Today magic happened.
I was mowing the grass around the pool with a push mower when a
beautiful sparrow landed on the fence to watch me.  He was
completely unafraid.  He had obviously come to watch the
show.  We stared at each other a bit and then I went back to
mowing while he watched.  I forgot the sparrow.  Later I
sprayed roundup around the fence lining the pool.  The same bird
landed on the fence about three feet from me.  We stared at each
other a bit and I began to talk to him like one does with a pet
bird.  Soon he launched from the fence and flew toward me and
hovered about 10 inches or so from my face for several seconds.  I
continued to talk to him the entire time.  I seriously thought he
was going to land on my hat.  He returned to the fence just a few
feet away and began to sing a beautiful song to me.
I think I met the bluebird of happiness today.

I still monitor the letters to the editor of our local paper, though I
respond to them less frequently.  Mainly, this is because I feel
like my letters and responses don't do any good in this ultra-red part
of the country.  Recently someone wrote a letter which mentioned
that "sex education" shouldn't be taught in public shools.  I'm
probably not going to respond, but it did set me to thinking, and I
simply had to write down the thoughts in my head.  Thoughts follow:

It is a commonly held belief in the United States
that reproductive biology, “sex education” should not be included in the public
education curriculum, that this topic of education should be performed in the
home.  I must admit being confused by
this point of view.

We teach the human biology of the respiratory system in
public schools.  We teach it knowing full
well that students will be driven to use the respiratory system (thank
goodness, otherwise death would occur) for both natural and unnatural (read
good and bad, moral and immoral, etc.) causes. 
While use of the respiratory system is required for maintenance of life
and the propagation of the species, it can also be used inappropriately to
inhale cigarette smoke and marijuana. It can be used to snort cocaine.  Nevertheless, we teach the biology of the
respiratory system with no objection.

We teach the biology of the digestive system.  Yet the digestive system can also be used for
purposes for which it was not designed and which may be immoral, such as the
intake of drugs and various sexual purposes. 
But we hear no complaints about the biology of the digestive system
being taught in public schools.

For some reason however, teaching the biology of the human
reproductive system causes great anxiety among many in the United States.  Yes, the reproductive system may lead to bad
decisions with bad outcomes and that in itself is an argument for knowledge in
this area.  I would argue also that the
bad outcomes from that organ system pales in comparison to those generated in
the brain; part of the human nervous system. 
Yet we teach the human nervous system in public schools with no
objection whatsoever.

In light of the above, I have a modest proposal: Lets
teach the biology of human life, anatomy and physiology, in schools and leave
the guidance for the proper moral/spiritual/judeo-christian use of that
knowledge, head to toe and everything in between, to pastors and parents

From Charleston
South Carolina:

I’m doing spring break by myself this year.  Four full days of nothing but reading
philosophy on a  Magnolia Plantation
bench, photographing the emerging spring and walking in nature (well, and
probably a bit of chapter outlining for the anatomy class).  I drove through the night to get here . . .
left Indiana
at 11:30 p.m. and was having fried oysters for lunch at my favorite restaurant at
11.  My hands were just a little shaky
from too much caffeine and too little (no) sleep but the oysters tasted just as
sweet.

I love traveling at night. 
Different people travel at night. 
It’s generally young people and bohemian looking types at the rest stops
and gas stations (plus a smattering of scary people).  I filled up next to a couple of southern
rockers pulling their gear in a small trailer around 5 a.m. in Knoxville.  They didn’t look any worse for the wear of
having performed into the wee hours.  At
night one can drive for miles with the cruise control on without ever being
passed or having to pass.  Try that
during daylight hours during spring break. 
I love drinking coffee all night and listening to music.  I was trying to sing along with James Brown
as the sun came up over the mountains around Ashville, NC
. . . but my bladder was just too full to effectively hit those screaching
Heeeeeaaay!’s   “Heaaay! Good god I wet
my pants!”  That’s probably not a real
James Brown lyric but it might have been mine.

As always, the Bradford pears were blooming and just
visible in the dawn light around Asheville,
and the light green leaves of the larger trees were apparent the further south
I went.  Tomorrow I’ll see the beauty of
Magnolia plantation, a place that changes every year, but never really
changes.  But for now, the coffee is
gone, the cocktail is gone, and very soon, so will I.

WARNING:  HEAVY SARCASM AND ANGER FOLLOWING!!

How to get the woman of your dreams (or psychotic fantasies) in South Dakota:

With the new bill signed into law outlawing all abortion in South
Dakota, including cases of rape and incest, it occurred to me that
there is now a method to get any woman of your dreams or psychotic
fantasies in South Dakota.  Suppose  one can't stop
obsessing over Miss South Dakota or even that hot wife of the
Governor.  Just rape her.  She will have to have your
child.  The average  time served for rape is about 5
years.  Sure, you'll miss out on the child's early years but
really, who can remember their 4th birthday? One may even be able to do
less time, especially with a confession.  Of course she
would never marry you, especially if she's already married, but there
will always be that child that will tie you  together, and there
will be many cherished moments planning pre-schools (assuming you're
out by then), holiday sharing schedules, college and marriage.

Way to go South Dakota!  It usually takes a more back-water, hilljack state to come up with something like this.

Now on a serious note:  If you think this law is asinine and
completely ignores the rights of women, I urge you to join in the email
and letter writing campaign letting South Dakota know that you'll be
steering clear of their state for any tourism activity.  Of course
the abortion opponents say they're going go to show support.  Hope
none of them get raped.

The addresses and phone numbers below were obtained at the DailyKos blog.

Department of Tourism and State Development
711 East Wells Avenue
Pierre, SD 57501-3369
(605) 773-3256, fax

Economic Development
(605) 773-5032, phone
www.sdgreatprofits.com

Tourism
(605) 773-3301, phone
www.TravelSD.com

South Dakota Arts Council
800 Governor's Drive
Pierre, SD 57501-2294
(605) 773-3131, phone
www.state.sd.us/deca/sdarts/

State Historical Society
900 Governor's Drive
Pierre, SD 57501-2217
(605) 773-3458, phone
www.sdhistory.org

The South Dakota legislature just passed a law that would outlaw all
abortions except to save the mother's life.  There is no exception
for rape or incest.
I wonder what percentage of the legislators that passed this bill were
men?  It has been said, and I believe it's true, that if men had
the babies, abortion would be a sacrament.  I wonder how many of
these legislators, if their daughter were raped would demand that said
daughter carry the baby to term?
There are considerable legal, philosophical and religious
considerations in the topic of abortion.  It's much more complex
than most small-minded legislators, religious leaders and pro-choice
activists would have us believe.
But one question I just can't get beyond is why does this nation place
so much emphasis, so much hand-wringing, so much weeping and gnashing
of teeth over a mass of several cells with little to identify it as
human, and yet care so little about the suffering of living and
breathing humans?  Thousands being tortured, raped, killed and
starved to death in Africa?  Well, that's too bad, in an abstract
way. After all they're just black people in some far off land. We're
killing thousands of innocent civilians with our bombs in Iraq? 
Well, you know, life is tough.  But abort a  fetus, or even
just a few cells that may, but more likely not make it to birth, cells
that have
never breathed, never felt fear, never known the love of it's mother .
.
. in most cases, never even had a neuron synapse with another much less
a single thought . . . well that's just morally repugnant and we need
to pass a law!
Good thing almost no one lives in South Dakota.  Shame that
there's not much to do there but have sex.  Guess they'll have to
reconsider that pastime.

Don't we love our troops!
This was taken from "The Week"

"A soldier wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq was last week forced to
pay for his body armor, which was discarded because it was covered in
blood.  William Rebrook, 25, told Army officials in Fort Hood,
Texas, that the last time he saw the armor it was being peeled off his
twitching body.  But the army said it had no record of that, and
Redbrook had to borrow $700 from friends.  "It was like, thank you
for your service, now here's the bill for $700," said Rebrook, who has
lost the full use of his right arm.

It seems we've finally found a way to pay for the war.  I bet Dick
Cheney's hunting buddy took it and was wearing it.  You think it's
coincidence that he only received face wounds?

Random thoughts, apologies, life, mental illness and the
need to write:

I haven’t been on xanga for about a month and I’ve missed
keeping up with those I regularly follow, and I apologize for that.  Teaching anatomy has taken more time than I’d
ever imagined.  Even though it’s a
subject I know, reading and outlining chapters, maintaining a website for the
students ( http://www.iupucanatomy.com), putting together power point presentations
for the lectures, designing labs and generating and grading tests, and in
general worrying about and giving a shit about each of the students in the
class has taken all of my free time and more. 
That said: I love it.

I’d forgotten just how much I love academic life.

I didn’t always love it, that’s why I tried to drop out of
high school and join the army, and that’s why when I was offered the chance to
go to West Point while in basic training I
told the army, thanks but no thanks “that’s why I’m here, I hate school.”
Saying no to West Point at that time of my
life was the second best decision I’ve ever made.  Marrying Deb was the best.

Anyway, I love going to school these days.  I don’t know if I’m a good professor but I’m
sure I’m at least average.  I’ll get
better.  In life there are those that do
and those that can teach, and rare people that can do both.  All of my life I’ve been a doer.  In teaching medical residents I probably had
less patience than I should have.  But I’m
learning patience and the teaching process. 
I care about these students and I think they felt that, which is why I
think many were surprised when many of the class failed the first exam.  Surprise, surprise . . . I also expected them
to learn something and learn it well.  I
think we’re getting on the same page now though.

Perhaps the biggest drain on my little time that is left
from this whole thing has been having access to unlimited journal articles on
line.  I find myself researching topics
late into the night and printing them out and reading them.  For me, access to thousands of scholarly
articles is like a cocaine addict being locked in a coca warehouse in Bogota.  It feels good, but fucks up your life.

All this has caused me to apply to Loyola University
for an MS degree in bioethics.

This brings me to the mental illness portion of this entry.  I’m addicted to courses from the Teaching
Company.  They’re courses taught by
leaders in each field and the current one I’m watching is Biology and Human Behavior.  In the first lecture he said there was a
particular type of mental disorder that causes one to exhibit interest in
philosophy and religion.  Well, anyone
that has read my blogs for awhile knows that’s me.  I immediately paused the DVD and ran to the
computer to Google the topic and see what mental illness I have.  Haven’t been able to identify it yet.

That said; just in case you think I’m turning into a purely
academic nerd, check out page 30 of the current (February) issue of Dance
Magazine.  You may recognize the name of
the photographer.

You can't make this stuff up:  These two news snippets were found in "The Week" this week.

"In Egypt, an Islamic scholar has issued an edict banning married
people from "being completely naked" or looking at each others bodies
during sex."  Now I will admit that in my younger, wilder, single
years there may have been a female or two that shouldn't have been
looked at without beer goggles.  Fortunately those were always
readily available.  Perhaps that's why they need this law in
Islamic countries . . . beer goggles aren't an option.

"A British gynecologist announced he is to undergo gender-reassignment
surgery and become a woman.  Dr. Colin Bone will return to work as
Dr. Celia Bone."  Don't you think Dr. Celia Boneless or Dr. Ceno
Bone would be more appropriate?  Not since Joey Buttafuco has
there been a name and situation more ready made for comedians.

The Indianapolis Colts will always find a way to be the Indianapolis
Colts.  No matter how good they are they will always find a way to
blow it.  Short of an exorcism, they will never make it to any
superbowl.  Since the Red Sox actually won a world series, the
Colts are the new perennial heartbreakers.

My first anatomy class was last night and it seemed to go pretty well.
The first anatomic term I taught them was "natal cleft" the butt crack,
and I informed them how that is often confused, even by professionals,
with the gluteal fold(s); that's the crease beneath the butt cheeks
that turns to a smiley face when one goes to a tanning bed.  And
yes, I managed to work these terms into serious opening remarks where
they were actually appropriate.  But I think I got their attention
and I even think they knew that's what I was doing.
I think I'm going to like this, but we'll see . . . it's just been one class.
The next two classes are on cells and tissues.  It's been a
loooong time since I've looked through a microscope (hell, I don't even
know where my stethoscope is).  But I've convinced one of the
local pathologists to come in and help with those labs.
Tag teamin' for the sake of education.
Spent about 4 hours outlining chapters and working on powerpoint slides
today . . . it's sucking up all of my free time.  But still, for
now anyway, it feels pretty good.