Disappearance of Nature

 

When we moved here to sunny San Diego County, we chose a city that was more rural than city.   With cows grazing in fields, orange groves, and huge gardens that sold produce in road-side stands, we loved it.  The hills around us were covered with rocky outcrops with patches of manzanita bushes and sage. 

What a pleasure to be outside!  Wind from the west sent the smell of cows (and manure) our way (I grew up on a farm). The north wind gave us eucalyptus.  From the south came the sweet citrus orange blossoms.  The eastern winds from San Jacinto Mountains and deserts always delivered a migraine to my brain.

That was 35 years ago, and life in California changes at a rapid pace.

On the hills we now see expensive homes with a superior view.  The rocks are still there, but for how long?  Until another housing developer blasts them away?

The cows grazed on mighty expensive land, it turned out.  Those lovely black and white cows were moved out and a new high school moved in with parking lots.

The brittle eucalyptus trees grow at an alarming rate.  We had four and had to remove them; they were a danger to houses around us.  Brought here by Spanish padres from Australia, those trees took over the state.  Not a source of lumber since the trees shattered and burned easily, the trees are removed from some neighborhoods.

At one time, orange groves once covered large parts of southern California.  Once a heavenly-scented place to live, the groves are gone with houses in their place.  The grove to the south of us sat for years on a big corner lot.  Ignored, oranges dropped and rotted on the ground.  Without water, the trees were gnarled dwarfs.  

Yesterday, on a drive to the store in that area, I was shocked to see the trees bulldozed into a pile in the middle.  The lot was valuable and had been sold. 

So, the only thing that remains is the Santa Ana wind from the east. Santa Ana winds unfortunately will always blow through my head and sinuses, a wind tunnel of misery.

This was posted in 2012.  Since then, there are more houses and less of everything else. Such is life, here in California.

 

John Cleese and The Life of Brian

 

 Life of Brian

Cancel culture has its sights set on comedy.Unfortunately, it’s having a major negative impact on movies and comedic performances. But Monty Python’s John Cleese refuses to bow to the woke trans mob and won’t remove this one joke from a classic movie.

Offensive in today’s environment?

The hilarious scene features a man claiming that he is a woman and that he can have a baby.

Cleese is currently working on a stage production of Monty Python’s Life of Brian, a 1979 movie about a man who is mistaken for Jesus Christ.

However, actors in the stage version have allegedly told Cleese one scene would need to be cut out of the reproduction because it was offensive in today’s environment.

The scene in question features a character named “Stan”, who wants to become a woman and have babies.

“I want to be a woman,” Stan declares. “From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta.”

Cleese’s character Reg looks at him and bewilderingly asks, “What?”

“It’s my right as a man,” Stan fires back at Reg.

“It’s every man’s right to have babies”

The scene goes on and gets even funnier and more prophetic.

When asked why he wants to be a woman, Stan said because “I want to have babies.”

“You want to have babies?” Reg replies.

“It’s every man’s right to have babies if he wants them,” Stan yells.

When Reg informs Stan that he “can’t have babies,” Stan plays the victim card and tells him “don’t you oppress me.”

“I’m not oppressing you, Stan, you haven’t got a womb,” Reg replied. “Where’s the fetus going to gestate? You gonna keep it in a box?”

Other characters in the scene agree that Stan can’t have babies but do believe he should have the “right to have babies.”

“What’s the point of fighting for his right to have babies when he can’t have babies?” Reg responded.

Another character answered that “it is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.”

Reg then said Stan has a “struggle with reality” for thinking he can give birth to a baby.

Monty Python is “transphobic”

Of course, critics claim the scene in the movie from 44 years ago is “transphobic.”

However, conservatives argue that it’s prophetic.

But despite the controversy, Cleese has confirmed he will not be removing the scene from the upcoming stage show of Life of Brian.

“A few days ago I spoke to an audience outside London,” Cleese wrote on Twitter. “I told them I was adapting the Life of Brian so that we could do it as a stage show ( NOT a musical ). I said that we’d had a table reading of the latest draft in NYC a year ago and that all the actors – several of them Tony winners – had advised me strongly to cut the Loretta scene. I have, of course, no intention of doing so.”

Cleese went on to say about the actors in the upcoming production that “these were absolutely top-class Broadway performers and they were adamant that we would not get away with doing the scene in NYC! I asked them, ‘Are Python fans not going to come because we’re doing a scene they’ve been laughing at for 40 years?'”

Cleese is exactly right.

Variety.com 

 This is a copy/cut/paste gem. We saw Life of Brian at least 30 years ago, still laugh at it and the Monty Python geniuses. 

 

On the other side of the curtain

 

You wake up the morning, thinking of the plans for the day.  It is a day off from work, and a full ten hours of daylight lie before you.  Movies?  Go shopping?  Visit friends or relatives?  Go out for lunch?

But, no.  A migraine has woken you up, sends you to the emergency room.  The ER is packed with people elbow to elbow, jockeying for a spare chair.  It is a holiday and all the doctors’ offices are closed.  Everyone in a city of 130,000 is lined up to get help for something.

I was there, oh yes, I was there.  A migraine had emptied me out and left me a dried up worm of a person in agonizing pain.

During eight of those ten daylight hours, an appreciation for the plights of men swept over me.

When a gurney surrounded by curtains became available, I finally was allowed to lie down. In the bright cubicle with my eyes covered, my super hearing kicked in, and unwillingly, I became part of the drama* taking place on either side of me.

 

 

 

To my left? Oh, man. 

On the other side of the curtain a young man (early twenties, maybe) had come in with chest pains.  Thinking it was the remnant of bronchitis from weeks ago, the man/boy talked with the doctor.  His answers to standard questions rang an alarm in my own chest.  Drugs?  Uh, not for a couple of weeks, only ‘coke and some weed.  Drinking binge?  Uh, only a few beers.
 

His answers were always followed by a silence

Each question was asked in different ways.  Tests were run, more questions asked.  Then the man/boy was left alone.  No friends or family brought him in; no one sat holding his hand.

Doctors came in, one after another, to talk with him.  Each time the questions were the same, but the answers came closer and closer to the truth.

Ultimately, the cardiologist came in; he had the results of a Cardio-Ultrasound, which he showed to the man/boy.  Enlarged heart.  Stroke level blood pressure.  Tell me again…drugs…?

The truth came out in almost inaudible whispers.  The next words from the doctor were that this man/boy was being admitted to cardiac care unit, and then if there was any family to be called. 

His gurney with all its attached IVs and monitors were wheeled away with the young man/boy in stunned silence.

The ‘mom’ in me wanted to go with him, hold his hand, pray with/for him.  The first two I couldn’t do, but prayer was what I could manage. 

Then I was released after getting a ton of drugs that would kill the monster migraine and restore me.

The other side of the curtain—you never know what you will learn at the end of the day.

...and the curtains come down....