An Ellensburg doctor removed her mask as she entered a small medical exam room in October and began signing a COVID-19 vaccine exemption form for a first-time patient, without asking a single question about her medical history.
The only way most workers who were opposed to being vaccinated against COVID-19 could potentially keep their jobs was to seek a religious or medical exemption before the Oct. 18 deadline. But such medical exemptions required documentation from a licensed physician, like Dr. Anna Elperin.
“Patient Taylor Mirfendereski due to a medical condition is exempt from getting the COVID-19 Vaccination,” wrote Elperin, a doctor of osteopathic medicine and the owner of the functional medicine clinic, Awake Health, in Ellensburg.
Credit: Awake Health / KINGA letter, signed by Dr. Anna Elperin on Oct. 11, 2021, exempts an undercover journalist from getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
The patient, undercover KING 5 investigative reporter Taylor Mirfendereski who visited Elperin’s Kittitas County office on Oct. 11, does not have a medical condition that precludes her from getting the COVID vaccine.
But Elperin never asked Mirfendereski if that were true. And she wrote her the exemption.
For a $150 cash fee, Elperin filled out and signed her name on three separate exemption forms that excused the undercover reporter from following local and state COVID mask and vaccine mandates because of doctor’s orders.
Dr. Esty is a psychotherapist and the author of “Eightysomethings: A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well and Finding Unexpected Happiness.”
Another Covid winter looms, but this moment of the pandemic feels hopeful. At age 87, I’m becoming reacquainted with the social life I had put on pause for many months. I’m going out to restaurants and museums, attending church and visiting my grandchildren who live in a neighboring town. I’ve always seen myself as a risk-taker and an optimist. But every day as I venture out, there’s a drumbeat in mind, a constant accompaniment: “Is this too risky for me?”
But if the risk of getting sick with Covid-19 is holding me back, there’s something even stronger drawing me out: the fear of not making the most of my remaining time, my “one wild and precious life,” as the poet Mary Oliver described it.
Life expectancy is just six years at my age. I want to spend my remaining time traveling, going to parties with friends and seeing all my far-flung grandchildren. I’m overjoyed that my retirement community has reopened. The dining room serves meals again, and I’ve joined both a dance and a tai chi class. I want to enjoy it all now. Time speeds up as you age. One 90-year-old friend put it this way: “What do I have to lose?” Those of us in our 80s and older are used to having death for a neighbor.
Conversations have begun again in the retirement community library.Credit…Matthew Monteith for The New York TimesGlenn and Sue Brewster, right, sharing a moment with Katharine Esty.Credit…Matthew Monteith for The New York TimesMembers of the community in a tai chi class.Credit…Matthew Monteith for The New York TimesThe author in the dining room with Dalton Avery, right, and Peter Gunness.Credit…Matthew Monteith for The New York Times
That’s not to say I’m living without fear. Though I’m confident that my triple shots of the vaccine will protect me, I’m not the same person I was before the pandemic. You feel vulnerable when you’re repeatedly reminded that people age 65 and older are at a higher risk of dying from Covid-19 and that the risk increases with age. I have some fear of crowds and large gatherings, and I’m reluctant to touch other people. The pain and suffering of the world are with me in a way they never were before, and I am now all too aware that what we take for granted as normal can change in an instant. But I am ready to move forward.
While Covid-19’s toll has been felt by everyone, pandemic living for people in our 80s was different. Yes, our risk of getting sick or dying from Covid was far greater. But nonetheless, I was able to keep my equanimity. People my age are resilient; after all, we were children during World War II.
Because the pandemic forced me and my peers to be so sheltered, daily life became, ironically, stress-free and, for some of us, boring. In March 2020 my boyfriend and I were told that we could not keep going back and forth between our two retirement-community apartments. We decided in a few minutes that he would move in with me. That hasty decision meant we lived pleasantly together through the long months of quarantine, reading books and playing word games. I wrote on my blog about aging, and I spoke to my psychotherapy clients over Zoom. Dinner was delivered to our door.
It was not the same for my adult children or many of my therapy clients, most of whom are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Their stress levels were extraordinary. Some took precautions to the extreme and disinfected their groceries. One of my clients, who was working a full-time job while managing her children’s schooling from home, told me she could “sleep for three years.”
Many of my younger clients seem very cautious about returning to more normal living. They tell me they are taking it slow. Often, it’s much slower than us elders. One client in her 40s told me that she’s “really looking forward to going to a restaurant and eating inside.” (I have already been to six or seven restaurants.) Until very recently, whenever we visited my son and daughter-in-law, they had us sit in chairs in their driveway. In my book clubs and writers’ group, it is some of the younger women who don’t want to meet in person.
Some adult children of 80-somethings have become bossy and even tyrannical in their concern over their parents’ safety. My friend was told by her two grown children that she could not leave her house under any circumstances. Her children shopped for her food and took her to the doctor. But she was starved for human companionship and became resentful. After many decades of living, we know with absolute certainty that relationships and enjoying time with the people we love are what matter the most in life.
Living into your 80s was not very common until relatively recently. But today, people my age are doing all sorts of things — hiking the Appalachian Trail, falling in love, writing poetry for the first time or helping to resettle Afghan refugees. Being in your 80s doesn’t mean you have to focus on survival. It is a time to enjoy a full life. And that’s what I’m ready to do.
At Friday’s (November 19, 2021) Civic Engagement Meeting there was a brief discussion about redistricting, and there appeared to be some interest in the possibility of inviting Brady Walkinshaw, a member of the State Redistricting Commission to join us in January for a discussion of the process, and possibly why the Commission was unable to meet its statutory deadline. For those of you who may have forgotten your high school civics course, following the decennial census, Congressional seats are reallocated to reflect population changes. Each state and its subordinate jurisdictions (cities and counties) are also obligated to assess, and when appropriate, change boundary lines for Congressional, Legislative and City and County district seats. The method of conducting this process varies by state. Washington State uses a Citizens Commission to perform this task, in other states the matter is left to the State Legislature. The Washington State Redistricting Commission was unable to reach agreement by the required deadline, and the matter has now been referred to the Washington State Supreme Court. King County and the City of Seattle each have their own redistricting commissions who are engaged in their own redistricting process. If you are interested in further information you may find what you’re looking for at the following websites: Washington State Commission: https://www.redistricting.wa.gov King County Commission: https://kingcounty.gov/independent/districting.aspx City of Seattle Commission: http://www.seattle.gov/redistricting NOTE: If you have specific questions you would like addressed if we are able to bring a speaker to the community, please forward them to jimsanders1947@gmail.com.
Agenda CEG Meeting – November 19, 2021 4:00 pm Mount Baker & Zoom & Channel 371 Katherine Graubard, Facilitator Rick Baugh, Minutes
Report of Last Month’s Activities – Past events: David Domke First & Second Talk – Pt 1 & 2 of 3 (Peggy Newsom)
Sawant Recall & Soap Box
Coming events:
DATE/TIME
EVENT
Place
Nov 22, Mon – 3:00 p.m.
David Domke – Beating the Filibuster Pt 3 of 3 (Newsom)
Mt. B & Zoom & 371
Dec 7, Tues – Voting
Sawant Recall Vote
Jan 21, Fri – 4:00 p.m.
CEG Meeting
Mt. B & Zoom & 371
Updates on Involvements in Civic Organizations: WACCRA: Rick Baugh Interview of Mary Ann Hagan: Her years of music Involvement Discussion on Future Activities Ideas on topics and speakers for future meetings. Next CEG Meeting (New Meeting Date – 3rd Friday of the Month) Fri., Jan 21, 2022 at 4:00 Mt. Baker.
Tuesday, November 16th at 7:30 p.m. – Third District City Council Recall Forum
Wednesday, November 17th at 3:00 p.m. – Skyline Soapbox – Third City Council District Recall
CEG Reminder – Third District Recall Forum and Skyline Soapbox
SPECIAL ELECTION – DECEMBER 7, 2021
This is your friendly CEG reminder and invitation to join us for two related events.
Tuesday, November 16th at 7:30 p.m. – Third District City Council Recall Forum
Please plan to join representatives of the Recall Sawant Committee and the Kshama Solidarity Committee for our 3rd District Recall Forum. Kim Street will serve as our Moderator and Karen Knudson as Timer. Don Clark has agreed to act as host, and will introduce the participants.
Wednesday, November 17th at 3:00 p.m. – Skyline Soapbox – Third City Council District Recall
Also please plan to join our Moderator Steve Ellis and Timer Mary Montgomery for our final Skyline Soapbox of the year. As it is a single issue, not a collection of candidates and ballot issues, each resident will have up to three minutes to express their views on whether Councilmember Sawant should or should not be recalled and removed from office.
These events will be held in the Mount Baker Room, and will be available for viewing on Zoom and on Channels 370 and 371
Background:
The question on the ballot is not simply a matter of a re-do of the election. It is a determination by the voters as to whether Councilmember Kshama Sawant should be removed, but should she be removed for cause. The State Supreme Court has concluded that the voters should decide whether Councilmember Sawant actually committed one or more of the three acts listed below, and if so, were the actions sufficiently egregious as to warrant removal from office. The three alleged acts are:
1. Use of City Resources To Support a Ballot Initiative and Failure To Comply with Public Disclosure Requirements Related to Such Support.
2. Disregarding State Orders Related to COVID-19 and Endangering the Safety of City Workers and Other Individuals by Admitting Hundreds of People into City Hall on June 9, 2020, When It Was Closed to the Public.
3. Leading a Protest March to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s Private Residence, the Location of Which Councilmember Sawant Knows Is Protected under Confidentiality Laws.
Ed note: I think in some sense we’re all beginning to adjust to whatever the new normal is. We’re not sure yet, we’re uneasy, but COVID will recede into the background of our daily lives–just one more thing to worry about. We can hope and pray that this is not a glimpse of the future. I doubt it. Let’s see the glass half full and get on with life.
Corridor in an abandoned penitentiary. Image from Shutterstock.
After Craig Baxley connected a plastic tube to vials of drugs to stop the heart of a condemned South Carolina inmate, he asked God to forgive him.
In the bathroom near the execution room, Baxley sank to his knees and recited the Lord’s Prayer, praying, “Deliver us from evil.”
“Yet something evil seemed to stick,” the State reports. “From that day on, Baxley felt like a different person. Nightmares replaced his previously sound sleep. Painful knots invaded his stomach. Anytime he became nervous, his hands started to drip with sweat like they did in the death chamber.”
Baxley was a former Marine who had trained next to friends who died in the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing. He had seen men stabbed to death in prison after he began work for the South Carolina Department of Corrections. But his friends noticed a change after the execution.
“A Southern Baptist who attended church every Sunday,” the State reported, “Baxley became convinced that killing others for the government had condemned him to hell. He stopped going to services and started thinking about suicide.”
The State spoke with Baxley and nine others involved in executions in the South. The newspaper learned that those who were most affected were people who administered the lethal injections or pressed the button for the electric chair.
Jim Harvey oversaw prisons, including the one in Columbia, South Carolina, where the executions took place. He developed the rules for executions and chose the executioners before his retirement in 1998. He didn’t want volunteers because he didn’t want someone like that working for him.
He told a reporter from the State that nobody enjoyed the job and nobody wanted to do it. He was consumed by stress before executions, and afterward at home, he was quick to become angry. He no longer supports capital punishment “because there’s so much inequity in who gets the death penalty,” he said.
Baxley was officially considered a volunteer, although he and another executioner, Terry Bracey, said the work seemed like a condition for promotions. They carried out the death penalty in the early 2000s after Harvey left the job. When they asked to take a break, they were told that they would lose their leadership roles if they stepped aside, they told the State.
They later quit and sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of their rights. They also filed workers’ compensation claims for disability caused by the stress. Both were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Both need medication to sleep.
The suits and workers’ compensation claims were tossed, although both men do receive disability retirement benefits.
Another former executioner killed himself, the newspaper learned.
Executions were paused in South Carolina in 2017 after the state ran out of lethal injection drugs. The state is preparing for new executions after lawmakers approved death by firing squad. And the electric chair is an alternative that’s still on the books.
“The tools of death could next be electric volts, bullets or a drug cocktail,” the State reported. “Regardless of the method, executions are likely to return to South Carolina.”
Posted inCrime, end of life, Essays|Comments Off on Executioner was convinced he would be condemned to hell; others also suffer long-term effects
Ed note: I never imagined that each tree has its very own unique DNA. This science helped to prosecute tree poachers in our own beautiful Olympic forrests.
By Vimal Patel Nov. 10, 2021 in the New York Times
In the spring and summer of 2018, a crew of poachers had been chopping down trees by night in the Olympic National Forest in Washington State, federal prosecutors said.
On Aug. 3, they came upon the wasp’s nest.
It was at the base of a bigleaf maple, a species of hardwood tree with a shimmering grain that is prized for its use in violins, guitars and other musical instruments. The crew was selling bigleaf maples to a mill in Tumwater, using forged permits, prosecutors said. Logging is banned in the forest, a vast wilderness encompassing nearly a million acres.
The timber poachers sprayed insecticide and most likely gasoline on the nest, and burned it, the authorities said. But they were unable to douse the fire with water bottles, so they fled, prosecutors said.
The fire spread out from the forest’s Elk Lake area, near Hood Canal, burning 3,300 acres and costing about $4.2 million to contain, prosecutors said. It came to be known as the Maple Fire.
On Monday, the leader of the illegal operation, Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison, prosecutors said. In July, a jury had convicted Mr. Wilke of conspiracy, theft of public property and trafficking in illegally harvested timber, among other charges, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY – (Written by a woman to women, but…..)
I have no idea how to do that…
Maybe…
Don’t complain too much…just enough
You are not the center of the universe, though your aches, pains, lumps and faltering organs point to you as the center. Enough physical tribulation and little else exists.
You are not the center of the universe of your descendants. Was your grandmother the center of your universe? You are lucky if young relatives text quarterly.
Don’t wear a lot of blush, aka rouge, or low cut dresses with the ladies hanging out. Today’s breasts have lost the war with gravity and are not the breasts of yore. Red cheeks and ladies out are both done on our campus. I notice geriatric décolletage makes men look away rather than towards. Kind of like looking at the scene of an accident.
My whole body looks like the scene of an accident. But it’s breathing and still here.
Is still existing how to age gracefully? Good enough for me. The older I grow, the more existing seems like a miracle.
Seattle Forest Week is running from November 6th to November 13th. We have several events happening in Freeway Park this week in partnership with Trees For Seattle for Seattle Forest Week.
Today (November 10th) at 1pm we have a virtual Tree Tour on Instagram Live on the profile @treesforseattle. The walk will detail the variety of tree species that call Freeway Park home.
This Saturday (November 13th) at 10am there will be an in-person Tree Tour just like the virtual one happening today. The public is invited to attend this one in-person.
Following Saturday’s Tree Tour will be a bulb planting party in the park at 11:30am. We’ll be planting tulips, pansies, and daffodils to bloom in the spring. Coffee and snacks will be provided to all.
I’ve attached our Forest Week poster for your convenience. Please pass this info along to your residents, guests, and customers.
Cultivating Compassion: 2021 Virtual Creative Aging Conference Friday, December 10, 9 am–3 pm PST Rooted in a discussion of compassion and empathy, this one-day virtual conference will focus on how we care for ourselves, each other, and the natural world. An exciting range of speakers from different disciplines and life experiences will offer perspectives on the many ways we seek and build connections across time, culture, and language. Continuing education credits will be offered.
Love, Loss, and Kimchi Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart Author, Singer/Songwriter, Japanese Breakfast Sara Dickerman, Food Writer
The Grandmother Effect Lynda V. Mapes, Environmental Reporter, Seattle Times Jay Julius, Fisherman; President, Se’Si’Le; and Former Chairman of Lummi Nation
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