Oz Medicine

(Disclaimer:  This post has nothing to do with 'Dr. Oz' or his TV show, which I have only noted in passing while channel surfing.)  

For those of you a bit surprised about the inclusion of a mid-week posting this week, I have to tell you that you're not the only one.  It appears however, that there may some potential side effects to living in the "Land of Oz" (aka Kansas) that some of us may be particularly susceptible to; and I now appear to be running the gamut of these conditions.

As many of you might know, I recently completed what I now like to call 'Tin Man Surgery', in which extensive and extremely necessary repairs were done to veins and arteries around an organ that was apparently in absence in one of Dorothy's companions in "The Wizard of Oz" as well apparently as in many Conservatives.  (No, not my brain.  Try not to jump ahead, please.)  In spite of living in the Wiz's balloon 'fly-over country' however, I was seemingly blessed with some local 'rock stars' of the medical profession and the repairs were not only successful, but my expeditious recovery currently has me up for 'Miss Open Heart Surgery 2013'. (You should see the swim suit competition.) 

In the days since my return home from the hospital however, I seem to have traded the condition that I shared with Dorothy's metal companion for that suffered by one of her more herbaceous ones.  I have recently discovered that my interest and ability to write either quantitatively or qualitatively (writing a lot or well) seems have suffered in a corresponding fashion to my return of the good health of that vital pump in what I am beginning to consider might be the possible onset of 'Scarecrow's Syndrome'.  I am now more than a little concerned that repairs insuring that blood is now properly circulating around my heart have somehow diverted this vital fluid from reaching the near perfect vacuum between my ears.  

As a result, these days find me either unable or unwilling to keep up with my former docile pace of two blog posts a week.  As for concerning myself with the discipline of the multiple personality disorder more commonly known as the staff here at JBS where the lexicographers of the SOS Dictionary are concerned, or facing the mess in the locked attic room (that I keep in my mind) better known as the Department of Just Blowing Smoke Security; forget about it.  This combination of raging inability and apathy doesn't even speak to the apologies that I owe Michael Miller and the staff at the Toledo Free Press for failing to annoy them with nonsensical weekly efforts offered for publication in their well-esteemed product, let alone the constant re-writes that follow in vague but futile attempts to make them at least coherent, if not intelligent offerings.

My continued inability to properly identify the cause for this problem, let alone truly accept responsibility for the resulting lack of literary output leads me to believe that yet a third yet undiagnosed malady may be lurking in the wings.  Such cowardice in the face of (and piled on top of) such inexcusable laziness may in fact be an indication of the first stage symptoms of another one of Dorothy's literary traveling companions.  As fragile as my current mental state is however, I'm not sure if I could face a confirming diagnosis and discovering that I might indeed be suffering from the onset of 'Cowardly Lion's Disease' on top of everything else (though that may just be the fear talking).   

This dilemma is further complicated by not knowing which of the medical professionals that I'm working with in the Sunflower State that I should consult regarding these concerns.  Try as I might, I'm not sure how to determine which of their specialties these maladies might fall under, if any at all.  Since most of them have signed off on my recovery (Oh, if they only knew!), and I am therefore not scheduled to visit with any of them any time soon; I hate to bother them with what may in fact be no more than post-operative psychosomatic disorders.  

Perhaps the symptoms that at least I believe that I'm experiencing might not fall under any of the extensive training that any of them have received, and instead another medical professional must be called in.  (I wonder if Dr. House might be interested in taking my case, though I better hurry before he finishes his final season.) 

Now I'm sure that many of those reading this might by now think you have a pretty good idea or two of who might best be consulted (and I might even be tempted agree with you), but instead I think that I would to take these thematic medical complaints to their absurdly logical conclusion.  Yes that's it!  Dorothy did after all have one other companion on her journey through Oz that I have yet to consider ... Toto.  I need to get on the phone with a local veterinarian first thing tomorrow ....

TFP Column: Hilary Hearing

I exchanged a few words with TFP Editor-in-Chief Michael Miller this week about some things that I was working on, specifically about an effort that was coming together on cheap political theater of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's testimony before the House and Senate committees.  Michael gave me just enough incentive to follow through on the effort that I was working on (he didn't refuse to use it).

While I was willing to take on what should be considered to be "the most disappointing debut since Star Wars Episode I" in a couple of different ways in a misguided attempt to make it marginally more informative than the weekly farm report, the effort left me with so little creative energy left that I could even come up with a clever title to go with it.  As a result, what you will get on the TFP website this week remained the "Hilary Hearing".   (Sorry about that....)

Fortunately, those of you who take the time to follow a few of the other efforts in this weekend's edition will find not only more interesting titles and stories, you will also find out what's going on in the Glass City these days.  There's cold and snow forecast for those of you in Northwest Ohio anyway, so why not curl up in front of a fire with Toledo's largest Sunday circulation (and Ohio's best weekly) newspaper, the Toledo Free Press.

                

Stormy Weather

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky ... Stormy weather"

Sure, it's the opening line from a 1933 song by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, but it's also a pretty apt description of the furor surrounding a recent column by Toledo Free Press editor-in-chief Michael Miller. It seems that Michael took umbrage with District 9 Republican candidate for the House Rich Iott's wearing of a Waffen SS uniform while participating in his hobby of war re-enactment and how it might impact his ability to serve as a NW Ohio representative in Congress.

I can't and won't say that I agree with all of Michael's reasoning in his offering, and in fact I wrote a piece in the same edition espousing a different point of view (an effort which seemed to go largely unnoticed in the furor to tar and feather both Michael and the TFP).

I am not exposed to the same sources of information that Michael is exposed to both locally or nationally however, nor do I travel in the same circles in NW Ohio that he does; so I recognize that there may be facts in evidence that he may be aware of that I am not. This hasn't changed my opinion of Mr Iott, who I believe would be much better for the future of NW Ohio than incumbent Rep Marcy Kaptur; nor has it changed my opinion of Michael Miller, someone I believe likewise serves the best interests of Toledo and NW Ohio.

There have been many well-documented efforts on the part of Mr Miller and the TFP to support worthy causes, worthy candidates, and worthy values in the area; efforts that have earned both due respect and praise. I would venture to say as well, that while he and the TFP now find themselves under fire from the right, that they found themselves under equal pressure from other directions when supporting the United Way's right to tear down their own building, or when shining a less than flattering light on the 'business as usual' politics in both the mayor's office and city council in Toledo.

According to the response that I read in some of the local blogs, the comments to the column, and the subsequent letters-to-the-editor sent to the Free Press itself, I appear to find myself in the minority (something that I have grown used to over the years). Apparently the TFP was so evil and close-minded that it even allowed follow up pieces by others (people that I also respect) in the following edition. It does seem strange to me however, that so many apparent long-time friends and fans are ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater in the case of Mr Miller and the TFP because he has written something that they disagree with. It also seems strange to me that some are now attempting to define all of Michael's efforts by this one piece, condemning him with faint praise and vowing to end their relationship with him and the paper.

As my own efforts going forward will show (including one this weekend), I have not. And while I understand that strong feelings can often come in the days leading up to an election, the decision of so many to make so abrupt a break with a such positive force in a city that needs all that it can get is something of a disappointment to me. I know that I have any number of friends and family that disagree with my opinions, and some rather strongly. I share many spirited debates with those loved ones and colleagues whose opinions I value and likewise totally disagree with. So I was forced to ask myself:

• Would these same people sever ties with a family member for expressing a view that they don't agree with?
• Would these same people abandon a friendship with someone because they voiced an opinion or voted for a candidate that they opposed?
• Would they judge either friend or family on the basis of 1% of the views that they espouse, when they agree with the other 99%?

If any of this is the case, perhaps the relationship was not all that can or should be expected of what I at least would define as friendship.

Perhaps this outpouring of well-intentioned and strongly-held opinion is exactly what so many are saying is wrong with politics today. Perhaps some are so concerned with winning the game that they will abandon both a friend and the willingness to concede that someone else might have a valid point of view in trying to do so.

Let me say once again and for the record, I will not.

I waited this long to write anything on the subject in the hopes that somehow the apparent frenzy and furor would subside, that the clouds would part and the sun would begin to shine once again on Toledo and The Free Press. We may need to wait to see the results of the election however, before the dust settles on yet another cycle of campaign rhetoric amped up to the volume of 'fighting words' and cooler heads can prevail. Meanwhile, as recent climatic disturbances have shown us, this is indeed the season for both real and political stormy weather.