September 19, 2005 - 6:43 p.m.
What a weekend! I flew back to visit relatives and attend a tailgate party on campus. Ate brautwurst with sauerkraut and fried onions. Threw away the heavy, carb induced bun. Drank about six ounces of beer. Walked around people watching and wishing I were 21 or 30 again. Eye candy. Enjoyed my sister and brother-in-law's company. Concerned at my own declining health. Felt good walking miles around the parking lot and huge campus, largest one in the United States. Monthly visitor came two weeks early on Saturday. Whoever said women shed two tablespoons of blood from their utereus lining is either a man or lucky enough to have light menstral days. I'm bleeding like a stuck piglet. And every other month experiencing severe pain on my right side. Self-diagnosis predicts I have fibroids in my utmost private place and/or a cyst of some kind on my right ovary. Whole lotta sumtin goin' on inside this forty plus body.
Feel like vomiting this very moment. But need to take an iron pill and pull myself together. Pronto. Presto. Go for a bike ride to get some fresh air and exercise. I've been working Katrina Relief from a distance for the past two weeks. Don't get me started on whose fault it is for the initial, slow response time. I look inward to the cities first and states second. And saw no evidence of pre-staging supplies and water in New Orleans. Only a passionate mayor's response to seek higher ground. Why didn't he bring in transportation, several buses, and the press to document an attempt to evacuate local residents, his known constituency before the hurricane hit the Gulf coast FIVE DAYS later? How come FEMA, the Red Cross, and local leaders failed to plan for a major catastrophe? And waited for the military to do something about it. Jesse Jackson and the black caucaus tried to make it a race issue when clearly it's a FEMA, local government, state issue that impacted over a half million people in three different states. You want to debate or carry on a meaningful conversation, be well versed in facts and statistics. I have very little patience for emotionalism, speculation, and ill attempts at inciting riots and mayhem in the guise of helping people. To me, Jesse Jackson is as controversial as Tom Cruise and Sean Penn. They flap their media hoe lips, sink ships, row boats before knowing all the facts of the matter. Loose and dangerous cannons; vertically challenged men with Napoleon complexes. All three need to be consciously aware of their audience, messages, and factoids. Otherwise, they become a huge hemorrhoid, pain in the ass. Cannon fodder for Saturday Night Live skits and the comedy hour.
~ Soldier Girl
