gdp's Comments

Dog Canyon : The Mick Hits Two

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:10:02 +0000

Baseball has never appealed to me. Maybe it has something to do with getting socked in the nose by my team mate Bobby Mason after practice one day. But I can certainly see the appeal and the sense of camaraderie the home run races have created. Since so many kids grow up playing baseball, it is easy to project oneself onto a baseball star and speak in terms of beating the record (as if the fans had anything to do with it). Seeing one of the great sporting contests in person is a great memory. Thanks for sharing!

Dog Canyon : For "Shower Customer Number Nine"

Sat, 1 Jan 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Happy Holidays Glenn. May the showers go on for ever and the warmth never end...

Dog Canyon : I Remember

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 17:43:11 +0000

Darn National Committee? Dumb Navel Collector? Damn Nerd Collective? Yeah. Once again the Demoncrats allowed the Republi-cons to dominate and control the conversation.

Dog Canyon : Haiku Friday: Boll Weevil

Mon, 6 Sep 2010 16:47:42 +0000

Sprayed for sixty years, pesticides and herbicides no change in crop loss.

Dog Canyon : Magical Night Burnout

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:24:41 +0000

That photo exudes terror for me. And the Pike crew looks so calm.

Dog Canyon : what?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:09:12 +0000

You weave glistening webs of chaotic lives that entangle your readers. Victims struggling half-hearted against the coming conclusion. Afraid more of the end than what brings it.

Dog Canyon : Possible Arson and the Right's Houston Voter Suppression Effort

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:06:22 +0000

Although I find it deplorable, I now accept that the GOP and the powerful right wing have mostly abandoned any attempts at governing in favor of a scorched earth policy based mostly upon a position of "no". However, resorting to destroying ballot boxes is an important new low. If it is found that the fire that destroyed the ballot boxes in Houston was the result of a deliberate action is civil war far off? For we must not stand aside wagging our fingers as our republic is torn down around us by a lunatic fringe.

Dog Canyon : Haiku Friday: I Square Donald Judd

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:18:12 +0000

Arcing waves of white, across the glistening green. Got soaked on my lawn.

Dog Canyon : Interview with Oscar Nominated Screenwriter/Director Oren Moverman

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:10:54 +0000

Wow! What an interesting guy. He really seems like one of those guys who just gets things done. Even when it's not "supposed" to be doable. Great interview!

Dog Canyon : Shoot a Real Machine Gun!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:57:02 +0000

Although I am fundamentally against the use of nuclear weapons, I might make an exception for Las Vegas.

Dog Canyon : Fiction’s Frilliest Genre Gets Real(er)

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:13:06 +0000

I have recently wondered if we use terms of conflict and conquest to describe love and sex because love and sex are managed in our society as finite resources. No sex before marriage. You marry once (and if California is any indication only with the member of the opposite sex). And once you are married, loving someone else is cheating. If we as a society look at love and sex as rare resources then we will treat them as we do all the finite resources in the world. We will place high value on them, fight over them and even go to war over them. Love and sex become things to steal, hoard and take at any cost. We pillage and rape. But love and sex are not finite. They are like cornucopia. The more you love people, the more love you have (and the more love you receive). Their value and their quantity increase with their expression (especially when appropriate protection measures are taken during sex). When love goes open source, there is no need to use language of conflict and destruction to describe what is available to all and free to be shared.

Dog Canyon : Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs—Your New Favorite Band

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:13:12 +0000

I am hoping they head down to Colorado. When they do, I am making that show!

Dog Canyon : Orthodontia

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:22:03 +0000

My grandfather, Louis I. Grossman is the father of modern orthodontia and invented most of the procedures and techniques modern society endures to keep their teeth straight. He wrote 17+ books on the subject which have been translated into almost every language on earth. His office was filled with award, honorary degrees and photos with dentists and orthodontists from around the world. When I tell this to people, they almost instantly look at my mouth trying to get a peek of my teeth. And no. I never had braces. My teeth are a little crooked. Despite inventing the root canal and other means of altering your mouth, grandpa believed that people with straight teeth were boring and that crooked teeth were a sign of character. Living with that duality shaped my world. It helped me understand that just because we can, doesn't mean we should. Although I definitely wish I had some of those colored rubber bands when I was a kid.

Dog Canyon : We Are The Founders

Mon, 5 Jul 2010 20:52:57 +0000

Change is hard. Change is good. The underdog helps bring change and the powerful will always fight that change. Change is hard. Change is good. America must change. America is change.

Dog Canyon : The Last Picture Show: Sam the Lion's Monologue

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:52:03 +0000

I knew a few women like that. One in particular stands out. I think back pretty regularly to the wild things we did. Good times spent well in a short amount of time can carry a guy through some rough patches. Even the roughest patch. Getting old. But it is impossible to come through life without scars. When we look out across the landscape of our lives, it is impossible to not see the changes and how we have changed from our time together with wild women in the tanks of our lives. Here kid. Let me help you with that cigarette.

Dog Canyon : The Fall Vs. Whatever It Is That Is Encroaching

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:50:16 +0000

Hayden. First of all. The Long Cut is brilliant and something I have wanted to do, without really know what I wanted to do. My music collection is out of control and instead of bringing me great pleasure it now serves as the intimidating 800 pound gorilla in my home. Almost limitless storage combined with access to almost everything ever released is crippling not empowering. So decoupling from the insanity and returning to listening to music is just what I need to do. Secondly. Your ability to collect and organize such a massive set of information about a band and put it into an interesting and engaging analysis is inspiring. Thanks for your effort! Finally. I have a very fond memory of laying atop a houseboat in the middle of Lake Powell listening to Infotainment on my Walkman. Thanks for digging that back up for me.

Dog Canyon : Interview with John Waters about his new book Role Models

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:51:19 +0000

Wow. Yeah. I wonder what kind of skeletons Mr. Waters has in his closet. I bet he has pissed off a bunch of people, if only for the reason that he beats to march of his own drummer (or vice versa). Mr. Waters seems to me like someone who has come up against a lot of road blocks in his career and life, but seems quite adept at hurdling them. Some names from that list would be interesting!

Dog Canyon : PJ Harvey's Sheela-Na-Gig

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:30:09 +0000

I was 19 or 20 in a literature class in college when my new friend Mary put on some PJ Harvey for me to listen to. The combined power of Mary and PJ shattered my world and launched me on a new trajectory. Thanks Mary.

Dog Canyon : The Politics of Birth: How I Learned the True Meaning of “Reproductive Rights”

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:15:35 +0000

It took me 2+ hours to reply to "part 1" above, but it is nearing midnight so I will try and address a few points, quickly. Please excuse the brevity and any baggage that may come with it. You will find no argument with me that hospitals serve as significant hosts to germs; and some pretty scary ones at that. However, the prevalence of super-bugs like Merca in everyday locations including our skin and our homes is now equally significant therefore effectively nullifying your argument about germs. I have seen "The Business of Being Born" although I don't remember it all, it does have some great and important points. However approaching childbirth as a natural human event instead of a medical event has nothing to do with where the child is born. It is a state of mind. But when a medical situation does occur during the natural event of childbirth, then it DOES matter where that child is being born. I have heard too many horror stories told by my father and by my wife of home births that end in preventable tragedy. Just as doctors have a financial stake in childbirth in hospitals, homebirth advocates have a financial stake in recommending mothers give birth at home. It is still a business of being born. So let's encourage choices, but why not encourage a set of choices that are really best for the mother, child and family. Let's support birthing suites, relaxed, flexible environments with a variety of options where mothers and fathers are comfortable and mothers and babies are safe throughout the birthing experience, even when medical situations arise. Places where the full spectrum of medical assistance can be employed as needed and where midwives and birthing coaches can support the mother and family through this amazing experience. Real choices. Not dangerous choices that subject parents and babies to unnecessary risk so they can grow up and hang upside down on the climbing dome, ride their bikes no-handed, and run over to a friends house to play hide-and-seek. With respect and hope. Dave

Dog Canyon : The Politics of Birth: How I Learned the True Meaning of “Reproductive Rights”

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:47:15 +0000

Catherine. First let me say thanks for engaging in such a level and respectful dialog. It is a rare thing in today's inflammatory world. Upon rereading my comment, I don't think I was as sensitive as I had hoped and instead fell into the trap of sacrificing the subtitles of decorum for the brevity of my response. I do not purport to be an expert in sonography, medicine or childbirth. Nor am I a practicing scientist, statistician or public health specialist. I am a dad that works hard to understand the world through informed logic. I was raised by an OBGYN and a Lamaze teacher in a household where models of the reproductive system, fetal development charts and even sonogram devices filled my life. I am married to a family doctor. I am obviously biased toward current medical ideas although I remain open to some eastern medicine techniques and ideas and am generally open minded. Please see my piece in Dog Canyon regarding my comfort level with unusual experiences. Although I am not familiar with the specific studies you cite, it has been known for a long while that ultrasonic waves have an effect on human tissue. The question is under what conditions and what are the results of that effect. Does the benefit outweigh the risk? I have undergone ultrasonic therapy for orthopedic injuries and have felt the penetrating heat it can cause and the resulting swelling and healing. But the device that was used for that therapy is very different than the device that uses ultrasonic waves to visualize the uterus and fetus. The manner and the duration in which it is used is completely different, too. I am sure that there are studies that show that ultrasound can do great damage just as there are studies that show that it does absolutely no damage, but the consensus follows the median of all the studies and they indicate that sonography is a valuable tool with low risk to the fetus. And there is risk in everything we do. Becoming a parent is one of the riskiest things we can do despite social assurances that parenthood is easy and now safer than ever. We live in a society that is unhealthy in its aversion to risk. Too many of us hover over our children protecting them from everything including reality; constantly immersing them in an antibiotic gel-world fearing predatory child-nappers and poisons in our vaccines around every corner. The results are the increasingly sick, feeble, coddled, common sense-lacking brats that run roughshod across every mall, fast food restaurant and big box store while neighborhoods are eerily silent; devoid of bike-riding, fort-building, tag-playing kids. Tens of thousands of parents are so afraid of their child "getting" autism that they believed a couple celebrities and a quack doctor and his lousy study and now refuse to vaccinate their children. They put more weight in the statistically insignificant (subsequently shown to be essentially non-existent) risk of a link between autism and vaccines than they did the very real risk of their child contracting the now increasingly prevalent measles, whooping cough, etc. Life is risky. Parenthood is very risky. You know that even more than I. As a general rule, doctors prescribe too many tests. I am not advocating the overuse of sonography or any fetal imaging tool. I am advocating the use of this useful and valuable tool within the parameters established by the medical community, even if there is a very small risk of potential tissue damage as a result. The height of the fundus is a complimentary test used in a suite of evaluations to develop the gestational age and progress of the pregnancy. Although imperfect, being able to visualize and directly measure key landmarks, sonography is an important and frequently the most important tool in the suite of examinations to understand the mother and fetus' health and progress. When performed properly by a trained medical technician under the proper circumstances, ultrasound-based imaging technologies the benefits far outweigh the risks. Especially since an ever-growing percentage of mothers no longer fall into the category where sonography is not beneficial. And unfortunately, you don't either now that your medical history includes a birth defect, but still you stated that you wouldn't have a sonogram in the future. It is this point that caught my attention. Although I hope that you remain healthy and if you choose to attempt to get pregnant again that everything proceeds to a good outcome, by your own admission, you are no longer a low-risk patient. I hope you will reevaluate your position with this understanding. Otherwise it seems like your decision is based more on faith than logic. Thank you for sharing your experience. I wish you the best in the future.