Saturday 8 o’clock
I can’t tell if it’s raining
Ranginui and Papatuanuku
have come together during the night
Her mist, his cloud – one
The sons have not woken and pushed them apart
(Unlike our daughter who pulls me up to get
chocolate milk, cornflakes, turn on the TV)
There is no lagoon to be seen
Until I am at its edge
Everything is wet
Even the air
But it is not raining
I am happy to have the world
and me
removed from view this morning
Be pushed inwards
to focus only
on running
home
© June 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Stopping Smacking: A Small Step Towards Peace
A proponent of the Referendum on Child Discipline 2009 was being interviewed on the radio. My mouth fell open in shock as I listened to him expounding upon the harmlessness of smacking and the trauma that’s being imposed on perfectly good parents who occasionally smack their children. He made it sound like smacking was a necessary part of child-rearing.
I felt like ringing in to say ‘I have never had to hit my daughter. She has never done anything that would warrant a smack, even if I believed in smacking. What’s wrong with you people?!’ I felt my self-righteousness and checked myself. There I found a few spots of shame: times I’d rather forget, when the frustration or worse, anger had escalated and won expression. I don’t remember what my daughter did, just my bad behaviour, regret and tears. It’s true, I have never hit my daughter – but, when she was a baby I did once plonk her quite roughly back on to her cot next to me. Once, I gripped her upper arms hard when I lifted her from something to put her perhaps on to her bed; I did reach out and grab her pony tail as she ran, against warnings, towards the street curb; I have raised my voice or gritted my teeth and growled under my breath. I also knew immediately what I’d done was not okay and I apologized to her.
I remembered that I have been triggered many times. Some of those times I was teleported to the dimension of strikers and smackers. Momentarily, I hung on the edge of joining them and I understood. Then, I would catch and change the way I was reacting. No wonder people hit children, I would think. How can a world of people, who were hit themselves as children, who have been filled with senseless rules and dictates about what children should and should not do, exactly when they’re told to do it – how can they, with minimal education, low emotional intelligence and little insight, raised in a world where violence and conflict is normalised, swearing, road rage, disdain, jealousy, belittling a part of every day family life – how can they be expected to recognize in an instant an irrational thought and find instead their own cognition at fault, their own behaviour playing out in their child?
And this is where we’re at in New Zealand. There are people like me and my sister who as children, were smacked and whacked, yelled at and put down; who have lived hard with the damage of it, and worked hard to overcome it; who have vowed not to be like our parents. There are no doubt people who had loving supportive childhoods and violence against their children is not an instinct they have to fight against. And then there are those who don’t even know how they are damaged and how damaging their violence is to the next and future generations.
Whilst they fight for the right to smack their children, some humans at the cutting edge of a better future recognize that smacking is just one small act on a continuum of violent behaviours; that a peaceful world, the eradication of poverty even and achieving harmonic living with the environment is dependent upon individual acts of parenting. This is brilliantly explained, for those academically minded, by Robin Grille in his 2005 book ‘Parenting for a peaceful world’ (published by Longueville Media, Australia). For those who would struggle with a 394 page text, let alone comprehend it - we have laws. Let the law stand to protect the children – Vote Yes.
I felt like ringing in to say ‘I have never had to hit my daughter. She has never done anything that would warrant a smack, even if I believed in smacking. What’s wrong with you people?!’ I felt my self-righteousness and checked myself. There I found a few spots of shame: times I’d rather forget, when the frustration or worse, anger had escalated and won expression. I don’t remember what my daughter did, just my bad behaviour, regret and tears. It’s true, I have never hit my daughter – but, when she was a baby I did once plonk her quite roughly back on to her cot next to me. Once, I gripped her upper arms hard when I lifted her from something to put her perhaps on to her bed; I did reach out and grab her pony tail as she ran, against warnings, towards the street curb; I have raised my voice or gritted my teeth and growled under my breath. I also knew immediately what I’d done was not okay and I apologized to her.
I remembered that I have been triggered many times. Some of those times I was teleported to the dimension of strikers and smackers. Momentarily, I hung on the edge of joining them and I understood. Then, I would catch and change the way I was reacting. No wonder people hit children, I would think. How can a world of people, who were hit themselves as children, who have been filled with senseless rules and dictates about what children should and should not do, exactly when they’re told to do it – how can they, with minimal education, low emotional intelligence and little insight, raised in a world where violence and conflict is normalised, swearing, road rage, disdain, jealousy, belittling a part of every day family life – how can they be expected to recognize in an instant an irrational thought and find instead their own cognition at fault, their own behaviour playing out in their child?
And this is where we’re at in New Zealand. There are people like me and my sister who as children, were smacked and whacked, yelled at and put down; who have lived hard with the damage of it, and worked hard to overcome it; who have vowed not to be like our parents. There are no doubt people who had loving supportive childhoods and violence against their children is not an instinct they have to fight against. And then there are those who don’t even know how they are damaged and how damaging their violence is to the next and future generations.
Whilst they fight for the right to smack their children, some humans at the cutting edge of a better future recognize that smacking is just one small act on a continuum of violent behaviours; that a peaceful world, the eradication of poverty even and achieving harmonic living with the environment is dependent upon individual acts of parenting. This is brilliantly explained, for those academically minded, by Robin Grille in his 2005 book ‘Parenting for a peaceful world’ (published by Longueville Media, Australia). For those who would struggle with a 394 page text, let alone comprehend it - we have laws. Let the law stand to protect the children – Vote Yes.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
New Zealand's Smokefree Future
Some time in the not too distant future... every time adults book in to see a Health Professional (HP) their smoking risk will be assessed electronically based on their health record and, if necessary, the HP will be alerted to ask about and update smoking status data. This will be uploaded in real time to a national register. The register will return immediately, a brief report detailing years smoked, risk factors for smoking-related illness and premature death (such as, genetic predisposition for lung cancer) and any alerts for the HP to action, such as conducting a lung function test and/or prescribing cessation treatment.
There will be a wider range of faster-acting nicotine replacement products and highly effective pharmacotherapies for the HP to discuss with clients. For instance, there will be a vaccine that will be used for cessation, prevention of relapse and for prevention of uptake among adolescents at high risk of uptake.
The register will send automated (electronic) reminders (via txt, email and other online networking systems) to quit at opportune times (i.e. times determined to be linked with increased quit attempts, such as in the weeks leading up to a birthday, or in the lead up to New Year); and short communications about new cessation treatments, Quit&Win competitions and local treatment programme offers.
This will be possible to do because smoking will be confined to a minority of the population and that minority will belong to a number of discrete sub-sections of the population: (mental health and addiction treatment service users; non-English speaking migrant males and, to a lesser extent, females from countries with high male (and female) smoking prevalence rates; lower socio-economic Pākehā and Māori; some lower socio-economic Pacific Island groups (including Cook Island & Nuiean men and women, Samoan and Tonga men). Smoking prevalence will be higher among people who belong to more than one of these groups.
A national register was warranted, since half of smokers die from a smoking-related disease, and many more suffer debilitating smoking-related illnesses, thus health gains could be pursued and achieved for well over half of the registrants.
Smoking in all public places is banned. Police can issue on-the spot fines for smoking in vehicles when children are in the car, but voluntary compliance is high.
People who smoke can only buy smoked tobacco online from international supply sites or from a diminishing number of local licensed retailers. They are diminishing because if they are found in breach of tobacco supply and display laws (displays of tobacco advertising of any kind including of the product is banned) they lose their license for good. Tobacco products are not sold duty free coming into New Zealand.
The price of smoked tobacco products is relatively expensive and is pegged to continue to increase at regular six-monthly increments until tobacco smoking is eliminated in New Zealand. Nicotine replacement products and some pharmacotherapies are cheaper. There are locally accessible face to face nicotine dependency treatment services and counsellors available via a national free phone and online treatment service.
Smoking is widely understood to be a symptom of nicotine dependency, at last recognised as one of the most insidious and treatment-resistant addictions.
A Ministry of Health funded Tobacco Control Authority (TCA) oversees and co-ordinates the monitoring of deaths to smoking, tobacco products sold, tobacco consumption, smoking prevalence rates, smoking initiation rates, licensed retailer numbers and smokefree laws breaches, and the reduction of Māori smoking. It has clear objectives to reduce smoking prevalence rates, by: preventing uptake of smoking, reducing the supply of smoked tobacco, and increasing the cessation success rates. The TCA co-ordinates the national Tobacco Control Strategy, which includes a fully developed research and information strategy, uptake prevention strategy, treatment strategy, and compliance strategy.
There are no mass media campaigns promoting auahi kore/smokefree or promoting quitting – any tobacco control social marketing is directly targeted at the high risk sub-sections of the population and by direct communications to registrants with a current smoking status. This way, tobacco control avoids unintentionally educating and promoting tobacco smoking to the majority of children who largely do not see smoking on a day to day basis. Children learn about smoking in the context of school based learning about mental health and addictions.
Children at high risk for smoking uptake, i.e. children whose parent/s smoked and whose trajectory predicts future membership of one of the ‘smoking’ sub-groups, are targeted for special interventions offered through schools. There are no dedicated health promotion workers who promote smokefree as such. Instead, all HPs and school counsellors are skilled to offer cessation support or referral to addiction treatment specialists.
There will be a wider range of faster-acting nicotine replacement products and highly effective pharmacotherapies for the HP to discuss with clients. For instance, there will be a vaccine that will be used for cessation, prevention of relapse and for prevention of uptake among adolescents at high risk of uptake.
The register will send automated (electronic) reminders (via txt, email and other online networking systems) to quit at opportune times (i.e. times determined to be linked with increased quit attempts, such as in the weeks leading up to a birthday, or in the lead up to New Year); and short communications about new cessation treatments, Quit&Win competitions and local treatment programme offers.
This will be possible to do because smoking will be confined to a minority of the population and that minority will belong to a number of discrete sub-sections of the population: (mental health and addiction treatment service users; non-English speaking migrant males and, to a lesser extent, females from countries with high male (and female) smoking prevalence rates; lower socio-economic Pākehā and Māori; some lower socio-economic Pacific Island groups (including Cook Island & Nuiean men and women, Samoan and Tonga men). Smoking prevalence will be higher among people who belong to more than one of these groups.
A national register was warranted, since half of smokers die from a smoking-related disease, and many more suffer debilitating smoking-related illnesses, thus health gains could be pursued and achieved for well over half of the registrants.
Smoking in all public places is banned. Police can issue on-the spot fines for smoking in vehicles when children are in the car, but voluntary compliance is high.
People who smoke can only buy smoked tobacco online from international supply sites or from a diminishing number of local licensed retailers. They are diminishing because if they are found in breach of tobacco supply and display laws (displays of tobacco advertising of any kind including of the product is banned) they lose their license for good. Tobacco products are not sold duty free coming into New Zealand.
The price of smoked tobacco products is relatively expensive and is pegged to continue to increase at regular six-monthly increments until tobacco smoking is eliminated in New Zealand. Nicotine replacement products and some pharmacotherapies are cheaper. There are locally accessible face to face nicotine dependency treatment services and counsellors available via a national free phone and online treatment service.
Smoking is widely understood to be a symptom of nicotine dependency, at last recognised as one of the most insidious and treatment-resistant addictions.
A Ministry of Health funded Tobacco Control Authority (TCA) oversees and co-ordinates the monitoring of deaths to smoking, tobacco products sold, tobacco consumption, smoking prevalence rates, smoking initiation rates, licensed retailer numbers and smokefree laws breaches, and the reduction of Māori smoking. It has clear objectives to reduce smoking prevalence rates, by: preventing uptake of smoking, reducing the supply of smoked tobacco, and increasing the cessation success rates. The TCA co-ordinates the national Tobacco Control Strategy, which includes a fully developed research and information strategy, uptake prevention strategy, treatment strategy, and compliance strategy.
There are no mass media campaigns promoting auahi kore/smokefree or promoting quitting – any tobacco control social marketing is directly targeted at the high risk sub-sections of the population and by direct communications to registrants with a current smoking status. This way, tobacco control avoids unintentionally educating and promoting tobacco smoking to the majority of children who largely do not see smoking on a day to day basis. Children learn about smoking in the context of school based learning about mental health and addictions.
Children at high risk for smoking uptake, i.e. children whose parent/s smoked and whose trajectory predicts future membership of one of the ‘smoking’ sub-groups, are targeted for special interventions offered through schools. There are no dedicated health promotion workers who promote smokefree as such. Instead, all HPs and school counsellors are skilled to offer cessation support or referral to addiction treatment specialists.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
THE PANMURE LAGOON
Third morning in a row, out for
a run around the lagoon
which is a misnomer
– it’s actually a volcanic crater
we live on
& run around the rim
You can’t help feeling morally superior
being right there when the sun eases up
& lays her golden sight upon the frosted grass
The crater, now at sea level
fills and empties with the tide
full this morning
the water lies like solid glass
it’s good to be reminded of the age of the earth
& how individually we are hardly here at all
except that we act collectively
(like graffiti vandals driven by their pointlessness)
to carve the deepest scar
© 2009
a run around the lagoon
which is a misnomer
– it’s actually a volcanic crater
we live on
& run around the rim
You can’t help feeling morally superior
being right there when the sun eases up
& lays her golden sight upon the frosted grass
The crater, now at sea level
fills and empties with the tide
full this morning
the water lies like solid glass
it’s good to be reminded of the age of the earth
& how individually we are hardly here at all
except that we act collectively
(like graffiti vandals driven by their pointlessness)
to carve the deepest scar
© 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Fighting A War No One Seems To Care About
In the future I hope 'the people' will be more aware that the wars we need to be fighting are with the Corporates - Industries (eg. the Tobacco, Gambling, Artificial Baby Milk, Alcohol & FakeFood Industries). The Federation is here, but embryonic. I'm stuck in the Matrix. How can I get out and rewrite the program? Why wasn't I born next century or the one after that? The widespread ignorance is stupefying.
Why am I feeling so stunned – like I’ve been hit with a Tazer gun? Of course it's tragic that 243 people died here and 7 died there - but why doesn't the media ever say anything about the 4.9 million, yep 4.9 MILLION people who have died, are dying now, will die, this year from tobacco smoking?
Why am I feeling so stunned – like I’ve been hit with a Tazer gun? Of course it's tragic that 243 people died here and 7 died there - but why doesn't the media ever say anything about the 4.9 million, yep 4.9 MILLION people who have died, are dying now, will die, this year from tobacco smoking?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
LOSING THE PREGNANCY FLAB
One great benefit of breastfeeding is that I was able to eat like a pig. Problem is that when we stopped, after two and a half years, I probably kept eating for two. Combine that with pushing past 45 and before long I was over 70kg. It was when I was going to have to go up a size that I realized walking three times a week just wasn’t enough anymore. Lucky for me, I overheard two colleagues talking about doing a duathlon. “What’s a duathlon?” I asked. When I learned that I could walk and ride – not run and there was no swimming, I thought maybe I could do it. So, my partner borrowed a bike and February 08 I did my first REAL Women Duathlon.
The first one took me about an hour and a half. That was walking 3.5ks, riding 10ks and walking a further 1.5ks. It was hard, but I finished and that was the start of it. I did two more REAL Women Duathlons that summer and a Sarah Ulmer (SUB) Molenberg 5k walk. Then winter came and the events were over. I hadn’t lost any weight, but I did feel fitter and I’d started to try and jog a bit. Winter stews and short days with little hope of getting home in time to walk around the lagoon made the onset of winter that much gloomier.
Then I found the XTERRA Auckland Trail Series. It was a leap to commit to a running event and one that was mixed gender, but I had to do something. Walking and even riding wasn't bringing the weight down. I decided to try one. I registered for the short course, of course, which was to be about 5ks. I knew I could do that. What I hadn’t foreseen was how hard it would be to do hills. But running through the bush, on my own (because everyone else had taken off) was great. The bush has always been a healing place for me, so it sort of offset some of the physically hard part of it. I had to walk a lot still, up the hills, but I finished and was hooked. One event a month seemed manageable with fulltime work and a daughter and very little time to train. I kept going all through winter and did all 6! To celebrate, I capped it off with a mid-course 11k XTERRA Rotorua in December.
But I still had only lost 1-2kgs! People kept telling me ‘but muscle weighs more than fat.’ Was this how it was going to have to be from now on? Was I going to have to keep up the running, keep on doing these events and training for them?
The first one took me about an hour and a half. That was walking 3.5ks, riding 10ks and walking a further 1.5ks. It was hard, but I finished and that was the start of it. I did two more REAL Women Duathlons that summer and a Sarah Ulmer (SUB) Molenberg 5k walk. Then winter came and the events were over. I hadn’t lost any weight, but I did feel fitter and I’d started to try and jog a bit. Winter stews and short days with little hope of getting home in time to walk around the lagoon made the onset of winter that much gloomier.
Then I found the XTERRA Auckland Trail Series. It was a leap to commit to a running event and one that was mixed gender, but I had to do something. Walking and even riding wasn't bringing the weight down. I decided to try one. I registered for the short course, of course, which was to be about 5ks. I knew I could do that. What I hadn’t foreseen was how hard it would be to do hills. But running through the bush, on my own (because everyone else had taken off) was great. The bush has always been a healing place for me, so it sort of offset some of the physically hard part of it. I had to walk a lot still, up the hills, but I finished and was hooked. One event a month seemed manageable with fulltime work and a daughter and very little time to train. I kept going all through winter and did all 6! To celebrate, I capped it off with a mid-course 11k XTERRA Rotorua in December.
But I still had only lost 1-2kgs! People kept telling me ‘but muscle weighs more than fat.’ Was this how it was going to have to be from now on? Was I going to have to keep up the running, keep on doing these events and training for them?
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