Water

Today is World Water Day (who knew?). For most of my life I didn't really think much about water. You just turn on the tap and get a drink, right? That's how it is if you live here the good old US of A, but in much of the world, drinking water is not taken for granted. According to a little news snippet I ran across today, more people in the world die every year from water-born illnesses (drinking unsafe water) than from violence. And those of us with chemical sensitivities know that even in the US, not all water is safe for us.

For example, chlorinated water is really a problem for me. I avoid it whenever possible. That pretty much precludes living on a public water system. But even with our own well, I know that our water is full of antibiotics, other prescription drugs and pesticides, because that's what other people flush down their toilets and what settles into the ground water from the farm fields around us. So we have our own filtering system, first, where the water comes into the house (who wants to take a shower in someone else's drugs?) and second, at the kitchen sink, where we get all of our drinking water. And, though the environmentalist in me balks at the thought of it, I drink only bottled water when I am travelling (and not the cheap stuff that was obtained from a municipal water source).

So, do you know what's in your water?

A Lazy Blogger

There are about a half dozen blogs that I visit regularly. These are the blogs that I know will have new and interesting posts almost every day of the week, sometimes more than once a day. These blogs vary in their content but they all have one thing in common--they're group blogs. That is, they have several people who take turns posting (permabloggers) and they often add others (guest bloggers). Alas, Breathez is not a group blog. It's just me, trying to change the world, one blog post at a time. And, frankly, some days I just don't feel like changing the world. Some days I just want to crawl into my own little hole and pretend the world doesn't exist. And then there are those days (many of them) when I'm just plain lazy.

So this is my (hopefully) one and only apology to the blogging universe for not posting on a more regular basis. I AM passionate about social justice, especially for people with disabilities in general and MCS in particular. And if there are children involved, well, you'd better get out of my way. But that kind of passion is hard to maintain 24/7. My heart wouldn't be able to stand it, and, if I get riled about every little thing, how are people to know what's REALLY important to me?

So I'm still going to continue blogging, but maybe less often, because I'm tired and need to reserve my energy for some things coming up in my life--like working for the Census Bureau (because I really do believe that every one deserves to be represented in this great country and it's something I can do mostly outdoors) and taking a month-long trip across the country in May to visit family and see where my foremothers trod, not to mention helping a daughter and family move during the summer and playing with my grandchildren (including the three more due in the fall). There's just so much I want to do.

International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day to everyone. Today people throughout the world are celebrating women. In the United States, the entire month of March is celebrated as National Women's History Month. As an amateur historian who specializes in women's history, this is truly right up my alley. Traditionally, women have been left out of much of written history, so finding their stories can be a challenge, but the rewards for searching are amazing. We have so much to learn from the women of the past. Their stories are an essential part of our own and of those of future generations.

For more information on women's history, go to the website of the National Women's History Project. I especially like the following quote, found on this website:

Each time a girl opens a book and reads a womanless history, she learns she is worth less.
Myra Pollack Sadker