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Saturday, June 3, 2017
Office staff is friendly and very responsive to mychart messages and refilling meds.
Dr. Sasan has a calming and reassuring bedside manner.
He always asks me, "How does that sound to you?"
Dr. Sasan is open to all my questions and analyses of labs and symptoms. I spend 30-50 minutes with him. He answers all my very nuanced questions.
This is so refreshing after seeing at least 10 arrogant, think-they-know-it-all endos who brazenly dismissed my Cushing's--cortisol ups and downs (cyclical) and reoccurring--for years.
Dr. Sasan asked me how often I'd like to see him. I feel most comfortable with every three months. He allowed me to set up my appointments for every three months for a year out. There is piece of mind knowing that I can get labs and discuss them with him often. Changing Texas seasons means big dose changes to fludrocortisone, so I find comfort with access.
I highly recommend Dr. Mirfahkrhee.
For those in DFW who have seen other doctors at UTSW and staff said you can't transfer to another endo, Dr. Mirfahkrhee said he has never heard of this. He said he would be happy to see all my Cushie and BLAer friends!
For those who can't make it to Dallas for your endo appointments, please use this as a checklist of the type of doctor-patient partnership we Cushies need and deserve.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Cushing's Awareness Month, day 4.
Syndrome nicknamed 'ugly disease' left Scottish woman with a round face and a 'buffalo hump'
The debilitating Cushing's syndrome causes unsightly and unusual weight gain and zaps sufferers of energy.
Have you heard of Percy Lavon Julian and his contributions to the Cushing's and Addison's community?
|The grandson of slaves, Percy Lavon Julian overcame racial barriers to achieve scientific, business, and personal success.|
I owe this post to my Cushie and BLA friend Trisha, who brought PLJ to my attention. In her words:
He later started his own company to synthesize steroid intermediates from the Mexican wild yam. His work helped greatly reduce the cost of steroid intermediates to large multinational pharmaceutical companies, helping to significantly expand the use of several important drugs.""
- For those of you in education, how about teaching a lesson on Percy Lavon Julian?
- For the chemists and science folks, want to build a steroid?
- Still can't believe you don't know about Percy Lavon Julian and want to share with friends and family? Looking for a role model for the children of Cushies and Addies or your own kids?Buy the PBS DVD for $12.99 here.
- high cortisol
- low cortisol
- brain fog
- performance pressure
- the words "deadline"
- "done today"
- "everyone is waiting on me"
- "but I made a promise"
- "I will disappoint everyone"
- "I have so much to do"
- + any other symptom(s) that decide(s) to STAND UP and BE HEARD that day.
- calling the insurance for preauthorization on procedures, surgeries, imaging, growth hormone injections
- calling the insurance for review of benefits
- calling the insurance for error in claim(s)
- calling the insurance for prescription pricing and coverage
- calling the insurance for specialty injection for adult growth hormone deficiency
- MyCharting/calling the doctor(s) for appointments, questions, requests, refills
- checking MyChart for appointments, lab results, and imaging reports
- studying every word in the lab results and imaging reports
Regular readers (some o' y'all tell me it's true!) know that I advocate for patients to self-advocate as well as to promote cortisol imbalance awareness (Cushing's, Addison's, Adrenal Insufficiency).
- sleep medicine for sleep apnea due to weight
- physical therapy
- mineral endocrinology (I know, right?! that's another post)
- allergy and asthma
- ophthalmology for cornea (contacts for keratoconus) and retina annual exams for RA med (more later)
- sleep apnea
- advanced ob/gyn ("for female hormone stuff)
- nutritionist (August 2017)
- orthopedic hip speciality
- pain specialist
- pain clinic with TWO doctors (physical therapist, psychiatrist = summer 2017)
I also rely on my PCP and endocrinologist as a team for my medical health.
I cling to my psychiatrist and psychologist for my mental and "behavioral" health. All are wonderful and *actually remember* what I told them last time. Novel concept for a doc these days and a total plus, right?!
Let's remember, folks. I am in remission.
My first pituitary surgery was June 18, 2009.
My second pituitary surgery was April 20, 2011.
My BLA was December 31, 2013.
I am more than three years post op BLA, and I still need all those doctors to find treatment and comfort for all that lingers after cortisol excess damaged my body.
Cushing's is not joke. It doesn't mess around.
Will this all happen to you? Will you need this much help this long after treatment? I don't know. No one knows, not even the doctors who tell you that "you are cured, stop worrying." Cushies know better than to use the word "cure." We say remission, and still fear the day that high cortisol symptoms decide to say "Hello. I'm back."
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Cushing's Awareness Month starts today.
H O O R A Y !
Am I cutting it close or what? 11:55 pm on day 1 of the blogging challenge.
I want to tell you that my life has undergone great change in the past year. I hope you will visit us often. Will this blog reach one million page views this month? At 922,000, we don't have far to go.
For 30 days in April, I will be blogging about:
~ My 10 year anniversary with Cushing's!! How did I survive
~ A Decade to Wellness: Moxie's full Cushing's story all in one post + never before seen personal photos
~ All things Cushing's: what the docs should know. New journal articles about hypercortisolemia, panhypopituitary, adrenal insufficiency, and adrenal crisis in the medical literature
~ Training Tux. Follow along to see how Moxie trains our service dog to detect cortisol for me and blood sugar for my husband plus many basic dog commands without ever having owned a dog before. This gets comical.
~ My new rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis and how high cortisol sets many Cushies up for autoimmune disease after remission. Bonus: are rheumys better than endos?
~ Prednisolone: my success with a relatively unknown cortisol replacement
~ Weight loss 3 years after BLA: it is finally happening. You'll never guess that our old, ubiquitous nemesis Metformin is now the hero
~ Growth hormone insufficiency landmines: why are endos hesitant to prescribe this after Cushing's pituitary surgery and how to deal with predictable delays and deliberate stalling by he insurance companies
~ Korlym: how doctors are prescribing it in 2017 vs. 2013 when it was first approved by FDA (hint: follow the money). Disclaimer: I own stock in Corcept Therapeutics. See full disclaimer on the side bar to the right).
~ Cushies make headlines: Follow up on the Cushies we've seen in the news
~ Patient spotlight in Cushing's right before your eyes. See the many faces of Cushing's in patients' before and after photos
~ Life after BLA: Words of Wisdom from Cushies about controlling cortisol, taking medicine every day, and living with the ever-present threat of adrenal insufficiency and adrenal crisis. Is it better or worse than endos threaten it will be?
Be sure to like my new Facebook page: Fight Cushing's with Moxie.
Forward those posts to your friends, family, and community to help spread awareness for Cushing's.
SUPPORT CUSHING'S BLOGGERS ALL APRIL by forwarding their blog posts to your FB peeps. Let's make it our goal to make them see the word Cushing's twice a day for 30 days! We can do it, everybody!
Thanks for stopping by. See ya soon.
~ Moxie Melissa
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
|From Robin @ http://survivethejourney.blogspot.com/|
Sunday, March 19, 2017
These Dogs Save Lives By Smelling People's Breath
MAY 08, 2014
"The fact that dogs can sniff out cancer is pretty miraculous, but that’s not the only disease canines know how to catch with their incredible olfactory abilities. Medical detection dogs -- who have been trained to sense the symptoms of a range of illnesses -- perform a unique service unlike the typical assistance dog, alerting their owners to physical problems that might otherwise go unnoticed. Thanks to the work of Claire Guest, a doctor who founded the UK-based charity Medical Detection Dogs, dozens of lives have been saved (and improved) because of disease-sniffing dogs."
Tuxie and Moxie train with Service Dog Express. www.servicedogexpress.com
Today my family got a service dog, Tux. He will be trained to detect cortisol for me and blood sugar for my husband who is a type 1 diabetic.
Follow along this new journey. Go like our Facebook page, called Fight Cushing's with Moxie.
And stay tuned, because April is Cushing's Awareness Month, and my 10th anniversary with Cushing's. Lots of new stories coming up.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Friday, January 20, 2017
A few of my friends are in the battle of their lives. Convinced they have Cushing's, these patients have played the test-and-wait game, for a long, long time. They can barely see themselves in this life that is focused just on the bare necessities (food, care for kids, our self care gets skipped) and SLEEP. A lot of sleep. All the times you can't go to sleep because of daytime duties and responsibilities and wide awake when it is actually time to go to sleep. Add doctors dragging their feet and you slowly to diagnosis and high cortisol to the mix. Cushie just want to give up!
In case you haven't read it lately, here are my moxie set of tips to steady your feet and get yourself diagnosed.
I haven't changed one thing on that post in the nearly nine years since I wrote it.
It pains me to see how relevant it is today-- patients still suffering too long and doctors too sure of their knowledge to admit the patient may have something rare.
The world of information has changed since that 2008 post, too. I started to research cushing's on the internet in March 2007. I didn't use Facebook back then. A simple google search resulted in more posts about dogs and horses than people.
(🐶 + 🐴) x info > 👩💻
So be happy that information is available and keep fighting Cushing's with Moxie.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Thursday, April 7, 2016
- Obesity (lose weight, lose symptoms)
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
- Fibromyalgia (no lab tests can prove this; diagnosis given when they don't know what else is wrong with you)
- Back and muscle pain
- Blurred vision, visual field loss, double vision
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Dry, oily, or sweaty skin
- Impotence or infertility
- Joint pain, joint/bone abnormalities
- Muscle weakness, carpal tunnel syndrome
- Temporomandibular joint/TMJ/jaw joint pain
- Thyroid imbalance or "slow metabolism"
What your symptoms really mean if doctors put them all together - CUSHING'S
- Facial redness
- Rounding of the face (moon face)
- Unexplained weight gain around belly
- Buffalo hump, or hump on back of neck
- Pink or purple stretch marks
- Thicker or more visible body and facial hair
- Muscle weakness (difficulty standing or climbing stair)
- Extreme fatigue (no amount of sleep is enough)
- Depression, anxiety and irritability
- Pink, red or purple stretch marks along your abdomen, arms, or thighs
- Thin and fragile skin that bruises easily
- Slow healing of cuts, insect bites and infections
- Bone thinning (osteopenia, osteoporosis), easily broken bones
- Recurrent infections
- Sleep disturbances, night sweats, awake at midnight or 4 am
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes mellitus
- Irregular or absent menstrual periods in females
- Clotting disorder


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The continual force of The Bad Batch is based within the idea of whether or not a certain member of the group can be trusted. The idea is sticking to orders but also thinking outside the box. In this 4th episode: “Unfinished Business”, the question becomes one of trust or betrayal, either internally or externally within certain characters. Having rescued Echo, there is a possibility for dealing a blow for The Republic because of the information within this detached trooper’s head. The idea of what dictates loyalty is one that comes to bear for more than one character. Anakin’s forward momentum, especially in how he sees his path within the Jedi, seems to waver a little in this episode. However, the tendency and what it is occurring at this specific time is another issue entirely. We are also seeing in a flip tendency much more of Mace Windu’s hubris in terms of how he is approaching his mission. Whereas in earlier seasons of Clone Wars, his actions might have been seen as tongue-in-cheek, there is almost a vindictiveness here which is interesting to behold. The resolution also speaks to a division of sorts, not necessarily in idealism but ideology which is separate. It closes the door to a point on one possibility but opens up possibilities of internal strife to another.
The creation of new stories especially from the talent at Pixar is an interesting evolving evolution. The new iterations of IP are the first per se of originals after the departure of John Lasseter. Even though his removal was warranted, and despite the presence of so many of the original creative people, there is a slight hole, however miniscule within the structure. “Onward” works well and bring in textures of mythology but within the context of a modern world. It is intrinsic but, despite the quest motif, almost seems smaller than one would expect. The story works well though maybe a slight more complicated that the usual Pixar but as always deals with some sort of loss that must be regained through the transformation and path of a character.
The story follows the texture of two brothers, one of which Ian (played by Tom Holland) is becoming a man. He lost his father before he ever knew him. Barley, his brother, (played by Chris Pratt) is a fun-loving almost D&D outsider who teases his brother but loves him in his way nonetheless. This is not our world. This is a magical world where winged horses fight over garbage like dogs and cats and homes are sometimes made of mushroom. But modernism has taken the place of magic…which of course is an apt metaphor. The brothers discover a spell that will bring their father back for one day but the initial try (because Ian hasn’t ever tried to use magic) makes it so that only the bottom half of their father is there. In order to restore them they have to find another crystal that goes in a wand to conjure up the other half. Only problem is that the resurrection spell for their father only lasts for a day.
The quest itself is fun but mostly bittersweet. Small gestures by the bottom half of the dad are so small but mean so much which is why Pixar has always been able to translate to multiple languages. Holland plays a variation on his characters that start off meek but find a small degree of confidence by the end. Pratt’s Barney seems much closer to him as a person, even with his van Guinevere, which is an ode to Pratt’s life in his early 20s when he lived in his van in Hawaii. Pratt seems to go off script a little which is great but it seems maybe the animators tried to bridge it at times.
The true magic of the quest and the connection is almost a circle as the film ends in an interesting conundrum of a loop which actually works quite well and is quite existential in a way that “Finding Nemo” was in a way. But the realization in the final moments is handled exceptionally and with poignancy that, despite any shenanigans with the brothers, comes out truly 3-dimensional and formed. “Onward” is a evolving perspective of Pixar in staying with its true mission of stories of redemption while still making it undeniably heartfelt and accessible.
The progression of “The Clone Wars”, even in its original incarnation, was revealing deeper mythology-based arcs within the greater story. What this new iteration seems to be doing is adding in some interesting character moments in between the plot. The 2nd episode entitled “A Distinct Echo” works on a couple different levels though the progression of where these series of episodes is going seems to be moving towards a certain path…or seemingly might be trying to introduce the world to new viewers. That said, the story is still pretty densely populated to those who have seen the previous seasons of the series from a couple years back. What the beginning of this episode tends to do is speak to inherent natures, whether it be a clone or a Jedi. In a scene that might not have happened a few years ago before “Rebels”, Anakin speaks almost in secret to Padme with Rex, who undergoes a crisis of self doubt in this episode, protecting him. It speaks to a deeper friendship but also the essence of privacy, one which through one line Obi Wan says shows a breathe of knowledge. It is a small element of perspective but one that adds immense layers to later stories and also lends credence or at least weight to doing a live action Vader series showing doubt within Hayden Christensen’s portrayal of Anakin.
The story continues in this episode to follow The Bad Batch as they seek to find Echo both to protect Republic strategy but also unearthing what might be an algorithm at the center of the identity of the Clones which again speaks back to the eventual General Order. Without giving too much away, the team led by Anakin integrates with local aliens who attack because they don’t want the war brought to them. The resolution speaks more to guilt than a sense of redemption. The animation continues to add different angles including close up and fluidity of lightsaber moves. Before this might have been done extremely quickly but now the scenes seem to take their time to give a sense of pace beneath the moves. In earlier animation, it might have been done quickly to cover up frame jumps per se. It is a small technical thing but one that makes all the difference. “A Distant Echo” also speaks to the shortcomings of the past but without understanding those consequences for these characters in the future.
The aspect of making a book into film has to come from perspective of authenticity to the voice but also the focus from which it came. “Call Of The Wild” is an interesting conundrum since It is told from the perspective of the dog for the most part. Many movies of this sort overplay the ideal for schmaltz or have the dogs actually speak what they are thinking. This has become a progression of sorts in futility (though “My Dog Skip” still retains its intentions). “The Call Of The Wild” does it differently and, as a result, benefits from what would be seen as a more natural performance of the dog. The dog of course is not a dog at all but motion captured but the way it is done seems undeniable. There likely isn’t even a dog there but that illusion is fairly complete especially with the actors selling it, especially Harrison Ford. Now granted like Ryan Gosling who approaches acting the same way, Ford says much without doing a lot of things on screen and yet he conveys so much. What is interesting is that Ford’s character doesn’t enter fully until more than halfway through the movie.
As a result the audience connects with Buck as he is not just defined by one master but is by extension an elevated being of consciousness. Buck makes dynamic decisions with emotional resonance. His first owner shows his teenage years, his dogsledding days are his 20s and his time with Ford become his formative years where he can explore his own existence but also settle down. The scenery is beautiful and one understands why this appealed to Ford since this is more his scene. He feels perfectly at ease. Despite his want to try to bursh off the metaphors, the idea of existentialism and the nature of being does resonate with him. One only has to look at his filmography to see this. He brings in those other characters we know without calling attention to them. A lot of the words he says in solitary about his son and wife in this movie eerily reflect at times Han Solo and his son Ben. And of course we will always see a grizzled Indiana Jones especially in his countenance but also in his reservation. But his performance especially the addendum enhances the story and doesn’t dominate it. The dog in fact saved his soul even if life for him is only fleeting. Buck as a character is fully formed and the subtleties of his emotions are perfectly rendered with both heart, humor and betrayal so it wonderfully works in context. This movie of course couldn’t have been made even 5 years ago. But this is a distinct step forward in terms of realistic portrayal with borderline natural behavior. It used the tech to exceptional use for story purposes without losing the sense of the idea. “The Call Of The Wild” is not about spectacle. It is about the journey within that just happens to take place on a much larger mileau.
The essence of “The Mandalorian” resides in being able to identify in some way shape or form with the journey he or she is on. Whether it is Neo or Luke Skywalker, a character needs something to fight for, even if it is evil in some way. The structure of this episode: “Sanctuary” takes it into a more intimate setting but gives it a sense more of the familial which might be necessary because of its structure. The episode is also directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron Howard. The episode in many ways feels like “Willow” in its aspect of romanticism but also sense of protection and defense. The episode is not overly dependent on special effects which might have been on purpose since Bryce has not directed much before per se. But what ends up happening is that the episode feels more in the arc of character structure especially what The Mandalorian has lost and gained but what he is willing to give up. The texture of the final moments plays for this with a certain character becoming almost a MacGuffin for the aspect of hope. Ultimately that aspect of trust or protection is brought into imbalance which causes the need for the plot to move forward. However the underlying texture of what path this bounty hunter/myth may be on continues to be murky as the best journeys are.
The tricky aspect about exploring a universe and living within it is a sense of expectation. In making the huge Star Wars films, sometimes the texture of the smaller character work like what “A New Hope” gets lost since that was essentially an independent film. Unfortunately as much as creativity can be a spark point among writers creating a bigger structure with such as large company such as Disney can be formidable. What “The Mandalorian” understands in its first episode is that everything doesn’t need to be rushed. While the series boasts more high end effects than most series, it gets what it needs to be. In a way that “The Gunslinger” should be done, it establishes The Mandalorian as a gun toting bounty hunter of old. The setting is basically for crime: The Wild West after the fall of the Empire which while essential has eliminated a certain order, however dictatorial to the Republic.
The first episode sets up a quest without seemingly like a quest. What director David Filoni and, by extension, show runner Jon Favreau has realized is by creating smaller scenes, even if it leads into a bigger showdown it makes the points more specialized. The Mandalorian does that two times after he sets down on planet. The humor is undeniable created in a gunfight of sorts that brings to mind “Way Of The Gun” as an influence…and if Chris McQuarrie ever finds his way into the Star Wars universe… But that said the first episode works because it tempers expectations while also give you enough tidbits of the original IP to engage which is what made “Rogue One” the best Star Wars movie of the new generation but also “Clone Wars” which helped show small character based episodes while balancing with the space opera which people expect.

domain: entertainment


text:
Introduction to Acid-Base Reactions
Water (H2O) is made of H+ and OH− ions.
H+ ions are H atoms that lost ONE electron leaving behind just a proton.
This explains why H+ ions are often called "protons".
Substances that ionize in water to form Hydrogen ions (H+), so that the total [H+] concentration in water increases.
Examples: HCl, HNO3, H2SO4
- If acids produce ONE H+ ion if dissolved in water. These are called "Monoprotic Acids" such as HNO3
- If they ionize to TWO H+ ions, they are called "Diprotic Acids" such as H2SO4
- If they produce MORE H+ ions, they are called "Polyprotic Acid" such as H3PO4
Substances that ionize in water to form hydroxide ions (OH−), so that the total [OH− ] concentration in water increases.
Bases also accept (react with) H+ ions.
Examples: NaOH, KOH, Ca(OH)2
Some bases do not contain (OH−), but can still accept (H+) ions. They are also considered bases such as NH3
H2O + NH3 → NH4+ + OH−
Acids and Bases are grouped as follows:
HCl, HBr, HClO3, HI, HF is a weak acid, HNO3, H2SO4
Because of this short list, most acids are weak.
LiOH, NaOH, KOH, RbOH, CsOH, CaOH, SrOH2, BaOH2
These are all soluble in water. NH3 is a weak base.
To identify an electrolyte as a strong, weak or non-electrolyte? We follow the following:
For more details, please contact me here.
Date of last modification: Summer , 2019

domain: chemistry


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Pregnant Teachers in the Classroom
By 1919, 86% of teachers were women. Some feared that the prevalence of women teachers would "warp the psyches" of boys. In response, some school districts passed rules barring the employment of married women as teachers. The Depression exacerbated this condition. Married women were not given jobs because men and single women were believed to need them more. Work, some said, interfered with the duties of married women to care for home and family. Many viewed married women as economically superfluous or believed that work endangered the reproductive capacity of women and risked the extinction of "the race." Only when World War II created a labor shortage were married women widely employed as teachers.
Though married women stayed in the teaching corps after the war, they frequently were not permitted to do so while pregnant. A 1948 National Education Association survey revealed that 43% of school districts had no maternity leave policies, but the rest had compulsory maternity leave, usually starting in the fourth to sixth month and lasting until well after childbirth. School boards opposing the presence of visibly pregnant women in classrooms feared that liability might arise in case of injury to mother or child, the sight of pregnant women would unfavorably influence students, or that pregnant teachers' minds would not be on their work or that the physical demands of teaching could not be met by pregnant women. Over the next 17 years, compulsory maternity leaves gradually were shortened and made more flexible, but the proportion of school districts adopting such polices increased. In general, these policies assumed that female teachers were incapable of making their own decisions about work, health care, and the needs of the nation's children.
A few teachers challenged compulsory maternity leave even before the 1960s. These challenges were based on contract theory and produced mixed results. Two Supreme Court cases, Goeseart v. Cleary and Hoyt v. Florida, had ruled against equal protection claims made by women using the rational basis test to permit discrimination against them. The outcomes of these cases discouraged pregnant teachers from bringing equal protection claims. With the passage of Title VII and the emergence of the women's movement during the 1960s, the time became ripe for pregnant teachers to argue that compulsory maternity leave was illegal.
In 1971, three teachers who wanted to stay in the classroom longer than their school districts' maternity leave policies allowed--Susan Cohen, Jo Ann LaFleur, and Ann Nelson--filed lawsuits against their employers. In LaFleur's challenge of the Cleveland public school leave policies, the school district claimed that the policy was instituted to protect the health of pregnant teachers. The teachers asserted that the policy had no legitimate purpose, that compulsory maternity leave violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, that teaching was safe for pregnant women, and that maternity leaves interfered with continuity in the classroom. The district court in LaFleur upheld the maternity leave, but Cohen, pursuing relief in Chesterfield County, Virginia, won her case at the trial level. Both cases were appealed and reversed by different Circuit Courts of Appeals. In 1974 the United States Supreme Court took on the cases and ruled that compulsory maternity leave was unconstitutional. The Court held that such rules deprived women teachers of due process by interfering with their fundamental rights, including their right to bear and raise children. The Court avoided the equal protection claims.
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domain: sociology


text:
Sessions: ‘We can’t promise’ Dreamers won’t be deported
Attorney General Jeff Sessions could not promise that so-called Dreamers, or participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, w ill not be deported, when he was interview ed Wednesday morning on Fox News.
Sessions fielded questions from host Jenna Lee about an undocumented immigrant who claims he was deported to Mexico despite his enrollment in the program, which was created through administrative action during the Obama administration.
The program allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age to apply for deportation relief and work permits. In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, Juan Manuel Montes, a 23-year-old enrollee in the program, claimed he was sent to Mexico in February despite active DACA status.
“DACA enrollees are not being targeted,” Sessions said on Fox. “I don’t know why this individual was picked up.” But when pressed, Sessions said, “The policy is that if people are here unlawfully, they’re subject to being deported.”
“We can’t promise people who are here unlawfully that they’re not going to be deported,” Sessions added.
Sessions said deportation efforts will focus principally on people caught at the border; on recent arrivals; and on “those who’ve gotten in trouble with the law.” But he stopped short of guaranteeing any protections for Dreamers.
President Donald Trump pledged during the campaign to eliminate DACA, though he’s equivocated on the subject since he entered the White House, leaving the program’s future uncertain. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said in late March that the government and enrollees had an obligation to honor the terms of the program. In a conversation with Democratic senators at the time, Kelly reportedly offered assurances that the program would remain in place.

domain: news


text:
- What are the 6 elements of dystopian literature?
- What qualifies as dystopian?
- What the key features of a dystopian novel are?
- How do you define dystopian literature?
- What are 5 traits of dystopian literature?
- Who wrote the first dystopian novel?
- Is Animal Farm banned?
- Who wrote dystopian novels?
- Was Animal Farm banned in USA?
- Why was Animal Farm banned in the United States?
Dystopian literature is a form of speculative fiction that began as a response to utopian literature. A dystopia is an imagined community or society that is dehumanizing and frightening. A dystopia is an antonym of a utopia, which is a perfect society.
What are the 6 elements of dystopian literature?Six Important Elements of Dystopian FictionQuickly Establish the Reality. As stated above, dystopian fiction allows for a fairly broad field of representation. ... Lay Out the “False Utopia” ... The “Event” ... The Totalitarian. ... The Resistance. ... The Result.
What qualifies as dystopian?Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.
What the key features of a dystopian novel are?Common elements of dystopian fiction include societies engaged in forever wars, and characterized by extreme social and economic class divides, mass poverty, environmental devastation, anarchy, and loss of individuality.
How do you define dystopian literature?According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a dystopia is An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible. The easiest way to think about Dystopian Literature and dystopias is to consider that a dystopia is often the result of a societys arranging its government and laws around good ...
What are 5 traits of dystopian literature?5 Characteristics of Dystopian FictionGovernment control.Environmental destruction.Technological control.Survival.Loss of individualism.Sep 9, 2021
Who wrote the first dystopian novel?George Orwells 1984: 70 years after, the worlds first dystopian novel is as relevant as ever | TypeRoom.
Is Animal Farm banned?Animal Farm (1945)//George Orwell Although this book has clearly gone on to great success (and is now studied in numerous classrooms in the U.S.), it met a great deal of criticism upon its release. It was banned entirely from the U.S.S.R.
Who wrote dystopian novels?A modern literary genre, the dystopia, was invented by Yevgeny Zamyatin in his novel My (1924; We), which could be published only abroad. Like Aldous Huxleys Brave New World and George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-four, which are modeled on it, We describes a future socialist society that has turned out to…
Was Animal Farm banned in USA?There are many places in the world where George Orwells satire Animal Farm has been banned. To say that the United States is not one of these places is an understatement. ... The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funded a cartoon version in 1955.
Why was Animal Farm banned in the United States?Unlike other books which may be banned for several reasons, theres really only one main reason that Animal Farm has ever been banned: the critique of Communism.
Handmaids exist solely for the purpose of reproduction, bearing children for elite barren couples. They are forbidden to work, vote or read and are given a name which includes that of the man with whom they are reproducing.
Handmaids are only allowed to travel outside in pairs and, in this extract, Offred is experiencing night time as a time-out to escape surveillance. Sample question : Analyse the themes of surveillance and freedom in this extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed elements from the text and if necessary justify by quoting from the text. We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
The floor was of varnished wood, with stripes and circles painted on it, for the games that were formerly played there; the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were What defines a dystopian novel?. A balcony ran around the room, for the spectators, and I thought I could smell, faintly like an afterimage, the pungent scent of sweat, shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume from the watching girls, felt-skirted as I knew from pictures, later in miniskirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair.
Dances would have been held there; the music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound, style upon style, an undercurrent of drums, a What defines a dystopian novel? wail, garlands made of tissue-paper flowers, cardboard devils, a revolving ball of mirrors, powdering the dancers with a snow of light.
There was old sex in the room and loneliness, and expectation, of something without a shape or name.
I remember that yearning, for something that was always about to happen and was never the same as the hands that were on us there and then, in the small of the back, or out back, in the parking lot, or in the television room with the sound turned down and only the pictures flickering over lifting flesh.
We yearned for the future. How did we learn it, that talent for insatiability? It was in the air; and it was still in the air, an afterthought, as we tried to sleep, in the army cots that had been set up in rows, with spaces between so we could not talk.
We folded our clothes neatly and laid them on the stools at the ends of the beds. The lights were turned down but not out. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled; they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts. No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns. Guns were for the guards, specially picked from the Angels.
The Angels stood outside it with their backs to us. They were objects of fear to us, but of something else as well. If only they would look. If only we could talk to them. Something could be exchanged, we thought, some deal made, some tradeoff, we still had our bodies.
We learned to whisper almost without sound. In this way we exchanged names, from bed to bed: Alma. Handmaids exist solely for the purpose of reproduction, bearing children for elite barren couples.
They are forbidden to work, vote or read and are given a name which includes that of the man with whom they are reproducing. Handmaids are only allowed to travel outside in pairs and, in this extract, Offred is naming objects and remembering the past. Sample question : Analyse the creative power of language and words are in this extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed elements from the text and if necessary justify by quoting from the text.
A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out. There must have been a chandelier, once. A window, two white curtains. Under the window, a window seat with a What defines a dystopian novel?
cushion. When the window is partly open—it only opens partly—the air can come in and make the curtains move. I can sit in the chair, or on the window seat, hands folded, and watch this. Sunlight comes in through the window too, and falls on the floor, which is made of wood, in narrow strips, highly polished.
I can smell the polish. This is the kind of touch they like: folk art, archaic, made by women, in their spare time, from things that have no further use. A return to traditional values. I am not being wasted. On the wall above the chair, a picture, framed but with no glass: a print of flowers, blue irises, watercolor. Does each of us have the same print, the same chair, the same white curtains, I wonder?
Think of it as being in the army, said Aunt Lydia. Single, mattress medium-hard, covered with a flocked white spread. Nothing takes place in the bed but sleep; or no sleep.
I try not to think too much. Like other things now, thought must be rationed. Thinking can hurt your chances, and I intend What defines a dystopian novel? last. I know why there is no glass, in front of the watercolor picture of blue irises, and why the window opens only partly What defines a dystopian novel?
why the glass in it is shatterproof. Apart from these details, this could be a college guest room, for the less distinguished visitors; or a room in a rooming house, of former times, for ladies in reduced circumstances.
That is what we are now. The What defines a dystopian novel? have been reduced; for those of us who still have circumstances. But a chair, sunlight, flowers: these are not to be dismissed. I am alive, I live, I breathe, I put my hand out, unfolded, into the sunlight. The bell that measures time is ringing. Time here is measured by bells, as once in nunneries. As in a nunnery too, there are few mirrors. I get up out of the chair, advance my feet into the sunlight, in their red shoes, flat-heeled to save the spine and not for dancing.
The red gloves are lying on the bed. I pick them up, pull them What defines a dystopian novel? my hands, finger by finger. Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us. The skirt is ankle-length, full, gathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breasts, the sleeves are full. The white wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen. I pick up the shopping basket, put it over my arm. The door of the room—not my room, I refuse to say my—is not locked.
I go out into the polished hallway, which has a runner down the center, dusty pink. Like a path through the forest, like a carpet for What defines a dystopian novel?, it shows me the way. The carpet bends and goes down the front staircase and I go with it, one hand on the banister, once a tree, turned in another century, rubbed to a warm gloss.
Late Victorian, the house is, a family house, built for a large rich family. A sitting room in which I never sit, but stand or kneel only. At the end of the hallway, above the front door, is a fanlight of colored glass: flowers, red and blue. There remains a mirror, on the hall wall.
If I turn my head so that the white wings framing my face direct my vision towards it, I can see it as I go down the stairs, round, convex, a pier glass, like the eye of a fish, and myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairy-tale figure in a red cloak, descending towards a moment What defines a dystopian novel?
carelessness that is the same as danger. A Sister, dipped in blood. I leave the red umbrella where it is, because I know from the window that the day is sunny. Sometimes I can hear her pacing back and forth, a heavy step and then a light one, and the soft tap of her cane on the dusty-rose carpet. Handmaids exist solely for the purpose of reproduction, bearing children for elite barren couples. They are forbidden to work, vote or read and are given a name which includes that of the man with whom they are reproducing.
Handmaids are What defines a dystopian novel? allowed to travel outside in pairs and, in this extract, Offred is interacting with the Marthas who belong to another caste. Sample question : Analyse the working of the caste system and the power relationships between the characters in this extract.
Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed elements from the text and if necessary justify by quoting from the text. I walk along the hallway, past the sitting room door and the door that leads into the dining room, and open the door at the end of the hall and go through into the kitchen.
Here the smell is no longer of furniture polish. Rita is in here, standing at the kitchen table, which has a top of chipped white enamel. The dress is much like mine in shape, long and concealing, but with a bib apron over it and without the white wings and the veil. She puts on the veil to go outside, but nobody much cares who sees the face of a Martha.
Her sleeves are rolled to the elbow, showing her brown arms. Frowning, she tears out three tokens and hands them to me. Her face might be kindly if she would smile. She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck. Sometimes I listen outside closed doors, a thing I never would have done in the time before. Nobody asking you, Cora said.
Anyways, what could you do, supposing? Go to the Colonies, Rita said. With the Unwomen, and starve to death and Lord knows what all? They were shelling peas; even through the almost-closed door I could hear the light clink of the hard peas falling into the metal bowl. I heard Rita, a grunt or a sigh, of protest or agreement. Better her than me, Rita said, and I opened the door. That day, Cora was more pleasant to me than usual, Rita more surly. We would exchange remedies and try to outdo each other in the recital of our What defines a dystopian novel?
miseries; gently we would complain, our voices soft and minor key and mournful as pigeons in the eaves troughs. What defines a dystopian novel? it would be, which it is. How I used to despise such talk. Now I long for it. At least it was talk. The Marthas know things, they talk among themselves, passing the unofficial news from house to house. Like me, they listen at doors, no doubt, and see things even with their eyes averted. Or, Stabbed her with a knitting needle, right in the belly.
Jealousy, it must have been, eating her up. Or, tantalizingly, It was toilet cleaner she used. Or I would help Rita make the bread, sinking my hands into that soft resistant warmth which is so much like flesh. I hunger to touch something, other than cloth or wood.
I hunger to commit the act of touch. But even if I were to ask, even if I were to violate decorum to that extent, Rita would not allow it. She would be too afraid. The Marthas are not supposed to fraternize with us.
Fraternize means to behave like a brother. He said there was no corresponding word that meant to behave like a sister. Sororize, it would have to be, he said. He liked knowing about such details. The derivations of words, curious usages. I used to tease him about being pedantic. I place them in the zippered pocket in my sleeve, where I keep my pass. And a chicken, tell them, not a hen.
Why tempt her to friendship? Handmaids exist solely for the purpose of reproduction, bearing children for elite barren couples. They are forbidden to work, vote or read and are given a name which includes that of the man with whom they are reproducing. Sample question : Analyse the double-sided symbolism of What defines a dystopian novel?
garden in this extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed elements from the text and if necessary justify by quoting from the text. I go out by What defines a dystopian novel? back door, into the garden, which is large and tidy: a lawn in the middle, a willow, weeping catkins; around the edges, the flower borders, in which the daffodils are now fading and the tulips are opening their cups, What defines a dystopian novel?
out color. The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there. I once had a garden. I can remember the smell of the turned earth, the plump shapes of bulbs held in the hands, fullness, the dry rustle of seeds through the fingers.
Extracts from The Handmaid’s Tale
Time could pass more swiftly that way. What defines a dystopian novel? a distance it looks like peace. Or knitting scarves, for the Angels at the front lines. Fir trees march across the ends of her scarves, or eagles, or stiff humanoid figures, boy and girl, boy and girl. Handmaids exist solely for the purpose of reproduction, bearing children for What defines a dystopian novel?
barren couples. They are forbidden to work, vote or read. Handmaids are only allowed to travel outside in pairs and, in this extract, Ofglen and Offred are on a shopping trip. Sample question : Explore the theme of representation as a mirror to the self in this extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed analysis and justify by quoting from the text. Extract : A group of people is coming towards us. The skirts reach just below the knee and the legs come out from beneath them, nearly naked in their thin stockings, blatant, the high-heeled shoes with their straps attached to the feet like delicate instruments of torture.
The women teeter on their spiked feet as if on stilts, but off balance; their backs arch at the waist, thrusting the buttocks out. Their heads are uncovered and their hair too is exposed, in all its darkness and sexuality. They wear lipstick, red, outlining the damp cavities of their mouths, like scrawls on a washroom wall, of the time before. Ofglen stops beside me and I know that she too cannot take her eyes off these women.
We are fascinated, but also repelled. It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this. Then I think: I used to dress like that.
Westernized, they used to call it. The Japanese tourists come towards us, twittering, and we turn our heads away too late: our faces have been seen. The tourists bunch behind him; one of them raises a camera. What they must see is the white wings only, a scrap of face, my chin and part of my mouth. I know better than to look the interpreter in the face.
I also know better than to What defines a dystopian novel? Yes. What defines a dystopian novel? is invisibility, said Aunt Lydia. To be seen — What defines a dystopian novel? be seen — is to be — her voice trembled — penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable. Beside me, Ofglen is also silent. The interpreter turns back to the group, chatters at them in staccato.

domain: artistic


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JAKARTA — Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency said on Wednesday the energy minister was a suspect in a case involving extortion and abuse of authority, the latest in a string of cases that have tainted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s final year in office.
The minister, Jero Wacik, is a senior figure in Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, and the third cabinet minister in the outgoing government to be implicated in a corruption case.
Wacik is also the second senior energy official to be targeted by the corruption watchdog, another blow to the sector after oil and gas regulator chief Rudi Rubiandini was sentenced to seven years in prison in a US$1 million bribery case in April.
It was not clear whether Wacik, who held a news conference to defend his integrity, will be replaced immediately.
President-elect Joko Widodo, who gained widespread popularity for his clean image, will take over as leader of the world’s third-largest democracy on Oct. 20.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which is increasingly targeting corruption in the natural resources sector and which is known for its high conviction rate, said Wacik was a suspect in a case involving extortion and kickbacks worth about 9.9 billion rupiah ($841,000).
“We have issued a letter on Sept. 2 that raises the status to suspect of JW from the energy and mineral resources ministry,” Zulkarnain, the KPK’s deputy commissioner, told reporters, referring to Wacik by his initials.
Zulkarnain said his agency would request that a travel ban be imposed on him as soon as possible.
A KPK official who declined to be identified confirmed to Reuters that the suspect Zulkarnain was referring to was Wacik.
Wacik, who was elected in April to a five-year term as a parliamentarian starting in October, held the news conference late on Wednesday in response to the KPK announcement.
“I signed an integrity pact,” Wacik said, referring to a document aimed at preventing corruption that all public officials must sign at the time of their appointment.
“I will remain in Indonesia to abide by all the ongoing legal processes,” Wacik told reporters, adding that he would “face the president first” regarding his role as minister.
Yudhoyono, who is currently in Singapore, is expected to make a decision on any replacement on his return.
Earlier, presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said Yudhoyono was shocked by the news, but would wait for official confirmation of Wacik’s status from the KPK before responding.
Deputy Energy Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said he found it sad and difficult to believe. “From what I know he is a good, honest person,” Siswoutomo said, adding that the ministry would support the legal process and perform all tasks “as usual.”
Senior Mining Ministry official Sukhyar, who has only one name, said after the KPK announcement that talks with mining giant Newmont Corp, aimed at resuming copper exports, would not be affected by the change in Wacik’s legal status in connection with the case.
Yudhoyono picked Wacik to take over the ministry in 2011.
Wacik, a former tourism minister from the island of Bali, faced heavy criticism this year for his botched handling of a ban on raw mineral exports that has caused billions of dollars in losses in the mining industry.
This year, the religious affairs minister was identified as a suspect in a graft case involving state funds allocated for the haj pilgrimage. In July, the former sports minister was sentenced to four years in prison after being removed from his post because of suspected corruption connected to a sports complex project. Both officials denied any wrongdoing.
Widodo has promised a clean and largely technocratic cabinet in a country where graft remains a prevalent problem. Indonesia consistently ranks among the most corrupt countries on Transparency International’s corruption perception index.


Armstrong Concert Band will conjure Christmas spirit at Crooked Creek Park
Relief — imaginary at least — from the summer heat will arrive Tuesday on the tuneful strains of the Armstrong Concert Band.
The 65-member volunteer assemblage, which comprises youth and adults from throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley and beyond, will perform its annual free Christmas in July concert at Crooked Creek Park in Bethel. It is sponsored by Armstrong Tourist Bureau.
The repertoire that will range from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to “A Fireside Christmas,” along with nonseasonal material, has been known to help the audience think of cooler times, sconductor Dennis Cramer of East Franklin says.
“I wear my Santa hat, no matter how hot it is,” he adds, laughing. “We encourage people to come out with a picnic basket and enjoy the beauty of Crooked Creek Lake. Having the chance to hear the band without road noise takes one back to an earlier time.”
The musicians, who sometimes decorate their music stands, and the audience have a lot of fun with this performance each year.
This concert seems to be the highlight of the summer season for the band, Cramer says.
“It is a great venue to play, and we usually get a good crowd. All our concerts tend to be fun. I enjoy entertaining audiences and teaching them about the music we play and how it fits into our culture,” he says
Santa generally does not make an appearance. “He is usually on vacation this time of year,” Cramer says. “The audience has to imagine my short beard as Santa on a break.”
Band member Leslie Wolfe of Springdale sometimes wears her reindeer horns while playing the baritone euphonium.
“I have a warm place in my heart for Christmas music and enjoy playing it as much as listening to it,” she says. The Crooked Creek performance is nostalgic for her.
“I’m originally from very near there. I used to ride my bike to the beach there when I was a kid. No matter how busy my schedule, I always make time for this concert,” she says.
“It’s fun to play Christmas music during the summer,” says Jillian Larko of Manor Township, who plays alto saxophone.
The program Cramer has chosen is a broad one, opening with “Manhattan Beach March” and concluding with “Ashokan Farewell.”
In between, in addition to the holiday tunes, there will be marches and a Blues Brother revue.
Cramer has taught music in Armstrong School District since 1977. He is band director at Ford City High School and teaches instrumental music in grades 7 through 12. He formerly conducted the Kittanning Firemen’s Band, and has appeared as a guest conductor with the American Wind Symphony, the Venango County Band and Indiana University of Pennsylvania Trombone Choir.
He plays trombone with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra, performs with the Armstrong Brass Quintet and works as a freelance trombonist throughout Western Pennsylvania.
Cramer donates his time as the Armstrong Concert Band’s music librarian, manager, public-relations person, treasurer and Webmaster. He has been recognized for his volunteer efforts by WQED Multi-Media of Pittsburgh as a “Volunteer in the Arts.”
He believes it is important to have organizations like the Armstrong Concert Band, which was founded in 1984.
“Music is an important part of who we are. The arts reflect our society, and I am a firm believer in making the arts accessible to a wide audience,” he says.
The age range in the band is 14 to 82. Teachers, lawyers, housewives, plumbers, laborers, students, college professors and other occupations are represented.
New members are always welcome, he says. They must be at least in ninth grade and have a love of playing and performing.
“Music is an activity that can cross generations, and our band is a testimony to that,” Cramer says. “Older members participate for the joy in making music and relaxing, while the younger ones add the vitality and quest for more knowledge. It is a wonderful learning experience for all ages.”
Larko appreciates the performance opportunity. “It gives everyone in the community the opportunity to continue their music careers if they aren’t music majors, and it keeps live band music going,” she says. She is grateful for the friendly atmosphere and challenging music.
“People should know how enjoyable it is and how professionally it is run,” Wolfe says. “And there are so many musicians in the area that spent years practicing and perfecting their musical craft while in high school and college, then give it up because they have no where to play as adults.” This band provides a welcome outlet for that expression, she adds.
It also provided a lot more for Wolfe. She met her husband, trumpeter Manny Wolfe, there . “We’re the Armstrong Concert Band love story!” she says.
Future concerts include: 7 p.m. July 23, Ford Cliff borough building; 3 p.m. Nov. 27 holiday concert at Worthington Community Center. Additional Information:
If you go
What: Armstrong Concert Band’s Christmas In July concert
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Where: Crooked Creek Lake Park, off Route 66, Bethel. (Concert will be in the Independence pavilion. Turn in at park headquarters and follow the road toward the swimming area. The pavilion is on the left near two large parking areas.)
Details: 724-548-5225; email: email@example.com; Web site: www.geocities.com/armconband’.


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text:
Sunday, April 27, 2014
The Goose Creek United soccer club will hold fall soccer tryouts beginning on May 10 at the Foster Creek soccer complex.
Tryouts are for boys and girls of all ages. Walkups are welcome but pre-registration is available at goosecreekunited.org.
Tryout fee is $25 and includes a shirt.
Saturday, May 10
U8 – 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
U9 – 10 a.m. – Noon
U10 – Noon – 2 p.m.
U11 – 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
U12 – 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 14
U13 through U15 – 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Thursday, May 15
U16 through U18 – 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
The Gazette is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The Gazette.

domain: hobby


text:
I know the Rio Grande Valley intimately; it’s where I’m from and who I am. I’ve been thinking about the complexities of the borderland my entire life, trying to make sense of it — to make sense of myself. The Valley, as everyone who is from there calls it, is made up of four counties in South Texas, a place of mostly Mexican-Americans and Latinx immigrants. It’s unlike the rest of Texas. The people are different, the language and culture are different. I joke to outsiders that it feels like another country, all its own. The Valley is also a space of tension, carrying with it a history of violence over land and division that carries on to this day. Queer Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldúa appropriately calls the U.S.-Mexican border una herida abierta, or an open wound, in her seminal book Borderlands/La Frontera. Anzaldúa succinctly captures the border’s essence:
“Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition.”
Since Trump was elected and plans for his “big, beautiful” border wall materialized, my hometown of Mission, Texas has come into the national spotlight because it’s where construction for Trump’s border wall was first proposed and began. Earlier construction plans for the border wall included cutting access to historic landmarks, like the 120-year-old chapel La Lomita, and bisecting wildlife habitats along the Rio Grande like Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, the National Butterfly Center and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Because the Rio Grande’s floodplain isn’t adequate to build a concrete or steel structure, the wall is being built as far as a mile north of the river which serves as the international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. Executive Director of the National Butterfly Center Marianna Trevino-Wright explained to me that she was told by a border patrol official in August 2017 that construction was set for this area first because it was the federal government’s “path of least resistance.”
Over the last couple of years, plans for the border wall have been constantly shifting. Trump sparred with Congress over funding for the border wall, which led to the longest government shutdown in history earlier this year. The White House demanded $5.7 billion for a concrete wall along 215 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. With a second government shutdown looming ahead, congressional negotiators reached a new deal on border security and instead gave Trump nearly $1.4 billion for 55 miles of new border wall, all to be built in the Rio Grande Valley. That’s on top of the 33 miles of wall Congress had already authorized in March 2018. With this new wall, along with the 54 miles of existing border wall built a decade ago, nearly the entire region’s riverfront will become totally inaccessible.
The area may have been targeted, but the people of the Valley were not going down without a fight. Valley residents, the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe, immigration activists, environmentalists, land and homeowners have come together to form a No Border Wall Coalition that’s organized protests and community events around the Valley to speak out about the devastating environmental and psychological consequences of the border wall in predominantly poor, Latinx communities living along the border. Because of their fierce resistance and pressure on Congressman Henry Cuellar, the federal government spared La Lomita, the National Butterfly Center, and Bentsen state park in February.
With so much national attention on my hometown, I wanted to see for myself what was at stake if new border wall is built along the Rio Grande. I had never been to any of the nature preserves in the path of Trump’s wall except for Bentsen state park, which I had been to once with my family in high school. I knew the Valley was famous for its birds and wildlife but I was never really taught the value of these local treasures in school or by anyone else. I only knew about our rich wildlife and environment in relation to how it attracts white tourists who frequently visit the area to catch a glimpse of a rare bird or butterfly. With increased militarization on the border, who has access to the land? Who is allowed to enjoy the land?
I had known that butterflies were somewhat special to my hometown since I was a kid. As I later found out, Mission and the Lower Rio Grande Valley has an incredibly ideal subtropical climate for butterflies, and hosts more than 300 species — that’s about 40 percent of the 700-plus butterfly species that are found in the United States. In fact, it’s so special that 150 of those species can only be found in the Valley or in Mexico.
There’s no question why the New Jersey-based North American Butterfly Association chose Mission to be the home of the National Butterfly Center in 2002. The center has recorded more than 200 butterfly species, including rare ones that draw butterfly enthusiasts from around the world to the 100-acre preserve near the Rio Grande.
There was a heat wave when I visited a few weeks ago, an unusual 100-degree day in May and I wasn’t wearing the proper clothes or shoes for exploring the grounds. Despite the heat, I wandered around their butterfly gardens and native plant nurseries and saw so many butterflies fluttering around. I can only imagine how magical it is during peak migration season in November. Before I retreated inside to the air conditioning, I was lucky enough to admire a monarch butterfly and a zebra heliconian, a black-and-yellow striped butterfly with a two-inch wingspan for longer than a second.
In July 2017, Marianna Trevino-Wright, executive director of the center, discovered contractors working for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) using chainsaws and heavy machinery to prepare construction for the border wall. They were clearing trees and brush along the center’s private one-mile long road, from the levee to the Rio Grande. They had no authority, permission or legal right to be on the property, according to Trevino-Wright. In December 2017, the North American Butterfly Association filed a lawsuit against the federal government for unlawful incursion, deprivation of due process and violating the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal protections.
But under the REAL ID Act, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary is able to waive any U.S. law in order to construct barriers along the border. It gives unprecedented power to the DHS Secretary to basically undo decades of protective laws — including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act — in the name of border security. And that’s exactly what was used against the butterfly center when former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielson waived 28 federal laws in October 2018 to continue construction on the property. “They only waive the laws they know they are going to violate,” Trevino-Wright said.
In February, a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit and now their case is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals. “We have no expectation of justice,” Trevino-Wright said. When I asked her why the center is still pursuing an appeal if that’s the case, she retorted, “If for no other reason than to demonstrate to the American public the bastardization of the three branches of government.” Although they have some respite with the latest Homeland Security Appropriations Bill prohibiting funds from the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years for construction, it doesn’t mean the butterfly center isn’t entirely exempt in the future.
If a wall is built, about 70 percent of the center would be behind the barrier, with access to the center through gates with security codes for employees, emergency responders, and law enforcement. In order to create the 150-feet enforcement zone for access roads, cameras and lighting, native habitat — including host plants for butterflies and breeding and feeding areas for wildlife — would be destroyed. When the Rio Grande overflows its banks, terrestrial animals, like the Texas Indigo, the Texas Tortoise and the Texas Horned Lizard, living between the river and the wall are at risk of drowning in the floodwaters since they have nowhere to escape to. In addition, bright lights used around the wall at night could disorient and disrupt natural rhythms of wildlife and even plants.
According to CBP, the Rio Grande Valley is its busiest sector in the country, with the most apprehensions and drug seizures in the southwest. The wall is intended to keep drug smugglers and undocumented migrants from entering, even though experts have pointed out that most drugs are transported through ports of entry. Trump’s need for a wall has intensified by the waves of migrant families from Central America who have been crossing the border recently to seek asylum. Most are fleeing their country due to poverty and violence and risk their lives in order to seek a better one in the U.S. The land between the river and the wall might be known as “no man’s land” but it’s still a part of the U.S. so migrants have a legal right to claim asylum once they cross the river and step foot on U.S. soil. A wall built a mile away will not stop them.
Trevino-Wright isn’t just concerned about the wildlife impacted by the border wall but asylum seekers who cross the river. “All the border wall is going to do is create a hurdle for the truly vulnerable,” Trevino-Wright said. “They will sit at the border wall and wait to be picked up by Border Patrol, where they will be immediately carted off to a for-profit prison.”
I had always thought the only beautiful place in the Rio Grande Valley was South Padre Island — until I was looking up at a circle of magnificent trees draped in Spanish moss, the sound of a million different birds chattering, and the sun’s warmth engulfing me at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge a few weeks ago. I stood still, listening to this unfamiliar chorus and took it all in. I was astounded by the lush greenery and the life blaring at me — the singing birds, the insects and butterflies zooming by, the lizards darting into the brush near the path. It was a sight to behold, calling back to when dinosaurs roamed the land.
More than 450 plant species grow in Santa Ana’s 2,088 acres, providing an oasis for native birds such as chachalacas, Green Kingfishers, and Great Kiskadees. During the fall and spring, they share their home with more than 400 bird species migrating along the Central and Mississippi flyways, making Santa Ana, like many nature preserves located along the Rio Grande, one of the world’s top birding destinations. It’s also home to endangered species like the ocelot, a small wildcat.
Up until last spring, the federal nature preserve was going to be bisected by Trump’s border wall. After a large public outcry, Santa Ana was spared when a congressional spending bill authorized 33 miles of border wall to be built in March 2018. Like the butterfly center, a border wall would’ve negatively impacted habitat and wildlife at the refuge.
According to a sign in Santa Ana’s visitor center, “…Santa Ana NWR provides a glimpse into a world that has vanished from 95% of the Lower Rio Grande Valley” — a world that has been lost to agricultural, industrial, and urban development. It dawned on me that I only knew the colonized landscape of the Valley — miles and miles of fields for produce. For the first time, I saw my home’s untouched land as it was before my family ever settled in the area. If Santa Ana didn’t exist, I wouldn’t know the land’s history.
As the borderlands continue to be militarized and fortified with every administration, I fear that sooner rather than later the remaining five percent of pristine land will vanish forever.
My dad, who has lived in the Valley his entire life, accompanied me on a hike through Santa Ana. He had never been before. We made our way through Pintail Lakes trail and wound our way to see the river. I’ve seen the Rio Grande several times before while crossing the pedestrian walkway at the Progreso International Bridge for day trips into the neighboring Mexican town of Nuevo Progreso but I’d never seen the Rio Grande up close and in the wild like this. What struck me the most was how relatively calm everything is — nature carries on unfazed by the frenzy around the imaginary line in the middle of the river.
More than 165,000 nature tourists visit the Valley each year, contributing $463 million to the local economy according to a 2011 Texas A&M University study. In addition, Winter Texans — mostly white retirees — frequently visit wildlife and nature refuges while in the area, contributing $528 million a year to the economy. While many white visitors flock to the Valley’s nature refuges, predominantly Latinx locals tend not to, and maybe for good reason.
I’ve only been to Bentsen State Park once before as a freshman in high school with my family; we saw baby javelinas along the trail. My dad was trailing behind my sister, brother and I and had just emerged from behind some trees, when an older white lady passing by jokingly asked him, “Did you just swim across?” My dad laughed it off and went on his way, but I remember being so taken aback by her remark.
If you’re brown, the reality is that being outside in the Valley is policed — mostly by Border Patrol. In addition to having devastating environmental impacts, the border wall will hurt immigrant communities living in the region. With increased border reinforcement for the wall and stricter immigration policies like SB4, it creates a hostile environment for all people of color residents who may be racially profiled and questioned about their immigration status, even by local law enforcement. For undocumented people and mixed-status households, they live with fear of deportation and seperation from their family every day, putting them in vulnerable situations from a routine traffic stop or wage theft at a job.
“[The wall] is the biggest symbol of the administration’s racial animosity toward our community, to our people,” John-Michael Torres, Communications Coordinator for La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), told me. Torres supports the work of colonia residents who organize to address local issues including injustices facing working families, farmworkers and immigrant communities. LUPE has participated in No Border Wall coalition events around the Valley.
Torres explained that members of the organization, undocumented or not, don’t go near the river because that’s where border patrol agents are concentrated. Their constant surveillance creates fear and emotional stress for residents who might be profiled or who are undocumented and risk detainment and deportation, he says.
26-year-old queer DACA recipient Allyson Duarte has lived in McAllen, Texas since she immigrated to the U.S. from Veracruz, Mexico when she was 13. “If you’re an immigrant, that structure is specifically in response to your existence,” Duarte explains. “You’re not wanted. You’re the undesirable. It puts the label of criminal on us.”
She’s currently pursuing a masters degree in public policy at American University in Washington, D.C. and notices the stark difference between the cities. She tells me that the other night she was riding her bicycle in her McAllen neighborhood and saw three police cars patrolling the area. “It’s just that you have to live under those conditions, always. And I don’t think that’s normal.”
Torres points out the border wall is considered a piece of infrastructure, equipped with detection and surveillance technology like sensors, cameras, and LED lighting and along with it comes “boots on the ground” to enforce the law, increasing militarization in the region. He explains the increased patrol will push migrants to cross areas with the most dangerous terrains.
“The more militarized the border is, the more likely people will die in the river trying to cross,” he continues. It’s not hypothetical — Torres gives an example from a LUPE member whose mother drowned in the river in what would’ve been a regular visit to see her children and grandchildren.
Before the Rio Grande Valley was part of the United States, it was a part of Mexico. For some landowners along the river, their land has been in their family for generations before the border crossed them. Now the government is planning to seize their land through eminent domain, perpetuating a long history of land grabs in the region.
Trevino-Wright says people of the Valley don’t know the history of the land because it’s been “excoriated.” They don’t know about the “extirpation of native people” or about the Mexicans that were lynched or otherwise murdered along the Southern border by mobs, law enforcement, and Texas Rangers over land ownership between 1910 and 1920. This history has been erased from Texas history books and has long gone unacknowledged by the state. “But [these stories] are true and they are our history,” she adds.
“And that is what we are living today — a continued de-Mexicanization and dehumanization of our people while they endure another land seizure by virtue of Trump’s denaturalization task force and border wall construction.”
Before two settler nations occupied the land, the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe of Texas called their homeland on both sides of the Rio Grande Somi S’ek. The 2,100-member tribe known as Esto’k Gna in the native Carrizo/Comecrudo language, isn’t state or federally recognized, but don’t need colonial recognition to claim their existence and continue to preserve their history and teachings passed down for generations.
Since late January, members of the tribe have set up a camp known as Yalui village at the 154-year-old Eli Jackson Cemetery in San Juan, a couple of miles west of Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. About 150 South Texans are laid to rest in the quarter-acre cemetery — including Nathanial Jackson, the son of a plantation owner from Alabama and his wife, Matilda Hicks, an emancipated slave. The couple purchased 5,500 acres of land, including the area where the gravesite sits, and settled along the Rio Grande with their children in 1857.
Trump’s border wall was proposed to go through the historic site, and with it came the possibility of exhuming graves and razing the cemetery. Tribal chairman Juan Mancias says he is distantly related to some buried in the cemetery and believes it contains unmarked graves of Indigenous people. Without any government-recognized tribal land, Manicas got permission from the Ramirez family who owns the cemetery property and who are descendants of the Jacksons to establish Yalui village. Yalui means butterfly in the native Carrizo/Comecrudo language.
Mancias, along with Carrizo/Comecrudo members and allies, cleared the weeds from headstones, pitched about a dozen tents at the campsite and are vowing to protect the sacred site. “We didn’t want them to be forgotten,” he says of the veterans of Native American and African descent buried at the cemetery. “We don’t want them to be disturbed from their final resting place. When you dig us out again and replace us, then you’re actually killing the Native person again.”
When I visited Yalui village a few weeks ago, there were two out-of-state allies — 24-year-old Lilith Sinclair, a social justice advocate from Seattle; and Mac McLaughlin, a union electrician from New Jersey — who were manning the camp. Tribal members from the Valley and across the state stay when possible. What brought Sinclair, who identifies as Afro-Indigenous, to Yalui village is a “really strong belief and dedication to fighting for marginalized communities, specifically Indigenous communities.” Sinclair says the camp is there to change the narrative, educate people, and protect all that is sacred including the animals, land and water.
“There’s so many things at risk here,” Sinclair said. “It’s more than just the continued genocide of traditional tribal practices. It’s genocide of the earth, and pillaging of the earth as well.”
On a day-to-day basis, the crew maintains the property, observes the wildlife in the area and most importantly, monitors border patrol — who frequently patrol the area on vehicles, ATVs, and even helicopters.
On June 3rd, CBP issued a statement saying they would “avoid” the cemetery while “still meeting Border Patrol’s operational requirements for border wall.” With the support from crowd-funding, the tribe continues to protect the site.
“Destruction of the environment started when they started killing the native people to get what they wanted,” Mancias says. “They started cutting trees down and making roads, started farming and killing all that is native. And we have to go back to understand the teachings that have been left to us to be able to save this earth.”
The border wall is just one example of environmental racism affecting the area, Mancias says. He points out that there are plans for an oil terminal and three different liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals in the Port of Brownsville, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. The proposed sites for these projects would damage a wildlife corridor and create pollution for the communities living near it. Mancias says the border wall, the Trans-Pecos and Comanche Trail pipelines in West Texas, and the LNG terminals are all connected by the fact they destroy the environment along the Rio Grande. “It’s not just affecting one certain community, it’s affecting all communities along the river,” he says.
Rebekah Hinojosa has been organizing against the LNG terminals in Brownsville since 2015 with environmental group Sierra Club. Her mother’s ancestors are buried in a cemetery behind an already-built border wall in Cameron County. Hinojosa says people in the Valley are connecting the fights between the border wall, pipeline and LNG terminals and are concerned that the “no man’s land” between the river and wall will be up for grab to oil and gas companies. “We don’t want the wall and we especially don’t want the wall to pave the way for more oil and gas infrastructure,” she says.
There’s a park in my hometown right along the bank of the Rio Grande. My dad says that when he was a teenager during the Easter holiday it was crowded with families barbecuing, fishing, and enjoying the view. I had never been to the park, so my dad took me to see it after our hike at Santa Ana. The first thing I noticed was the heavy Border Patrol presence and how relatively empty and quiet it was for a Saturday. Across the river, it was the complete opposite. Boisterous Mexican families were enjoying the hot day, swimming near the bank, barbecuing and blasting norteño music. It sounded and smelled familiar — that’s what family gatherings look like on this side of the river, too.
There must have been a time when the river easily connected people, when people on both sides of the river coexisted without the threat of borders and the violence that comes with it.
But these few lines in Wendy Trevino’s Brazilian Is Not A Race holds the weight of the truth.
A border, like race, is a cruel fiction
Maintained by constant policing, violence
Always threatening a new map.
A border wall further fragments and disrupts nature, the land, and the people who are intricately woven into the Valley’s natural ecosystem. It builds upon a legacy of colonialism and racism in the Valley, slicing an already open wound.🌲
edited by rachel.

domain: geography


text:
eBooks for information and research. All subjectsIssues of cultures and countries around the worldInformation and viewpoints about social issuesInformation about United States history
Information about World HistoryMultiple subject database: Literature, Social Studies, BiographyCollege and career information
Original poll survey questions and resultsInformation about social issues giving pro/con argumentsInformation on American History and GovernmentWorld history from the mid-15th century to the presentInformation about teenage health and wellnessINFOhioMulti-database and network sponsored by the State of Ohio for all subjects. Especially detailed informative articles through Academic Search Premier.In order to view the EBSCO Multi-Database Search, you need to go into the "Educators" option in InfoOhio.This includes Academic Search Premier, Biography Reference, Literary Reference, Newspaper Source, and News Wire.
This database will search ALL of the databases above and give you results in one location. Once you enter the keyword you want to search for, the results from SOURCE will be in the main section and the results from the other databases listed below will be on the left-hand side of the screen once you scroll down.

domain: library


text:
I am so excited to share that I am the featured designer over at The Daily Digi today! I was absolutely thrilled when they asked me to be a part of The Digi Files for the third time. Here’s a peek at the kit that I created for their members…
Being a member of their site entitles you to seven full-sized products for just $7.50 a month! Check out the details right here. It’s such a great deal! (If you’re not a member, this kit will be released in my store next month.)
If you’d like to check out my feature and learn a bit about me, check out the post today right here. There is also a coupon you can grab for my store and a chance to win one too!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hello! I have a brand new kit making its debut today. Introducing….
Perfect for all sorts of cherished memories and special moments, this beautiful kit is one you can turn to again and again. Here is some gorgeous inspiration from my team:
You can find Timeless in my MScraps store right here and it is 20% off through Sunday!
Have a great day!
Do you have a favorite movie? Or maybe you want to capture your youngest child’s first visit to a movie theater? I have the perfect kit for all of your movie memories and it’s today’s Wonderful Wednesday pick!
Today only you can grab this kit for just $3.50! That’s 50% off! Check it out in my MScraps store right here.
Have a magical day!
I have something super fun today. I’ve been wanting to create some brushes for sale for a while now. I had so much fun making these and they are so versatile! Three packs of new Mixed Media Brushes or get all three with a great discount in the bundle.
Mixed Media Brushes 1
Mixed Media Brushes 2
Mixed Media Brushes 3
Mixed Media Brushes: Bundle 1
Save 33% when you buy the bundle or grab the individual packs for 20% off through Sunday!
I hope you like these as much as I do. I’m already working on future packs with all sorts of techniques and mediums. Fun stuff!
I’ll be back next week with a brand new kit. Until then, happy scrapping!
This week’s Wonderful Wednesday pick is a beautiful kit that is perfect for so many different occasions.
Check it out in my store right here and grab it for 50% off today only!
Have a great day!


text:
Think tank: university challenges for Ireland
Published: 31 January 2010
How many world-class universities can Ireland afford? Seven is too many if we're talking about comprehensive world-class research insitutions with undergraduate education, postgraduate training and research.
As chairman of the London School of Economics, I have some insight into the cost of running such entities and the ferocity of the competition, and I can't see how Ireland can afford this. We can have seven universities, but they cannot all be world class and "full-service". That is not to say that those that aren't international players won't have important national and regional roles. But the issue of differentiation has to be addressed as a matter of national strategic importance.
I commend University College Dublin and Trinity for the TCD/UCD Innovation Alliance, which will see unprecedented collaboration in postgraduate training, research, technology transfer and commercialisation. This initiative makes great sense. But will government support this alliance? And isn't it time for these


text:
The Plane of Fire is a realm of perpetual inferno, under a sky of ash and embers. At the center of the eternal blaze stands Fennin Ro, the Tyrant of Fire, who is a large bestial creature of immense, frightful power that rules over the Plane.
No being, save the Tyrant of Fire himself, can withstand the merciless consuming element writhing at the center of his world.
The cooler outer regions of this domain contain jagged, charred islands surrounded by rivers of fast flowing lava and great seas of molten metals. The intense and caustic environment of this realm, has forged an army of beings born of flame and magma, such as fire elementals, imps, efreeti, and phoenix.
There is no oasis, no harbor for the weary in this infernal realm, and all who dare enter should be prepared to fight for their very lives!
Are you strong enough to withstand the heat on the Plane of Fire? EverQuest II: Chaos Descending is scheduled to launch on November 13, 2018, and you can pre-order the expansion right now!
And remember! If you're an All Access Member, you'll also recieve an additional 10% off of the expansion pre-order (and more)! You can learn more about the perks of All Access here.


text:
BENJAMIN B. WAGNER, United States Attorney, LAUREL J. MONTOYA, Assistant United States Attorneys, Fresno, CA, Attorneys for Plaintiff.
ALONZO J. GRADFORD, Attorney for Defendant Andy Yung Kwong Chan.
SETH P. CHAZIN, Attorney for Defendant John Zhong Xian Huang.
GEORGE SIDDELL, Attorney for Defendant Chiu Chuen Lau.
DORON WEINBERGM, Attorney for Defendant Tony Chao Fan Luo.
KIRK MCALLISTER, Attorney for Defendant Michael Chau.
HARRIS B. TABACK, Attorney for Defendant Yao Ming Yu.
STIPULATION REGARDING EXCLUDABLE TIME PERIODS UNDER SPEEDY TRIAL ACT; FINDINGS AND ORDER
ANTHONY W. ISHII, Senior District Judge.
Plaintiff United States of America, by and through its counsel of record, and defendants, by and through their counsel of record, hereby stipulate as follows:
1. By previous order, this matter was set for status on January 27, 2014 at 1:30 p.m.
2. By this stipulation, defendants now move to continue the status conference until April 28, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. and to exclude time between January 27, 2014 and April 28, 2014, under 18 U.S.C.§ 3161(h)(7)(A), B(iv). Plaintiff does not oppose this request.
3. The parties agree and stipulate, and request that the Court find the following:
a. The government has represented that the discovery associated with this case includes approximately 508 pages of investigative reports and related documents in electronic form as well as approximately 25 CD. interviews, photographs and video recordings. All of this discovery has been either produced directly to counsel and/or made available for inspection and copying.
b. Offers have been conveyed, counteroffers have been made, and plea agreements have been prepared as to several of the defendants that the parties felt were reasonably likely to result in the resolution. New and different offers for settlement were conveyed January 23, 2014 and additional time is ...

domain: law


text:
NEW YORK — In the weeks ahead, tens of millions of Americans will be asked to provide information for the US census.
For the states and the District of Columbia, the Census Bureau says, more than $400 billion in federal spending is at stake. (For more on the 2010 Census, click here.
Which states will benefit the most from an accurate census?
On a per capita basis, the answer is rural areas and places with a large poor population, according to an analysis released today by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
The following conclusion may be surprising to some: Politics does not appear to have played a large role in which states get more money. For example, the state of Nevada – which has high-ranking Democrat Harry Reid in the Senate – came in last in terms of per capita spending of federal dollars as related to census numbers.
“In general, politics does not enter in. Congress sets the formulas,” says Andrew Reamer, a Brookings fellow who did the analysis. “Most states get their money based on numbers, which is why an accurate census is so important.”
Mr. Reamer looked at the data in terms of metropolitan areas, counties, and states. In terms of metro areas, state capitals dominated in per capita spending – in large part because money flows from Washington to the state capitals for further distribution. Thus, the top five metro areas were all capitals: Albany, N.Y.; Sacramento, Calif.; Baton Rouge, La.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Austin, Texas.
A look at the states may better illustrate how the census matters. Here’s one part of that analysis: The largest state program that relies on federal census statistics is Medicaid, the program for individuals who are not covered by private health-insurance programs and have low incomes. Medicaid represents about 58 percent of the federal census-driven dollars.
However, it’s not just a large population that matters for Medicaid. Instead, each state determines income-level eligibility, plus what health issues will be covered. What this means is that California, America’s most populous state, ranks 20th in terms of per capita federal spending based on census numbers. Vermont, meanwhile, has a generous Medicaid program, meaning that the rural state ranks second.
But it’s not just Medicaid that matters. In 2008, at least two states – Louisiana and Mississippi – received extra funding as a result of hurricane Katrina, which took place in 2005. These states received a larger share of housing, community, and redevelopment funds, which are normally census-based.
Here are the top 10 states in Reamer’s per capita analysis (although you’ll see that the ranking of states also includes the nation’s capital):
1. The District of Columbia. The District, Reamer says, has a generous Medicaid program to help it treat a population that has a large number of very poor residents. The city gets reimbursed by the federal government for 70 percent of its Medicaid expenditures. That figure is one of the highest in the United States.
2. Vermont. The state also has a generous Medicaid program, as well as children’s healthcare coverage. While the US on average spends 60.9 percent of census-driven federal dollars on healthcare, Vermont spends 67.5 percent.
3. Alaska. The state received $1.8 billion total – with $380 million, or 20 percent, going toward highways. That is three times the national average. “There are few people [in the state], and it takes a lot of expenditures to serve a few people,” Reamer says.
4 and 5. New York and Massachusetts. Both have generous Medicaid programs, and New York has a large poor population.
6. Louisiana. It received a disproportionate share of community and redevelopment funds as part of its post-Katrina recovery.
7. Tennessee. Because it has a large poor population, it received one of the highest percentages of Medicaid reimbursement.
8. Maine. The state has one of the most generous Medicaid programs in terms of eligibility. A Maine resident that is within 206 percent of the federal poverty level is eligible for Medicaid. The national average is 63 percent of the federal poverty level.
9. New Mexico. It has a high number of poor people, so it receives a high Medicaid reimbursement rate.
10. Mississippi. The state has a large poor population and received a high proportion of federal dollars for housing, reflecting Katrina recovery.