Locked Up with Vonnegut
From September 30 to October 6, writer and editor Corey Michael Dalton will live 24/7 in the front window of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in downtown Indianapolis. His week-long stay, “Locked Up with Vonnegut,” is timed to coincide with Banned Books Week. To get the scoop on this unusual event, KVML Blog Editor Shannon Bahler sat down with Corey for a chat.
Shannon: So. You. Living in a window. For a week. What’s this all about?
Corey: It’s about bringing attention to Banned Books Week, which has been observed the last week of September every year since 1982. Many people are surprised to learn that books are still actively being challenged and/or banned in the U.S., but it’s true. In 2011, for example, To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, and The Hunger Games trilogy were all in the list of top 10 most challenged books.
S: Why did the Vonnegut Library get involved with Banned Books Week?
C: Obviously the Vonnegut Library is opposed to censorship as a general principal, but I think the incident that really got their attention was last year’s banning of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five in Missouri. The school board in the town of Republic voted unanimously to ban the book from their high school’s library for supposedly espousing beliefs that run contrary to the Bible. The complaint was made by just one man—a man whose kids don’t even go to the public school because he chooses to homeschool them. Thankfully, the outright banning of classic works of literature is fairly rare, so the incident was reported in the media and came to the Vonnegut Library’s attention. That’s when the organization offered to send any student from that high school a free copy of Slaughterhouse-Five at the student’s request. At last count, the library had sent out around 80 free copies of the novel.
S: Is the book still banned in Republic, Missouri?
C: The book is now locked up in a secure location, only accessible by students who bring in written permission from their parents to let them check it out.
S: Ah—so that’s why the KVML’s event is called “Locked Up With Vonnegut.”
C: Exactly. I’m going to be locked up and kept from the public, just like Slaughterhouse-Five in Republic.
S: You’re going to be in the library for an entire week. How in the world did they persuade you to do this?
C: They asked. Honestly, it wasn’t that hard to convince me! Julia Whitehead, the executive director, and I have been friends for years, so she knows I’m always game for standing up for what I think is right, even if it causes me some minor discomfort. And I figure it’s only for seven days! I can get back to my normal workday life the next week.
S: Why did she ask you, specifically?
C: Aside from the fact that she knew I’d say yes, I like to think that I have some qualifications. First, I’m a writer. I just graduated from Butler University with my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and I have a couple of completed book manuscripts that I’m shopping around. So, as a writer, it really burns my britches to think of small-minded individuals trying to tell other folks what is and is not appropriate for their families to read. I can’t let that go unopposed! Second, as the editor of Jack and Jill magazine for kids, encouraging young people to read is kind of a mandate of my day job! Also, before I edited Jack and Jill, I worked as the associate editor of The Saturday Evening Post, the same magazine that first published 11 of Vonnegut’s short stories, so there’s a historic connection there between Vonnegut and me as well.
S: Don’t you think you’ll get lonely?
C: Nah! We’ve got lots of programming scheduled. For one thing, the library will be open every day that week (it’s usually closed on Wednesdays) and it will have extended hours, from noon to 7:00 p.m. Every evening at 6:00 we’ll have special “Corey’s Bedtime Stories,” where folks like Michael Moore, Dan Wakefield (Going All the Way), Ben H. Winters (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, The Last Policeman), Michael Dahlie (A Gentleman’s Guide to Graceful Living), and former first lady of Indiana Judy O’Bannon will read to me (and anyone else who wants to attend) from banned books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby. There will also be a couple of movie events and a First Friday spectacular. All of these events are open to the public, of course. [See a complete schedule.]
S: Will you be doing anything while you’re in the library? Or will you just be lounging on your cot behind your wall of books?
C: I’m sure there will be plenty of lounging in my cell (although the cot isn’t that comfy), but I’ll be working as well. My employers at the nonprofit Saturday Evening Post Society have graciously agreed to let me work on Jack and Jill from the library for the week. So, I’m sure I’ll be typing on my laptop, having meetings with my staff, and making lots of phone calls in between lounging sessions. I have also agreed to blog about my experiences for this website. And Tweet. I’ll be Tweeting from @CoreyMDalton. Oh, and I’m going to write a short story, too, which we plan to post on the site at the end of the week. Whew!
S: It sounds like you’re a busy guy! I better let you go.
C: Well, before I go, I just want to let people know that they should feel free to stop in the library and say hi while I’m living there. Folks are welcome to come visit me in my cell. Or they can peep at me through a live, 24/7 webcam to make sure I’m staying true to my word. The only times I won’t be visible is if I have to run to the bathroom or take a quick shower in the library’s basement. Too much info?
S: Maybe just a bit. Thanks for talking about all this, though—and have fun!
C: I’m sure I will. Later!
Classic Covers: Saluting the Referees
Dog on the Field
One of the indignities of the job. Rover is going for a touchdown and ignoring the ref’s whistle. This 1941 cover is by artist Lonie Bee, who, although little known today, illustrated for magazines like Collier’s, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Day in the ’40s.
Ref Out Cold
Stevan Dohanos, one of the best and most prolific of the Post cover artists, witnessed such a catastrophe at a Yale-Dartmouth game in 1949. Darned if the callous son of a gun didn’t immediately think, “ah, this would be a great Post cover!” But despite being steamrollered by a young Goliath, the real referee survived just fine. It’s a rough game.
Third Down, Goal to Go
This bird’s-eye (blimp’s eye?) view shows how rough situations, like the one above, can come about. The football is nearly on the 0-yard line and the ref is in the way of a thundering herd rushing in to see what they can do about it.
It’s hard to imagine what it takes to paint a crowd like this. If you have an eagle eye, you’ll spot a lot of detail along that wall: coffee cups, pop bottles (glass—a complete no-no at sporting events these days), binoculars, and one man to the left using an umbrella to try to retrieve his hat. Thornton Utz painted this for a mid-October Post cover in 1949.
Football Pile-up
Russian-born artist Constantin Alajalov had a wry way of depicting everyday American life, which he happily did for many Saturday Evening Post and New Yorker covers. The poor ref in this 1948 cover doesn’t have a clue who to start whistling at.
Coin Toss
We can’t salute referees without this classic 1950 cover by Norman Rockwell. The artist liked to wander over to the local high school football field during breaks from the easel, and watch the kids play. This sunny October scene also boasts a fairly detailed crowd of noncombatants in the background.
But, Ref!
Here’s another cover by West Coast artist Lonie Bee. In fact, the model in this 1938 cover looks like the same referee who was working hard to get that dog off the field in the 1941 cover. Bee did half a dozen Post covers, all with a sports theme. The title for this one is apt: But, Ref!
Now, sit back and enjoy the game—and maybe lay off the refs a bit.
Autumn Recipes from The Green Smoothie Bible
“Autumn is my favorite time of the year, especially when there’s often a glut of end-of-season summer produce like strawberries and peaches, while new season fruits like apples and pears make a long-awaited return,” says Kristine Miles, author of The Green Smoothie Bible. Celebrate this colorful season with some of her delicious green smoothies below!
Recipe 1
- 2 kiwifruit
- ½ avocado
- 2 oranges, peeled
- 1 ½ cups water
- Mint (See tip below)
Recipe 2
- 2 bananas
- 4 passion fruit
- 1 orange, peeled
- 1 ½ cups water
- Greens (See tip below)
Tip: If you’re new to green smoothies, Miles recommends that only 10 percent of your smoothie be greens (spinach is a good beginner’s green because of its mild flavor) and gradually increase them to 40 percent as you grow accustomed to the flavor.
Of the 300 available recipes in The Green Smoothie Bible, we will feature nine of Kristine Miles’ seasonal recipes (three in summer and two more in winter and two in spring). Try one or all and share your green smoothie adventures in the comments below.
Heading Off Migraines
Do you or a loved one have chronic migraines? Don’t give up! Evidence-based treatment guidelines released by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Headache Society strongly endorse seven prescription beta-blockers and seizure drugs [see chart: Proof Positive] and one herbal preparation (butterbur) for preventing migraines and lessening symptoms when they do occur. And even Botox, better known for erasing age lines, got the thumbs-up in 2010.
Research also shows that managing common triggers (such as foods, stress, and bright lights), eating well, and getting enough sleep help prevent migraine pain. “But when the steps you can take without going to a doctor don’t work, prescription medicines are well worth exploring,” says Stephen D. Silberstein, M.D., of Jefferson Headache Center in Philadelphia and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.
The point is to do something: Migraines are often undertreated, says Dr. Silberstein. It is estimated that only about one-third of migraine sufferers who could benefit from preventive treatments currently use them.
Click here to review all the guidelines.
Proof Positive
Prevent migraines with regular doses of these Rx drugs:
- Seizure medicines: Divalproex sodium (Depakote), sodium valproate (Depacon), and topiramate (Topamax). Frovatriptan (Frova) prevents menstrual migraine.
- Beta-blockers: Metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol), propranolol (Inderal), and timolol (Blocadren).
Remembering Andy Williams: The 1962 Post Interview
“I guess I’ve never really been aggressive,” Andy Williams told Post interviewer Pete Martin in 1962, “although almost everybody else in show business fights and gouges and knees to get where they want to be.”
Martin spoke with Williams just as his career was beginning to take off.
In fact, this article, “Backstage with Andy Williams,” appeared the same week his own TV show premiered. It ran for nine years. And Williams continued singing into the next century, enjoying a long career like his fellow crooner, Perry Como.
Make Art with Fall Finds
In the autumn, it’s hard to resist picking up fall treasures: leaves, seed pods, and even interesting rocks. But what to do with those collections once they’re in the house?
Here’s a creative way to use your findings to welcome autumn into your home.
Framed Fall Treasures
Materials
- Picture frame
- Fishing line
- Wax-coated leaves*
- Fall finds (seed pods, pine cones, etc.)
Tools
- Scissors
- Sewing needle or thumbtack
Directions
- Cut strands of fishing line and tie around the frame’s edge. Make sure to pull the line tight.
- Using a needle or thumbtack, punch small holes in leaves, seed pods, etc., and run strands of fishing line through each piece. Tie these to the lines on your frame.
*Wax-Coated Leaves
- To make wax leaves, fold wax paper in half. Place clean, dry leaves inside folded wax paper. Lay wax paper and leaves on ironing board and cover with towel, then press. The iron doesn’t need to be extremely hot, just warm enough to melt the wax on the leaf. Once the wax paper has cooled, peel wax paper open and pull out wax-coated leaves.
Cartoons: Nice Try
Abraham Lincoln said you could fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. But gracious, how some people will try!
Meet the Ultrabooks
Laptops today are undergoing a dramatic makeover. These slimmer, sleeker, portable PCs promise longer battery life, faster performance, and (yes!) less back and shoulder strain.
Any discussion of ultra-thins must start with Apple’s MacBook Air (apple.com/macbookair), the iconic, razor-thin portable that famously slides inside a manila envelope. The Air is both durable and light; and since it uses flash memory to store files rather than a spinning hard disk, it’s a lot quieter, too. The Air exemplifies Apple’s attention to detail. Its backlit keyboard, for instance, automatically illuminates in low-light conditions. The 11- and 13-inch models start at $1,000 and $1,200, respectively.
The MacBook Air’s popularity spurred Windows PC makers to create Air-like laptops called “Ultrabooks,” a term coined by chip-maker giant Intel. An Ultrabook shares many of the Air’s most desirable attributes: less than an inch thick; 3- to 4-pound weight; the ability to turn on instantly like a smartphone or tablet; and battery life of 5 to 9 hours. Top-tier laptop makers, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba, sell Ultrabooks today, and many more models are coming soon.
Most Ultrabooks lack a DVD drive, which isn’t a problem for most users. With the advent of streaming audio and video, as well as cloud services that back up your files online, discs are rapidly going the way of floppies.
“I think eventually all notebooks will become slim,” says Bob O’Donnell, computer analyst for IDC, a technology research firm. He predicts the average selling price for Ultrabooks will be around $800 by the end of 2012.
In fact, many Ultrabooks are already there. Lenovo’s stylish IdeaPad U310 ($800; lenovo.com) has a 13.3-inch display, weighs 3.75 pounds, and is available in a trio of fashion-forward colors, including Cherry Blossom, Aqua Blue, and Graphite Gray. The battery lasts up to 7 hours.
The Samsung Series 5 14.0” Ultra ($800; samsung.com) weighs less than 4 pounds and features a 14-inch display. This sleek notebook somehow manages to squeeze in a DVD drive, too.
The VIZIO Thin + Light ($900 to $1,250; vizio.com) has an aluminum frame and a clean, minimalist look that rivals (some might say copies) the MacBook Air’s sleek aesthetic. Available with a 14- or 15.6-inch screen, the Thin + Light weighs 3.4 or 4 pounds and runs 5.5 to 7 hours between charges, depending on the model.
The newest Ultrabooks add something most laptops don’t have: a touchscreen. Why? Because Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, which debuts this fall, is built to run on both PCs and touchscreen tablets. New laptops such as the Acer Aspire S7 let you navigate the screen in two ways: using traditional touchpad and keyboard commands or by tapping the screen as you would with a smartphone or tablet. It remains to be seen, however, if touch commands on a laptop make sense, particularly if it means holding your arm in an elevated position for hours on end.
Mr. Lincoln Discusses His Proclamation
In the end, America’s great moral issue of the 19th century was settled by a military decision. All the social, economic, and moral questions about slavery ended 150 years ago when President Lincoln considered slaves as part of the Confederacy’s military power and issued his Emancipation Proclamation.
The result, as the Post reported on October 11, 1862, would be profound—militarily, if not morally. The Confederacy was then supporting an army of 225,000 with an enslaved workforce of nearly 3.5 million. Every freed slave would diminish the Confederacy’s economic strength and military resources.
Much as he wanted to end slavery entirely, Lincoln’s first priority was to restore the Union. He told writer Horace Greeley that if he could accomplish that task without freeing a single slave, he would. But the military situation of 1862 brought military and moral needs into a rare alignment.
Even so, Lincoln did not simply act on his own abolitionist principles. He made the proclamation highly conditional. It did not abolish slavery outright, but gave the rebellious states of the Confederacy an ultimatum. They could return to the Union within 100 days and keep their slaves, or else lose them when Federal troops eventually occupied their territory.
In the July 22, 1865, issue of the Post, F. B. Carpenter presented his interview with Lincoln in which the president discussed issuing his proclamation. “Things had gone on from bad to worse,” he said referring to Gen. McClellan’s defeat on the Virginia peninsula that cost 15,000 casualties. “I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game.”
He wrote up the proclamation then read it to his cabinet, not to get their advice but to hear their reactions. No one raised an objection that Lincoln hadn’t already considered until Secretary of State William Henry Seward spoke up. He approved of the proclamation but questioned its timing. Since it would be announced after a string of Union army defeats, it might seem to the public like an act of desperation. “His idea,” said the president, “was that it would be considered our last shriek on the retreat.” Seward told Lincoln to “postpone its issue, until you can give it to the country supported by military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest disasters of the war!”
So Lincoln set it aside and waited. “From time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of Pope’s disaster, at Bull Run (and another 10,000 casualties.) Things looked darker than ever.”
On September 13, 1862, he met with a delegation of ministers from Chicago who pleaded with him to abolish slavery. The president said nothing about his proclamation and seemed to argue against emancipation of any kind. “Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire?”
He wished, he said, to view the matter practically for its advantages in suppressing the Confederacy.
It was true that slavery was essential for powering the South. If he ended slavery, it would weaken the enemy, encourage friends of the union, and draw the support of European powers. But what power did he have? Lincoln asked, repeating arguments he must have posed to himself over and over.
“Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the rebel states? Is there a single court, or magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there? … And suppose they could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and care for such a multitude?”
He told the delegation that he had received a lot of advice on the slavery issue by religious men.
Some argued for, others against, slavery, but all were certain “that they represent the Divine will. … I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me. … It is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it!”
Perhaps Lincoln already knew what the Almighty wanted him to do in this matter. The U.S. Treasury Secretary told Mr. Carpenter that, after the victory at Antietam, Lincoln said the time for the enunciation of the emancipation policy could no longer be delayed. “Public sentiment would sustain it, many of his warmest friends and supporters demanded it—and he had promised his God he would do it!” This last part was uttered in a low tone and apparently heard by no one but Secretary Salmon Portland Chase sitting next to him. He asked the president if he correctly understood him. Mr. Lincoln replied, “I made a solemn vow before God that, if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves!”
Today, historians question the power of Lincoln’s proclamation. “Did he free the slaves?” they ask, “or did they free themselves?” We now know that most slaves didn’t wait for liberation, but fled from the plantations to the Union lines. There, they set about caring for themselves, finding what work they could in the Union camps, starting farms where possible, and, for many of the men, enlisting in the army.
The liberation of America’s black people couldn’t have occurred without their own initiative. But it also couldn’t have occurred without Lincoln’s decision of September 22, 1862.
Classic Covers: The Theater
Charlie Chaplin Fans
Norman Rockwell was thrilled when he sold his first Post cover in 1916. “I used to sit in the studio with a copy of the Post laid across my knees,” Rockwell wrote in his autobiography. “’Must be 2 million people look at that cover,’ I’d say to myself. ‘At least. Probably more. Two million subscribers and then their wives, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, friends. Wow! All looking at my cover.’” Needless to say, his fantasy of himself as a famous illustrator came true in spades.
This cover was one of his finest of that era, with an already masterful use of light—in this case reflected from the flickering screen onto the delighted faces of the theatergoers.
Old Folks at the Theater
Pops clearly thinks Vaudeville is a hoot in this 1916 cover, but the more puritanical Missus does not approve. This is the only Post cover by Watson Barratt, about whom little is known today.
It is interesting to note an article inside this issue on World War I by H.G. Wells and one of many stories the Post published by the delightful P.G. Wodehouse.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Next to the Bible, Harriett Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was the best-selling book of the 19th century. Yes, it has long been decried for racial stereotypes, but Stowe made it clear that no Christian could condone slavery. This 1927 cover by Edgar Franklin Wittmack shows an Opera House featuring the play. We’re guessing the actor shown here was portraying the cruel slave owner whose name has become synonymous with greed and evil: Simon Legree. Artist Wittmack illustrated more than 20 Post covers.
Summer Stock
Norman Rockwell was full of surprises. On occasion, a Rockwell cover just doesn’t look “like a Rockwell.” Case in point is this 1939 illustration of a very pretty actress in full Elizabethan regalia. Contrast her elaborate costume with her stark “dressing room”—backstage at a barn, with an old crate serving as a dressing table. Her assistants? A couple of helpful barnyard residents.
Man Asleep in Theater
We laughed, we cried … we fell asleep. While the lovely lady with the hanky and the gentleman behind her appear to wipe away a tear, one moviegoer was moved … to nap. This 1940 cover was by Emery Clarke, who, while not a well-known artist, did half a dozen other Post covers.
Cousin Reginald is the Hero
In 1917-1919, Norman Rockwell painted a series of covers for Country Gentleman magazine, a sister publication to the Post. The characters he created were a group of often mischievous, if not downright ornery, country boys and their visiting city cousin, Reginald. Cousin Reginald was a geeky kid who was always bested by the kids’ rural activities: fishing, swimming, etc.
Rockwell must have finally tired of the tribulations he put Reginald through, for in this 1918 cover, cousin Reginald gets to be the hero. The cousins are in a rather clichéd school play, where the villain is throwing the poor maiden out for nonpayment of rent, when good old Reggie comes through with the deed to the house just in time! For more on these delightful covers see: “Norman Rockwell’s Cousin Reginald.”
Reprints of covers are available at Art.com.
Campaign Gaffes
Nobody said it was easy being a presidential candidate. You’re never more than just one misstatement away from putting your entire campaign at risk. A quick look through the record books reveals that Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comment is rivaled by quite a few bloopers uttered by presidential candidates in modern times.
One of them was Romney’s father, George, who was campaigning for the Republican nomination in 1968. In a TV interview, he said he had been lured into supporting the Vietnam War because he “had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get when they go over to Vietnam.” The press latched onto the “b” word and that was the end of his presidential run.
But years earlier, in 1963, candidate Barry Goldwater made a horrific blunder during an interview with The Saturday Evening Post when he candidly announced, “Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea.”
Lyndon Johnson’s campaign team pounced, producing a TV ad released August 31, 1963, that showed a saw cutting through the states from Ohio to Florida.
Here’s an excerpt from the Post story, which ran in the August 24 issue:
The era when the South and West were semicolonial dependencies of New York-dominated capital is over, but in these areas “the East” is still regarded with a mixture of suspicion, dislike and envy. Goldwater perfectly expresses this attitude—to an extent hardly recognized in the East, he is the anti-Eastern candidate. He once remarked—perhaps only half jokingly—that the East Coast ought to be “sliced off and set adrift.”
Click here to read the full article: “Can Goldwater Win in 64?”
POST script: In the interest of fairness, it’s not just Republicans who shoot their mouths off and pay the price. There’s John Kerry’s infamous, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it;” Howard Dean’s Victory Scream; and, of course, the endlessly spoofed, “I took the initiative in creating the Internet,” by Al Gore.
Japanese Salad
Celebrate Fruits & Vegetables—More Matters Month with this crunchy Japanese salad adapted from Igor Brotto and Olivier Guiriec’s The Vegetarian Table Cookbook.
Japanese Salad
(Makes 4 servings)
Preparation time 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups green soybeans, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt
- 1 cup julienned carrots
- ½ cup julienned daikon radish (also known as white radish)
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 tablespoons toasted unsalted sesame seeds
- Juice of 4 limes (8 tablespoons)
- ½ wild lime leaf, cut into small pieces (see Note)
- ½ cup dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
- 1 tablespoon wakame, chopped if needed (see Tip)
- 3 ounces enoki mushrooms (1 ½ cups whole)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine soybeans, carrots, radish, cilantro, sesame seeds, lime juice, lime leaf, peanuts, wakame, and mushrooms.
- Add olive oil and sesame oil and carefully blend. Taste and add more sesame oil, if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Note
Lime zest may be substituted for lime leaf.
Tip
Wakame is a Japanese seaweed. It has a subtle sweet taste and is often used in soups and salads. Look for it in well-stocked supermarkets or Japanese markets.
Nutrition Analysis Per Serving
Calories: 245.5
Total fat: 13.4g
Saturated Fat: 1.9g
Poly-Unsaturated Fat: 4.9g
Mono-Unsaturated Fat: 6.3g
Carbohydrate: 22g
Fiber: 8.4g
Protein: 18.5g
Sodium: 53g
Recipe adapted from The Vegetarian Kitchen Table Cookbook by Igor Brotto and Olivier Guiriec. © 2012 Robert Rose Inc. www.robertrose.ca Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Medical Foods for Health
Medical foods—think “prescription nutrition”—go beyond simple diet changes and are gaining ground in the U.S. and around the world as stand-alone or add-on therapies for health.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the term “medical foods” refers to foods that are specially formulated and processed for patients who are seriously ill or require the product as a major treatment modality.
New findings show that two medical foods (Theramine for chronic inflammation and Sentra PM for sleep disorders) are safe and effective in clinical practice. Research also says a patented blend of B vitamins called Metanx helps with diabetes-related nerve pain. Additionally, products in this category are prescribed to manage other types of chronic pain as well as sleep disorders associated with depression and anxiety.
Medical foods don’t undergo the same testing as drugs before they can be sold at pharmacies. But FDA regulations assure these products are safe and claims are truthful.
Click here for more information on medical foods and how they work.
Cartoons: Vahan Shirvanian
Last year, long-time cartoonist Vahan Shirvanian had a severe spinal injury. He’s recovered enough to start submitting cartoons again, and our thoughts and best wishes are with him in his continued recovery. In the meantime, here’s why he is a Post favorite.
"It’s all set. Now help me catch my sister!"
Juvenile Arthritis
People think of arthritis as a problem for older folks—and it surely is. But about 300,000 children in the U.S. have painful, swollen, and stiff joints caused by juvenile arthritis (JA). Fortunately, up to half of kids under age 6 bounce back from milder forms of the disease with customized drug therapy to reduce swelling and relieve pain. “Having juvenile arthritis in fewer than five joints is a good indicator that youngsters will outgrow the disease,” explains Michael Blakley, M.D., who specializes in rheumatology at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
Having more than five inflamed joints, or a history of the skin disease psoriasis (also an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks normal cells), predicts more lasting problems. Even then, steroids and new immune-suppressing medicines called biologics can stop inflammation and help protect kids with JA from bone, muscle, and eye complications that were once commonplace, Dr. Blakley says.
JA affects mobility and energy levels and includes any form of arthritis or an arthritis-related condition that is detected in children or teens under age 18. To learn more about JA, browse arthritis.org.
Hopeless Heritage
“Git,” the cook said, “hear me? Git down to Winley’s and tell ’em I’m bad.”
This was the new cook at our school, Mrs. Cullen, who had toppled over in front of me as I was beating honey into the peanut butter. Hot rolls flew up, the cookie sheet slapped the counter and came down on her chest with a noise like a cymbal. So I did what she said, ran up the basement stairs from the kitchen and across the road in the already blazing sun to Winley’s. I ran past racks of stiff work shirts set out to air, and into the hot dark, where I waded over riding boots and galoshes and shouted out for Mr. Winley, without ever thinking there ought to be at least one teacher already upstairs in the school building who could come, without even putting out my hand to see if I could help the giant woman up off the floor.
“It’s the cook at school, she fell down!” I yelled. Hollow-eyed Mr. Winley emerged from the back of the store, his arms loaded with rope and halters and his head slapped to one side. His elbows stuck out of a stiff blue shirt with fold-marks in it as if he had just taken the paper bands off one of the shirts on the sale table. “We’re a ways from being open,” he said politely. Mr. Winley had managed the store by himself since his wife ran off, and everybody said five years was long enough to keep on waiting for her to come back, he ought to get up and start proceedings against her. But my mother said peaceably, “Leave him be, nobody around here for him to marry if he did quit his waiting.”
It was early morning, and there was not much more going on in town than back at home, where if I had not been chosen Kitchen Helper I’d have been still waiting for the bus with my brothers, at the end of our road with dew steaming off the mailbox. The week before school started we had filled our mouths with the blackberries there, and they were the last, there would be no more new red ones, only the hard white ones that never got a start and were promised to the molds.
Usually I rode down to the bus stop with my brothers, holding on behind our father on the tractor, but this was the week after Labor Day, my first week of being Kitchen Helper, and he had had to drive me in. It was the third week of record heat and humidity, and my new school clothes stuck to me.
“What’s the trouble, you say?”
“The new cook fell down. She wants you to come!”
Mr. Winley rolled his eyes and widened his nostrils. He said, “The cook?” and then as if he worked on a rusted spring he jerked my hand and hurried me out into the light and across the deserted road, the way adults always hurried, as fast as they could go without running. All the way into the schoolyard he was swinging his head like a cow being driven.
We got to the basement,and Mrs. Cullen was still slumped against the counter among the rolls on the floor, but by now the second batch of rolls, still in the oven, was smoking.
“Thought I’d burn up time you got here,” she said in a weary voice.
“Don’t open that!” Mr. Winley snatched the potholders out of my hand. I was in the Seventh Grade, I knew how to cook macaroni and butter-beans and make Parker rolls myself, and how to roll out pie dough and how to throw baking soda on flames.
“Don’t matter, let her,” said Mrs. Cullen. And indeed when Mr. Winley said “Stand back!” and let the big oven door down with a thud, the smoke that billowed out was just scorch, although the rolls were done for, not full and golden and puffing comfortably against each other but rolling on the tray, little and firm like new potatoes.
I set them on the counter and Mr. Winley sank down, holding out his narrow elbow for Mrs. Cullen to take, and squinting at her face. He said, “What happened here?” as if it were all in the past.
Mrs. Cullen was five-ten or more, and big, top-heavy, bigger on the floor than on her feet. When she leaned over the counter to bring down the cookie sheets it looked as if her legs would kick out in back as the weight of her drove forward.
“Heart,” she said, drawing the bib of her apron into wrinkles with her big fingers that could shove the gallon cans of baked beans from one hand to the other like a basketball. “All to which-ways.” Only then did I think there might be something other than her weight that kept her down on the floor. Mr. Winley thought so too. “Mercy, girl,” he snapped, “call the Rescue Squad! Don’t you people keep a telephone down here? Isn’t anybody can help?”
So I ran.
Oh, all of this came back to me as if that week of Labor Day were last week. I saw it all before me, in the waiting room at the hospital. I was waiting for my husband’s treadmill and scan to be over so I could take him home again. He was coming back from a heart attack.
It was not the first one. He is a tall, thin man, strong and active, but he has the heart of a fat, sick, stationary man. The heart is in his family. He has been sitting in waiting rooms like this for most of the years we have been married.
While he was getting dressed, the nurse called me in to see the doctor, who said as he wrote out a prescription, “So he retires a bit early and he’s a happy man.”
“A happy man.” If my husband will never be exactly happy—too familiar with calamity from an early age—neither will he act as if he isn’t, or complain, or encourage anybody else to complain. He will never sit back, he’ll always stand up, put on his cap, and go. If one of the children says, “I can’t keep on with this,” he will say, “Don’t then,” but not meanly, and of course they will keep on.
If I had felt like making a point I would have told the doctor, “This man won’t shed a tear for himself. He’s the next best thing to a happy man.”
When I got back to the waiting room I heard the tape this particular cardiology group plays all day—I remembered it from the last time, faint music that suggests some old-fashioned dance floor where couples are turning and dipping in a romantic but dignified way. The kind of music that keeps the present at arm’s length. I wanted to get away from the sight of all those instruments that record the efforts of a heart, so I put my head back and closed my eyes and went back to where I had left off when the nurse came to get me: A place and time in which half the devices in this building didn’t exist, and these three doctors hadn’t been born, where people blundered and guessed their way through primitive rescues, and scratched their heads while the clock ticked.