Still

I was listening to Tom Waits' Alice this morning--an amazing swirl of songs that tug at your feelings, drawing you into the misty cyclone of your memories. You're a willing victim, a captive of nostalgia--for things that were, for moments lost, even for things that perhaps never were. "Poetry is like a memory," my daughter once said. And who is to say that we are not allowed to reinvent our memories? Coloring them with shades of how we would write the play or play the scene. . .

"And I must be insane
To go skating on your name
And by tracing it twice
I fell through the ice
Of Alice."

Music conjures up feelings we usually come short of being able to fully explain, but we go on trying anyway. The missing notes or lyrics are like the missing elements in a line drawing, where we recognize the image in its totality--a result of magic that the brain is trained to perform. A kind of "connect the dots."

So I listen to Alice, full of love and longing for someone who is no longer there or even for someone who is still there, but out of reach.

And I think of Peter.

"You haven't looked at me that way in years
You dreamed me up and left me here
How long was I dreaming for
What was it you wanted me for

You haven't looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
Someone turn the lights back off
I'll love you til all time is gone

You haven't looked at me that way in years
But I'm still here."

aging brains

i read two articles today about memory--one in the New York Times and one in Wired. one discussed a software program called Super Memo, created by Piotr Wozniak, that actually figures out how long the interval is between you first learning something and subsequently forgetting it. the idea is to 'remind' you of the new information just at the moment before you forget it. theoretically your interval of remembering the information gets longer and longer. so that let's say initially the interval is 5 minutes, the next one is 15, etc.

the other article was about the aging brain. aside from people who develop alzheimer's, which according to the Times article is an alarming 13% of americans 65 or older, peoples' brains behave in different ways as we age. they take in more information and 'stop to process' when presented with words that are out of place in a paragraph, for instance. whereas a young college student will no doubt keep reading as if the "distraction" didn't even exist. so what this says is that the older brain is processing more information. it may not focus exclusively on what seems to be the issue at hand, but by taking in more information may end up having a broader knowledge of the subject which could come in handy. as an example an older person may notice certain details in a speaker's presentation that convey as much or more information than their actual words. the details could emphasize certain beliefs or even belie what they are saying.

and there was this in the Times article: "A reduced ability to filter and set priorities, the scientists concluded, could contribute to original thinking."

So maybe that explains my 'creativity.' [smile]

and also that perhaps the taking in of more information from a situation (which is what the older brain does) combined with the array of stored knowledge results in what we call "wisdom." nice.

axis of aspartame

so it seems that mr. rumsfeld has been involved in more than just world politics, although what i am about to say could be considered world politics--but just not the kind that involves the military. aspartame, known by the names NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure has been shown to be linked with as many as 92 negative symptoms exhibited by the human body. i can only imagine what appeared in rats. interesting to note that according to one source, the amount of aspartame deemed as safe is as much as 20 times SMALLER than what the FDA in the US has established as safe levels. a recent european report is now claiming that aspartame does NOT pose a threat, even in levels higher than the daily recommended dose. so what do we believe. here's a little tidbit that may sway you one way or the other: the guy who was at searle (the company that produces aspartame; in fact he was CEO) when aspartame was pushed through the FDA and was proclaimed as "safe" was noneother than our buddy donald rumsfeld. still listening? now what does that tell you? let's say you arch an eyebrow. let's even say you don't.

read these facts:

• you'll find aspartame in any number of items you consume that are labelled, "sugar-free"--cookies, yogurt, chewing gum, soft drinks, candy, to name only a few.
• a sampling of the 92 health risks associated with aspartame include blindness, tinnitus and hearing impairment, migraines, severe depression, insomnia, personality changes, asthma, hypoglycemia, severe PMS, brain damae, suicidal tendencies, and even death.
• according to consumer advocate attorney jim turner, who was instrumental in the 1969 banning of cyclamate in the US for its link to cancer, Rumsfeld was hired by Searle specifically to obtain FDA approval for aspartame. there have been calls for the reversal of that approval ever since.

My feeling is this: I'll have my little piece of poison in the form of one stick of chewing gum here and there, knowing that it contains aspartame. When it comes to sodas, I'll skip it altogether. As for sweetening my cereal--as long as I am not diagnosed with diabetes, Ill choose agave nectar because it's delicious (and you can use less because it is actually sweeter tasting than any other natural sweetener), along with maple syrup, honey, and yes--a little bit of sugar.

A votre sante.