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Good News Department - Can poetry help you live longer?

2/20/2017

I was amazed to see this story on NPR this morning! Not because I don't believe it, but because I'm a poet myself! I'm heartened to think that writing and sharing poetry with others will help me have a longer and better life! Who knew?

But then, of course, it makes plenty of sense ... to me. And probably to my friends who are also actively writing poetry.

Sadly, school ruined poetry for many people. If this happened to you, fear not! There are plenty of ways to enjoy poetry these days

I only made one button like this. But if you want one, please let me know and I'll make them available on this web site!

without a teacher trying to interpret it for you! Remember, poetry is an art, and as with any art, what you like or don't like is up to you. If you read or hear a poem that doesn't do anything for you, no problem. Try something different instead.

And if you want to try your hand at writing some, but don't know where to start, there are plenty of opportunities. There are thousands of groups and classes and workshops to choose from. For example, near where I live, there is this series, hosted by an accomplished and published poet, Barbara Helfgott Hyett, designed to help poets improve their poetry and perhaps get them published. If that isn't your desire, then you might like this organization, or perhaps you might prefer an on-line poetry experience such as at this web site.

I'd love to know how you do, if you want to tell me (by comments to this blog post or use the Contact Us option to send me a private message).

Here is a sample of what I've written. This poem will appear in my forthcoming book, "a man wearing a dress," due out later this year. I encourage you to read this poem out loud, if you can, with gusto!

Driving
©2016, by Glenn C. Koenig

In the driver’s seat
I’m not a gatherer
I’m a hunter!

I have no prey
in mind, mind you

But I will not stand
to be hemmed in.

I want space,
Freedom!
Speed!
To fly along,
to soar!

And that car in front of mine
is foolishly
suffocating me
instead.

I will overtake them
at the next opportunity.

So what if I get there
three minutes
ahead of time.

That’s not the point!

In driving
It’s the journey!
Not the destination.

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Good News Department - Health to replace medicine?

2/20/2017

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I awoke this morning to this news story on NPR, about how some doctors are shifting their emphasis from drugs, prescribed or OTC (over the counter), to other non drug means to reduce back pain. Now that's what I call progress!
By the way, I made the button in the photo to emphasize this very idea. To me, Health is what we do for ourselves; how we live, including what we eat, how we sleep, the exercise we get, and our mental health, including a sense of well being that can come from self respect, acceptance, and love.

I only made one button like this. But if you want one, please let me know and I'll make them available on this web site!

Medical care is what we need if we have an injury or a disease, in spite of our efforts to maintain our health. Medical insurance cannot and will never be able to insure that you are healthy (which is why I don't ever refer to it as "Health Insurance"). All insurance can do is indemnify us against the cost of medical care, should we need it. Sure, many medical insurance companies claim to offer 'wellness' programs, but they are typically a tiny part of their overall operation. I put the word 'wellness' in quotes because, to me, 'wellness' is a junk word that we needed to create when the medical industry took the word health to describe itself.
When I hear that the government wants to "reduce health costs," I think such a statement is absurd. Health doesn't cost you, it is a factor in your quality of life. What they are really trying to say is to 'reduce the cost of medicine and medical care.' There are many ways to do that, of course, but the primary way is for us all to make our efforts at maintaining our health an integral part of our lives.

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You can do this!

2/11/2017

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Lately, I've started hosting a series of film showings, followed by discussion, in my living room. No more than about 10 or 12 people. This is not a business or an organization, just an activity.
The films we see have some kind of social commentary. The first one we watched was "Where to Invade Next" by Michael Moore. The next one is "The Man in the White Suit" from 1951, with Alec Guinness. It's a science fiction comedy about a man who develops a fabric that never wears out. The one after that is "Food Fight" about how employees and shoppers changed the course of a major grocery business, here in New England. The one after that is, "The Mask You Live In," which follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.

You can do this! Share a link to this blog post. Choose a film to watch. Invite ten of your friends to join you. We're doing this early on Sunday evenings, but you can pick any time. Let me know how it works out. Just click on the link that says "n Comments" (however many there are) and let us know how well you did.

Soon, I'm going to hold a discussion group where each person has to bring another person who did not vote the same way they did in the November election. For example: A Hillary voter has to bring a Trump voter. A Stein voter has to bring someone who didn't vote. This will be about listening, not arguing. I have a structure in mind, which I will explain as the group sits down to start. We will keep track of time. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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The Party's Over

2/8/2017

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The two big political parties are just about done. Their power comes from emphasizing our disagreements and whipping up our rancor toward the 'other' party. Once riled up, we have contributed our money and energy to them.

Perhaps this has reached a peak by now. I am not a Democrat anymore and I am certainly not a Republican, either. I'm interested in the 'respectful conversation' movement instead.

Please don't send money, but instead give your money to those most in need. And form living room discussion groups of about ten people, with some minimal structure to help keep everyone listening respectfully to each other, as much as possible. That's what I'm starting to do. Let's report back to each other somehow.

(Note: To comment, please click on the "0 Comments" link, below. If it has some other number than 0, click on it anyway. I'm sorry, but Weebly doesn't have an actual button to open comments, just that anemic text, alas.)

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To put that more succinctly:

2/6/2017

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Bullying someone with your opinion might not change much; melting someone's heart with your understanding might work better.

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You can quote me on this

2/2/2017

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There is much to be done using non-violent means. There are many opportunities for listening to people with whom we may at first disagree.

We cannot be afraid to hear them out, no matter how outrageous their thoughts may seem to us. For beneath it all, we are all human. We will always have something in common.

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Perhaps we needed this

2/2/2017

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Immigration in the United States is a complex process. Terrorism is also a complex problem. Many people in our country seem to be angry about how both have been handled. Some of them voted for Donald Trump because he promised very simple actions to take.

Well, in my opinion, there are few, if any, simple actions that can really change both these complex problems for the better. We have argued back and forth about this for awhile by now.

So now we have President Trump, doing just as he had promised. Applying a simple solution to some very complex problems. And now we're learning what the consequences are! Many good people are prevented from traveling in and out of the U.S., for example. Students cannot return to school here, employees cannot return to their jobs, and family members are suddenly isolated from each other.

So perhaps we needed this. An 'in your face' demonstration of what happens when you try to apply simple solutions to complex problems. So that everyone can see what happens in real time. So that everyone can see why trying to run a government for a country of 325 million people, in today's complex world, is a very complicated affair indeed!

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Good News Department: People Step Up to help Muslim Congregation

2/1/2017

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I just saw this story about the outpouring of support for a mosque in Texas that was destroyed in a fire last week. I wanted to make a quick comment.

Despite all the news of political rancor in Washington D.C. as President Trump sets up his administration, I see a whole lot going in the world that tells me that we're headed in a good direction, when it comes to we, the people.

As I have said other times on these pages, I believe that the role of a large central government is on the decline. And acts of people networking together to help each other is on the rise. I think it is a mistake to concentrate only on news regarding conflict and forget about news of cooperation and love.

Our ability to share information, as well as emotional and financial support keeps building. We are doing amazing things we never conceived of, even just a decade or so ago.

We are demonstrating our great potential and, at the same time, we are facing some serious challenges. There is nothing wrong or unusual about this. After all, mutual support through networks is still in its infancy, considering that so-called 'social media' has only been around for about a decade, more or less (Facebook opened to the public in September 2006; the iPhone was introduced in January 2007). So, we're just getting started, really.

One challenge we face is how to decide where we want to devote our energies. Some causes make a big splash (such as this mosque fire) and become the 'poster child' for a particular kind of networked support. Meanwhile other causes languish for lack of attention and publicity. So we face an important question: Of the millions of causes out there, how do we sort through them all and decide what to do, given our limited resources (24 hours in a day, limited balance in our bank accounts).

I don't have an easy answer for this, but what I can say is that I have no doubt that we will continue to work on all this and come up with better and better ways as we gain more and more experience.

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Good News Department - Can poetry help you live longer?

Good News Department - Health to replace medicine?

You can do this!

The Party's Over

To put that more succinctly:

You can quote me on this

Perhaps we needed this

Good News Department: People Step Up to help Muslim Congregation

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