Mississippi Morning

I usually am awake around 4:30 am every morning during my workweek. I lay in bed thinking about what I have to do that day and wait for the alarm. But on Saturday and Sunday I get up, take my pills, stretch, put on my walking shoes, get out my mp3 player, hat and glasses, and head out for a walk around 6 am. The sun is just lighting up the horizon and there is a mist hanging low in the trees. The slight breeze feels cool on my arms and legs. Birds are heard but not seen. I begin my walk and dial the soundtrack to “Everybody’s Fine”.  The smell of Magnolias, roses, honeysuckle and many other sweet scents I cannot identify swirl around me as I walk. This is the time I think about other mornings in other places I've lived when I was alone with my thoughts, smelling fragrant plant life, feeling the dew being cooled on my skin by the slightest of breezes. I remember early mornings when my grandfather and I would sit on the front porch of his Alabama farmhouse, he with his coffee and me with my glass of milk, enjoying the smells and the quiet and each other. There are a few other walkers, joggers, bicyclists. We wave as we pass to acknowledge each other. Occasionally we mouth “good morning”, but mostly we just wave not wanting to intrude on each others thoughts and privacy. This is my Mississippi morning.

Is My Job Unhealthy For Me? YES!!

I am one of those workers imprisoned in a cubicle-type environment, sitting for the majority of the day, staring at a computer, doing repetitive tasks with my computer mouse. Fortunately I have not developed carpal tunnel syndrome and I won’t die from hemorrhoids. About 3 or 4 times a day I make a trip to the bathroom, approximately 7 steps away from my chair and 7 steps back. At lunchtime I try to go out to a store or mall-like area to walk and stretch and sometimes to shop while I’m on this side of town. (Loews has wide aisles and I can pick up a few plants or some bug spray.) After lunch I am back at my desk, sitting and staring at my computer again, wolfing down a veggie sandwich (attempt at healthy eating here) because I didn’t want to “sit” in a restaurant to eat. When I get home, I wash clothes, load the dishwasher, walk the dog, and exercise on my treadmill (when the weather is too hot and humid for we humans to breathe here in the deep south). I check my email, watch the news on TV, play with the dog, and fold the clothes I’ve washed. I am active for most of the 5 hours I am at home before it is time for me to sleep. Without that small amount of activity, I might not be able to get a full night’s sleep. My brain would still be in high gear from inactivity. In my world a full night’s sleep is about 5-6 hours depending on my “insomniac dog’s” bladder function.

From the time I shut my alarm off at 6 AM, till I arrive back home at 5:30 PM, I am moving less than I am moving the 5 hours I spend at home before I go to bed at night. During my work-day for almost 12 hours my butt is glued to a chair at the office while I perform my duties as a graphic artist for the publishing company where I am employed. If I worked from home I could get up and move around more frequently. When I was self-employed many years ago I would do household chores as a break from work and I worked more efficiently and quickly because I was activating my enzymes and hormones with exercise and I was in a much better mood all day. There was less interaction with co-workers and that can be a downside for more gregarious people. Now we have Skype if we need to conference. The energy savings alone should be an incentive for business to encourage their employees to work from home. If the job depends on close interaction between people, businesses and employees would benefit from having some kind of exercise venue to break up the sedentary office environment. (And I don’t mean pouring coffee in the break-room.)

I hope to retire soon. Then I can get up at 6 AM and power-walk for 30-40 minutes, eat breakfast, clean the kitchen, walk the dog, wash clothes, make the bed, vacuum, check my emails, fold the clothes, meet a friend for lunch, go grocery shopping, water the plants, clean up my tool room, paint a picture, paint the house, etc. The possibilities are endless and I’ll be healthier!

50th Anniversary of "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Maybe Harper Lee was meant to write just one great story of the deep south that I grew up in. Maybe all of us have only one great story to tell. Her book and later the movie became my favorites for life. In the summer of 1959 I had just moved to Atlanta, GA from living in Japan where, as a pre-teen, I had experienced a mild racial prejudice for having white skin and for being a member of the American occupying force after the end of WWII. I was enrolled in middle school in an Atlanta suburb where I observed the bigotry against black students on my school bus. It was a much more virulent racism than my experiences in Japan had been. White students yelled racial epithets at black students from the open windows of the bus. I was threatened when I tried to point out to the white students that racism and what they were doing was wrong in any society. It was a very scary time for the black children and for those of us who were sympathetic to their plight. I began to understand how members of different societies discriminated against others on the basis of skin color, white or black. It is hatred and it is perpetuated by fear without reason. This is the 50th anniversary of "To Kill A Mockingbird" and not much has changed.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

(10 good things about living in the South)

1. Winter is short
2. Dogwooods grow wild along the freeway
3. People say hi even if they don’t know you
4. The smell of food is everywhere
5. Brumby Rockers and straw hats
6. Cicadas singing at night
7. Sugar Cane
8. Delta Blues and Bluegrass music
9. Storytelling
10. Magnolias

The Bad

(10 bad things about living in the South)

1. Summer is very hot and humid
2. Allergies
3. Deer season
4. The smell of food is everywhere
5. Ticks, May flies, mosquitoes, and Dog Vomit Fungus
6. Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion
7. Alligators in the swimming pool
8. Sand in my bed
9. Obesity
10. Poverty

The Ugly – Bigots and Racists