|
Quick Links
to Pages on the
Social Notes Website
|
|
|
|
|
|
Greetings!,
 Good lord - I took a leasurely summer pace for publishing Social Notes this summer (OK, I was a total Social Notes slacker for three months!) and now I am scrambling to catch up! I just added 17 - count them seventeen! - new notes to the Calendar page of Social Notes. That'll teach me to goof off!
Anywho, there is LOTS of swell stuff going on this fall, so I will try to be more diligent in keeping you all In The Know! But remember, even if you haven't received an email blast recently, you can always check the Calendar page of Social Notes to find out what is going on. |
 |
Volunteer, Vendor, Speaker and Worker Opportunities:
|
 You can find out more about each of these opportunities by visiting the Calendar Page of Social Notes- I need to hire 6 workers for my Holiday Charity Party on December 4th. I'll pay $125 for the evening, plus a split of the tip jar. Email me for more info.
- Be A Speaker or A Vendor at the Lesbian Health Initiative Health Fair. Contact LHI to sign up.
|
|
Upcoming "Don't Miss" Events
|
Be sure to check the Calendar page of Social Notes for more details on each of these fine events. 
- Monday, 9/21: Women's Fall Bowling League begins at Del Mar Lanes
- Friday, 9/25: Kick off Party for Decadent Desserts, at Chances
- Saturday, 9/26: Lazarus House Golf Tournament
- Sunday, 9/27: Bayou City Performing Arts Kick Off Party and Open House at Meteor
|
|
|
Fall Festivals In And Around Houston
|
October is a lovely time of year, here in the Bayou City. It's a great time to get out and enjoy our many fall festivals. And while these events are GLBT events, they are still a lot of fun....and who wants to miss an opportunity to partake of Food Items On A Stick??? So get out there and festivate!
October 1: Houston Greek Festival
October 10: Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival
October 10 and 11: Bayou City Art Festival Downtown
October 10 through November 29: Texas Renaissance Festival
October 10: Turkish Festival
October 16 and 17: Italian Festival
October 17: South Shore Dockside Food and Wine
You can find out more info on all these festivals by visiting this website.
|
|
|
"Save The Date" and purchase your tickets now for these future events!
|
 Even though these events may be a few weeks down the road, you need to buy your tickets and/or make your reservations NOW, girlfriend! You can find out all the details, including ticket purchase information, by visiting the Calendar Page of Social Notes
- Saturday, 9/26: Lazarus House Golf Tournament
- Saturday, 10/3: Krewe of Olympus Fais Do Do
- Saturday, 10/10: Pride Houston National Coming Out Day House Party
- Saturday, 10/10: Northwest Corner House Party
- Sunday, 10/11: AssistHer's Decadent Desserts
- Saturday, 10/24: Houston Women's Festival
- Nov. 17-24: Volunteer for the LPGA event here in Houston
- Friday, 12/4: Carol's Holiday Party
|
|
The Rant
|
I don't know about you, but I have witnessed enough Tea
Bagging nuttery to last me a life time!
It would be a bit easier to take them seriously if there was any
ideological (or even logical!) consistency to their arguments. OK, they are against government
spending - we get it. But where were they when their
beloved President Bush was adding TRILLIONS of unfunded programs to the deficit
- from his Medicare program to the tax cuts for the rich to his ridiculous wars? Does anyone recall seeing middle aged white people
marching in protest back then???
And they're clearly against taxes. OK. I
guess they should be thrilled that Obama's Stimulus Program gave something like
98% of us a tax cut this year? Hmmmmm, they don't seem all that thrilled. When confronted with this inconvenient
fact, the baggers simply deny it. You see, in their
world, if it comes from the left, it's an opinion. If it comes from their trusted sources (Fox,
Limbaugh, Beck etc), it is an undisputed fact.
They are also rilly rilly angry about health care
reform. They start by denying that there
is any problem: "America has the best
health care in the world", they proclaim!
They are not swayed in the slightest by the inconvenient fact that we spend
more on health care per capita than any other country (twice as much, in fact), yet by every statistical
measure, our health care standard of living is decidedly middle of the
pack.
The classic definition of irony is a middle aged tea bagger holding a sign that said "Keep government out of my
Medicare". A surprising number of these
poor misguided "patriots" don't seem to understand that Medicare IS a government
program. Argggg! And why are they hell bent on protecting the
health care status quo, whose major beneficiary is the insurance
companies? Why is a portion of the
citizenry rising up against programs intended to benefit us all? Because Sarah Palin told them that the government wanted to kill grandma, of course!
Depending on whose sign you believe, Obama is a socialist,
communist, fascist, Muslim....the list goes on.
But what is really pissing them off is that they are out of power and
that a black dude is sitting in the white house (gasp!). They can't seem to deal with the fact that the world is changing. They fears have been stoked by a steady stream of incendiary lies, and in their mindless anger, Obama is their
convenient scapegoat.
These wing nuts have always been with us, but there are a
couple of differences this go round - differences that are primarily
media-related. Did you know that we didn't
always have hate filled talk radio? We
can thank Ronald Reagan for abolishing the Fairness Doctrine, which stipulated
that any station using the public airwaves had a responsibility to give equal
air time to both sides of any issue.
Once fairness went out the window, talk radio became almost the
exclusive domain of the Rush Limbaughs of the world. And with them came unfiltered hate,
24/7.
The effects have been devastating,
and for me, very personal. My dad used
to be the most loving, kind-hearted man on the planet. But a steady diet of Rush Limbaugh turned him
into a hateful, fearful bigot. I mourn
the loss of the dad that I so loved and looked up to.
The other media-related travesty that has led us to where we
are today is the rise of the craptacular Fox News. They have touted and promoted and egged on
this tea bagger movement from Day One, filling their poor, informationally
challenged viewers with lie after lie,, and inciting their rage. Fox has ceased to even pretend to be a valid
news organization, yet millions of their viewers swallow every piece of
bullshit that Fox flings at them.
Between Fox and Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and the many
other minions of darkness, these opportunistic vultures have manipulated their low intelligence audience into a fever
pitch of mindless anger. I can't decide if the media hate mongers are true believers, or if they just fling this crap in their endless pursuit of power and ratings. One way or the other, they are truly evil.
I have to admit
that I am getting increasingly worried about Obama's safety. Here are a couple of really chilling
paragraphs from the blog Media Matters:
"In that third year of the Kennedy presidency," Manchester wrote, "a kind of
fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed,
'Impeach Earl Warren.' Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas....Radical
Right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy's name was booed in
classrooms; corporate junior executives were required to attend radical
seminars."
A retired major general ran the American flag upside down, deriding it as "the
Democrat flag." A wanted poster with J.F.K.'s face on it was circulated,
announcing "this man is Wanted" for-among other things-"turning the sovereignty
of the US over to the Communist controlled United Nations" and appointing
"anti-Christians ... aliens and known Communists" to federal offices.
And a full-page advertisement had appeared the day of the assassination in The
Dallas Morning News accusing Kennedy of making a secret deal with the Communist
Party; when it was shown to the president, he was appalled. He turned to
Jacqueline, who was visibly upset, and said, "Oh, you know, we're heading into
nut country today."
Sound familiar?
Frightening, isn't it? How on
earth are we going to fix this situation?
The right wing seems impervious to logic and facts, and their media
sources have absolutely no shame. Demagogues
from the past (Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy etc) burned brightly but
ultimately flamed out. But with Fox News
et al continually fanning the flames of hatred, ignorance and bigotry, I don't think the tea bag movement is going to burn itself out any time soon. I truly
fear for Obama's life, and for the future of this country.
|
|
|
Professional Pointers
|
This is a new feature of Social Notes, in which different professionals within our community will share their advice/wisdom/tips for success with all my loyal readers. If you are a professional with advice to share, please shoot me an email to discuss.
Using a Professional Health Care Manager
Services from care managers should be something that every family takes advantage of, but in reality very few families use them. Care managers could go a long ways towards helping the family find better and more efficient ways of providing care for a loved one.
The concept is simple. The family hires a professional adviser to act as a guide through the maze of long term care services and providers. The care manager has been there many times. The family is experiencing it usually for the first time.
Hiring a care manager should be no different than hiring an attorney to help with legal problems or a CPA to help with tax problems. Most people don't attempt to solve legal problems on their own. And the use of professional tax advice can be an invaluable
investment. The same is true of using a care manager.
Unfortunately there are too few care managers and the public is so poorly informed about the services of a care manager that valuable resources that could be provided go lacking.
The irony of not using a care manager is that most families -- when given the opportunity to use the care manager -- think they can do it themselves and will not pay the money. Yet the services of a care manager most likely will save them considerably more money then do-it-yourself. The cost of the care manager might be only a fraction of the savings the care manager could produce. Care manager services can also greatly reduce family and caregiver
stress and help eliminate family disputes and disagreements.
Even the Yellow Pages do not cooperate in helping the public find care managers. To find a care manager one must look in the Yellow Pages under "Senior Services". Who is going to know to look under that subject?
Below is a partial list of what a care manager might do:
- Assess the level and type of care needed and develop a care plan
- Take steps to start the care plan and keep it functioning
- Make sure care is received in a safe and disability friendly environment
- Resolve family conflicts and other family issues relating to long term care
- Become an advocate for the care recipient and the family caregiver
- Manage care for a loved one for out-of-town families
- Conduct ongoing assessments to monitor and implement changes in care
- Oversee and direct care provided at home
- Coordinate the efforts of key support systems
- Provide personal counseling
- Help with Medicaid qualification and application
- Arrange for services of legal and financial advisors
- Manage a conservatorship for a care recipient
- Provide assistance w/ placement in assisted living facilities or nursing homes
- Monitor the care of a family member in a nursing home or in assisted living
- Assist with the monitoring of medications
- Find appropriate solutions to avoid a crisis
- Coordinate medical appointments and medical information
- Provide transportation to medical appointments
- Assist families in positive decision making
- Develop long range plans for older loved ones not now needing care
Questions? Call CareTemps at (713) 263-9440.
|
|
So Long!
There's a ton of great stuff coming up this fall! Stay tuned to Social Notes so you'll be In The Know!
Sincerely,
Carol Wyatt
Social Notes
|
|
|
|
