Peterkin in Focus
Lem Peterkin is the tall, burly photojournalist whose work is seen in many New York City publications. Peterkin says the New York Times, New York Newsday, New York Post and every African-American newspaper use his photos. Peterkin was surprised that anyone knew his first name because his photo credit has become consistently photograph by Peterkin. Rather than fight the name drop, he capitalizes on it. His business card reads, “Photographs by Peterkin.”
In his forty years in photography he’s stayed in step with each advance in image technology. These days his mobile office includes a Canon EOS 30D digital camera, a ZiO CameraMate Card Reader to store his shots from the camera, a Dane Electric zMate Golf Flash drive for his documents and a Sony VAIO laptop computer. The HP Photosmart C4180 All-in-One printer is in his office at Restoration Plaza. This printer also scans and copies.
His life in photography began in grammar school. For the fourth grade science fair, his project was “Photo Micrography.” Peterkin used a microscope and a manual Kodak Hawkeye camera. He shot photographs of such life form as amoeba and paramecium. He’s a proponent of citizen reporting in that he’s championed the reality of everyone owning a camera. Says Peterkin, “Everyone should have a camera. You don’t know what you’re going to see.” While cellphone cameras are making this possible, Peterkin prefers a stand-alone camera. He says, “cell phone cameras don’t have sufficient resolution for a quality picture. Adobe Photoshop or any other image editing software can’t enhance the sharpness.”
Labels: digital images, legend, media, newspaper, photography
Oral Hygiene
I got a serious wake up call this month when I went to the dentist. She told me that I needed my gums cleaned, two cavities filled and root canal for one tooth. I came to her because I knew a wisdom tooth needed extraction. This other stuff was news.
The wisdom tooth needed removal 9 years ago but since it wasn't hurting. I forgot about. Well, it uprooted itself to a point that, unbeknownst to me there's this big hole where food and liquid can easily fall in. It wasn't until this March and again in June that I experienced excruciating pain.
The dentist's diagnosis had me thinking about what I should've been doing for my teeth. I asked what I could do in between seeing her and the oral specialists. She said, "Nothing." I couldn't accept that. I started reading and learned that the teeth and gums impact the eyes, heart, bones, liver, and kidneys. I may be missing something but this list is already long. More reading uncovered extraction, cavity-filling and root canal came with their problems. Basically, it's about bacteria and parasites that can be released into the blood stream through the gums.
Do you see the word, parasites? Just as we have parasites in the intestines, we can cultivate them in the gums. What is the essential oral care regimen? As it's been said before: brush your teeth, at least, after waking up and before going to bed for the night. The mouth is a dark, moist place that cultivates all kinds of amoeba, germs and bacteria. Begin with dry brushing--no water, no paste--and later do the toothpaste. Obtain crushed Neem (aka Peelu) and sprinkle it on the toothpaste or gently roll the toothpaste-ladened tooth brush in the Neem. Neem is a tree twig that gently cleans and polishes teeth and gums. It's very healing to the gums. Follow up brushing with flossing. In between the teeth is where the problems begin for both teeth and gums. When flossing, go easy on the gums and focus more so on rubbing the sides of the teeth.
Brushing the tongue and massaging the gums are also important. You want the blood to circulate in the gums and the tongue, particular the back part gets coated. Beyond a clean smelling breath, I want a cleaner mouth. To get that I came up with a mouth rinse that helps with bacteria, viruses, soothing my gums and giving me a sweeth breath. Fill a 32 oz. bottle with water--ideally spring water but, from the tap has to be okay if that's what you have. In that water put 3 drops of tea tree oil, 3 drops of eucalyptus oil, 4 drops of peppermint oil and some clove oil. Shake it up and take in half a mouth full. Swish a bit and, then, hold it on your mouth for a few minutes. You can swallow it or spit out. I believe drinking a couple of mouth fulls during the day is important for overall health. The tea tree oil and eucalyptus are great antispetics and have various curative powers for the gums, skin and stomach. Other supports include calcium, magnesium and vitamin C intake. Bone support and the total body need the supplementation. When bone loss occurs, it doesn't grow back so fortifying what you have is essential. Other supplements, I'd be remiss in not sharing are oil of oregano and bowel care. Oil of oregano fights viruses, bacteria and germs. You may get a bottle that recommends 4 drops. I suggest 15 drops for those who don't wash fruits and vegetables and enjoy eating out. Who doesn't fit that description?
The bowel care is about helping the lymphatic system. Those lymph nodes get overloaded doing their cleaning job. Cleaning or clearing out the large intestines invigorates the lymphatic system. Think about it: once the lymph nodes have filtered the various liquids in the body, where does it get it eliminated? Through heavy sweating, urination and bowel movement.
What's the culprit in gum disease and tooth decay is the modern diet. We're eating a lot of sugary, starchy and processed foods. More fruit and vegetables are required. Then there's smoking of tobacco, marijuana and other substances. Alcohol, black tea and coffee are hard on the teeth and gums too. There are so many people with bridges, dentures and caps. If we ate better, we'd be better.
Remember I mentioned the connection with the eyes, heart, kidney, liver and bones at the beginning? I'm learning that my upper respiratory condition is the result of letting my wisdom tooth go untreated for so long. I have apologized to my mouth many times. So, I've from this experience that it's not simply the ear-nose-throat connection. It's the teeth-gums-ear-nose-throat-and-eyes connection.
Labels: eucalyptus, gums, holistic health, oil of oregano, oral hygiene, tea tree oil, teeth
Michael Moore's Sicko
To celebrate our birthday, a friend and I went to see
Sicko. I didn't have a clue what it was. She told me that it was a
Michael Moore film; so I was game.
Michael Moore has a way of pulling you into his world from the beginning. First, there's a scene wherein many Senators walk into a room for a momentous event. The last person is our
President George Bush. Above each person's head is a price tag. Some had figures of $300,000's, others $500,000's. The President had the $800,000+ price tag. These figures reflected the amount of money a health insurance lobby paid to the officials. The event in question was the President signing a bill for a national health that still doesn't cover every American.
Not too far from this scene, are photo clips of, then, President Richard Nixon and one of his closest staffmembers discussing, back in 1971, a national health plan. The voice overs are supposed taped conversations of Nixon getting schooled on this scheme where national health is administered by private health insurance companies. The point being, the insurance companies make more money when they identify as many pre-existing conditions that aren't covered by the plan as possible. Moore explains that this structure would evolve into present day HMOs.
Moore takes us to Canada, England, France and Cuba to show us how socialized medicine operates. The latest equipment, treatments and medicines are available. Physicians live very comfortable lives and France has physicians that will make house calls. One of Moore's relatives is a Canadian. He saw national health care as a necessary service for a nation's people and didn't equate their national health plan with being Socialist. He explained that he was a Conservative.
So what is the stigma around "socialized medicine" in America. As usual, it's a lot of social engineering--or media hype against it. Did you know that back in the 1960's Ronald Reagan, then riding high on Death Valley Days, was contracted to narrate an record album that denounced socialized medicine. The record was distributed to suburban ladies. They were asked to invite their usual Bridge card fellows to an afternoon of coffee and discussion. The record's content linked national health care program to socialism and communism enough times to turn Americans off to the idea. We must remember Senator McCarthy's search for Communists in high and low places had concluded not too long ago.
When we take the "Red Scare" out of the equation, we will see that many services are nationalized in the United States. There are public school teachers, firefighters and police departments. Can you imagine not having a coordination of curriculum, classroom practices and school administration acroos the United States. There are so some people today who are opposed to home schooling and charter schools.
What is fascinating about this movie, beyond the information, is
Michael Moore's ability to travel. Again, he went to France, England, Canada and Cuba. In most instances, it was himself and a camera crew; other instances one other person was part of the travel party. When he went to Cuba, he had, maybe, nine people in tow. Where does he get the money for airfare and accommodations? Who does the advance work with the many people that are interviewed? He has a great organization.
Michael Moore is not in the best of health. Long shots of him reveal is portly, stooped frame and his turned in legs. I know genius comes in all forms so there's no discounting his talent. I just wonder, could he have been attended by one of these physicians? While in Cuba, he arranged for his entourage to be treated. Why not time for himself?
I did note that the ranking of nations' health care service placed the United States in the mid-30's. Two steps down was Cuba. Ironically, it was at the Havana Hospital--it's supposedly quite exclusive--that the nine Americans got diagnosed, treated and given aftercare instructions. One woman who had a severe respiratory condition found a medication she uses in a Havana pharmacy. Where she had to pay $120 per bottle at her local pharmacy, the Cuban pharmacy sold it for the equivalent of 5 US cents.
Sicko has many good points. I'm sure someone with more knowledege of this issue has detractions. Be that as it may,
Michael Moore keeps the American public thinking and questioning.
Labels: cinema, HMO, medicine, Michael Moore, movies, national health, Sicko
Brooklyn Nonprofits That Shovel in the Digital Divide
The search for Brooklyn nonprofits that are closing the digital divide through broadband installation uncovered a few things. One, dead zones—areas where either cable TV or broadband technology is not supplied—exist in Brooklyn. They exist because the major cable companies don’t believe it is profitable to invest the wiring. Another, nonprofits need to connect with one another. When posed the question, “Do you know of nonprofits wiring buildings or installing Wi Fi in Brooklyn, Mirielle Massac,
Child Development Support Corporation’s (
http://www.cdscnyc.org/) PR Director, thoughtfully turned the wheels in her mind and came up blank. Massac suggested that this columnist set up an operation. You can imagine that I was honored.
The investigation hit pay dirt. Keep in mind that it takes many wheelbarrows full before you strike gold or oil. It included contacting eleven major Brooklyn nonprofits—nine are located in central Brooklyn. Most didn’t return the call. Two were ardent telephone tagging. One VP of Information Technology said, “…their website is not a priority…” Reaching the Nonprofit Help Desk (
http://www.nphd.org/) was the “Eureka!” moment. Nonprofit Help Desk’s Executive Director Chaya Abelsky interrupted her out-of-town vacation to talk about the nonprofit and arrange interviews with three staff members.
Nonprofit Help Desk’s mission is to increase the capacities of New York City's small to mid-size nonprofit organizations through technology and operations management services, education and advocacy. It is one of four arms of the
Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island (JCC). It is recognized to be the first nonprofit to provide technology services to other nonprofits. Nonprofit Help Desk was born from JCC Executive Director’s, Rabbi Weiner, early adoption of the Internet. By 1992, Weiner recognized that the Internet and computers could be powerful social cause and nonprofit management tools. It was a matter of sharing the message to other nonprofits and then getting them computerized and web-enabled. Evidently, he sold his case for technology to the, then, Commissioner of Community Development Agency (now Department of Youth and Community Development), Gladys Carrion. Commissioner Carrion granted funds for the future Nonprofit Help Desk, without a Request For Proposal. Today, Nonprofit Help Desk gives training in computerized bookkeeping, Intenet basics, sets up computer networks and security systems and connects nonprofits to broadband communication technolgy. June 2007, ushered in the online social network for nonprofits called Puzzle
http://www.puzzlenyc.org/. Leah Vincent, Director of Development, oversees Puzzle and explained that, though
Puzzle is in Beta version, it’s the online space for nonprofits “to gain emotional support, find resources, discuss issues and [just] connect.”
Nonprofit Help Desk’s Technical Services Department arranges the wiring and does the network installation. Yossef Heskiel directs the four-member department. Heskiel is a certified Microsoft Systems Engineer and was an Electronics Technician for the US Navy. He sums up the process in four steps: assessement, recommendation, infrastructure planning & design and implemetation. Three examples of this process are
St. John’s Place Family Center (www.stjohns.org),
Caribbean Women’s Health Association (www.cwha.org) and
Dwa Fanm (www.dwafanm.org). St. John’s Place Family Center is located in a dead zone in the western end of Crown Heights (1604 St. John’s Place). It has an employment center, afterschool center and day care at one end of the block and the administrative office and social services are at the other end. The group had fifteen AOL dial-up accounts which amounted to $700 - $800 in charges a month. Nonprofit Help Desk visited the offices in 2002 and recommended the installation of fractional T1 lines. Fractional T1 is a business class data transfer that is half the throughput of T1 data lines. Though more expensive than dial up, St. John’s Place Family Center experienced a savings of about $10,000 annually. The nonprofit’s Executive Director, Louis Rodriguez is pleased with the installation. Rodriguez says, “The fractional T1 line enabled us to cut internet-related costs. We now have better email service at much less cost…We had SharePoint—an intranet program—installed as part of the T1 installation. This improves our capacity to share information among staff.” Nonprofit Help Desk literally ran 300 meters of wires through 2 feet and 5 feet thick walls in the basement to connect the two ends of St John’s Place.
For
Caribbean Women Health Association is was the case of not needing or using the previous communication system which was a frame relay broadband system. It’s fine for frequent international communication but too much for local needs. The solution for this nonprofit was disconnecting the broadband and installing synchronous DSL. The nonprofit had been paying about $1,050 a month in Internet fees for 256 kbs; the new system gives 1.5 megabyte throughput for $329 a month.
Dwa Fanm operated using dial up Internet services and didn’t have computer network. Their solution involved signing with Roadrunner and configuring a network. Nonprofit Help Desk monitors and maintains hundreds of nonprofits’ computer systems with their remote technology monitoring system. This software is installed on the network servers and any glitches are emailed to the Technical Services staff’s Pocekt PCs. How’s that for being wired for success?
Labels: broadband, community, digital divide, Internet, nonprofits
Lem Peterkin is the tall, burly photojournalist whose work is seen in many New York City publications. Peterkin says the New York Times, New York Newsday, New York Post and every African-American newspaper use his photos. Peterkin was surprised that anyone knew his first name because his photo credit has become consistently photograph by Peterkin. Rather than fight the name drop, he capitalizes on it. His business card reads, “Photographs by Peterkin.”
