by jphilo | Mar 24, 2010 | Current Events
Since the weather has improved, I’ve been enjoying walks along our gravel road after an almost two months hiatus. Now and then, I take a long hike towards town, passing the grocery story and the community college to get to the lovely walking trail in the park. But after hearing a recent NPR report about teen brain research, I wonder if I’m taking my life in my hands walking near the college, with young adults driving like maniacs, desperate to get to class on time.
In the radio story, neurologist Francis Jensen said, “scientists used to think human brain development was pretty complete by age ten.” She went on to say that a crucial part of the brian, the frontal lobes, aren’t fully connected. “It’s the part of the brain that says: ‘Is this a good idea? What is the consequence of this action? It’s not that they don’t have a frontal lobe. And they can use it. But they’re going to access it more slowly.”
According to the article, “the nerve cells that connect teenagers’ frontal lobes with the rest of their brains are sluggish. Teenagers don’t have as much of the fatty coating called myelin, or ‘white matter,’ that adults have in this area. Think of it as insulation on an electrical wire. Nerves need myelin for nerve signals to flow freely. Spotty or thin myelin leads to inefficient communication between one part of the brain and another.”
Myelin sheath…scars on the fatty coating are the defining mark of multiple sclerosis, the illness that robbed my dad of the ability to drive, walk, write, and see. And here’s a Harvard-level neurologist saying the myelin coating of teens isn’t developed. Yikes!
If this is true should our government be issuing drivers’ licenses to teenagers without fully formed brains or thick myelin coatings? And what was I doing walking on a road populated by teenagers racing to get to class while texting and eating breakfast, teens whose brains aren’t fully able to ask, “Is this a good idea? What is the consequence of this action?”
SInce my frontal lobes are formed and fatty coatings are something I have in abundance in many parts of my aging body, the onus is on me. Time to change my route or start my walk a half hour earlier so I’m long gone before the myelinless, lobeless drivers hit the road. So many people in the younger generation are dear to me even though their brains are still developing. I’d like to know them after their brains are in working order.
by jphilo | Mar 12, 2010 | Current Events
For the past few weeks, staying positive has been a struggle. Why? For starters, the fourth quarter of this interminable winter finally melted away, creating a flood zone. So after two successful speaking engagements (at this point “successful” means they weren’t postponed because of weather, not that I was mobbed by crowds of adoring fans), I’m wondering if we should rent an ark for the three scheduled next week.
I have to do something since earning a speaking fee is hard when you can’t speak, and selling books isn’t easy without a crowd. These days, I’m constantly reminding myself that what I do isn’t about making money. It’s about taking the parenting experiences God’s given our family and using them to minister to parents who need the hope while raising their kids with different dreams. Apparently God knew I was sorely in need of a little hope myself and sent some along in American Profile, a weekly magazine that comes with our Saturday paper.
One of the articles in the February 21-27, 2010 issue was about Marian Wright Edelman, a woman who has devoted her life to crusading for disadvantaged kids. Near the end of the story, Giving Children a Voice, she says, “My faith doesn’t tell me that you have to win. You’ve got to get up every day and decide to be the best that you can. You don’t give up; you persevere. We don’t have the right to give up on any child.”
Marian’s words were a godsend, shifting my attention from dollars earned to lives changed, my mindset from giving up to going on, and my attitude from self-centered to child-centered. You can benefit from her perspective by reading the entire article at www.americanprofile.com.
Ever since reading the story, one sentence pushes me out of bed every morning.
“We don’t have the right to give up on any child.”
“We don’t have the right to give up on any child.”
“We don’t have the right to give up on any child.”
What’s it doing to you?
by jphilo | Mar 9, 2010 | Current Events
On a recent road trip to Minneapolis, I listened to the NPR interview show Fresh Air, which rebroadcast an interview Terry Gross did with Johnny Cash in the late 1990s. He was in the news because 1) February 26 was the anniversary of his birthday, and 2) the last in his American Recording Series, Ain’t No Grave, was released to coincide with his birthdate
I wasn’t a country western fan in my youth, and my generation spent more time ridiculing Johnny Cash than listening to him. But Gross’s interview with the aging singer and his obvious love of music made the interview a delight. You can listen to it or download the transcript by clicking here.
After the rebroadcast, Gross interviewed Rick Rubin, the record producers who collaborated with Cash on the American Recording Series. Gross and Rubin spent much of the interview talking about the CD in the boxed set which is all Cash singing his favorite hymns and spirituals solo. In the interview, Rubin describes the impact of Cash’s witness through an everyday moment. To hear what Rubin said or download that transcript, click here.
Once you listen, you may understand why Johnny Cash is my new homeboy.
Thanks, man in black.
by jphilo | Mar 3, 2010 | Current Events
Man, I was happy last week when GM announced the Hummer brand would soon bite the dust. To me the vehicle was one of our country’s biggest embarrassments. It was so out there, a rolling embodiment of consumerism, me-centeredness of Americans, and lack of respect for creation.
What possessed GM to build this albatross in the first place? And why do people need to drive on paved, safe streets and roads in vehicles designed for the army? Does the ability to impress friends and neighbors justify gas guzzling?
I’m not a rampant environmentalist. I’m not a tree hugger, a member of PETA or of the Sierra Club. But I do recycle, use cloth shopping bags, buy local when possible, and drive a car that gets great gas milage. But every time I see a Hummer on the road, I get spitting mad because the person driving it has just cancelled out all my ecological efforts with one trip to the grocery store.
So the GM announcement about the Chinese business reneging on their bid for the Hummer brand made me smile. Maybe there’s hope, I thought. Twenty-four hours later, that hope dimmed a bit when the car company announced other undisclosed suitors were waiting in the wings.
Apparently the suitors are embarrassed to admit their identity. They should be. Hummer needs to die, and it needs to die soon. Until it does, we’re painted with the brush of excessive consumerism and lack of foresight. I’d like to get rid of that image. Wouldn’t you?
by jphilo | Feb 16, 2010 | Current Events
Nothing makes me feel quite as old as the Super Bowl. No, the sight of players hitting the dirt doesn’t bring back memories of crippling sports injuries that stove me up like an old geezer. Sports injuries aren’t part of my past because sports aren’t either.
Sports injuries aren’t the problem. The Roman numerals are the problem. Now, the first game didn’t start that way. It was called “First World Championship Game: AFL vs. NFL.” The next year they revised history, adding the “Super Bowl I” flourish. By then it was already Super Bowl II, which means they should have had a clue right then of the problems this Roman numeral thing would create. The older the Super Bowl got, the longer the name got, too.
Obviously men made the Roman numeral decision. Women figured out where that number system was leading around the time Rome fell and nixed it in favor or Arabic numerals. See, the gals knew there was no way to hide their age when writing it down in ever-increasing RNs. The older you were, the longer it took, and pretty soon everybody knew you were old, and it was no use touching up your roots with charcoal from the fire and microderm abrasioning your face with sand every three days anymore. Using Arabic numerals, two digits did the trick, unless you reached 100 and then who cared anyway?
That’s why the Super Bowl makes me feel old. I remember how excited my dad was about Super Bowl I before it was Super Bowl I, and I remember Super Bowl II when my brother thought Bart Starr was the greatest man on earth, and I remember how Super Bowl III made Joe Namath a superstar and he posed for Playboy, which my parents only mentioned in hushed whispers, but the seventh grade boys never quit talking about ever.
Back then, the Roman Numerals were so short and easy to read. I was young, and I knew I would never be an old fogey like my parents and neither would Joe Namath. Now the list of Roman Numerals is so long, the young kids need decoders to read them. Old fogies, like me and Joe Namath who remember the first Super Bowl, now need bifocals and decoders along with charcoal to touch up our roots and bucket loads of sand for microdermabrasoning.
The only hope is Super Bowl 50. In the blink of an eye, it’ll be Super Bowl L. I’ll feel young again, and hopefully Joe Namath will, too. Maybe he’ll pose for another centerfold.
Perish the thought.
by jphilo | Feb 15, 2010 | Current Events
I am not and have never been an athlete. Throughout my childhood, I dreaded gym class. I consider team sports cruel and inhumane treatment. Sweat is evil, and no matter how you spell it, I believe “exercise” is a four letter word.
So why am I committed to walking 4 – 5 miles a day, either down our gravel road or in the house during the dead of winter? A recent NPR summed up the reasons quite nicely:
“A new study of 13,535 women finds that women who regularly walked for exercise in their 50s were much healthier in their 70s and beyond….The researchers looked to see whether women had developed chronic conditions, including diabetes, kidney disease, Parkinson’s disease and pulmonary disease. They also looked at cognitive function.
What they found might be surprising, given the level of exercise involved. The brisk walkers — who moved at a clip of about 3 mph — were 90 percent more likely to be free of all these conditions when compared with women who weren’t in the habit of walking beyond a leisurely pace.”
Amazing isn’t it? Worth a sweat now and then, don’t you think
But the NPR story had good news for kids, too, according to a daily program recently implemented at Woodland Elementary School in Kansas City, MO. Gains in academic performance and a reduction in aggressive behavior has already been documented. You can read the whole story by clicking on this link.
By the time you finish reading or listening to it, you’ll want to lace up your sneakers and go for a walk. Give me a call if you do. I’m always ready for a mile or two.
