Went to tango class again tonight. Part of me didn't want to go. I had missed last week and I hadn't really practiced any dance steps during the past two weeks. I know that if you want to become good at something you have to practice it. But knowing that I should do it and getting myself to do it are two different things.
But once I got to the community center none of that mattered. The instructor didn't care whether I had practiced or not. All that mattered was learning the steps and moving gracefully to the music. Tonight, I was so happy to be there that I had a really great attitude, I would try anything and even though the steps were difficult, I kept telling myself that I could do them. So I had a lot of fun tonight and I am getting a better at doing the Tango.
The time when I start my journey is getting closer. Just two months to go. There'll be the ordeal of a 18 hour plane ride and the challenge of being a solitary traveller in a busy foreign metropolis. So I have a lot of work to do. But tonight, I held on to my dream of dancing the tango in Buenos Aires. I am not looking forward to the ordeal of airports, long lines and security hassles. But I am looking forward to going to a Milonga and watching the people dance.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Health Care Reform Clears Baucus Committee
Today, the Senate Finance Committee passed a health care reform bill crafted by Montana Senator Max Baucus. The vote was almost along party line with Democratic Senators voting for the bill and all the Republicans except Maine's Olympia Snow voting against it.
According to the New York Times, the Baucus bill will now be reconciled with a more liberal bill passed by the Senate's Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Health care reform then must pass the Senate and then reconciled with any bills passed by the House of Representatives.
The battle for health care reform has been long and hard. The debate has at times been loud, angry and sometimes bizzarre. Still, health care reform moves forward. Once the reform bill is signed by the Senate, it can be modified and changed to meet the changing needs of the nation. I hope that the Health Care Reform bill will be like The Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act has been amended several times since it was first became law.
It is too early to predict the future of any health care reform bill passed by Congress in the forth coming year. There is still a lot of work to be done on the bill, and there is still a lot of work that we as citizens must do to make sure that when its passed, it will be the start of true health care reform. It is important to remember that health care is an important social problem, but there are other more difficult problems that must be dealt with as well, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an energy bill, entitlement reform and restoring the Republic to a sound financial footing by reduing the federal deficit.
If you are a supporter of health care reform, today can be a day of celebration, the Baucus Bill has made it out of the Senate Finance Committee. It is not yet law. More civic work must be done.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
According to the New York Times, the Baucus bill will now be reconciled with a more liberal bill passed by the Senate's Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Health care reform then must pass the Senate and then reconciled with any bills passed by the House of Representatives.
The battle for health care reform has been long and hard. The debate has at times been loud, angry and sometimes bizzarre. Still, health care reform moves forward. Once the reform bill is signed by the Senate, it can be modified and changed to meet the changing needs of the nation. I hope that the Health Care Reform bill will be like The Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act has been amended several times since it was first became law.
It is too early to predict the future of any health care reform bill passed by Congress in the forth coming year. There is still a lot of work to be done on the bill, and there is still a lot of work that we as citizens must do to make sure that when its passed, it will be the start of true health care reform. It is important to remember that health care is an important social problem, but there are other more difficult problems that must be dealt with as well, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an energy bill, entitlement reform and restoring the Republic to a sound financial footing by reduing the federal deficit.
If you are a supporter of health care reform, today can be a day of celebration, the Baucus Bill has made it out of the Senate Finance Committee. It is not yet law. More civic work must be done.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Saturday, October 10, 2009
President Obama (& America) win the Nobel Prize
I was humbled and proud when I heard the announcement that the Nobel Prize Committee had awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama.
It was a surprise. While Obama's rhetoric during the campaign and at times when he has been president has soared, his list of accomplishments 9 months into his presidency have been small. It is not easy trying to change the nature and direction of a country like a America.
The reasons for Obama's lack of progress in realizing many of his campaign promises are numerous and complicated. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but that has become mired in difficulties regarding the legal status of many of the inmates and the reluctance of Americans and other countries to house or allow the return of many of those inmates. He has done nothing to end the war in Iraq, and has been content to follow the Status of Forces agreement signed by the Bush Administration. On the domestic front the president proposal's for reform of health care and of the financial services industry have met fierce and determined opposition from what is left of the Republican Party and intense lobbying from insurance companies and the financial services industry.
In accepting the award the President has shown that while he is grateful for the award it may appear that the award is premature. Critics on both the right and the left have said that the President's effort to change America have borne little fruit.
The critcs have a valid point. But there is an important counter argument. The American people elected the president and we the people ( or most of us anyway) want to change America's course. After 30 years of Reaganism and eight years of the Cheney/Bush junta much work needs to be done to return the country to its founding proposition that all men are created equal and that all are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I look at the Peace Prize as an encouragement. The Nobel Committee is acknowledging our effort to change and encouraging to continue on this long difficult path. Obama and his supporters have talked the talk regarding changing America, and some in the world find such talk refreshing after the last eight years of arrogance, stupidity and folly on both the world and domestic stage. But it is up to us to continue working for change, to end the failed wars in Iraq and sadly Afghanistan, reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and our emmission of greenhouse gases, and finally create an America whose economy and political system is sustainable and innovative for many decades to come. The damage done by the narcissistic ideology of Reaganism and of the Cheney/Bush administration will not be corrected in a few months, it will take years.
Though it may take many years to complete America's metamorphosis, it is work that is worth doing. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done. The award of the Peace Prize to President Obama can be considered a sign the world appreciates our desire to change. It is up to us to fulfill the promise that we made to ourselves when we elected President Obama in November of 2008. Yes we can!
It was a surprise. While Obama's rhetoric during the campaign and at times when he has been president has soared, his list of accomplishments 9 months into his presidency have been small. It is not easy trying to change the nature and direction of a country like a America.
The reasons for Obama's lack of progress in realizing many of his campaign promises are numerous and complicated. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but that has become mired in difficulties regarding the legal status of many of the inmates and the reluctance of Americans and other countries to house or allow the return of many of those inmates. He has done nothing to end the war in Iraq, and has been content to follow the Status of Forces agreement signed by the Bush Administration. On the domestic front the president proposal's for reform of health care and of the financial services industry have met fierce and determined opposition from what is left of the Republican Party and intense lobbying from insurance companies and the financial services industry.
In accepting the award the President has shown that while he is grateful for the award it may appear that the award is premature. Critics on both the right and the left have said that the President's effort to change America have borne little fruit.
The critcs have a valid point. But there is an important counter argument. The American people elected the president and we the people ( or most of us anyway) want to change America's course. After 30 years of Reaganism and eight years of the Cheney/Bush junta much work needs to be done to return the country to its founding proposition that all men are created equal and that all are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I look at the Peace Prize as an encouragement. The Nobel Committee is acknowledging our effort to change and encouraging to continue on this long difficult path. Obama and his supporters have talked the talk regarding changing America, and some in the world find such talk refreshing after the last eight years of arrogance, stupidity and folly on both the world and domestic stage. But it is up to us to continue working for change, to end the failed wars in Iraq and sadly Afghanistan, reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and our emmission of greenhouse gases, and finally create an America whose economy and political system is sustainable and innovative for many decades to come. The damage done by the narcissistic ideology of Reaganism and of the Cheney/Bush administration will not be corrected in a few months, it will take years.
Though it may take many years to complete America's metamorphosis, it is work that is worth doing. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done. The award of the Peace Prize to President Obama can be considered a sign the world appreciates our desire to change. It is up to us to fulfill the promise that we made to ourselves when we elected President Obama in November of 2008. Yes we can!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Medical Procedures
Tonsilectomy 1960
I was in 1st Grade, when I had tonsillitis
I was taken to old Providence Hospital
In Kansas City Kansas
Where I was born
7up with ice cubes that
they made drink though it burned
like fire going down my throat.
I fell asleep
as they took
on the gurney,
The attendant told my
Mother I had fallen asleep
I fell asleep so they wouldn't
Give me a shot.
Arthoscopy 1987
The day I hurt my knee,
I asked her to marry me
A month before my wedding
They shaved cartiledge from
My right knee
You may have arthritis later
In your life my doctor said.
My fiancée took me home
Where I drank chicken broth
And took darvocetts for pain.
As I write this my right knee hurts
She has remarried and has a 5 year old child
Endoscopy 1994
What can I say,
I had a lot of job stress at work
My brother was dying of
Incurable heart disease
And stomach acid would keep me up
Til the middle of the night
The Indian Doctor put me under
Yelled at his nurse
After the procedure was over,
My throat was sore and
I had a hietal hernia and was lactose intolerant
A few days later, my brother went code blue
And literally died before my parents eyes.
No parent should ever have
To live through the loss of a child
My mother later said.
Colonopscopy 2004
I was suffering from rectal itch
It was the same Indian doctor
He had mellowed and didn't
Yell at nurses now.
I did the "colon cleanse"
48 hours of shit happens
and happens and happens
after the ordeal
my friend Sam took me home
The doctor recommended I take
Metamucil for the rectal itch.
And get another colonopscopy in 5 years
Two months later I had my first blood clot
A year later, the first symptoms of MS
Endoscopy and Colonopscopy 2009
It was a new colon cleanse
That lasted only 36 hours.
I lay on the gurney and tried
To sleep wishing at least that
The ghost of my mother was
Walking me down the hall
To the procedure room
Where a different Indian Doctor
Shove a tube down my throat
And up my toucus
I could see on TV the program
I called up Jamie's colon
It wasn't all that fascinating
As the demorral wore off
The different Indian Doctor
Told me I had ulcers
Gave me a scrip
And rushed off to grab a sandwich
Or a game of golf.
He also told me he'd see me again
In one month and again
In five years.
I can,
Hardly wait.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Medical Procedures copyright Sept. 30, 2009 by Jamie Jacks
I was in 1st Grade, when I had tonsillitis
I was taken to old Providence Hospital
In Kansas City Kansas
Where I was born
7up with ice cubes that
they made drink though it burned
like fire going down my throat.
I fell asleep
as they took
on the gurney,
The attendant told my
Mother I had fallen asleep
I fell asleep so they wouldn't
Give me a shot.
Arthoscopy 1987
The day I hurt my knee,
I asked her to marry me
A month before my wedding
They shaved cartiledge from
My right knee
You may have arthritis later
In your life my doctor said.
My fiancée took me home
Where I drank chicken broth
And took darvocetts for pain.
As I write this my right knee hurts
She has remarried and has a 5 year old child
Endoscopy 1994
What can I say,
I had a lot of job stress at work
My brother was dying of
Incurable heart disease
And stomach acid would keep me up
Til the middle of the night
The Indian Doctor put me under
Yelled at his nurse
After the procedure was over,
My throat was sore and
I had a hietal hernia and was lactose intolerant
A few days later, my brother went code blue
And literally died before my parents eyes.
No parent should ever have
To live through the loss of a child
My mother later said.
Colonopscopy 2004
I was suffering from rectal itch
It was the same Indian doctor
He had mellowed and didn't
Yell at nurses now.
I did the "colon cleanse"
48 hours of shit happens
and happens and happens
after the ordeal
my friend Sam took me home
The doctor recommended I take
Metamucil for the rectal itch.
And get another colonopscopy in 5 years
Two months later I had my first blood clot
A year later, the first symptoms of MS
Endoscopy and Colonopscopy 2009
It was a new colon cleanse
That lasted only 36 hours.
I lay on the gurney and tried
To sleep wishing at least that
The ghost of my mother was
Walking me down the hall
To the procedure room
Where a different Indian Doctor
Shove a tube down my throat
And up my toucus
I could see on TV the program
I called up Jamie's colon
It wasn't all that fascinating
As the demorral wore off
The different Indian Doctor
Told me I had ulcers
Gave me a scrip
And rushed off to grab a sandwich
Or a game of golf.
He also told me he'd see me again
In one month and again
In five years.
I can,
Hardly wait.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Medical Procedures copyright Sept. 30, 2009 by Jamie Jacks
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Can't abide a sloppy man
Neat, that's how he's always looked
His momma always made sure
His hair was combed, his shirt was pressed
"Can't abide a sloppy man," she'd always say.
Marines made him neat as well, tougher too.
Korea was hell but when he was on
R&R in Japan, his boots and belt buckle
always gleamed.
Working in the Midway Sunset oilfield
Was hot, dirty and hard.
But he never was sloppy.
In the oilfields, like Korea, sloppy got you killed
He looks dapper today
Straw cowboy hat
Bolo tie with the blue turquoise slide
starched plaid shirt and pressed khaki pants.
Riding his power scooter
round the block by the assisted living facility
no need to change the habits of lifetime.
Never was sloppy. Sloppy gets you killed
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Can't abide a sloppy man copyright Sept. 22, 2009 by Jamie Jacks
His momma always made sure
His hair was combed, his shirt was pressed
"Can't abide a sloppy man," she'd always say.
Marines made him neat as well, tougher too.
Korea was hell but when he was on
R&R in Japan, his boots and belt buckle
always gleamed.
Working in the Midway Sunset oilfield
Was hot, dirty and hard.
But he never was sloppy.
In the oilfields, like Korea, sloppy got you killed
He looks dapper today
Straw cowboy hat
Bolo tie with the blue turquoise slide
starched plaid shirt and pressed khaki pants.
Riding his power scooter
round the block by the assisted living facility
no need to change the habits of lifetime.
Never was sloppy. Sloppy gets you killed
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Can't abide a sloppy man copyright Sept. 22, 2009 by Jamie Jacks
Saturday, September 19, 2009
El Corazon Del Valle San Joaquin
El Corazon Del Valle San Joaquin
For Teresa Anderson (died Jan. 9, 2006).
Fox
The San Joaquin Kit Fox
is like a magician
Kit foxes can make themselves disappear
Once I saw a kit fox with a kitten
in its mouth trotting away
from a house on the edge of Bakersfield
one minute it was there
next it just disappeared
invisible amongst the sage and dessicated grass
Owl
The burrowing owl
pretends to be wise
he stands outside his borrow
close to the Kern River Bike Path
by the shores of Lake Truxtun
fishermen, joggers, walkers, and cyclists
all pass by
None of them bother or frighten him
At night he soars above the parking lots
at the edge of the Market Place shopping center
he listens for the squeal of the mouse
and then he swoops
no more squealing just the flapping
of his wings.
during the day he ignores
the people on the bike path
It is not night
they are not mice
Did I not say the burrowing owl
pretends to be wise?
Grizzly Bear
The California Grizzly Bear is history.
The last one in Kern County
was killed in 1898.
But the grizzly bears once were everywhere
Places names bear this out
Bear Mountain, Big Bear, Los Osos
They ruled California before man first came
They ruled California when man came
because Indians' flint arrows and small bows
could not kill all of them.
But when the Spaniards and the Americans came
with their big bore muskets
The California Grizzly was doomed.
They survive in Canada and Alaska
There have been rumors
that grizzlies have been sighted
in the Sierras of northern California.
But who, who I ask you,
believes rumors?
Ernesto
Ernesto, (Call me Ernie) is a retired
PG & E engineer.
His grandparents came from Mexico
in 1910 refugees from the civil war
His father and mother picked grapes
in Delano, except during the strike.
He spends his morning in Starbucks
talking to his friends, he has many.
Today he sits alone talking on his cell phone
to his youngest daughter,
a student at CSU San Francisco.
I eavesdrop on his side of the conversation.
"What do you mean you want to quit college?"
"Where you gonna live?"
"No you ain't living with me.
"I got no room in my house for a college dropout!"
End of conversation.
All
Fox, owl, bear, and man
we live in this land, sometimes we share it.
Mostly we share the bad,
the heat, lack of rain, smoggy air, pesticides,
and poverty.
Making do. Trying to do better
than eat, sleep, mate, and survive
Doing better ain't easy,
but some how it gets done.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
El Corazon Del Valle copyright Sept. 19, 2009 by Jamie Jacks
For Teresa Anderson (died Jan. 9, 2006).
Fox
The San Joaquin Kit Fox
is like a magician
Kit foxes can make themselves disappear
Once I saw a kit fox with a kitten
in its mouth trotting away
from a house on the edge of Bakersfield
one minute it was there
next it just disappeared
invisible amongst the sage and dessicated grass
Owl
The burrowing owl
pretends to be wise
he stands outside his borrow
close to the Kern River Bike Path
by the shores of Lake Truxtun
fishermen, joggers, walkers, and cyclists
all pass by
None of them bother or frighten him
At night he soars above the parking lots
at the edge of the Market Place shopping center
he listens for the squeal of the mouse
and then he swoops
no more squealing just the flapping
of his wings.
during the day he ignores
the people on the bike path
It is not night
they are not mice
Did I not say the burrowing owl
pretends to be wise?
Grizzly Bear
The California Grizzly Bear is history.
The last one in Kern County
was killed in 1898.
But the grizzly bears once were everywhere
Places names bear this out
Bear Mountain, Big Bear, Los Osos
They ruled California before man first came
They ruled California when man came
because Indians' flint arrows and small bows
could not kill all of them.
But when the Spaniards and the Americans came
with their big bore muskets
The California Grizzly was doomed.
They survive in Canada and Alaska
There have been rumors
that grizzlies have been sighted
in the Sierras of northern California.
But who, who I ask you,
believes rumors?
Ernesto
Ernesto, (Call me Ernie) is a retired
PG & E engineer.
His grandparents came from Mexico
in 1910 refugees from the civil war
His father and mother picked grapes
in Delano, except during the strike.
He spends his morning in Starbucks
talking to his friends, he has many.
Today he sits alone talking on his cell phone
to his youngest daughter,
a student at CSU San Francisco.
I eavesdrop on his side of the conversation.
"What do you mean you want to quit college?"
"Where you gonna live?"
"No you ain't living with me.
"I got no room in my house for a college dropout!"
End of conversation.
All
Fox, owl, bear, and man
we live in this land, sometimes we share it.
Mostly we share the bad,
the heat, lack of rain, smoggy air, pesticides,
and poverty.
Making do. Trying to do better
than eat, sleep, mate, and survive
Doing better ain't easy,
but some how it gets done.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
El Corazon Del Valle copyright Sept. 19, 2009 by Jamie Jacks
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Rain Maker
Rain Maker
It is getting dark
The sun has set,
All that is left of the day is
A yellow band of light
A ribbon hovering
Just above the peaks of the mountains
Of the Temblors and the Coast Range
Like a wind blown piece of silk
I sit on a bus bench, that is on an edge
Of the city of Bakersfield
Drinking ice water from a sports bottle
My dog lies behind me
Licking her paws.
In the distance I see lights starting
To blink a reddish yellow
The lights are people in houses
In Fellows, Mariposa and Taft.
Lights of pumping units and
Transformer stations
Strung like party lights
Along the foothills of this mountainous bowl
That rings the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
Seven years I have lived
One half mile from this bus bench
And this is the first time
I have come with my dog
To contemplate the sunset
So I sit as twilight becomes
Evening and a cool summer night begins.
Finally it is time for me and my dog
To head home.
I pour my remaining water out as a libation
Thank God for the blessing and the gift of rain
I pray for rain for this drought stricken valley
Cars rush by.
kids racing past the high School
Adults in SUV's on some important errand
I don't expect my prayer to be answered
Miracles happen all round me
Provided I have eyes to see
I don't need my prayer to be answered.
But I guess, one has to pray for something.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Rain Maker copyright Sept. 15, 2009, by Jamie Jacks
It is getting dark
The sun has set,
All that is left of the day is
A yellow band of light
A ribbon hovering
Just above the peaks of the mountains
Of the Temblors and the Coast Range
Like a wind blown piece of silk
I sit on a bus bench, that is on an edge
Of the city of Bakersfield
Drinking ice water from a sports bottle
My dog lies behind me
Licking her paws.
In the distance I see lights starting
To blink a reddish yellow
The lights are people in houses
In Fellows, Mariposa and Taft.
Lights of pumping units and
Transformer stations
Strung like party lights
Along the foothills of this mountainous bowl
That rings the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
Seven years I have lived
One half mile from this bus bench
And this is the first time
I have come with my dog
To contemplate the sunset
So I sit as twilight becomes
Evening and a cool summer night begins.
Finally it is time for me and my dog
To head home.
I pour my remaining water out as a libation
Thank God for the blessing and the gift of rain
I pray for rain for this drought stricken valley
Cars rush by.
kids racing past the high School
Adults in SUV's on some important errand
I don't expect my prayer to be answered
Miracles happen all round me
Provided I have eyes to see
I don't need my prayer to be answered.
But I guess, one has to pray for something.
Capitano Tedeschi
30
Rain Maker copyright Sept. 15, 2009, by Jamie Jacks
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