Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Showing posts with label Healthcare Reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare Reform. Show all posts

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Vernal Equinox: A Chance for Healthcare Reform


(Sunrise on the first day of Spring)


On this Sunday, the day after the Vernal Equinox, when our Congress has the chance to pass reforms that so many former presidents, all the way back to Theodore Roosevelt, have attempted, I am hoping that the distortions, outright lies, and the viciousness that have accompanied this "debate," including the chanting of the "N word" at black legislators and the spitting on another of them, will fail and that the better nature of American politics will prevail so that here in Jackson County friends I love will no longer have to fear losing insurance coverage when they develop live-threatening illness.

Here's a quote from one of my favorite columnists, Gail Collins.

"We live in an era in which the power of the new hypermedia is so intense and politics so rabid that it’s almost impossible for Congress to do anything more difficult than tax cuts or highway construction. Yet, here’s this huge, complicated, controversial reform — bigger than any domestic program in decades.

If it passes, the short-term political consequences are unknowable. But in 10 years, people will look back in amazement that we once lived in a time when Americans couldn’t get health care coverage if they were sick, when insurance companies could cut off your benefits for being sick, and when run-of-the-mill serious illnesses routinely destroyed families’ financial security."

I wish you a lovely spring. Our early garden is in--spinach, beets, cabbage, broccoli. We are waiting now for the predicted rain to come and water it.