Teenage Rebellion as Mental Illness?

I read an article yesterday by Bruce Levine, a clinical psychologist and author who is critical of current trends where big pharmaceutical companies dictate how to treat what he regards as natural responses to what he calls our ''institutional society''. He advocates looking at the causes of mental illness -- going to the source, rather than medicating and numbing people to more or less hold 'em down.

In his article at AlterNet, he discusses how this generation's teenagers are being diagnosed with a multitude of new ''conditions'' and administered various drugs for quick fixes (no doubt thanks to their parents' nice insurance plans). One of the new categories of disorders he mentions is oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Wikipedia lists some of its diagnostic criteria as: deliberately annoying people, blaming others for own mistakes, easily annoyed, angry and resentful, and spiteful / vengeful. Any kid meeting just four of these qualifies as being afflicted. Not to be flippant, but these criteria describe most kids I knew in high school (and many adults I've known since).

To load the issue even further, Wikipedia states that, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatic Assocation, if this ODD is left ''untreated'', about a quarter of the kids who develop it will eventually develop the much worse ''conduct disorder'' which entails behaviours such as lying, truancy, vandalism and cruelty towards animals.

In his article, Levine describes the medicating of teenagers diagnosed with conditions falling into the ODD category as a systematic way of ''subduing defiance''. It's usually foisted upon teenagers by men (or women) in nice white coats who've spent anywhere from 8-10 years, themselves, bowing to authority while training to become professionals, all the while accepting handouts from pharma. It's an interesting piece and worth a read, if anything to gain some insight into how the pharmaceutical giants are (more or less) shaping society.

Plus or Minus

In the minus column:

• Finding out that Amazon.ca has half the available payment options as Amazon.com, although ordering from Amazon.com would involve having to pay duty on whatever was ordered.
• Realizing, sadly, that even by ordering from Amazon.com and paying duty, I could still get Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener for less than I could through one of the local bookstores.
  

Richard Heinberg and Technology

An American friend of mine introduced me to the ideas and significance of Richard Heinberg a little over a year ago. At the time, I'd heard of Hubbert's Peak Oil theory, but it was sorta at the edges of my radar at best, and certainly overshadowed by concerns like global warming and its associated environmental issues. I picked up a copy of Heinberg's Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, and I spent the next several months reading nearly everything about Peak Oil I could get my hands on via the internet. These days, even some of the more conservative experts and the most mainstream authorities are making public statements about the coming of the permanent decline of fossil fuels. It seems, though, that as long as people are able to afford to keep filling their gas tanks at the fuel pump, that the general public is transfixed by this notion that the planet's oil supply are endless and that life as we've known it during the oil age will continue. Or that, at least, there'll be easy solutions "just in time" so that our rate of consumption need never be affected.

In this month's MuseLetter, his monthly essay on energy, civilization and economics, Heinberg's re-issued an eight year old essay of his on the future of technology. Rather than being dated, it still holds water. Lots. It's definitely worth a read if you have an interest in the impact of runaway advances in biotechnology. He's a lucid writer, and probably one of today's most important voices.

Recipe: Pumpkin Oatmeal Molasses Cookies

I've never been much of a baker of sweets. I have a pretty lengthy (and embarrassing!) history of lopsided muffins, wet cakes, flat things that should be fluffy -- you get the picture.

I stumbled up on a recipe online that was an adaptation of a Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookie recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen.

My variations:

• I used extra virgin olive oil instead of canola.
• I used 1-1/3 cups of sugar instead of 1-2/3.
  
• I added a tablespoon of powdered egg replacer instead of the ground flax seeds.
• I used a 1/2 cup of chopped dates instead of the raisins.
• I used blackstrap molasses instead of regular molasses.
  

The result? Delicious, dark little cookies that probably taste more of molasses than the original recipe, hence my referring to them as "Pumpkin Oatmeal Molasses Cookies". I'll be re-homing some of them tomorrow, the little darlings.

Recipe: Spicy Sweet Potato and Bean Burritos

These are simply amazing. I usually make them using black beans and don't always add avocado. This is very roughly adapted from a couple of different recipes found online over the years. It's a hybrid that's taken on a taste of its own.

Spicy Sweet Potato and Bean Burritos

1-2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups of kidney beans or black beans, canned
1 cup of water (or leftover bean liquid)
1Tbs chilli powder (heapin'!)
1 tsp cumin (heapin!)
2 Tbs soy sauce
4-10 inch soft whole wheat tortillas
2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes (with an optional dab of margarine)
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1/4 cup salsa
chopped jalapeno peppers (optional)
vegan cheese shreds (optional)

Cook enough sweet potatoes to make two cups (a couple of small ones or a large one). I usually bake them in advance. Set aside.

Heat the oil in saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion in oil until transparent. add garlic and stir. Add beans, water, chilli powder and cumin. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce head to low. Simmer until beans are very soft, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in soy sauce.

Mash beans in the pot with a potato masher or large fork. Simmer over medium-low heat to cook away any excess liquid, about 20-25 minutes (watch it really closely, though). Taste and add more seasoning if warranted or desired. If you like things REALLY spicy add some chopped jalapenos at this point.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Spread about 2/3 of a cup of the bean mixture down the middle of a tortilla and top with a 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with some green onions. Roll up the burrito and place it seam side down (to keep it from opening) on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with vegetable cooking spray (alternately, you can brush on a bit of oil). Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Bake for 15 minutes or until burritos are crisp and turning slightly golden. Top burritos with avocado and salsa.

Optional: Sprinkle some vegan cheese on top (n.b. I rarely bother, 'cause it's really unnecessary).

Makes 4 servings.

Tim Buckley - I'm Coming Home Again

Yet another reason I adore YouTube -- a rare look at a live Tim Buckley performance from 1968. It's a shame, on one hand, that most people these days know him solely as "the father of Jeff Buckley". At the same time, it's introduced his music to thousands of people who otherwise would likely never have heard it. It's ironic that Jeff probably spent most of his short career establishing himself within the context of his father's music, and that now Tim Buckley's work is establishing itself within the context of his son's.

After a long time spent a'mullin'...

I'm glad to put (the hot potato that was) 2007 behind me. And I think that I should get back on track with what I'd intended to do with this little nook of the web, which was to follow through with urges and interests by fleshing them out a little in print.

For instance, something I intend to examine further in the New Year are the realities that initially led me to vegetarianism, and (subsequently) to the formal study of ethics and to veganism. It's been a strange journey, meandering through the web of emotional support (or lack thereof) in some online vegetarian communities, as well as through the realm of academia where I've learned to throw together rational arguments that seem to fall flat in the muck of the "real" world where the status quo prevails over logic. I'll likely re-read this later and want to clarify or contextualize.

For now, I'd like to share some of what's caught my attention over the past year. Gary L. Francione is "Distinguished Professor of Law and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Scholar of Law and Philosophy'' at Rutgers University School of Law-Newark. He's been an effective critic of animal welfare laws and a champion of what he calls the abolitionist approach to animal rights. I intend to explore his work in greater detail over the next while, and to use it as a springboard of sorts to suss out my own thoughts on the issue completely.

So? No sense in jumping into the animal welfare vs. animal rights debate without first providing a link to the slide-show presentation that is an intro to Francione's take on the abolitionist approach to animal rights. Please note that the slide-show in question contains images (and words!) that may disturb you into thinking out side of the box. Or just disturb you.

On a new reason to be overthinking things

And to think I always thought there there was nothing cleaner than a load of freshly-washed clothes...

Break out the disposable latex gloves and the whiskey and pass me the laundry basket -- I'm goin' in!

I. Am. Pack. Rat.

I dug out something this morning that I hadn't seen in fifteen years -- the small sketchbook that nudged me out of the world of stick figures for a nanosecond when I was living in Ottawa. At the time, I'd spent most of my life thinking of myself as completely incapable of putting pencil to paper to draw, or at least of having anything come out other than a mess of squiggles and blurs. It's what I'd been told to expect most of my kid-hood whenever a colour spilled out over a line, or when my Catechism class depictions of Christ on the cross came out too morbid. I think that I'm going to make it a point to spend at least an hour a day, when possible, either writing or otherwise putting pencil or pen to paper. It beats wasting an hour aimlessly surfing the internet, no?

Freedom

So, earlier this summer, I'd been having these gentle exchanges -- more like the gentle butting together of skulls -- with my mother concerning free will vs. predestination. We seemed to be at either extreme. Her take on it is that your entire life is mapped out for you before you're even born. We're just riding a strong current, where the best we can do is try to dog paddle our rafts along to try to minimize harm to ourselves and to others. Ultimately, however, any sort of control that isn't completely laughable is out of our hands. I told her this seemed to be a convenient way to absolve oneself of regret or accountability over having made bad decisions, and of the responsibility of making thoughtful choices.

My take on it: The things that happen to people don't ultimately define the course of their lives. Things can be triggers -- enormous triggers, sometimes -- but we can respond to them in any number of ways, even if some ways seem slight or more obvious than others. It's what you choose to do with things that fall in your path that has the greatest effect on your outcome. Sartre wrote that we're cursed with freedom. When you face it head-on, it can leave you with anything from butterflies in the pit of your belly to the sort of dread that makes you wish you hadn't gotten out from beneath the covers that morning. However, without freedom we'd be no better than things. We'd be the car waiting for the splat from the pigeon overhead.

I stumbled upon something today -- some author trying to sound profound. He put a bit of a spin on the whole Schoolhouse Rocks quip that ''knowledge is power'' by saying that knowledge isn't power -- it's freedom. Miles Davis, in fact, beat him to that particular punch a long time ago by saying that ''Knowledge is freedom; ignorance is slavery''. The thing is that although I really get what they're getting at, it seems that they're both missing the really important step in all of this. I mean, you can fill your head with anything, knowing information that only a handful of others know -- but it's all ultimately just so much useless junk unless you turn it into a tool. Mere knowledge feeds freedom, sure, but unless you use it to take action, it's just an accumulation of words and images sitting in your head. If you don't know what to do with it, you might as well not have it.

This afternoon's rambling session of Free Will 101 brought to you by the letter ''M''.

They're Made Out of Meat

This very short science fiction story by award-winning writer Terry Bisson appeared in Omni in April of 1991. I've seen it make the rounds on various vegetarian websites over the years and have always gotten a kick out of it. The story was nominated for a Nebula the year it appeared in Omni.

Here's a snippet (or click here to read the entire story):

"They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"Meat. They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."

"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"

"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."

"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."

"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."

Fredericton Critical Mass Event, October 19

My friend Ron and I ended up participating in a Critical Mass event on September 21, the day before World Car Free Day. It was my first time. I had heard about Critical Mass gatherings before, but had been unaware that anybody had ever held any in this city. Having spotted the odd poster or two around town in the days leading up to it, we joined up with a group of 30 or so cyclists (and one skateboarder!) in Officer's Square and by the time we hit the road, our numbers had grown to around 40. Participants ranged in age from infant to 60+, with our youngest actual cyclist perhaps four years old. We accommodated him quite happily, matching his speed as we made our way around the short planned loop between the downtown and university areas.

A cyclist approached us today at one of the local coffee shops after Ron noticed her putting a small flyer on his bike and hailed her. It looks like another event has been organized, this one to be held Friday, October 19. Everyone meets at 5 pm at Officer's Square. Ron asked her if the city or local police had been contacted this time to mark the event officially, or to perhaps provide the group with an escort (as the police customarily do during protests, marches and parades), she told us that the city has refused to do so, citing that they wish to avoid liability in case of accidents. I chuckled at the ridiculousness of the reason given; after all, aren't escorts usually provided to ensure safety?. The organizer did point out, however, that the city promised that the police would not interfere with the event (i.e. specifically that participants would not be given tickets for obstructing traffic) -- how generous of them!

Chatting with the folks who showed up for the last Critical Mass ride, I learned that those participating were there for a multitude of reasons, including (but not limited to) their wanting to highlight the need to lessen our reliance on fossil fuels, to promote physical fitness, and -- my main motivation -- to point out the absolutely pitiful bicycle-unfriendliness of this city. Between the lack of bike lanes and bike racks here, it makes cycling a risky inconvenience for most.

The organizers hope to make this a regular monthly event. Last month's was miserably under-promoted, so I hope the word gets out to more people this time around. So -- Officer's Square on Friday, October 19, at 5 pm. Bring your bikes, trikes, skateboards, roller-skates -- whatever works! Don't forget to wear your helmet!

Easily-pleased peaches

Things that were nice to rediscover today:

- Baby Brussels sprouts do NOT taste like old sneakers.
- Early 80s new wave (in this case, Ultravox) is still fun to dance to on a Saturday morning.

Free Popcorn!

There's a non-profit media arts collective in Montreal that calls itself "überculture" that's kick-started a project called Cinema Politica, which they describe on their website as "a cross-Canada grassroots network of political cinema exhibition sites showcasing independent Canadian artists". Filmmaker/journalist Avi Lewis is quoted as calling it "a much-needed head-butt to the corporate movie machine".

For the past few weeks, while zipping around downtown on my bike, I've been seeing these posters up everywhere promoting various socio-political documentaries being screened at Conserver House on St. John St. on Friday evenings. I finally stopped and took note of the contact information and checked out the organizers' web page.

"Fredericton: Friday Night Docs" is the name of the weekly event. Donations are accepted in lieu of an actual admission, free popcorn is provided and after each documentary, discussion of the subject-matter covered is encouraged. I'm particularly excited about a screening of the documentary Earthlings they'll be holding on October 19. For anybody who's interested in viewing this documentary and who may be outside of the Fredericton area, it's available via Google Video. In a nutshell, it's about humanity's complete dependence on -- and disrespect of -- animals, through the "pet" and entertainment industries, through factory farming (and its fur and leather production by-products), as well as through animal testing in the name of science and / or medicine The documentary's official website has much more detailed information about it.

A few more from Upper Stone Ridge

I just wanted to throw this in here. I'm going to have to learn to compensate for my iMac's failing monitor when I edit photos in the future. What seem like deep and vivid colours to me on my screen seem a bit more faded than I would like from other computers. I think they're ok for now, though.

This one with the piece of farm equipment was taken somewhere between Keswick Ridge and Upper Stone Ridge. Even now with everything still snow-covered, I feel as if I was just out there and can't wait to find some new cycling companions to take more long trips starting this spring.

I'm toying with the idea of setting up a blog specifically to provide stories and photos of jaunts on the Trans Canada and NB Trails in the Fredericton region and quite possibly further out into the rest of the province. The blog could also be a means by which cyclists could provide others with much-needed feedback on the condition of certain stretches of trail. There's nothing like bouncing along with your cruiser for 20+ kilometers, only to find yourself facing a kilometer-long stretch of trail so ravaged by ATV use that you can barely navigate it without your teeth rattling. Maybe I'll stick to posting the odd photo and story about my own excursions right here, though, weaving in some good foraging info as the seasons change and I acquire more skills and knowledge about identifying and using wild edibles.