Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Graffiti: 29th Avenue Railway (Oakland, CA)

Posted: November 26, 2013 in Art, History, Politics
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You may have noticed me posting lots of photos. You probably don’t know that I went to the Academy of Art University in SF briefly for photography, or that graffiti has been my muse since before I could work a camera. Specifically, the graffiti along the Caltrain and BART tracks here in the Bay Area is what got me into photography. At this point I have about a decade of photos if you include my really old ones from my crappy film camera (not 35mm, a point and shoot).

I am working on a graffiti art book that is a history of Bay Area graffiti. This post includes some of the finished shots, not sure if and when I will get around to posting more. These photos were taken in 2008, I did not record the month but I would guess it was in the fall, by the overcast skies. These are my photos but the art is not mine, the art belongs to the countless graffiti artists of the world. I want this book to be a record of the amazing works they have constructed for our pleasure in the most uncanny and ephemeral of places. The beauty of graffiti art is its zen nature, it exists by creation and destruction. Without the constant painting over of old graffiti we would never get space for new works, thus it must be temporary, but that doesn’t make the loss of good work any more bearable. Someone, in this case me, should preserve the work before it is lost to the sands of time. That is why I am working on my book.

All praise to the artists.

The Maintenance Man

Narwahl

 

Fuego 64

 

Doorway

Don’t Wake Sleeping Dragons

Kulture Soldier

A Taste Of Oakland

PhotoPoem – Red & Black

Posted: November 23, 2013 in Art, History, Poetry, Politics
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In the stanza about Emma Goldman the word read is pronounced in the past tense (phonetically red), this is meant to be a play on words but I worry it may not read well.

Sup B (Anonymous)

Red and Black 

Red is the color of passion.

The kind of passion that spills onto the streets,

In a paroxysm of rage or a gush of blood,

The parting kiss of a billy club.

Black is no color, it is a shade.

We cloak ourselves in its cool shadows,

Covering swaddled black-blocked masses,

We stand united against the police state.

Read is what we have done to Emma Goldman,

To Marx, Kropotkin, and scores more.

Read is what they did not do to our letters and pamphlets,

Detached in towers of gilded ivory.

Black is what they will do to the images they dislike,

To the actions, thoughts and people too.

Black is what we cannot let happen to our memories,

They must be held for their crimes against life.

Red is the color of love.

The love for all beings united in struggle,

Even those not deserving of love.

We all suffer, we all face hardships.

Black is the refreshing shade of a desert oasis.

Sheltering all those who don its penumbral armor.

Even cops who dispense billy club kisses,

Stand strong in dark sunglasses, in funereal black.

Red and black are the color guard and shaded cloak of our people,

Find them wherever there is tyranny and rally to them.

Cannabinoid Profile – Cannabigerol

Posted: November 22, 2013 in Cannabis, Politics, Science
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See an updated version of this post on The Leaf Online,Cannabinoid Profile – CBG!

Cannabigerol
Formula: C21H32O2
Molecular Mass: 314.2246 g/mol
Decaboxylation Point: ????
Boiling Point:  ????
LD50 (Lethal Dose): 300mg/kg for mice (Compare to Nicotine: for mice – 3mg/kg,  for humans – 40–60 mg/kg)

Cannabigerol (CBG) is not considered psychoactive  and is known to block the psychoactive effects of THC.  It has been shown to stimulate the growth of new brain cells and bones. Neurogenic compounds are extremely rare which makes CBG a very worthwhile subject for more research. CBG also is antibacterial, anti-tumor, and aids with insomnia. It is effectively impossible to overdose on CBG; it usually exists only in trace amounts in a processed plant, this makes the already very high LD50 of 22.44g/kg even less. CBG is considered a ‘stem cell’ cannabinoid and can change into different cannabinoids, altering the overall effects of the plant. Some of these cannabinoids CBG morphs into are  THC ,CBD, and CBC which all share the same molecular formula but have a different structure.

Therapeutic Uses

Analgesic – Relieves pain.

Antibacterial – Slows bacterial growth.
Anti-Inflammatory – Reduces inflammation systemically.
Anti-Insomnia – Aids with sleep.
Anti-Proliferative – Inhibits cancer cell growth.
Bone Stimulant – Promotes bone growth.
Neurogenic – Helps stimulate the growth of new brain cells.

Currently Being Studied For

Glaucoma: A 2009 study found both CBG and THC to be very effective for relieving the intraocular pressure from glaucoma. This is an area that will undoubtedly be receiving more research in the years to come.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Much like CBD, CBG shows a lot of potential for controlling the inflammation that leads to IBD, and like CBD warrants further research.

Painkiller and Anti- Inflammatory: Recent research suggests that CBG has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties and recommends further study.

5-HT1a Receptor Agonist/Antagonist?: CBG appears to do something at the 5-HT1a receptor that is not fully understood. It modulates how other cannabinoids affect us especially at this brain site, which is the hub of emotions and depression regulation in the brain. Depending on the study evidence suggests that CBG may help your depression and anxiety, or possibly block certain anti-depressant drugs. One study in rodents showed that if the right combination of CBG and CBD were present the CBG would block some of the anti-nausea effects of the CBD, but it could not quite identify why (other than it related to the 5HT1a receptor).

Dravet Syndrome/Seizures: Anecdotal evidence and some current studies suggest that CBG may be beneficial to patients with Dravet and other seizure conditions. A new tincture was just released at Harborside Health Center which is the first CBG-rich tincture on the market. This tincture, named Jayden’s Juice after Jayden David, the young boy with Dravet syndrome made famous by Weed Wars, is currently what Jayden is using to combat his seizures instead of a purely CBD rich tincture. A study from earlier this year also suggests that CBG may help with seizure management, but the mechanisms aren’t fully understood.

Halent 2011 - Cannabinoid and Terpenoid Chart

References:

  1. Steep Hill Lab, Cannabinoid and Terpenoid Reference Guide; http://steephilllab.com/resources/cannabinoid-and-terpenoid-reference-guide/
  2. Skunk Pharm Research, Cannabinoid and Terpene Info; http://skunkpharmresearch.com/cannabinoid-info/
  3. SC Labs, Meet the Cannabinoids; http://sclabs.com/learn/learn-cannabinoids.html

*Note: Decarboyxlation – A chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases  CO2, often triggered by heat.

Policing For Profit?

Posted: November 22, 2013 in Cannabis, History, Politics
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You may have heard of for-proft prisons, also called private prisons, but have you heard about policing for profit? I remember a time when cops proudly branded the motto “protect and serve” on the sides of squad cars and police stations. I wonder when that was amended to be “to protect our profit margins by serving us your property?”

This is not a new problem, it goes back years with some local police pioneering the practice as early as 2006. Tenaha, Texas, was one of these pioneers and recently lost a major class action lawsuit to the countless victims of highway robbery by the police. State records show the use of asset forfeiture in Texas going back to 2001, with totals seized in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Federally, the Department of Justice claimed $1.8 billion in assets in their asset forfeiture fund. This fund has had time to build up, a good 24 years that we have records, and over that time the Feds seized over $12 billion in property, largely related  to the war on drugs. But it goes back even further than that, all the way to the founding of this country; the 4th and 5th Amendments were created to protect we citizens from abuses like these that were commonplace under the crown. Now we have come full circle and are left with robbers marauding our highways in the employ of “the crown” of the imperial presidency.

You may begin seeing a common thread developing here, black and Latino people are stopped by (almost exclusively) white cops, and forced to turn over all kinds of personal possessions not related to crimes, especially since they are innocent of crimes. Take this case out of Tenaha, the individuals stopped were not breaking any laws; contrary to popular belief it is legal to possess a pipe (for tobacco or as a gift, like in this case). When they get to the police station they see a pile of watches, jewelry, and other valuables; that sounds like a Robin Hood-esque pile of plunder but perversed and reversed stealing from the unfortunate to give to privileged white cops.

I normally don’t use Privilege Talk, as I feel its often counter-productive, but the ability to legally rob someone under threat of pain or imprisonment is certainly a privilege, and it was clearly abused. Is abused, this isn’t over because one class action lawsuit was won. There are local police and federal agents across the country still doing this. A major raid of more than a dozen state-legal dispensaries and two private residences just happened in Denver, Colorado. While on paper the federal and local agents involve claim it is a hunt for connections to Colombian drug cartels, it is also an informal reason to confiscate over $2 million in jewelry and money as well as another million in cannabis plants. As someone who works in the medical cannabis industry I want the bad players out of the game more than anyone. Unfortunately it does sound like there are people with cartel ties in Denver, but more unfortunately it sounds like Feds used this as a blank check to smash and grab all over the place.

This issue of civil asset forfeiture feeds into related issues of racial profiling and stop and frisk abuse, like this extreme case in Florida which is also resulting in a class action lawsuit against an abusive local police force. Yet again it is mainly white cops harassing and abusing non-white folks.

Read for yourself:

“Earl Sampson has been stopped and questioned by Miami Gardens police 258 times in four years. He’s been searched more than 100 times. And arrested and jailed 56 times. Despite his long rap sheet, Sampson, 28, has never been convicted of anything more serious than possession of marijuana. Miami Gardens police have arrested Sampson 62 times for one offense: trespassing. Almost every citation was issued at the same place: the 207 Quickstop, a convenience store on 207th Street in Miami Gardens. But Sampson isn’t loitering. He works as a clerk at the Quickstop.”

I’m not sure what about that one can consider police doing their job. It sounds like they have a vendetta against Mr. Sampson and the 207 Quikstop. It wasn’t just Earl though, police regularly harassed countless customers of the 207 Quikstop, often abusing “Terry” stops to do it. A Terry stop is a stop and frisk meant to search someone suspected of committing a crime for a weapon. New York City police are famous for abusing this to practice to make NY’s legally decriminalized cannabis still illegal as long as you are poor and not white. In fact, the situation in NYC is so dire the courts have stepped in to block the practice.

This is not why we have police, they were meant to protect and serve the public, not brutalize and rob them. This is why it warms my heart to see more discussions of community policing and see police forces actively implement community policing policies.

Activist Alert: San Francisco 11/23 4-6pm

Posted: November 21, 2013 in Internet, Politics
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This is a new type of post I’m thinking about doing periodically. Like many non-profits I’m debating doing “Activism Alerts” to tell you folks about interesting or unique activism opportunities coming up in different areas. Not sure if I’ll continue it or not, but this one is too good to pass up.

I really love Restore the Fourth, though they are a new group they are very active fighting for our 4th amendment privacy rights. They are also very vocal about the need to roll back the NSA spying. Here in SF they are linked in with national heavy-hitters like the ACLU and EFF, as well as local groups like Occupy Oakland. I just began working with them a few weeks back online and have only made it out to one event so far, and I am very impressed with everything I have seen and heard.

The Restore the Fourth open strategy meeting this Saturday will be my second event and I imagine much more informative and influential going forward. As the blog title says it is from 4-6pm this Saturday the 23rd, and it will be held at Wichcraft (868 Mission St, SF). It should be a very worthwhile conversation for anyone who cares about their privacy rights, rights online, or really anyone who cares about still having rights at all (since the Federal government is working pretty hard to eliminate them).

Tea Not Prisons – Free Oshan!

Posted: November 20, 2013 in Cannabis, History, Politics
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As you may have noticed already with this blog I am strongly and decidedly against the War on Drugs. I’ve been a former chapter president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, worked with the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the Marijuana Policy Project, Americans for Safe Access and more. I was a regional director for the Proposition 19 campaign to legalize cannabis in California, which came 4% away from passing in 2010 and paved the way for 2012’s victories in Colorado and Washington. Before you begin thinking, “this guy is a drug legalizing radical,” recognize that I am not alone, I am part of the marijuana majority.

I feel that the war on drugs is one of the most important proxy battles we can fight for freedom. While there are numerous battlefields, I feel that the war on drugs, and the Prison Industrial Complex it feeds, is one of the most insidious evils perpetuated by my government, making it my battle to win. Though not my only battle.

Now, if there is only thing  I like about as much as I love cannabis it is tea. I have always loved it, green, white, black, oolong, sencha, rooibos, chai, loose leaf, bagged – tea is tea and it is a wonderful thing. I do not personally know Oshan Anand, though many of my friends do. I only found out about his amazing tea house and all the work he has done for Bay Area tea culture after he was sent to prison for intent to distribute MDMA and psychedelic mushrooms; both charges he plead not guilty to and is appealing. If you weren’t aware, court isn’t cheap and running a tea house is not normally how one gets rich. Oshan needs our help if he is going to get his appeal and get out before his 12.5 year  mandatory minimum sentence.

If you are like me and part of a growing majority of Americans who feels that the drug war is criminally wrong please take after my example and donate to Oshan’s defense. This young man is not a criminal, we don’t have prison’s to lock up non-violent teahouse owners; prison is for hardened criminals like murders and rapists. If you can’t donate, Oshan is able to take letters; please write Oshan and help return the sense of community to his life that has been stolen from him by the state.

While this post has focused solely on Oshan Anand, someone who to the naked eye is “a white guy,” the vast majority of those incarcerated for drug crimes are under 25, male, and black or latino. The arrest disparity is so bad it has been rightfully called The New Jim Crow and led to the creation of Orange is the New Black, who’s title is a subtle shout out to all the inmates in orange working as slave labor for Walmart.

As a last comment, while I referred to Oshan as a “white guy,” I loathe that term. I used it because he, like me, passes as white to the naked eye and thus will get pigeon-holed as ‘an awful white male oppressor’ by strangers who can’t be bothered to learn who he/I really are. That whole logic of, “you’re X/Y/Z you won’t understand” is a way to keep people down and divided, while ignoring a myriad of diversity. Diversity, like how Oshan and I are Buddhists; or how I am white and genderqueer. One can assume by Oshan Anand’s name there is something non-white there, like my own smattering of Cherokee. There is more to diversity than skin-color, but when you are talking about prison it is ignorant of the facts to ignore race.

Please, donate to Oshan’s defense, help him and every non-violent drug offender get their Constitutionally guaranteed freedom.

A New Chapter In Police Violence

Posted: November 18, 2013 in Cannabis, Politics
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I’m not sure if you’ve seen this video that has been making the rounds online today, where a police officer fires at five children and there mother after a traffic stop goes awry. I have mixed feelings on this one, like in many cases of supposed police brutality and other misconduct. I feel like I have a pretty solid hunch on what went wrong here and in what order, knowing that it is easy to see why it went wrong. I feel both sides acted improperly. Oriana was clearly not setting a good example for her kids, but the police were presenting an awful and barbaric image of the state.

A mother is on a family trip with her five children from Memphis to the Rio Grande, as she tells the officers during the stop. She is stopped for driving with expired tags and speeding, going 71 in a 55, a fairly common speed for American roads these days yet because of antiquated traffic laws it is considered a “serious traffic violation” in New Mexico (perhaps even reckless driving). The first problem here is a systemic issue, people habitually drive over the speed limit on every road in this country. The laws are what are on the books, written by generations past and not always applicable to our times, they are not what people habitually do.

In the traffic stop the officer informs the mother, Oriana Ferrell, that she was speeding and she is to turn off her car while he returns to his for something. She takes off and he pursues, she soon pulls over again. Presumably while pursuing he called for back up. While the dash cam subtitles show the cop saying he will be right back, perhaps his exact words were more ambiguous, perhaps they had a miscommunication and that is why Oriana drove off.

The second time around he opens the drivers door and asks her to get out. At this point she mentions the family trip and specifies that she is not trying to run, which is why she stopped again. After she refuses to get out of the vehicle the officer reaches in the car, presumably to pull her out. Refusing to get out of her car was her second major mistake. At this point there is no way to see what the officer is doing in the car and it will be interesting to see what Oriana and her children have to say. Regardless of what is being done it is enough to provoke her 14 year old son to get out of the car to try and help his mother, a quick flash of the taser scares him back in the car. Oriana now steps out of the vehicle, we cannot hear what is said but the body language is not a good sign and she bolts for the open car door. The officer grabs her by the wrist to restrain her which provokes another attempted assault by her son (hard to tell, he may have actually tackled into the cop), again fended off by a threatened tasing.

When back up arrives instead of blocking in her car so she cannot drive off and working to de-escalate the scene they start smashing windows like looters in a riot. The fear of broken glass lacerating her children seems to be what provokes Orianna into driving off a second time. This time things are different, Officer Trigger-Happy is on the scene now and fires at least three shots at the car, and the other two officers (you can even see one dive for cover in the video, clearly fearing for his life). Oriana doesn’t stop her car again until she is in a populated and safe place, a motel parking lot. Her lawyer maintains that she drove away to get somewhere public because she felt the officers were threatening the lives of her children and herself. John Miller, a former assistant director with the FBI, makes note that many departments have laws against firing at moving vehicles and other officers. Miller also notes many other oddities of the case that led up to the disastrous outcome, such as Oriana’s initial choice to flee.

While the video just got released online today, the incident happened a month ago. Since then Oriana and her son are both out after initial arrests. Her son was charged with battery of an officer and resisting arrest. Oriana was charged with five counts of child abuse, aggravated fleeing an officer, resisting an officer, reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia. Officers claim they found two marijuana pipes in the car. I have always wondered what, in absence of marijuana, classifies a pipe as a marijuana pipe and not a tobacco pipe or pipe for smoking other herbs. As there was no cannabis actually find I guess I’ll have to put faith in those officers expertise in cannabis smoking and paraphernalia.

Until I read about the drug charges her actions made no sense, now they make complete sense. With a drug charge, Child Protective Services is very likely to take your kids away, even if you are a legal medical cannabis patient. Now this is just my opinion, but I think she was afraid of losing her kids and her life as she knew it, she was afraid of the downward spiral this would set off, for her kids as well. That fear can drive people to do illogical things, like turn a routine traffic stop into a high speed chase which may realize those worst fears. I feel Officer Trigger-Happy should get the book thrown at him, including endangering another officer in the line of duty. The first cop I feel was the most reasonable, but I feel they all overreacted when they should have de-escalated things.

I’ve been there myself. I was 20, with two bottles of alcohol and an 1/8th of pot in a baggie in a messenger bag in my passenger seat. The bottles were half empty from a party the week before, I was sober and was staying that way as the DD. The booze wasn’t even mine, it was my friend’s. I know, it’s an old line, but it is true and fitting. I sat it out, got a public defender and took my lumps in court. It was only about $500 in fines and fees plus 20 hours of community service, spent painting  a community theater. I imagine her lumps wouldn’t have been as bad as mine for the initial stop. After the cop claimed he smelled pot I consented to an illegal search and made it legal, then he found all my contraband. In my case, the smell of pot was a mere hunch, not probable cause; I know this now but I did not when I was 20. After my own run in with police and illegal searches I’ve made it a goal to learn about these issues and raise awareness through the spread of knowledge.

I do not know how it would have played out for Oriana had she not tried to drive off that first time. I am greatly saddened that it went how it did, my thoughts go out to her family. It is worth mentioning that if the paraphernalia is the reason she was provoked into running from the police to protect her rights as a mother, Oriana and her children are yet more victims of America’s thoughtless war on drugs.

A Nation Homeless

Posted: November 17, 2013 in History, Politics
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After my last couple of posts about my literal run in with a member of the local homeless community I feel it fit to make a post about my broader views on homelessness in America. I worry that I may have came off as callous to the plight of homeless individuals, which is most assuredly not the case. I’m always one for small charities like giving food or money whenever I can. I have also been involved in larger efforts to help the homeless community and plan to continue for the rest of my life. Through Occupy Santa Cruz and over a decade spent in Santa Cruz I met many homeless individuals, even dated some. I met world famous hackers, local rabble rousers, LGBT youth fleeing abuse, and eloquent veterans with rich lives who sometimes rage at the heavens. That last one, the eloquent veteran, his name is Norman and from what he tells me used to be special forces before things went wrong. Norman lived by the bridge near my house in Santa Cruz for roughly two of my three years at that house and we developed a good rapport, I even called an ambulance for him once and waited with him for the paramedics to come. For me homeless people are people first, whereas I imagine most Americans get caught up on the homeless aspect and forget they are still people. I have always felt this way but much more strongly after nearly becoming homeless myself when I graduated into unemployment, student loan debt, and the Great Recession.

I do not blame the homeless individual who caused my crash for being were he was when he was, I blame our society. The culture of American Capitalism breeds neglect and this man was a product of that neglect. Perhaps he was a veteran (13%), maybe he suffers from an untreated mental disorder (25%) or drug addiction (35%); all of these demographics are neglected in our culture and pushed towards homelessness. Those percents are the aggregate totals across the US, some states and cities have even higher rates. This individual was definitely under the influence of something, either drugs or in an altered mental state for other reasons. It is not his fault he cannot receive proper mental health care or addiction treatment in this country, it is our society’s fault. America could prioritize harm reduction and preventative care, instead we put punitive measures in place to criminalize drug use and homelessness.

In all likelihood I had ridden my bike past this same man before without ever seeing him. I frequently ride down the Guadalupe River trail in San Jose, which was the site for a 100+ person tent city with an annex across the river in the woods (photos to come). Unfortunately, in an act of great compassion, the San Jose city council evicted all the homeless to downtown San Jose, to better resemble San Francisco. This is not the first nor do I expect it to be the last time that particular location will have a camp and the police will clear it out. There is a lifecycle to homeless camps, like with graffiti art; first one small tag or one tent goes unnoticed, then that grows into a larger piece, a larger camp, and then it becomes hard to go back to the way things were. It’s an example of the broken windows theory. San Jose is home to many homeless camps, including the largest in the US by size. While the city council admits that San Jose has a problem with homelessness, there seems to be little political will to do anything about it, other than bicker over the cost of cleanups and evictions.

Members of the homeless community that I have spoken to have mixed views on camps. It is generally felt that if you are a single man the chances of getting into a shelter are slim, they are better for women and those with children. Some individuals feel homeless camps provide safety in numbers, others feel they are breeding grounds for drug abuse and crime (I see this same divide with my homed friends as well). The current trend seems to be towards homeless camps with city support and rules, you can see efforts to do this in Santa Cruz, Sacramento, and Eugene. I certainly feel these camps better alternatives to wandering alone and risking being burned alive or killed by a samurai sword.

Let me return to a previous point that I glazed over, my issues with American Capitalism. Only in America, or maybe China, do we have enough empty homes to give every homeless person five and still have some left over, yet those homes remain empty and the homeless remain freezing to death on Chicago streets. Seriously, there are enough empty homes in this country for every homeless person to have a main house AND a summer house. That doesn’t include foreclosed businesses, like the dozens of abandoned Walmarts around the US who existed only to drive competition under and make room for a Super Walmart in the next town over. At least one Texas town has found a good use for an empty Walmart and filled the husk of evil with the glory of a giant library. Some individuals I knew involved with Occupy Santa Cruz, tried something similar, yet more radical (read: without consent). People often claim capitalism to be the most efficient economic system, I fail to see what is efficient in nearly 19 million empty homes and trillions of dollars of wasted resources now rotting away unoccupied. I fail to see what is efficient in people needing mental health services, scientifically effective rehab, and homes; yet not getting any of it when it should be in abundance. Homes clearly are in abundance, but America is woefully lacking on harm reduction policies like needle exchange and mental health services.

The power is ours to change the world, but power without action is meaningless. In San Jose we have a homelessness problem and a foreclosure problem, just on the street where I work there are a half dozen vacant businesses who have been empty over a year. That is lost revenue for the property owners, the City should step in and convert some of them into homeless shelters. Rather than spend millions of dollars on a “phase one” where they clear out the camps and plan to move the homeless into shelters for “phase two,” why not just jump to phase two and let the camps dissipate on their own? That seems logical to me, if given the option of a new shelter or a camp it’s a fairly easy choice. There clearly is more to it, zoning and other bureaucratic nonsense, but if there was enough political will in the public to put pressure on the city council we could do this.

Healthcare that Doesn’t Care

Posted: November 17, 2013 in Bike Culture, Cannabis, Politics
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After my run in with that random homeless gentleman the other day I am left with a non-displaced acute mid-scaphoid fracture, my first broken bone. While the scaphoid isn’t a large bone, one of the little bones that connects the thumb to your wrist, its function makes it rather important. It also is slow to heal due to poor bloodflow to that area of the body. I will likely be posting less often for now and shorter posts; I’ll do my best to keep the quality up. My spirits remain high, life goes on and I keep moving forward. This is but another opportunity to learn and grow. Thus far I’ve almost perfected brushing my teeth and using a mouse left handed, still working on getting my one handed typing up to speed. Finding good in the bad, that is how I choose to live my life.

The accident happened on Thursday morning, at the time I thought my wrist was sprained, maybe broken. I doubted it was broken because I wrongly assumed it would hurt more than it did and swell more. Scaphoid fractures have been known to go unnoticed for weeks. I’m glad I am very in tune with my body. Though I was freaking out when I kept reading about how common surgery is and how often there are lasting problems, I calmed down when reading that non-displaced fractures like mine usually heal fine. I just worry about my breaking, parkour, poi spinning, and everything else I do that takes two hands (like typing fast). Videos of all the previous mentioned physical feats would have been posted up soon, now it will have to wait while I heal.

I have insurance through my mom, not an amazing plan but not an awful on either; this fact makes me luckier than many, though only for another month when I turn 26. While I love the healthcare reform I feel it has messed a lot up as well and is not the best option we could have went with. I personally advocate for a single payer option, since virtually every study done of it show decreased cost and/or better quality of care. If we had a single payer healthcare system I could have just walked into the closest clinic, best clinic, or one with the least wait by checking a clinic database or similar resource.

Instead, the first clinic I called only accepted my insurance for the doctor visit, not the x-ray which they knew was the sole reason I was there. No one felt fit to mention this when I called to schedule an x-ray on Thursday and told them my insurance. This fact was only mentioned after nearly three hours of waiting, forms, and finally briefly seeing a doctor. The clinic’s x-ray tech sent me to the hospital down the road that did take my insurance for x-rays because “they do that all the time”, but with only one page of my 2-page doctor’s order this time.

The hospital staff was much more helpful, and called back to the clinic to speak to my doctor. The doctor was flabbergasted that I left because “this never happens.” The hospital took the x-ray’s and had a far more competent doctor look them over who identified the fracture. Unfortunately they had no urgent care center, only an emergency room (about five times as expensive, only for real emergencies). This meant a trip across SF to the urgent care clinic and my third medical clinic of the day (who could have done all of this themselves, had I only known). Finally, 5 hours later I had a thumb immobilizing splint and a prescription for painkillers, as well as 2-3 different medical bills I would imagine.

The final doctor and I talked a bunch about the new healthcare reform. While it is awesome that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition and I was able to stay on my mom’s insurance a few more years, this is not an ideal system. A single payer option would have negated all that run around and me risking further injury. Did I mention I was walking for miles or on the bus? I don’t own a car nor could I drive right now or even ride a bike with my wrist. The icing on my cake with the Affordable Care Act was signing up for healthcare.gov and having them over-inflate my yearly earnings by nearly $3,000, bumping me out of getting benefits. My issues with them looking solely at pre-tax income aside, I know how to do math and I know how to tell what  my pre-tax income is from what it isn’t. This isn’t even difficult math.

I’m wondering where the magical mystery $3,000 I am supposedly getting comes from. Maybe something saucy and risque like hooking, maybe stripping? Perhaps more respectable work like union carpentry or as a chartered accountant? Since the government is making it up I supposed they can claim it to be from whatever industry suits their needs. All I know now is that I need to contest their numbers and try to get this either explained or fixed. If I am making $3,000 more a year I want to know how I collect.

[EDIT]: It occurred to me after writing this earlier that I have had limited first hand experiences with a single payer healthcare system, which may have shaped my views. First, when I was sixteen I was in Germany with my father, it was my first time out of the country and I can speak some German. While there my father randomly fainted while we were packing to leave Nuremberg. The doctor we saw that day at a clinic, where I do not recall paying anything, said my father had a small stroke. We got quite good care and got home safe, albeit the trip was cut short. My second experience with single payer healthcare is a bit of an odd example, one people wouldn’t normally think of, Burning Man. At this year’s Burn I got a chunk of playa grit in my eye, which scratched my cornea, put me in medical for three hours, and left me rocking an eye patch for the rest of the Burn. My medical care, medicated eye drops, eye-waterboarding…everything was free. I even had to go to two different clinics, it was still free. My ticket paid for the event insurance which covered many minor injuries. Major ones required an airlift and that you have to pay for.

I am a Bicycle Knight in Plastic Armor

Posted: November 12, 2013 in Bike Culture, Politics
Tags: , , ,
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Everyone takes a different approach to bicycling and different motivations for doing it. For many it is recreation; riding trails or just riding around with friends, perhaps BMX or other forms of stunt riding. For others it is transportation; a way to get around town in addition to a car or because you don’t have another option. Many, like myself, prefer cycling because it is a healthier option, not just for our bodies but for the planet as well.  For some of us these motivations and approaches to cycling change over time.

For me it is a combination of things. My approach to cycling is that I am a knight and my bicycle is my horse. My helmet and boots are my armor, and if needed my U-Lock is a sword. I serve no lord, save myself, a free and sovereign knight riding the lands and helping the people where I am needed. In my travels I’ve helped stranded motorists push their cars to safety, given legal help to people being unjustly harassed by police, been an emergency bike mechanic, and generally provide a sense of levity with my plethora of bike lights. This is much the same approach I take to cycling and my life at Burning Man. My motivations are recreational, health, environmental, and above all the need to be mobile. After years on public transit it is wonderful being able to set my own schedule with a bike. After years of being trapped behind the wheel of a car it is amazing being out in the world to smell the flowers and feel the breeze caress my sun-warmed skin.

For these reasons you can see why I’d be a little miffed (understatement) by an article in November 9th’s New York Times which states in plain English, with supporting evidence, that it is OK to kill cyclists. Truly, people get more upset by the killing of dogs. I love animals as much as the next person, especially dogs, but I also feel that human life is generally of a higher value than dog life (dog’s don’t compose Mozart). Maybe you feel I am using too much hyperbole and rhetoric, but the statistics bear this to be true. To quote Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, “we do not know of a single case of a cyclist fatality in which the driver was prosecuted, except for D.U.I. or hit-and-run.” Josh Alper, the cyclist who was killed in Santa Cruz mentioned in the NY Times article, was a friend of my friends, a man who I probably crossed paths with during my decade living in Santa Cruz. I imagine if you ask around you know someone who has lost a friend or family member in a cycling accident; I know several.

Cyclists are not flawless, we are guilty of breaking laws just like drivers. I am no exception but I make the effort to be on my best behavior at all times; you only have one life and after so many close calls you begin to change your risk equation. The major difference between bikes breaking the law and cars, as I see it, is the ability of the vehicle in question to inflict terminal damage to another entity. Let’s take the example of running a red light, under California law bikes and cars are treated the same (even though section 21453 does not mention bicycles at all). Considering that of all the studies done on bike fatalities cars were found to be at fault over half the time in all but one, one study found cars to be at fault 84% of the time. Despite that fact, police are still quick to blame cyclists for their deaths, even without any evidence.

What can we as cyclists do to defend ourselves? Practice situational awareness, not just as a cyclist but in life in general; it will save your life sometime. Wear a helmet and adorn your bike with lights, gloves are also a great idea (I almost always wear a pair after a nasty off-road fall earlier this year). In regards to lights it is important to have side visibility as well as front/back lights. The bikeglow light I linked to is a perfect way to light every angle of your bike with one light, it also makes you a 24/7 bike party. You can also educate yourself about when and where cyclists are most likely to be killed in your city (in my city of SF I hear that is where Octavia/Fell meet Market St). Similarly, it is good to know where the dedicated bike routes are across your city. We can also lobby our local, state, and federal politicians to get more cities to be like New York and recognize that a fatal collision is not an accident, it is the result of someone’s gross incompetence and its product is one person prematurely dead. The US still has a long way to go to be the Netherlands, who redesign unsafe roads after a crash happens and place the burden of proof on cars in a crash. But if the abundance of new green paint on city streets around the Bay Area is a hint, biking is more than a fad, it is a growing trend that is here to stay. If you are one of those drivers, like the countless who have passed me and cussed me out while attempting to run me off the road for fun, you are part of a dying breed, you are a dinosaur. You will be extinct sooner than us bicyclists and we will inherit your roads. Now piss off and stay out of my bike lane. If you are one of those drivers or cyclists who obeys the law, kudos to you for being one of the few out there.

Bicycle Mitch

Photo courtesy of Lady Fleur (who also has an amazing bike blog).

Remember, while I may be a bicycle knight, my armor is only plastic and cotton. As a driver you sit behind the controls of a 4,000 pound death-sledge which hurtles down city streets at 40 miles and hour, which is roughly 160,000 pounds of force (F =ma), if I have the math right (I’m a political science major, not a physicist, we don’t learn real math or science). That is enough force to smash through walls, or flatten a cyclist or pedestrian. Remember that the next time you text while driving (only 6 times worse than driving drunk).

[EDIT]: A friend linked me to this rebuttal piece to the NY Times article I discuss above. It is pretty preachy and radical at times, but he makes a lot of good points and I am inclined to agree with him as much as the NY Times writer, perhaps more.

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