So much sewing, so little time

I'm almost finished a second vintage dress and I'm thrilled with it. I decided to put a full lining in this one (although I'm still putting facings around the neck because the lining doesn't stabilize the neck enough). Mainly, I put the lining in because the fabric showed the seams too much and the lining prevents that to some extent. I have to finish the facing, tack down the lining to critical points, and hem it.

We're going away the week after next to the IJA convention (juggling in Lexington, KY - this should be fun!) and I want to have all of the things I'm working on ready for that. I'd like to make at least one more dress before we go - hopefully that'll work out :) I have enough fabrics and patterns that I can make almost anything I could want to :)

Moving people around

I happened to pick up The Atlantic yesterday and have so far made it through only one article. It's about the shifting crime areas in the US and some of the causes behind that. Apparently in the last 10 years or so, the highest crime areas went from being in the projects (lowest-income housing) to being all over the place alone routes out of the projects. Coincidentally enough, the projects started being dismantled about 10 years ago and the highest crime rate areas are matching the areas in which the people from the projects wind up.

I found this article and its conclusions disquieting for a number of reasons. My first reaction was, "oh my god, the poorest people bring the violence with them." As the article went on, it explained that it had been decided that the projects would be demolished and that the people who lived there would move. They would pay 25% of their rent and the government would top up the rent, to a point, and because they were in these better neighbourhoods, these people would lift themselves out of their poverty.

I didn't mention anything about new infrastructure or education or medical clinics because those weren't provided. These people were basically thrown out of their community (and it was torn down, so they couldn't go back) with no support or anything. How appalling is that? When I realized this I started thrumming with emotion. Every time I think about this I feel the same way.

The article truthfully points out that "truly escaping poverty seems to require a will as strong as a spy's: you have to disappear to a strange land, forget where you came from, and ignore the suspicions of everyone around you." We had very little money when I was growing up and I think it's fair to say that we were at the lower end of the class spectrum, which is where most people in poverty are situated. I don't know if we were as poor as those that lived in the projects

Over the years I've managed to situate myself in the middle to upper part of the middle class, and it was much like that quote said. Not that I ever left my family behind (at least, I hope I didn't!). Things are done differently in each of the classes: it's not just the clothes, or the toys, or the education, or the mannerisms; it's the things you talk about. Like My Fair Lady's Eliza when she goes to the Ascot - sure, she looks the part, but she's not talking about the right things and it's obvious that she doesn't fit in.

So if all that is true, how could people just lift themselves out of the class their poverty puts them in? Some people who really want out will make it because they'll work really hard to do it. But they have to have the energy and the opportunity to get out. Moving out of the projects might not be enough.

The article talked about a "'weathering effect', the wearing-down that happens as a lifetime of baggage accumulates." For whatever reason, poverty brings baggage - the baggage of kids and their obligations, of working long hours, of not being really happy, of not having a lot of money for extras. Someone with a lot of baggage might not have the energy to lift themselves out of their current situation, and to them, moving is just more baggage.

For the drug dealers, gang members, and other criminal people, well, what else do they know? If they're not being given any other opportunities - if they're asked to leave the projects and they're put in these other neighbourhoods - what else are they going to do? And once a critical mass of their associates move in to the neighbourhood, it'll be just like old times.

Sigh. I'm disheartened by the decisions that these cities made in moving these people out of their neighbourhoods. Yes, the projects were awful, but you can't move people away from their neighbourhood without giving them some support. And how could they have expected all these people to change?

I don't know what they can do about this now. I wish it hadn't happened in the first place, that they'd thought a little more closely about what it was they were doing and asking.

On another note, today is my and Ian's anniversary: we've been together for eight years now. How time passes!!! Happy Anniversary, Ian :)

Happy Canada Day!

To celebrate our country's birthday, we went to the University of Waterloo festivities and watched their fireworks. It was fun although we had to kill a bit of time once we staked out our spot - the event draws a lot of crowds and we picked our spot over an hour before the fireworks started.

I started the holiday by listening to scratching in the wall beside the fridge. Sigh. When we moved in, it was clear that they'd sprayed insulating foam into a crack from the storage outside into the wall beside the fridge. Now there appears to be a small opening near one of the boards there and we are definitely hearing scratching. We checked the roof above the storage area and it looks weird, too.... like some little animal was checking things out there. It's too early in the season for mice, so it's probably one of the cute chipmunks that live in our backyard. How can something so cute be such a pain?

Braaaaaiiiiins

We watched Days of Darkness today. It's another zombie movie - in case you haven't noticed, we watch quite a number of zombie movies :) This one had an interesting idea as to the cause of the zombie infestation but unfortunately the movie itself wasn't all that well-made. There were a few things that were supposed to be scary but were more funny than scary. Still, it's worth a watch just to get a different perspective on zombies.

I've always sort of wondered how zombies could live once they'd exhausted the supply of people (and other animals) on the planet. Since they don't die, how would they live? Regardless of whetehr they need to eat, they sure like to - so what happens once there's no food for them? They don't eat each other because they're not cannibals. Would there come a point where the zombies deteriorate enough that people could kill them off?

None of the movies we've seen really address zombie life after the initial human settlements are overrun. Do they stay in packs or alone? I also think it's sort of funny how zombies are always shown to be wearing all of their clothes. They're not exactly careful about what they do so it seems to me that eventually the clothes would be little more than rags and not complete clothes. Also, since zombies eat they must have some sort of digestion system (unless of course it's a perfectly efficient, closed system), and we never see that.

Clearly there's a lot more to know about zombies than we've seen so far.

How much control do we have?

I managed to get my hands on today's New York Times magazine. Back when I got the Sunday Times I'd skim through the magazine without finding all that much of interest. Today I read the magazine from cover to cover.

The article that caught my eye was one that included a segment on why women who'd had breast cancer thought they didn't have a recurrence. The number one answer was a positive attitude, and at the very bottom was luck and Tamoxifen (4%). I thought it was odd that people give their positive attitude greater weight to their recurrence-free life than they do their treatments.

Having a positive attitude isn't all bad, as long as it's not forced and the person is genuinely happy and relatively calm. In that case, I can see how the person would not have as strong a fight-or-flight response to stress which would in turn put less strain on the immune system. I just don't know that this will prevent a breast cancer recurrence. What about all those people that ate really well, took care of their bodies, and were positive people, and who still got breast cancer? It may be that there are things other than a good diet, exercise, healthy living, and treatment that will prevent recurrence, but I don't know what those things are and I don't know if a positive attitude is it.

The thing that bothers me most with the idea that a positive attitude will prevent breast cancer is that this implies that a negative attitude will cause breast cancer and I think that's wrong. If people start thinking that way, then it's a small step to thinking that a person caused their cancer and then judging them accordingly. I know this isn't fair but it's not that unreasonable. Where do we draw the line? At what point are we responsible for a major medical problem like breast cancer?

More movies

We saw Wanted today. We both liked it - it's an interesting story with not-quite-predictable twists. The hard part is suspending disbelief for the movie because you have to accept that people can, say, shoot curved bullets. Once you've done that, the rest of the movie is believable. There's lots of action and the movie is fast-paced; if you like that sort of thing then you'll probably like this. Sadly, Angelina Jolie is not as gorgeous as she used to be as she is getting kind of scrawny. Her arms are stick-like and her body is less curvy and more angular.

We also rented some zombie movies for the long weekend. Tonight we watched Automoton Transfusion. the zombies in this movie are not your traditional zombies; they think, they plan, they sleep, and they can run. No shambling about for these monsters. The reasons for that are explained in a twist sort of thing at the end. This movie ends with a cliff-hanger and they are shooting a sequel. This movie is very, very gory. There is lots of blood and we get to see the zombies eating away at people and also tearing organs out of people while the people are still alive. In some ways, it was so gross it was funny.

One weird thing about this zombie movie is that it looks like they had three cameras: a "normal" one, a slightly grainy one, and a very grainy one. It wasn't always clear why one camera view was chosen over another. Anyways, if you like gory zombie movies, you'll probably like this one.

Reasons for the rash reaction

Sorry there was no post yesterday - I went to bed very early because I was quite tired and had to be up early.

My oncologist called and said that she talked to the pharmacist about my rash. Apparently he said that the fentanyl patch releases a histamine when it's on the skin (taping it down releases more) and so when patch is removed and another one is placed, there's extra histamine released. I can normally handle this through my allergy meds.

However, Pamidronate also releases a histamine in the first 24 hours after it's been given. So if the patch is not changed, I can handle the amount of histamine. But if the patch is changed, the three sources of histamine is too much for me and I break out like that. To prevent this from happening, I should take an anti-histamine (preferably a non-drowsy one) before the Pamidronate.

I saw my family doctor today and he's not sure that it's totally an allergic reaction. Based on the pictures we took and the remnants of the rash on my arm, he thinks that I had an infection of some sort. He's given me a prescription for Keflex (an antibiotic) and I'm to take this at the first sign of such a rash.

It's good to know that I'm not crazy and that the rash was real. I guess it might have been better if I'd had the rash looked at earlier but at least I have plans for future Pamidronate infusions.

I tell you, this cancer treatment stuff is sure complicated.