The View from Here

Bacon Grease

After listening to the news this week, I have come to the conclusion that I’m lucky to be alive.

The World Health Organization is concerned that people who eat too much bacon and other processed meats will develop colon cancer.

I wonder what happens to people who eat potatoes fried in two-day-old bacon grease. Probably something awful…so I’m lucky to be here.

My mother, and my grandmothers and my great-grandmothers, practiced what I call “survival cooking” which included some methods and procedures that most of us now find appalling. Yet their generations were healthier than my own, and if present trends are any indication, the generation after mine will not fare well at all.

I’ve given this topic a lot of consideration. As a fat person who is constantly modifying her diet in order to be healthier and thinner, I understand many of the pronouncements of the WHO and other such entities. The American diet is generally AWFUL and it is KILLING people. There are complicated reasons for that, but the researchers and the media try to condense those reasons into alarming “sound bites” in order to scare people into better habits. That has been moderately successful with smoking, but it won’t work as well with food consumption. Smoking is an optional behavior, eating is not.

My grandmothers lived through the depression years and then WWII when food was rationed and restricted. They learned to use the most basic ingredients available and to “waste not”. Grandma Bea saved the grease from fried bacon and reused it. She made her own hominy. She went out to the hen house and killed a chicken for Sunday dinner. Grandma Della served raw milk and made her own butter. She cooked wild pokeweed, which is poisonous if not picked and prepared properly. Both women made large quantities of cheap soups, simple breads, and plain, yet satisfying, desserts. When Bea made pies she took the scraps of leftover crust, put butter, sugar, and cinnamon on them and baked them in the oven as treats for us. Bones with bits of meat still on them were thrown in the soup pot. Stale bread was used in meatloaf and stuffing. Nothing in her kitchen was ever wasted and no one who ever visited her home went away hungry.

I’ve heard many people defend their current eating habits by stating that their parent or grandparent used lots of butter, sugar, eggs, and meat. True enough. But it was real butter, sugar, eggs, and meat. And the previous generation ate smaller portions and was more physically active. Our grandparents didn’t eat greasy jumbo burgers and then sit at a computer for hours.

I know that my knowledge, experience, and understanding is limited by my mostly rural upbringing, but two things are abundantly clear to me:

1. The food we consumed as children was mostly fresh- grown or raised within twenty miles of our house- and prepared from start to finish by a family member.

2. The food we ate was simple and contained only the most basic ingredients. Most of the additives, dyes, preservatives, flavorings, and other chemicals routinely used in food today never entered our stomachs.

As a pescetarian I don’t eat bacon and never have bacon grease saved in a jar on the stove. However, both practices might be safer and healthier than eating some of the other foods on my local supermarket shelf. One popular children’s lunch meal has fifteen ingredients (including sodium nitrate) listed just for the “turkey” slices it contains.

Food is something we must deal with each and every day. Like I said earlier, we can’t just give up eating. So we’re left with the task of making wise food selections that nourish and maintain the body we’ve been assigned.  In order to do that I think we need to stop riding the waves of the latest food trends, good or bad, and return to real food in reasonable quantities. 

Maybe your special child isn't...

I overheard a conversation yesterday about a “special needs” child managing in a “regular” classroom. The conversation was positive and optimistic and I had to grit my teeth to prevent my years of classroom experience from dampening a young mom’s enthusiasm.

It is not my goal to add more challenges to the lives of young parents, but I have to offer them a bit of a “reality check” about the current state of elementary education.

First of all, even though “special needs” may be the term you have adopted for describing your child, I can assure you that your child isn’t as “special” as you suppose. The number of children with physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, and behavioral problems rises each year and the chances of your child being the only “special” one in any classroom are slim. That automatically means that your child isn’t going to get the time and attention that he/she receives at home.

The term “regular” classroom is also outdated and in my experience that place no longer exists, if it ever did. Classrooms across the nation vary in every way imaginable. Each class is unique and the social structure of it is dependent on the attitudes and personalities of its members. These days those members usually include 2-8 “special needs” children. Most teachers are challenged to the limits of their training and experience by the requirements of so many individual learning styles. The average elementary teacher did not receive a degree in special education and may have had very few classes that addressed the issue of differentiated learning. State goals for all students have added to the daily expectations that must be met by teachers. And class sizes have increased to the point that many teachers now have 25-30 students in kindergarten and/or first grade.  The “regular” classroom model can’t be found.

The parent I overheard gave the impression that she believed her child would be the focal point of her teacher’s daily agenda, the darling mascot of her classroom. That kind of assumption usually leads to misunderstandings, confrontations, and disappointment. Understanding that your child is just one of many students who need the time, attention, and training of the teacher may be the first step in teaching that same concept to your child. After all, if the goal is to make sure your child has the same experiences as all the other students, then your child must also accept that they are “one of many” and must learn to respect the needs of their peers.

While I’m in favor of placing children in the best environment to meet their individual needs, I think it’s time to realize that EVERY child deserves to be in their best environment, not just those who have a special label. 

The Price of Knowledge

When I was a child I loved food and my appetite didn’t suffer any deprivation, no matter what our financial circumstance happened to be at any time. My mother was a good cook and knew how to create great meals from simple ingredients. My CA grandmother not only cooked, but owned a café. My OK grandmother didn’t see me often, so when she did she spoiled me by cooking whatever I wanted. My aunts each had their own specialty. Even my great-grandmother was well-known for her cooking. So I’m sure it will not surprise anyone to hear that I have many happy memories of mealtimes, especially holiday meals.

The food choices I made as a child, and even as a teenager, were based on availability and appeal. My father insisted that we eat whatever Mom cooked, whether we liked it or not. I have memories of eating things that almost made me gag (hominy) and things that made me cry (beef liver). That may be difficult for some people to understand, especially if they didn’t grow up in the “children are starving in China” generation. It was drilled into our consciousness that we should feel guilty about NOT eating something- just because of our silly taste buds- if other children didn’t even have food! So we ate what we were served, and cleaned our plates, to show our awareness of the struggles taking place in other parts of the world. However, my father also had an insatiable appetite for sweets, so I was also “required” to eat cookies, pies, cakes, doughnuts, pudding, and ice cream. I was a very obedient child!

When I became a wife and mother I tried to cook and serve meals that pleased my family and were economical. I was just beginning to be aware of the health aspects of food, but I can’t say that nutrition was ever as important as taste, appearance, and cost. I experimented with some ethnic foods, fresh vegetables, new cooking methods, etc., but for the most part my meal preparation was based on survival. I baked my own bread because it was cheap and tasty. I made homemade soup for the same reasons. I can’t recall ever thinking “This is better for my family’s health.”

My how things have changed! Now I can hardly eat a bite of food without considering the nutritional value of it. I also have safety concerns about many of the items on our menu. And if I really want to be a responsible adult I should also reflect on the environmental, economic, and political impact of what I eat. Either that or I have to stop watching the U.S. Farm Report.

Sometimes I long for the days when I was ignorant of the complex links in our food chain. The knowledge of what I’m putting into my mouth and how it affects my health and happiness is often more of a burden than a gift. 

The Company We Keep

Proverbs 13:20- He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

The dictionary defines a friend as “a person who you like and enjoy being with”. I’ve been giving the concept of friendship a lot of thought as I prepare to write about the influence of peers on early child development. Several studies indicate that “peer pressure” and “group dynamics” affect children at a much earlier age than most parents and teachers want to acknowledge. We like to think that adults are the primary role models for young children, but that is often not the case, especially for children raised in group settings such as daycare and preschool.

I’ll leave that topic for another day. However, I think it benefits all of us to give some thought to the friendships we have formed as adults and the groups with which we now align ourselves.  When we were children we made friends with classmates and teammates and neighbors. As we grew older we kept some of them and drifted away from others. As teens we began to choose friends based on mutual interests and values. Then employment and travel expanded our world and relationships. At some point we began to sort our friendships into “best”, “good”, and “casual” or some variation of similar terms. Some people chose to have a handful of friends, while others collected them like pebbles from the beach. But whether you have two friends or a thousand, you can’t have a relationship with another person without it affecting you- either positively or negatively.

As adults we often take our friendships for granted. They are such a normal, natural part of our daily lives that we don’t stop to think about how they influence our actions or help form our opinions. We don’t think about whether our relationships are beneficial or just habitual. Perhaps, as the Bible suggests, we should take a good look at who we are walking with down the path of life.  

School Report Cards

This week the Oklahoma State Department of Education posted the results of their A-F Grading System for Oklahoma schools.  These are the grades (elementary only) for some of my favorite schools:

Caddo- B

Calera- C

Caney- C

Kingston- B

Durant:

Robert E. Lee- B+

Northwest Heights- A-

Washington Irving- A

Hugo- D

 

Here is a brief explanation of the grades, from the OSDE website:

A-F School Grading System. Oklahoma’s A-F School Grading System is based on the concept that parents and community members should be able to quickly and easily determine how students at their local schools are doing. This grading system is part of an effort to strengthen the effectiveness and performance of public schools. As part of this effort, schools are required to report standardized testing results to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. That information is then used to generate a report card with an overall letter grade for each school and its student body.

A-F Report Card. The A-F Report Card is the end result of the A-F School Grading System. It consists of three main components: Student Performance, Student Growth and bonus points that are combined to produce an overall grade for each school.

For more information you can read the “A-F Report Card Calculation Guide” or the “A-F Report Card Quick Reference Guide” at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Parents should take note that one component of the grading system is attendance. “Elementary schools can earn 10 bonus points for achieving an attendance rate of 94 percent or higher.”

Blessings

Yesterday I left my shoulder stabilizer in the trash at the doctor’s office. Since then my life has been a series of small blessings:

I wore my seatbelt on the trip home.

I ate dinner with my right hand.

I brushed my teeth with my right hand.

I slept comfortably and didn’t wake up with a cramp in my hand.

I was able to put on my compression socks, which has resulted in less swelling in my legs and feet today.

I wore what I wanted today, instead of choosing something compatible with the Velcro bands on the sling.

I took a few pictures even though I’m not quite steady with the camera yet.

I am typing this with two hands.

And each little task that I do with my right hand seems to add just a bit of strength to my body…and peace to my soul. 

The Sins of Our Fathers

I was very disturbed to hear on the evening news about the possibility of a cancer cluster near St. Louis. It was heartbreaking to hear the story of a young woman who knows she is going to die very soon, most likely because of where she lives. You see, Mary Osckso and her neighbors live on soil contaminated by nuclear waste from two old disposal sites. And unfortunately the local park where they and their children have played for decades has been closed until radioactive waste can be removed. So…how many thousands of innocent people have been harmed by the actions of a government program that no longer exists? “Long term study” will be needed to determine that, but so far the numbers are in the thousands.

Three things concern me about this report : 1. How many of us know what lies beneath the soil where we live and play and drink the water? 2. What can be done to protect our children from contamination? 3. What are we currently doing that might have the same affects on future generations? Serious problems to consider.

I suppose this seems very personal to me since my children attended a school in CA that was later condemned because of health concerns. I’ve often thanked God that we lived there for a very short time. But now I have to look at national disposal site maps and wonder what else we might have been exposed to that was hidden from sight.

People Therapy

I spent nearly a week contemplating a trip to Caddo for Heritage Day. I can’t recall the last time I missed the event, but recent problems have challenged my confidence. I’m still having leg and foot pain, my knee is unstable, and crowds pose obvious problems. So it wasn’t until Friday that I told Gary I wanted to go to the parade.

The plan was to park somewhere convenient, sit safely in the car to view the parade, and then go home.  However, when I saw how close we were to Craighead’s I asked Gary to walk me to the store. After that I felt a little better, so I told Gary I wanted to sit on the edge of the tall sidewalk in front of the museum. I’m so glad I did.

Sitting in the middle of the activities, watching everything, smelling the food, and listening to the music was certainly enjoyable, but the best part of the morning was talking to people. It was so encouraging to hear from half a dozen people who have had this same surgery and are doing well. It put things in perspective to see and speak with others who are struggling with conditions more challenging than mine. And it was refreshing to discuss lots of other topics besides my health! FB gives me information and helps me keep in touch with friends, but nothing beats a little face to face time.

God made us social beings and gave us the desire to gather with others. I’m so thankful that I did so yesterday!

A Remarkable Woman

It isn’t often in my pursuit of family histories that I find myself captivated by the courage and strength of one woman, but such was my impression of Amelia Stewart Knight as I read her account of her family’s journey from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. Many of her experiences between April and September of that year border on horrific, and yet she records them simply, honestly, and with only the briefest complaints. Adding to the usual hardships of the road was the fact that she was pregnant with her eighth child. Yes, she and her husband, Joel, packed up Lucy, Jefferson, Plutarch, Seneca, Almira, Francis, and Chatfield and headed west. They also had livestock and a dog. The first day they traveled only eight miles. By the third day two of the children had the mumps.

In the days that followed they were cold, hungry, and sick. The children were injured. Lucy was accidently left behind and rescued by another traveler. They encountered some Indians that were friendly and others that were not. They had to give up many of their belongings. Each day presented a new challenge.

Although most of the entries are equally interesting I will only copy one for you: September 6. “Still in camp, washing and overhauling the wagons to make them as light as possible to cross the mountains. Evening- After throwing away a good many things and burning up most of the deck boards of our wagons so as to lighten them, got my washing and cooking done and started on again. Crossed two branches, traveled 3 miles, and have camped near the gate or foot of the Cascade Mountains. Here I was sick all night, caused by my washing and working too hard.”

They arrived in camp on September 17^th and “a few days later” Amelia gave birth to her eighth child.

I looked at Amelia’s family tree on Ancestry. She died in Washington in 1898. She was 81.

One Month

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Isaiah 40:31

I’m not sure I feel like an eagle yet, but reading that verse on my calendar page this morning made me smile. It has been a month since my surgery and there is much to celebrate. Despite some setbacks and challenges, I feel confident that I’m getting better and stronger. Each day there is a new task that I can once again do independently. Of course my two big goals- using my camera and driving- are still at least a week ahead, but the waiting is a little easier.

One of the little projects I’ve been able to do with one hand is review some files of older photos and delete some that I no longer like or need. I’m making room for new ones! However, I’ve also rediscovered some old favorites. I hope you enjoy them as we both wait for the day when I can once again look at the world through a lens.