To Have Sprung Spring

I'm getting bad at updating The AstroSite. But this is by no means a precedent. My excuses include finals week, a six day trip to Seattle, the Oregon Society for Neuroscience meeting, and an approaching tax deadline. But enough excuses. The important thing is that it's spring! While those that know me will know well enough that my favorite season (by far) is autumn, the paganite within me celebrates all seasons. And spring is no different. Yes my fellow cyber friends, an organic rebirth is among us. Spring is "springing" all around. I've noticed that spring in the Pacific Northwest, as opposed to the Midwest, is dominated by tree flowers. And as you probably are aware, there are many trees in Portland, hence many, many flowers. In fact, as polluted as city air may be, right now my bike commute really does smell like roses. And the foliage is of pink and white confetti. This maternal environment arouses equanimity and anticipation -- it is as though our ancestral genes relax after helping the organism though the "Dead Seasons" of fall and winter.

I think many of us share these feelings when spring arrives, so much so, that maybe we should move the New Year to April 1st. It is hard to find motivation for change -- of which is the nature of most new year resolutions -- in the dark, cold (and wet in Portland) days of January. This is especially relevant to the popular American ambition to lose weight. January 1st may be the WORST date to decide to diet, maybe in part because our genetic baggage is expecting more months of starvation. Moreover, it is more difficult to exercise in the cold and dark winter days. But the spring...Ah, this season is nearly texting your mobile phone with words of encouragement to go outside and play.

So be it. Forget January 1st. This Saturday, April 1st is the New Year, 2006 (realize that also makes you three months younger). Nurture all that callused baggage you've accumulated over the past six months and reveal something new. Something beautiful. Something alive. Millions of other species, from insects to oak trees, are heeding the same advice. Why should we be any different?

Hometown Reds

I've got the blues over the Reds in my home state. With help from a religious conservative base, South Dakota made it a crime this week to perform an abortion, except in the rare case to save the mother's life. I strongly oppose this law. There are a number of reasons as to why I oppose -- even abhor -- this new law, but I will expound on just one reason here for the sake of brevity. Importantly, I can respect a difference of opinion. I will not harangue, rather, I will elicit one of my perspectives as dialogue.

Outlawing abortion is another major advance toward outlawing our American freedoms. Americans are currently experiencing unprecedented freedom restrictions under the Patriot Act and other less-characterized laws. For example, it is currently legal to be imprisoned indefinitely without a warrant, have our phone conversations tapped and our mail opened, have our bank records monitored, and even have our houses searched without a warrant. At the same rate, when our "leaders" speak publicly, protestors are restricted to "Free Speech Zones" (oxymoron alert!), which are sometimes placed blocks away from the speaker's location. And all of this is tolerated in the name of security.

This includes the latest attack on our freedom, South Dakota's abortion ban. In eyes of the anti-choice individual, "The unborn are now safe from abortion and have been granted the freedom of a human citizen". Biology aside (which I admit is difficult for me), freedoms have simply transferred, not increased. A fetus will now indeed be granted the freedom to mature in South Dakota (assuming it even can mature in the case of incest). But once that fetus matures and is born as an infant, there will now be two people with restricted freedoms instead of one. There will be little freedom for the new mother and child, as both will not find much help from our bankrupt social services system. A vast number of abortions are performed because the mother is too poor, too uneducated, too young, too sick, or too unstable to raise a child properly. The result from these women delivering children will burden primarily mother and child, followed by the public, thereby further limiting everyone's freedoms. Obviously, the ideal solution is to prevent these pregnancies from happening in the first place. But power begets freedom. And when one is born without power (e.g. poor and uneducated), one is likely to grow up without the power. This is the system that maintains the freedom of powerful people -- such as the people voting to outlaw abortion in South Dakota. Hence, the social service system will be burdened even more by eliminating abortions. This increases the crime rate, including rape and prostitution, and the cycle repeats exponentially, leaving everyone less secure. How ironical.

For the cause of preserving the freedoms of every American citizen, especially that of the mother, I reject any attempts to outlaw abortion in the United States. If you reject the South Dakota law, there are many ways your voice can be heard, one of which is by hitting South Dakota where it would hurt most: tourism. Send your intents to boycott visiting South Dakota by contacting the Secretary of the Department of Tourism and State Development, James Hagan, and the Director of the Office of Tourism, Billie Joe Waara, via e-mail at: sdinfo@state.sd.us

Yarrrrrhhhhhh!!!!

Yes, I'm still alive; no I have not become a pirate (although I've been tempted to try that career). I just realized that it has been a while since I've updated The Astrosite. Unfortunately, the site will remain unintelligibly updated for a little longer. I have been blessed with visitors for the past two weeks, which managed to push off updating this blog and a LOT of school work -- until now; hence the Yarrrrrrrhhhh! If only international "Talk Like A Pirate Day" was more than once a year (it's currently on September 19th). What a great holiday! I've been kicking around the pirate talk lately since my good friend, Josh, and I crawled the pubs of Portland last weekend, proving that beer really can stimulate intelligible conversation. So me mateys, hang in there and the Astrosite will be back soon (insert here a parrot voice summarizing the main point -- GAWK!!!). There is much to discuss. Much to discuss. Especially my vociferous little home state and its intent to move AWAY from the 21st Century -- in addition to the recent abortion ban, it is now legal to ride and horse and bicycle while drunk. Yarrrrrhhhhh!!!!!

To keep you interested until we meet again, copy this link into your browser:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_A_Pirate_Day