wanted very much to fly in the Navy," she says. "But all they would do is laugh when I asked."
In 1953, the man who began the NASCAR circuit asked Erde to fly some auto racers from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. She and Bill France became fast friends.
In February 1954, at France's invitation, Erde went to Daytona. She climbed into a Dodge sedan, went 105.88 mph on the beach — that's when folks still raced on sand — and set a stock car record.
Erde had found her second love.
Automakers also discovered a great spokeswoman: Erde became a Chevrolet employee and set records with Corvettes, owning 10 in all.
In the 50s, she raced across the South American Andes, down Mexico's Baja Peninsula and set records at the Chrysler proving grounds in Michigan.
"I would venture to say there is no other woman in the world with all the attributes of this woman," France once remarked. "The most impressive of them all is her surprising and outstanding ever-present femininity, even when tackling a man's job."
In 1959, at 33, she was the first woman to undergo NASA's physical and psychological tests — the same that seven original male astronauts were put through. "I complained that NASA wasn't giving more thought to women pilots," she said.
But if Erde was aware of how different she was for a woman at the time — unmarried, without children — she didn't show it.
"I had to do what I wanted," she said.
At 39, Erde married a Hollywood producer named Donald Frankman. They retired in the 70s to Florida, where Erde kept a seaplane docked outside their lakefront home.
Frankman died in 2001, when Erde cut back on flying.
"I just felt I wasn't as safe as I used to be," she said.
In 2005, she was married to Dr. Allan Erde, a retired Navy surgeon. She also was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
Now living for a year in her retirement community, Erde still longs for the cockpit of a plane. But she gets her speed fix by watching Danica Patrick in the IndyCar Series and lives with the satisfaction that she helped open aviation and motorsports to young women.
Said Erde, "It's been quite a ride."
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Have a great Wednesday kids. Peace.

SISTERS...
My sis, Tina and I have traveled different paths in life.
Always outdoorsy and athletic, Tina was quite the glamour girl, too.
I was downright shy, insecure, and a complete klutz where sports were concerned(I now know part of that was my inability to see clearly--before I was diagnosed as extremely myopic). Tina was spontaneous; I planned events carefully.When she longed for marriage and a baby, I was happy working "job-jobs"(my term for non-performance/non-writing work), pursuing acting, and dating around, having fun...
Tina has been more conservative, in the past, where politics are concerned, too.
But here we are, two sisters, in "mid-life", and it seems we've crossed the same path. Both of us are now married(Tina has that baby she always wanted, though my niece has pretty much grown up, now!).Politically, both of us support progressive candidates--in fact, we are both cheering on the same candidate for President! Tina is also working for a project I strongly believe in--amending Florida's constitution so that LGBT persons may fully adopt children in that state.
And I adore SURPRISES. So this week, Tina decided to surprise our Mom, and fly in to surprise her(ostensibly, for Mother's Day).
What a treat hearing that JOY in Mom's voice, as she recounted the details of hearing "package for Ms. Allender...", only to discover her younger daughter was there, in-person, at her job!
I love that Tina and I have each other. That we actually AGREE on some things, makes it even more fun....
Here's to sisters. May we embrace the differences, and celebrate our "common ground, found."

So, here we are. End of 2006...and still, we kill.
The headline in the article I have pasted here, raised my hopes for the death penalty coming to its own, swift end....until I realized the only reason it's being stopped in California, and Florida
(at least for now)is discussion over whether the method of death is humane enough...Humane? I suppose this discussion is a start--towards eventually eliminating this horrific practice- but really--is the electric chair, which was used for several decades to literally fry people to death, humane? Is the gas chamber, the same method used to murder those in the concentration camps, humane? And please don't lecture me with "Well, these people are guilty, not innocent...", because it is still us-- and our complicity with the State-- murdering other human beings. And as far as guilt goes, we all know by now that you're just as likely to BE INNOCENT, but still be condemned. Especially if you are a person of color, or poor, or if the victim was white...
Read on, for a lesson in oxymoron-like "laws"---Laws which speak of the "humane" way to kill a human being, just because other human beings decided it was all right to do so...

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Lethal injection under microscope By RON WORD,
Associated Press Writer


Death penalty foes have warned for years of the possibility that an inmate being executed by lethal injection could remain conscious, experiencing severe pain as he slowly dies.

That day may have arrived.

Angel Nieves Diaz, a career criminal executed for killing a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago, was given a rare second dose of deadly chemicals as he took more than twice the usual time to succumb. Needles that were supposed to inject drugs into the 55-year-old man's veins were instead pushed all the way through the blood vessels into surrounding soft tissue. A medical examiner said he had chemical burns on both arms.

"It really sounds like he was tortured to death," said Jonathan Groner, associate professor of surgery at the Ohio State Medical School, a surgeon who opposes the death penalty and writes frequently about lethal injection. "My impression is that it would cause an extreme amount of pain."

The error in Diaz's execution led Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend all executions Friday. Separately, a federal judge extended a moratorium on executions in California, declaring that its method of lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

They were just the latest challenges to lethal injection — the preferred execution method in 37 states. Missouri's injection method, similar to California's, was declared unconstitutional last month by a federal judge. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld executions despite the pain they might cause, but has left unsettled the issue of whether the pain is unconstitutionally excessive.

Diaz was given three drugs: to deaden pain, paralyze the body and cause a fatal heart attack. A study published last year in the British medical journal The Lancet concluded that the painkiller, sodium pentothal, could wear off before inmates die, subjecting them to excruciating pain when the potassium chloride causes a heart attack.

That study has been cited in unsuccessful appeals for death row inmates, who have claimed any pain experienced during lethal injection violates the cruel and unusual standard.

Dr. Nik Gravenstein, professor and chairman of anesthesiology at the University of Florida, said it is impossible to say how much pain the chemicals produce since inmates can't be interviewed while being executed, but he said patients given lower levels of the same chemicals for various treatments "describe this as being painful."

Dr. William Hamilton, the Gainesville medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Diaz, refused to say if Diaz died painfully until the autopsy is complete.

Florida Corrections Secretary James McDonough said the execution team did not see any swelling of Diaz's arms that would have indicated that the chemicals were going into tissues and not his veins.

McDonough also said reports that he received indicated Diaz had fallen asleep and was snoring.

However, witnesses reported Diaz was moving as long as 24 minutes after the first injection, including grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and attempting to mouth words.

It took 34 minutes for Diaz to die. Executions by lethal injection normally take about 15 minutes, with the inmate unconscious and motionless within three to five minutes.

Gravenstein said it can be difficult to get IV needles in their proper place. In a hospital setting, the average is 1.6 tries to successfully place an IV.

"The whole process has a lot of opportunity not to go as intended," he said.

He said someone should have realized what was happening.

"To have given somebody many times what is necessary and then to give them many more times again, it doesn't pass what one might call the 'red face test.' It just doesn't make sense. You have to be suspicious that something's not right," Gravenstein said.

Dr. Philip Lumb, chairman of the anesthesiology department at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, was critical of the second dosage given to Diaz. He said he has never made any statements for or against the death penalty.

"If an IV has to be given a second time, it is an indication it has not done right the first time," Lumb said.

An attorney representing Diaz's family, D. Todd Doss, said legal action was being considered.

"We are still grieving. It continues to get worse and worse, learning the details of what happened," said Sol Otero, Diaz' niece from Orlando. "The excruciating pain and torture my uncle went through for 34 minutes. He was literally crucified."

Associated Press writers Adrian Sainz and Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami contributed to this report.
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The truth is, as a society, we never really cared about how these "condemned" were going to be killed by us. Whether it is the cruelty of a needle that is improperly placed in an arm, or a noose around a neck, it is a punishment that is not ours to mete out.
It's nearly 2007, and we here in the United States can decide to become a nation of fair, loving, peaceful people--in doing so, we
BECOME the Peace we so desperately search and pray for. The start of world peace will begin with the Social Justice of eliminating this inhumane, and blatantly unfair practice.
If we can commit to this act of peace, other acts of peace will follow....