All Hail Ben Gay!

 Another bad day - pain in my hip and left continues, but I did get this read. I am having trouble with my left leg. I did not make it to work yesterday. Must go in today. Having the left leg not functioning properly is a weird thing.

I read “On Breasts” by Martha Bayne, a cancer story from Another Chicago Magazine, which I must say is positive and wonderfully written. Not prurient, at all. Breasts are fun, breasts are beautiful, but breasts do not make the woman. Interesting to see a female view of that proposition.

A useful correction for me on Indiana politics came from Indiana voters shamefully and prominently elect Morales by Michael Leppert:

He will start his new job under the cloud of a certain investigation of at least one alleged crime. In other “old news,” former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White, also a Republican, won his election to the office in 2010, took office in 2011 under a similar cloud, was convicted of six felonies in February of 2012 and removed from office. He was convicted of theft, perjury, and wait for it, voter fraud. So, yes Indiana, we have seen this act before. It is starting to feel more like a feature of GOP secretaries of state, not a bug.  

And this kind of thing, in 2022, will cost such a candidate exactly five percent.

Before voters knew any of this about Morales, way back in the spring and early summer, we knew he was an election denier. In other words, we knew he was a liar, and that he was willing to lie in service to Tuesday night’s biggest loser, Donald Trump. He is willing to lie about elections, while campaigning to be in charge of elections.

Still, it only cost him five percent.

The 2022 election in America will not be remembered in most places for this embarrassing civic collapse of the Hoosier conscience. It will be remembered for the end of Trump’s stranglehold on the national GOP. It will be remembered for the favorable conditions that should have led to a great night for Republicans nationally, and then ultimately didn’t. It will be remembered for pro-choice referenda that passed in Michigan to our north and Kentucky to our south, right after Indiana rushed to pass an oppressive abortion-banning law just three months earlier.

It will be remembered for Americans voting for something as basic as democracy itself.

But that’s not what happened in Indiana. Hoosier voters outdid themselves this time. The state announced to the nation the depth of its shallowness, its disengagement in its own government, and most of all, its ignorance. 

It used to be we would elect Republicans that even Democrats could say were decent human beings, that we could disagree with but not be disgusted (hello, Dick Lugar and Bill Hudnut, Doc Bowen and Mr. Mutz) by, but now Hoosier decency seems to have been discarded. Dan Burton may have been a nut; he was not a criminal.

I noted an article on depression and medication in yesterday's Supervised Release post. This morning another came through on my HuffPost newsletter, Severe depression eased by single dose of synthetic ‘magic mushroom, but (and considering yesterday's article) there is:

 “The effects did start to wear off by three months, and we need to know how best to prevent the depression returning,” Cleare said, adding that not enough is yet known about potential side effects.

“While the safety profile seems encouraging overall, great care is obviously needed when using psychoactive substances such as psilocybin. Larger studies are on the way that we hope will help answer these issues,” he said.

Again, the emphasis feels as if it is medicine only. I think that is not all we need to treat our depression (see my other posts under this topic), for to me my depression was not only biochemical but also psychological and spiritual.

I cannot say Only half of Indiana school referendums get voter approval from The Indiana Capital Chronicle cheered me or surprised me. Why are Hoosiers so opposed to education?

 I read Can Philosophy Make Our Politicians Better? with interest. Good points throughout - even if a bit of a downer when - if you - think of the character of leaders. Being a democratic republic, we are its leaders. We can do better than Alcibiades.

I napped for two hours, it was supposed to be 1. Feeling guilty and angsty about missing work, but the farthest I have walked today is to McClure's. I limped my way there after fighting to get my leg into my jeans. 

I finished two posts this morning, and I am working on a third. I plan on catching the 5 o'clock Mall bus, take that to Target, buy Ben-Gay, walk to a fast food place to get dinner, and catch the bus back to the strip mall. Going to be doing more walking than I have done since Tuesday.

"Problem Solving" got this rejection today:

Dear Samuel Hasler,  

Thank you for your interest in Sand Hills Literary Magazine. Unfortunately, after our editors' careful consideration, we decided that this particular work would not be the best fit for this issue. We are grateful for the opportunity to review your submission, and we wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere. 

Thank you again for thinking of our magazine and submitting your work to Sand Hills. 

Sincerely, 

The Sand Hills Staff

I have now 4 posts on Midwestern writing ready for next month. 

I still have too much in my email inbox.

I see that John Irving has a new novel from the review, Will John Irving’s The Last Chairlift Stand the Test of Time?.  Which I may not finish tonight. It is almost 9 pm. The Greaser's Lunchbox is over. 

Ben Gay is a wonderful thing. I had to walk over to Target - missed the bus - got a tube of Ben Gay, and then walked over to Qboba's for dinner, and then walked home - missed the bus again, and was in for the rest of the night. More walking than I had done since Tuesday. When I walk, it is the left knee that is a problem. The hip is a problem if I am still too long. I cannot win.

Considering my luck with buses tonight, I give you this bit of music from The Third Rail:

 

Oh, yeah, I have now passed 1700 posts. 

sch