Skyline Happenings

Thanks to Jan H. for finding this YouTube link so we can listen to the poet

Thanks to Mary M and Pam P

Arab-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye recalls a transformative, unexpected occasion of generous acceptance:

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal … I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.”

Well—one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. “Help,” said the flight service person. “Talk to her.… We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”

I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke to her haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit-se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment.… I said, “No, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let’s call him.”

We called her son and I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother … and would ride next to her.… She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought … why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up about two hours.

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—out of her bag—and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.

And then the airline broke out free beverages … and two little girls from our flight ran around serving us all apple juice and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend—by now we were holding hands—had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, this is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate—once the crying of confusion stopped—seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.

Thanks to Pam P.

Thanks to Ed M.

Thanks to Mike C.

Computer use may be accelerating our tendency to become more stooped over as we age

From the Washington Post (thanks to Marilyn W.)

Has standing up straight become more of a challenge? A hunched-over, forward-leaning posture — called hyperkyphosis — is more common with age. About 20 to 40 percent of people older than 60 and 55 percent of people over 70 are unable to straighten up.

Live well every day with tips and guidance on food, fitness and mental health, delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Hyperkyphosis often causes neck and back pain and headaches. It can lead to breathing and digestive issues. And when your head and shoulders round forward, your body’s center of gravity shifts, which can increase the risk of a fall.

Health issues, posture problems

The thoracic spine — 12 vertebrae in the upper and midback — usually has a gentle curve like a backward C. “Hyperkyphosis is an excessive curvature of the thoracic spine,” says Wendy Katzman, a professor emeritus of physical therapy and rehabilitation science at the University of California at San Francisco.

Osteoporosis-related compression fractures, degenerative disk disease and spinal deformities may contribute to worsening kyphosis, but poor posture may be a key factor. With age, we generally lose flexibility and strength, which makes a proper posture more difficult.

Our use of technology may be making posture worse. Outside of work, 46 percent of adults in the United States spend five to six hours a day looking at their cellphones, and 11 percent do so for seven or more hours. “Computers and texting encourage a forward head position and make it harder to maintain good posture,” says Lynne Hughes, an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

The result: Back muscles may weaken and become chronically stretched, Katzman says, while chest and abdominal muscles and ligaments in the spine shorten. Joints can also stiffen, and over time it can become harder to straighten the spine.

Get yourself straighter

From a side view, good posture means the ear is in line with the shoulder, hip, knee and ankle, and the spine has gentle curves. To help you to maintain (or get back to) a more upright posture:

Take breaks. If you’re spending time in a forward or rounded position, get up for a minute or two every 30 to 60 minutes. “Do some shoulder circles, shoulder squeezes or chin tucks, pulling your chin toward your spine,” Hughes says.

Share this articleShare

Use devices the right way. Looking down at screens “puts an increased load on the neck, which stresses muscles and ligaments of the neck,” says Kavita Trivedi, associate medical director of the Multidisciplinary Spine Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Position devices at eye level.

Practice straighter posture. One option: Stand with your head, shoulders, upper back, buttocks and heels (if you can) against a wall, and imagine a cord attached to the top of your head, gently pulling you upward. Hold for 30 seconds, relax and repeat three times daily.

Or try this: Lie on your back on the floor or on a firm bed for 20 minutes a day with a rolled towel or pool noodle between your shoulder blades. (Place pillows under your head if you can’t lie flat.)

Build a stronger back and abs. “If you don’t have strength and endurance, you slowly slip back down into poor posture,” Hughes says. Aim to do two or three strength workouts a week.

Take care of your bones. Vertebral fractures from osteoporosis cause the vertebrae to collapse, pitching your posture forward. Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking and lifting weights, and adequate amounts of bone-building nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin D and magnesium, can help reinforce bones.

Know when to get more help. You may want to go to a physical therapist if you’re not seeing improvements after regularly practicing the strategies above for six to eight weeks. A PT can provide specific exercises for your degree of curvature and do manual therapies for tight joints and muscles.

If you’re experiencing pain or numbness, or a rounded posture interferes with your ability to do daily tasks, see your doctor, who can determine whether an underlying condition like a vertebral fracture or spinal stenosis is at issue. For osteoporosis, your doctor may recommend medication to reduce the risk of fractures.

Thanks to Pam P.

Thanks to Mike C.

Thanks to the EAF leaders and crew for a very successful campaign to recognize our incredible staff at Skyline.

By Norman Lear

Mr. Lear, a father of six, is an Emmy-winning television producer and a co-founder of the advocacy organization People for the American Way.

News update: Norman Lear died on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 101.

Well, I made it. I am 100 years old today. I wake up every morning grateful to be alive.

Reaching my own personal centennial is cause for a bit of reflection on my first century — and on what the next century will bring for the people and country I love. To be honest, I’m a bit worried that I may be in better shape than our democracy is.

I was deeply troubled by the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 — by supporters of former President Donald Trump attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Those concerns have only grown with every revelation about just how far Mr. Trump was willing to go to stay in office after being rejected by voters — and about his ongoing efforts to install loyalists in positions with the power to sway future elections.

I don’t take the threat of authoritarianism lightly. As a young man, I dropped out of college when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. I flew more than 50 missions in a B-17 bomber to defeat fascism consuming Europe. I am a flag-waving believer in truth, justice and the American way, and I don’t understand how so many people who call themselves patriots can support efforts to undermine our democracy and our Constitution. It is alarming.

At the same time, I have been moved by the courage of the handful of conservative Republican lawmakers, lawyers and former White House staffers who resisted Mr. Trump’s bullying. They give me hope that Americans can find unexpected common ground with friends and family whose politics differ but who are not willing to sacrifice core democratic principles.

Encouraging that kind of conversation was a goal of mine when we began broadcasting “All in the Family” in 1971. The kinds of topics Archie Bunker and his family argued about — issues that were dividing Americans from one another, such as racism, feminism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War and Watergate — were certainly being talked about in homes and families. They just weren’t being acknowledged on television. (continued)

For all his faults, Archie loved his country and he loved his family, even when they called him out on his ignorance and bigotries. If Archie had been around 50 years later, he probably would have watched Fox News. He probably would have been a Trump voter. But I think that the sight of the American flag being used to attack Capitol Police would have sickened him. I hope that the resolve shown by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and their commitment to exposing the truth, would have won his respect.

It is remarkable to consider that television — the medium for which I am most well-known — did not even exist when I was born, in 1922. The internet came along decades later, and then social media. We have seen that each of these technologies can be put to destructive use — spreading lies, sowing hatred and creating the conditions for authoritarianism to take root. But that is not the whole story. Innovative technologies create new ways for us to express ourselves, and, I hope, will allow humanity to learn more about itself and better understand one another’s ideas, failures and achievements. These technologies have also been used to create connection, community and platforms for the kind of ideological sparring that might have drawn Archie to a keyboard. I can only imagine the creative and constructive possibilities that technological innovation might offer us in solving some of our most intractable problems.

I often feel disheartened by the direction that our politics, courts and culture are taking. But I do not lose faith in our country or its future. I remind myself how far we have come. I think of the brilliantly creative people I have had the pleasure to work with in entertainment and politics, and at People for the American Way, a progressive group I co-founded to defend our freedoms and build a country in which all people benefit from the blessings of liberty. Those encounters renew my belief that Americans will find ways to build solidarity on behalf of our values, our country and our fragile planet.

Those closest to me know that I try to stay forward-focused. Two of my favorite words are “over” and “next.” It’s an attitude that has served me well through a long life of ups and downs, along with a deeply felt appreciation for the absurdity of the human condition.

Reaching this birthday with my health and wits mostly intact is a privilege. Approaching it with loving family, friends and creative collaborators to share my days has filled me with a gratitude I can hardly express.

This is our century, dear reader, yours and mine. Let us encourage one another with visions of a shared future. And let us bring all the grit and openheartedness and creative spirit we can muster to gather together and build that future.

Thanks to Pam P.

Thanks to Mike C.

Ed note: Many are still feeling the pinch of prices in the stores, mortgage rates and costs at the gas pump: see Despite cooling inflation, many costs rising for Seattle residents. This may help explain why some, especially young people and home buyers aren’t optimistic at the moment.

Thanks to Bob P.

Wonderful pictures. You can even vote for the best one!

Click here to view: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-choice

Thanks to Sybil-Ann

It’s hard to make a comeback

when you haven’t been anywhere.

Written in the dust on the back of a bus – Wickenburg, AZ

——————————————–

Make love, not war.

Hell, do both…

GET MARRIED!

Women’s restroom, The Filling Station, Bozeman , MT

——————————————————

A Woman’s Rule of Thumb:

If it has tires or testicles,

you’re going to have trouble with it.

Women’s restroom, Dick’s Last Resort, Dallas , TX 0A

Thanks to Mary Jane F.