The Stanford Inn by the Sea - Eco-Lodge & Retreat Center

Ten days ago a "dry" thunderstorm moved over much of Northern California creating more 1000 wildfires, many in Mendocino County.

While Mendocino's "Coast is Clear" has been true the last ten days, many of our neighbors have been beset by smoke and fires. My assistant and our head of projects (building and maintenance) Ryan Rhoades has been off fighting fires until yesterday when we desperately needed him help to put on a large wedding. Ryan reports that the fires across the County have abated as has the smoke in inland valleys. We are happy to report that our partners from Willits through Ukiah and Hopland and into Anderson Valley never closed and are ready to welcome visitors to this incredible County. Tasting rooms and State Parks are open.

It has been a hard time for inland residents. We are concerned for them. Many depend on the summer for much of their income - innkeepers, as well as their staffs, and the staffs of restaurants, tasting rooms and other service businesses.

Our sympathies go out to all who have been impacted by the fires. We want to encourage readers of this posting to explore Mendocino County, stay with our inland partners and get to know our wonderful vintners and their wines, beautiful parks and wild lands. (Written by Jeff Stanford)

Wild fires are out in Mendocino County!

The Coast was clear throughout the long ordeal that began on the summer solstice. We drove through Mendocino County's wine country and it is beautiful. Along Highway 128 and our other major roads, the vines are vigorous and healthy and there is no visible damage to the forests which frame the vineyards. Many people who planned an extensive California trip canceled due to road closings throughout the State. We are happy to report Highway 1 is open along the entire California Coast, now that fires are no longer threatening Big Sur in Monterey County.

Just a reminder, Mendocino Village remains one of the United State's iconic small towns. Many of our guests feel like they are "coming home" when they visit, even when they haven't been here before. (Perhaps this is in part because the village was Jessica Fletcher's hometown in Murder She Wrote.)

Visitors to the village at this time of the year drop by the Mendocino Art Center for Tuesday "potlucks" that feature an evening of food, conversation and most importantly a presentation by a selected instructor in the Art Center's summer program. http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/

If you are in the area, check out the Mendocino Music Festival with performances held in a huge tent on the headlands, just in front of Mendocino's Main Street. http://www.mendocinomusic.com/

The summer is a wonderful time to explore California's formerly developed, but today on the State's last undeveloped estuaries, Big River Estuary.

http://stanfordinn.com/blog/Canoeing_Big_River.jpg

Harbor seals follow canoes and kayaks up river. On dark nights the phosphorescent algae is amazing giving the sense of stars below the boat as well as above.

Joan left Mendocino to visit relatives in Winnipeg and Matlock, both in Manitoba. We have a cottage about 100 yards from Lake Winnipeg - a huge lake which drains to the north into Hudson 's Bay.

I followed a week later, July 29th, 2008. At the Lake, there is only very slow dial-up and these notes were made and pasted below. We share them because they help illuminate Manitoba which received undeserved bad publicity due to a particularly heinous murder on a Greyhound bus.

Winnipeg is a phenomenal city. Ethnically diverse, the city celebrates its diversity with the Winnipeg Folk Festival every summer. Just before the Folk Festival is the Winnipeg Fringe Festival that provides 18 venues for small theatre groups to stage performances and plays and audiences to experience live theatre.

Winnipeg accommodates vegans: There are a variety of restaurants that offer extensive vegan menus. The hot area is Corydon Avenue between Wilton and Osborne Street. At Corydon and Wilton is Falafel Place which specializes in freshly made falafel as well as outstanding sweet potato fries. At the east end of Corydon is Organza a natural foods grocery which is attached to Dandelion Cafe where I had an outstanding Tomato Zucchini Napoleon made with heirloom tomatoes and asparagus. We ate at both restaurants on Thursday, August 7th. Our daughter, Kate, had joined us the day before. Our excitement to have her with us was lost Thursday morning which we leaned that veterinarians believed that Gypsy, Kate's dog, was dying.

July 30, 2008 - Not at the Inn

Left Mendocino for the not-so-wilds of Matlock, Manitoba, just north of Winnipeg. We are at Joan's cottage. She spent summers at another cottage now owned by her cousin, which is 40 feet away from this cottage. Her parents bought what we now call Joan's Cottage 43 years ago.

Kate, our daughter, will be coming to visit and she finds the cottage old (it is 100 years old), the water dirty (it isn't), the furniture tired (it is), the beds horrible (they are old), the outdoors mosquitoey (some years - not this year), and the weather oppressive (it can be hot and humid). We want to rearrange furniture, buy some new lamps and beds and "enhance her experience." We feel that her visit might be a bit of self-sacrifice.

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July 31, 2008 - Manitoban Courtesy

Joan's cousin Dave and I rented a truck and drove into Winnipeg to pick-up new mattresses and box springs to replace the 40+ year old mattresses in the Cottage. Winnipeg's oldest Costco had only two of the beds so we went to one of the newest. On the way home, we were in stopped in rush house at a traffic light when a kid, more than likely a summer employee, driving a flatbed truck for a paving company clipped the mirror of the virtually brand new Silverado we were in. The truck continued up the open left turn lane. Dave jumped out and grabbed the pieces of the mirror and another driver jumped out his car and ran to us with the truck's license number. In the meantime the offending truck's passenger was signaling us to follow them to talk about the accident. We did. The kid driving the truck was very sorry and offered to pay for the mirror on the side of the street. The truck was rented and we could not accept payment. He gave us his driver's license and the truck's registration. We told him we were sorry that this happened to him.

This is Canada's Midwest - the Manitoba I have known since I moved here for graduate school.

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August 1, 2008 - Eating Out

"Don't tell me,"- an otherwise outstanding man - affirmed, after I told him that I would not describe conditions in so-called "humane dairies." He just had told his server that he would have some ice cream. He looked away, as the dessert was brought to the table.

Joan apologizes for me especially if I am critical regarding dairy choices someone makes - that is, choosing to eat dairy. The millions of calves born every year to dairy cows, who never are able to nurse them, are often put into veal operations. Calves in our part of the country where veal is politically incorrect (PETA is a strong force in Sonoma County) spend their life in feedlots, eating a diet so rich that by the time of their deaths, their arteries are clogged from grains and enriched food which would not be found in their natural habitats.

During the dairy cows' short lives they do get to nurse hundreds if not thousands of human beings who were never weaned. Ironically, we worry about the "drug problem" and whether or not the citizens of California were correct in allowing medical marijuana dispensaries which provide a flow of weed into recreational use. Virtually none of the smokers are dairy-free - none experienced weaning. Dairy products like our mothers' milk releases endorphins. Weaning is in some small way like getting off a drug.

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August 4, 2008 - A Mental Disease Here and There

A 40 year old man on a Greyhound bus killed a 22 year old passenger who had fallen asleep at the back of the bus. The bus was on its way to Winnipeg and the men did not know one another. The crime was particularly brutal and the charges include beheading and cannibalism. The murderer has been described by investigators as paranoid schizophrenic with a history of erratic behavior. The 22 year old loved to travel and had literally joined a carnival for the summer. He was on his way home.

Unfortunately, crazies from throughout North America are sounding off about the murder. Some condemn Manitoba while others are pushing the idea that this was a terrorist attack organized by a radical Muslim sect. The mentally ill man is an immigrant from China, not the Middle East. Members of a Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas are coming to protest outside the victim's funeral with signs stating that his death is God's punishment of Canada for allowing abortions and gay marriage. A PETA spokesperson equated the kid's beheading with the slaughter of animals. These comments are disgusting.

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August 7, 2008 - Why I am a member of PCRM and not a member of PETA

I am a member of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine They have not and should not use the Greyhound bus murder to propagandize for their positions which includes adopting vegan diets. They create pamphlets which describe the practices of our factory farms and slaughterhouses. I don't know if their information has changed one person's food lifestyle. As human beings, we have tremendous capacity to disassociate from the sources of our food and the results of our policies - international, national, regional, local and importantly, personal.

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August 8, 2008 - Beauty and Bad News

We are in Manitoba - Canada's "keystone" province. Ever square inch of soil has something growing in it. Last winter was one of the worst in memory - and this summer is vibrant and alive. Fat robins are hopping outside the window chirping while they watch the ground for worms. Finches and sparrows jump from branch to branch within the spruce trees which grow slowly in Manitoba's rugged climate. This morning, as the sun rose above the lake, geese flew over the cottage. Although this is Canada, Canadian or other geese are not common at this time of the year. Pelicans, seagulls, terns, crows, pileated woodpeckers, and now turkeys transplanted from the east are the more common large birds.

And we learned yesterday that Gypsy, our gentle, loving smooth collie mix is ill. Our staff took him to Mendocino Coast Animal Hospital and the veterinarian there found that he had bled internally, causing his low energy. She called us and went into detail describing her tentative conclusions. She said that she could not confirm a diagnosis and recommended that he be taken to Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park, two hours south of Mendocino.

Jesse and Ryan of our staff drove Gypsy to Rohnert Park. The Animal Care Center admitted Gypsy and is treating him and we are very worried. I know that many pet owners will spend any amount to maintain the quality of life of their pets. I wonder if they will give the time and determination to improve the quality of life other animals, those domesticated for our food.

We are very worried.

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August 9, 2008 - Care

The doctors and nurses at the Animal Care Center are outstanding. They have thoroughly examined Gypsy and provided their recommendations and he will be returning home on Sunday.

Dr. Kelly Hayes of their staff spent substantial time explaining their techniques, diagnosis and treatments. We told her that we would add alternative techniques working with Gypsy's "energy system." She also recommended a Chinese Herb. Since the diagnosis is cancer, she agreed to find vegan foods for Gypsy while he remains at the Care Center. We don't want to feed animal proteins which can be readily used by cancer to grow. (See Collin Campbell, The China Study available at Amazon.com - ). The Animal Care Center has given us fantastic service and understanding.

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August 10, 2008 - Hospital Report and Coming Home

Last night Dana, assistant manager of the Inn, dropped in to see Gypsy. She found him to be very tired and on an IV in Animal Care's Critical Care ward. She was pleased with the care he received and told us that the facilities are immaculate.

This morning, Dr. Hayes called to tell us that Gypsy could come home. Ryan brought him home and he was not interested in food. Dana called us at Lake Winnipeg and we suggested that they give him nori which is made with the seaweed nori, sticky brown sushi rice, a bit of tofu, almond butter, and a bit of carrot. Gypsy loves nori rolls and he ate all but one piece.

August 13, 2008 - Home to Gypsy

We came home to find Jessie walking Gypsy and Murphy, who had been devastated when Gypsy was hospitalized. The two dogs are very excited to see us. And Gypsy, who is not supposed to exert himself, came all the way to the third floor to be with us. Of course we let him into the bedroom.

In the middle of the night he had an "accident." After we cleaned-up, I sat with him, doing energy work, until we were both tired.

This morning, Gypsy's appetite returned. We took him out and there have been no accidents. The color of his gums suggests that there is no internal bleeding. We are very grateful.

Gypsy - It has been almost two weeks since the last entry. To begin, Gypsy is doing very well. He runs and plays with guests' dogs as well as Murphy. He shows no adverse signs in spite of his diagnosis. His hair is regrowing where he was shaved for intravenous support and for the many sonograms he received three weeks ago.

We are continuing to feed him the "nori rolls" that provide brown seaweed as well as capsules of dried algae. Having him back in our lives is wonderful. Murphy, our lab-cross again has her companion, her playmate, her teacher. Gypsy is first a dog - he enjoys all the smells. A skunk resides in a corrugated drain and he traces the skunk's nocturnal wanderings each morning. He prances up the driveway checking out each of the spots our guests' dogs have left messages. It is a fantastically slow, joyful process walking to work.

Weddings - The Inn hosts many weddings and I preside over many of them. I continue to be amazed by the joy of the couples I am joining in marriage who have finally been allowed to marry following the California Supreme Court decision. Since I wrote about our first same-sex wedding, I have presided over three more as well as conventional weddings. Tomorrow there are two - one between two former staff persons and another between two wonderful guests. I consider officiating an honor and a responsibility.

Raw Food - This week Barry Horton, our chef, expanded the menu adding a raw lasagna that received incredible reviews from participants at the Vibrant Living Expo. The dish features thin slices of zucchini (replacing lasagna noodles) with layers of heirloom tomatoes (ours are grown in our greenhouses and are full of flavor!), a raw marinara sauce, and vegan raw, nut based "cheese". Vibrant Living Expo is an annual event hosted by Cherie Soria's Living Light Institute in Fort Bragg. Every year Barry creates a special menu to honor Cherie's work. His raw lasagna is awesome.

Gypsy is doing great! Here he is with Today Show's Travel Editor, Peter Greenberg.

Peter came to Mendocino County to broadcast his weekly Worldwide Radio Show. Several years ago his producers asked us to send video tape of of guests with their dogs as well as a selection of our pet amenities for a segment on traveling with pets on the Today Show. As one of the first independent inns to accept pets in California we were known as a leader in pet hospitality. Peter featured the Stanford Inn on a Saturday, very early in the morning. (Neither Gypsy or I are early risers!)

Peter Greenberg has an encyclopedic mind and is insightful and obviously compassionate. He travels more than 400,000 miles each year, serves as a volunteer fireman in New York and has homes on both coasts.

During his visit he interviewed Katy Tahja, Mendocino historian, author, lover of sea palm, and expert on Mendocino writers. Katy is usually at Gallery Books helping shoppers find books and organizing the store's inventory. Kate Hee, owner of Fort Bragg's Outdoor Store discussed Mendocino County's amazing variety of recreational experiences from exploring wineries to mushroom foraging, ocean kayaking to whitewater rafting, whale watching to mountain biking through redwood forests. Hal Wagenet spoke about the Mendocino County lifestyle - particularly as evinced by those with long histories in the County. The residents of his hometown, Willlits, have organized to fund and build the Country's first 'green hospital," which was named after the Frank R. Howard, the son of the owner of Seabisquit. Charles Howard provided funds for a hospital that might have saved his son who died following an automobile accident.

In 2005, Molly Wood, a senior editor at cnet.com, issued a column The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0?, in which she wondered if the popular and addictive cell phone is not unlike cigarettes. The cell industry then and now actively argues that scientific evidence does not demonstrate a relationship between cell phone use and disease, specifically cancer (http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033_1-5741203-1.html).

This year, Dr. Siegal Sadetzki an epidemiologist and physician at Tel Aviv University, published Cellular Phone Use and Risk of Benign and Malignant Parotid Gland Tumors--A Nationwide Case-Control Study, (American Journal of Epidemiology., 15 February 2008; 167: 457 - 467; http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/167/4/457.) The study demonstrates that cell phone users had a 50% greater risk of parotid cancer than those who did not use cell phones. This limited and controlled study is provocative and frankly, troublesome.

Five years ago, I was locked in a battle over the installation of cell antennas at the Stanford Inn. A small contingent of residents truly believed that cell antennas produced dangerous radiation. Before we had agreed to have antennas installed here, we read just about every major study (or abstract of such a study) regarding the dangers of radiation. We learned that base stations were relatively safe due to restricted access to the antennas, while the antennas in handsets were definitely problematic. Five year later, Dr. Sadetzki's study is particularly important: the antennas in our cell phones are not just problematic but dangerous, especially with heavy use. In addition since the phones continually connect with local cells, the phone in your pocket is dangerous as well.

You can find additional information regarding this study in Heavy Cell Phone Use Linked To Cancer, Study Suggests at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080214144349.htm

There are other studies, less well constructed that suggest that gliomas can be caused by cell phone or remote phone use. (Reported by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS48429+23-May-2008+BW20080523.)

We are very concerned about cell phone use and believe that there's enough evidence that handsets are potentially dangerous to use Bluetooth, wired earphones and the speaker phone to help prevent long term damage from the use of the technology. Incredibly, if, the information in Reuters, 23 May, 2008, is correct, the use of home remote phones is also dangerous. Even these ubiquitous telephones should be put aside in favor of corded telephone sets.

We work among landlines and have phone extensions throughout the Inn, however, cell phones are the primary phones of both our kids and our guests while they are here. Guests of the Stanford Inn will find land line based phones with voice mail in all our accommodations.

Simply, if you are concerned about your health, cell phones should be used minimally - and when used, only with Bluetooth, wired headsets, or as speaker phones. Don't give up your land line.

Wow!

Thanksgiving and now Christmas have passed. The New Year is less than a week away. Yes, we have been busy. Immediately following the Day of the Dead celebration, we decorated for the holidays. Even as early as Thanksgiving, guests enjoy the greenery and color. Also, the Candlelight Inn tour follows Thanksgiving and we have to have the buildings lit, trees up and adorned, wreathes on every door and one tall tree lit behind the Inn.

In spite of the economy, we have much to be thankful for. First, our kids have been able to come home to celebrate the holidays with us. They came for Thanksgiving and they are here, now, for the Christmas holidays. Our guests have been fantastic, many writing and sending blessings and good wishes. And for those of you who have been following Gypsy's progress, he is doing fantastically.

We have two trees - one each in the two main rooms of our lobby-

Here are carolers from Mendocino High School during the Candlelight Inn Tour -

Here's the tree situated so that we can see it from the front desks!

We have noticed a significant change this year.... the Holiday cards we have received are not simply signed. Almost all have personal messages - expressing more than a history of the writers, but significantly messages about friendship, love, family, ethical living. Compared the cards received other years, there is a marked resurgence of spirituality. So many are amazing and the writers' wonderful.

Our own card was different from previous versions. For the first time 22 years we have a card with art work not created by either Alex or Kate. This year, Aurora Schneider, whose parents have worked with us over the last eight years produced a drawing that we used for the Inn's card.

Happy Boxing Day -

All of us here wish for everyone a wonderful holiday and a New Year of growth, wealth, and health.

It is a month since I last wrote - a long, eventful month. We have been busy with a variety projects. One of the newest is the creation of the Mendocino Center.

Here's an introduction:

- Mendocino is a natural center for healing. For generations, people have come to Mendocino for its breathtaking natural beauty, organic food and wine...and ultimately the powerful energy and resources for wellness that energize people to renew their lives.

We came to Mendocino to do innkeeping, looking on it as a family business which could provide a living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. But we got more than we expected. The land changed us: we realized that we could live more gently. Loving animals, we quit eating them. We adopted sustainable practices for landscaping and in areas that had been neglected, we created edible, organic gardens; and we adopted other vocations. Joan commuted to Sonoma State to become first a Montessori instructor and later a board certified art therapist. I became involved in energy work - earth and human - and later was ordained a minister. In the meantime, we sought to create a context for visitors to experience what we experienced here as well as offer wellness services.

We began health supporting therapeutic massage and yoga in 1991. In 1996, Jack Schwarz founder of the human potential movement in the United States brought Aletheia Institute to the Inn. Jack was a healer, philosopher, naturopath, and educator who sought the integration of body, brain/mind and spirit. Jack was an exceptional human being who passed-on in 2000. Since then we have continued to seek to provide residents and our guests a central base for all things oriented to wellness. Now we are working with the best minds and talent in medical, alternative and spiritual healing in Mendocino to expand this vision.

Mendocino Center is the working name for this group of local practitioners of life enhancing programs: tai chi, Chinese herbal medicine, breath work, art exploration, acupuncture, yoga, energy medicine, massage, community ritual as well as traditional medicinal practices such as psychiatry, allopathic medicine, and much more. These practitioners do not necessarily practice here. For example, Cathy Van Camp offers Watsu (aquatic) massage five miles from the Inn. Ron and Toni Nadeau operate Spirit House, a center for environmental, community and personal ritual between Mendocino and Fort Bragg.

Mendocino Center has two components - the clinical practice of the individual practitioners and their wellness practices designed to enhance and enliven life for individuals who are looking for experience in practices from art expression to yoga. At the Inn we are concerned with the second - life enhancement. Since many of the individual programs are located on the property guests have an opportunity to experience programs that enhance their lives - increasing their awareness: Programs that are intended to help make one's life more mindful.

More on this later!

We have been asked thousands of times if we are related to Leland and Jane Stanford who founded Stanford University in the name of their son, Leland Jr. who died of typhoid at 18. We are not. And we understand that Leland and Mary had no close relatives to which to leave any portion of their estate. Our branch of Stanfords is similarly small. Our grandparents are gone and parents are gone - and our branch now consists of only three brothers and a sister and three cousins and all our children. The Stanford Inn by the Sea is a very small family run Inn!

Now we are asked if we are related to Robert Allen Stanford. No! Never heard of him until he was accused of defrauding people of millions of dollars. We will still be asked.

To avoid disease and middle age weight gain, David Noonan adopted the 28 day program in The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan That Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds. The diet was developed by Rip Esselstyn to help his fellow firefighter adopt a vegan whole foods diet. Esselstyn has been vegan for more than 20 years and is an athlete and son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, of the Cleveland Clinic, who has long advocated vegan diets for prevention of disease. (Check out Rip Esselstyn's web site http://www.theengine2diet.com/)

Eating a vegan whole foods diet is a credible way to avoid weight gain and disease. Noonan's conversion is hopeful and perhaps he can affect other people. But this happy development may disintegrate like Oprah's brief foray into veganism providing a hiccup in her climb to 200 pounds.

I have noticed a distinct tendency by many people to be self destructive. Whatever diet they try, they go off it. I know this is true - it is true of me. But years ago I realized that I could not kill an animal for food and that it was not ethical to ask another person to do that for me (which made me sort of like a vulture or hyena). I became vegan to avoid adding to animals' suffering. I did it for myself in the sense that I wanted to avoid feeling guilty. I am vegan because I love animals. This is a diet I have stayed on because it isn't just for me! If it was for my health or to lose weight, I more than likely would have given up on it after a few months - like a former cigarette smoker trying just one and starting again.

For Noonan's article check out this link http://www.newsweek.com/id/189291 .

A meditation on Mendocino Weddings

The joining of two people under the auspices of the State and/or a spiritual tradition is always a major event. It doesn't matter what the size of the wedding: if only two lovers, a minister/officiant and a witness, a wedding is joyful. It often represents the joining of more than two beings, but the creation of families, especially when one or both bring children into the relationship. The joining of two is also the joining of their families and their friends, creating extended families and new friendships.

This year is surprising: few people are calling to arrange any size wedding from an elopement to a full wedding. I have talked with area innkeepers and they have experienced a significant drop in inquiries and suspect that its is the 'economy.' As a minister, I am saddened that the decision to become married has become an economic decision. We know, here, that two seeking to be married, regardless of the number of observers can arrange a ceremony and use of Mancha's garden for very little - the cost of a room. This is not about the Stanford Inn by the Sea, but our respect for the process, the currents that underlie the joining of two beings.

Marriage is a sacrament here: In Mendocino, the "divine is active' in joining two people in nature - in an area of incredible beauty and energy. In our secular time, "nature" is the source of grace. And grace is evoked from within, urged by our resonance with - our deep appreciation of the beauty of this special place. Here a wedding is "grace" and here lives are joined in beauty. The act of marriage is more than the recognition by a State of a relationship - but an act of "nature" moving lovers to a reality beyond themselves.

Our daughter forwarded us an editorial in The New York Times on juvenile justice in the United States "12 and in Prison" that notes that trying juveniles as adults is "terrible public policy." Children sentenced as adults are more likely to become repeat violent offenders and The New York Times calls for Congress to cause the States "to simply end these inhumane practices to be eligible for federal juvenile justice funds." The editorial could more simply advocate putting "justice" back into the nation's juvenile justice system.

This summer our daughter, a law student at New York University, interned in New Orleans helping represent children caught in the city's juvenile justice system. Some of the stories she tells are horrendous - there's a culture of violence in New Orleans that is difficult to understand and accept. Kids have access to guns; young teenagers steal cars, sell drugs, commit armed robberies, and worse. Police stop children without apparent cause. They use vehicles to knock kids off their bikes - bikes are often used as getaway vehicles. There are horrible stories and there are two sides. But what I got from her stories is that the kids do not expect justice and have an attitude that what they do doesn't matter because they will be hassled anyway and the police, in a similar mind-set, suspect that most children in certain areas are engaged in some criminal activity.

Kate believes in Justice with a capital "J" and she did not go to New Orleans with a mindset that the justice system is broken. She was however in the midst of it and I wasn't happy that she saw the underside of American Life. It sucks, to put it bluntly. It is sad that lives are lost either literally or figuratively.

In its op-ed, The New York Times sites a study by Michele Deitch of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin From Time Out to Hard Time - Young Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System. Deitch begins her study with the case of pre-teen Christopher Pittman who suffered from depression and was placed on Paxil. When his doctor ran out of the drug, the doctor gave a sample package of Zoloft. Immediately, relatives noticed a change in behavior. Trying to control the boy, his grandparents, threatened to paddle him. Later Christopher killed them in their sleep with a shotgun that had been a gift from his father and set fire to their house. The South Carolina juvenile justice system tried him as an adult. The case was complex due to the use of Zoloft and this child, who was 12 at the time of the murders and who had no history of delinquency, was sentenced to 30 years in jail with no chance of parole.

In South Carolina as in other states, fighting crime has become political with the result that our justice system is punitive and not reformative. And in many areas the juvenile justice system is nothing more than a juvenile control system.

How do we change all this? Kate knew of the inadequacies of our justice system and she chose to intern at Juvenile Regional Services in New Orleans, an overworked underfunded agency to help defend children caught in the system. In one of the cases she was assigned she was able to do the research, meet with the 14 year old client who was in jail, write arguments and working with the lead attorney, help prove the evidence to be insufficient and tainted. NYU paid her to do this work - about 1/10 the amount many interns receive in our corporate law firms. One case and there's many more. In the case of Christopher Pittman, the University of Texas study notes that "Christopher is believed to be serving the longest sentence in the country, if not the world, for a crime committed at such a young age."

The implications of recent research into the adolescent brain is striking. The American Bar Association's Juvenile Justice System reported in Cruel and Unusual Punishment The Juvenile Death Penalty - Adolescence, Brain Development and Legal Culpability sites research by Elizabeth Sowell, UCLA, that frontal lobe is the last to develop and even though adolescents are fully capable in other areas, they cannot reason as well as adults. The brain continues to develop into the early 20's. The report notes that the frontal lobe governs judgment, impulsivity, future planning, "foresight of consequences," that make people "morally capable" and notes further that "age 21 or 22 would be closer to the 'biological' age of maturity." (Dr. Ruben C. Gur, neuropsychologist and Director of the Brain Behavior Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania quoted in "Cruel and Unusual Punishment..." )

You can help by supporting organizations such as the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana whose mission is "to transform the juvenile justice system into one that builds on the strengths of young people, families and communities in order to instill hope and to ensure children are given the greatest opportunities to grow and thrive."

Stay mindful with regard to justice - advocate for district attorneys and judges who themselves are advocates for juvenile justice, who believe in redemption and are willing to work for it. I am not advocating that we "go easy" - I believe that we must extend a hand that is both firm and fair. Minimally, I advocate for treating children whose minds are not developed as beings in need of our assistance.

Awoke this morning after a very short night (didn't get to bed until 4:00 AM). A raven called out. There were no other birds announcing their presence. I looked out over the pastures - brown and dry, dust rising up from the horses' slow walk to find grass. Mendocino is in the midst of the dry season and our fall-winter-spring visitors, killdeer, robins, redwing black birds, are gone. There are plenty of human visitors escaping inland's heat, exploring the California Coast, and/or just getting away from home, here, now.

Our vacation was wonderful: North America is magnificent - whether the plains relieved only by rivers cutting through the otherwise flat land; grain silos and trees; rolling prairies; mountains; or the coast. We discovered incredible restaurants in unexpected places. For example, a couple of Thai restaurants one in a remodeled KFC in Winnipeg's Osborne district and another in a storefront in a small mall in Billings, Montana were exceptional not only making our list of good restaurants, they are first and second of all Thai restaurants we have experienced from coast to coast.

We kept-up on the news - particularly the debate over health care. Canada's healthcare system is not perfect, but it is being misrepresented. We asked about our friends' experiences and no one had a horror-story - all were appreciative of the care they have received.

For example, in Manitoba, we spent time with a great family - a couple in their mid- thirties with a one year old girl. The father is still recovering from major brain surgery and before that radiation. In 2007 he was diagnosed with a small cell cancer. He almost immediately began radiation treatments at a specialty institution in Toronto, where he doesn't live. He and his family live in Winnipeg. Later he had surgery in Winnipeg and is now going through rehab there. His experience is in stark contrast to the experience claimed by the Ontario woman who had a non-malignant cyst near or perhaps on her optic nerve.

By the way, our friend (and relative) has been out of work for over a year because of the severity of the disease. His wife does work and he is now re-entering the workplace working part time for the company where he was working when he was diagnosed. The point is that the system in Canada provided for his treatment and recovery without bankrupting him and/or his family (his parents who would have helped financially if it had been necessary).

On the other side of the debate, Joan's mom had cataracts. She was not able to arrange to have surgery before her eyesight deteriorated to the point where, first, she didn't believe she saw well enough to drive and, second, she lost confidence that she could see traffic well enough to cross a busy street. We urged her to get the surgery as soon as possible, however there were not enough practitioners in Winnipeg and appointments were granted to the "worst first." The quality of her life deteriorated and even after surgery, she did not fully return.

This is one of most important entries I have written. I feel badly that I haven't posted this information earlier, but I wanted to do additional research. I have sent emails to people I know with phones which appear to be more hazardous than I ever expected.

For the last 15 years, I have been following research on the effects of non-ionizing radiation produced by cellphones. Our entire family and most of our staff and guests use them. Knowing their hazards makes using them a bit geeky and definitely less convenient, but, importantly, somewhat safer. In any case - let's start with the recommendations from a stellar panel of scientists from the planet's premier universities.

First, this information is from a study released in August, Cellphones and Brain Tumors 15 Reasons for Concern - Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone.
The authors advocate the adopting the precautionary principle"

The precautionary principle applies where scientific evidence is insufficient, inconclusive or uncertain and preliminary scientific evaluation indicates that there are reasonable grounds for concern that the potentially dangerous effects on the environment, human, animal or plant health may be inconsistent with the high level of protection chosen. (European Commission Communication on the Precautionary Principle - 2nd February 2000: In Cellphones and Brain Tumours....)

Finding that published information regarding microwave radiation to be insufficient, uncertain, manipulated and even biased and that a variety of peer reviewed studies demonstrate correlations between the use of cellphones and cancer, the study recommends taking personal responsibility and lists actions you can take. Below is a modified version of their list:

1. Use a wired headset, speaker option, or text. (Bluetooth uses microwaves to communicate with the earpiece.)
2. Keep the cellphone away from your body. Use a holster; keep on the outside of a purse, messenger bag, backpack, etc.
3. Avoid use in a car, train, bus, or plane. Vehicles are metal and microwaves are reflected by metal ricocheting until they dissipate their energy.
4. Avoid use in rural areas moving vehicles or wherever there are less than full bars. The greater the distance from antennas, the greater power the cellphone will generate. Distance equals "more power"
5. Use cellphones as answering machines. Leave off until you can use it to check calls.
6. Use a corded landline whenever possible to return calls.
7. Avoid cordless phones. Recent studies indicate that they also increase the risk of cancer.
8. Avoid use inside buildings, particularly with steel structures
9. Do not allow children to sleep with the phone - under their pillow or on their bedside table
10. Do not allow your children under 18 to use cellphones except in an emergency

For those of you who have stuck with me - the following are details from the above study.

Here are the 15 reasons for concern summarized:

1. Industry's own research showed cellphones caused brain tumors
2. Subsequent industry-funded research also showed that using a cellphone elevated the risk of brain tumors
3. Interphone studies, published to date, consistently show use of a cellphone for less than 10 years protects the user from a brain tumor.
4. Despite the systemic-protective-skewing of all results in Interphone studies, significant risk for brain tumors from cellphone use was still found.
5. Studies independent of industry funding show what would be expected if wireless phones cause brain tumors.
6. The danger of brain tumors from cellphone use is highest in children, and the younger a child is when he/she starts using a cellphone, the higher the risk.
7. There have been numerous governmental warnings about children's use of cellphones.
8. Exposure limits for cellphones are based only on the danger from heating.
9. An overwhelming majority of the European Parliament has voted for a set of changes based on "health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields."
10. Cellphone radiation damages DNA, an undisputed cause of cancer.
11. Cellphone radiation has been shown to cause the blood-brain barrier to leak.
12. Cellphone user manuals warn customers to keep the cellphone away from the body even when the cellphone is not in use.
13. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warning for cordless phones.
14. For Digitally Enhanced Cordless Technology, the FCC warns, "This equipment should be installed an operated with a minimum distance of 20 centimeters (almost 8 inches) between the radiator and your body." The radiation from these phones is based on GSM cellphone technology.
15. Male fertility is damaged by cellphone radiation.

One of the studies cited by the authors is particularly striking in its indictment of not only cellphones but also cordless phones. Pooled analysis of two case-control studies on use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk for malignant brain tumours diagnosed in 1997-2003 reports odds ratios with a confidence level of .95 of 3.7 for digital cellular phones and 2.3 for ordinary cordless phones for malignant brain tumors when used for more than 2,000 hours. Worse, odds ratios are higher for younger users. (Odds ratio is a measurement between two groups - those who have used the devices versus those who haven't.) To summarize their findings: Cumulative use of cellular and cordless handsets, particularly on one side of one's head, is correlated with increased risk of malignant tumors including gioblastoma.

This study alone is alarming. And it is only one of many cited by the authors of Cellphones and Brain Tumours...

The bad news just keeps coming: A few years ago when I looked-up information concerning the nature of microwaves' effect on the brain - the only effect was understood to be as a point source of heat. This newest report points out that there are unknown effects other than heating: "...why does medicine use these fields for healing bone fractures that did not previously heal with a cast, and the military use them to discourage the enemy?" (Cellphones and Brain Tumours...)

Cellphone manufacturers are providing more substantive warnings than even five years ago. For example, BlackBerry specifies that users carry the phone in an approved holster or keep the phone approximately 25mm or nearly an inch from the body. The company warns that the popular Curve should not even be carried on the body if not in an approved holster that must have a belt clip.

Carrying solutions, including RIM approved carrying solutions and carrying solutions not approved by RIM, that do not come equipped with an integrated belt clip SHOULD NOT be worn or carried on the body. For more information regarding the wearing or carrying of this BlackBerry device without using a RIM approved carrying solution equipped with an integrated belt clip, see the Holster information in the Additional safety guidelines section of this document. http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/5451/SIB_8300_series_169506_11.pdf

The iPhone is 10mm better.

For optimal mobile device performance and to be sure that human exposure to RF energy does not exceed the FCC and European Union guidelines, always follow these instructions and precautions: When on a call using the built-in audio receiver in iPhone, hold iPhone with the 30-pin connector pointed down toward your shoulder to increase separation from the antenna. For body-worn operation, keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body, and only use carrying cases, belt clips, or holders that do not have metal parts and that maintain at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) separation between iPhone and the body. When using the EDGE data transmission feature of iPhone (see the iPhone User's Guide for more information), position iPhone's antenna at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) from the body."http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_Product_Info_Guide.pdf

There's more information. But more is not necessary. Just be careful. Use the precautionary principle - be sure to use wired headsets. Don't carry your phone in a pocket and particularly near organs. If you need to use your phone in a vehicle - stop, open the windows. Similarly, use your cellphone outdoors as much as possible or by an open window. A local RF engineer told me when that dual pane glass reflects RF signals, which will cause the phone to power-up. (Interference AND distance = more power!) The cellphone is a wonderful product and a BlackBerry, iPhone and other smart phones are computers usually smaller than a cigarette package - and perhaps far more dangerous. Take care!

Yesterday, November 17th, a friend as well as a former employee called from across the continent. We talked for quite a while. During the conversation, he mentioned that he believed that I hadn't been happy with him when he last lived and worked here because he wasn't vegan. He told me that it takes some time to "digest" the information regarding the health effects of a vegan diet vis-à-vis the animal based American diet. He said that I had time to understand all of this but he hadn't had enough time.

He was wrong. First, I wasn't disappointed that he had not become vegan. I knew that he didn't understand. Second I hadn't become vegan for physical health at all.

I told him that it was a simple change: Twenty-four years ago, I injured myself and couldn't work for a couple of weeks and something - maybe a show on TV or a book - caused me to realize I could not kill an animal for food, yet I ate meat. "Aha," I suddenly knew that I was a hypocrite: Essentially I "asked" others to kill for me. This realization meant I was vegetarian and done with meat. I told him, that I grabbed this opportunity to reduce my hypocritical burden.

While we talked a 15 year old Bronx Latin student was shot in the back of the head down the street from the school. Our daughter, Kate, called to tell us, crying. The girl who was shot, Vada Vasquez was Kate's student when Kate was with Teach for America. A vibrant, talented musician and student, Vada is presently in an induced coma and not breathing on her own.

Vada Vasquez was shot by a 16 year-old boy when he fired a salvo of bullets at a 19 year old. Up to that time he had a "clean" record. His cohorts did not.

Of course, we didn't know this when we talked. But Vada's shooting reminded me how much we need to reduce violence in our lives - from the violence on the streets erupting from poverty to the violence which brings food to our table. We need to do this with love - as nurturers, helping to nurture one another, the animals who are in this world with us and the very planet itself.

I am unable to finish this post on an upbeat note. For too long we have tolerated violence. Perhaps our unwillingness to confront violence and the problems which underlie it comes from our failure to acknowledge the violence that feeds us - our treatment of all but a few dogs, cats and horses. Where is our outrage?! We have become inured to it and that is wrong.