People Who Judge

Being labelled for the actions of a few or out of sheer ignorance always hurts.  No matter who you are.  It hurts more if you view your situation with pride.  And I am proud to be 3rd generation Charlestown on my mother's side and 2nd on my Dad's.  All my life I have had people judge me because I was from Charlestown.  Don't get me wrong, it's nothing compared to what other minority groups have endured.  And I have freely admitted that there was nothing easier than growing up Irish Catholic in Boston as a whole and Charlestown in specific.  I'm a big girl, I'm not gonna fall down in two inch squares over an ignorant comment.

But I am still gonna call you out on it!

There is a silly little quiz going around Facebook lately "What Boston Neighborhood are you?"

So this is the random tweet of some clown who took the quiz.

I got Charlestown...maybe without the townies and better parking http://t.co/cFbK27ruG5
— Margaret Szerlip (@sizzerlip) March 31, 2014

Really Margaret?  You think it's ok to just slam us?  If you got Roxbury would you say "...without the black people..."?  How about "...Chinatown without Asians..."?

Margaret you jackass, Charlestown is awesome BECAUSE of the Townies.  And by the way, use a capital "T" it's a proper pronoun.  And as far as the parking situation, that is entirely due to the influx of people from Newton and New Jersey, etc.

So stay classy in Newton.....or not, but definitely stay in Newton and out of Charlestown.

Remember, if you are looking for a Realtor in Newton, Massachusetts, pick anyone but Margaret Szerlip.

Justina Pelletier Case Hits Home With Me

When I was very young there was an incident in my family where a child was bothered at a teaching hospital while the parent sat by.  It wasn't really that big a deal.  The parent was a very good parent, just a little overwhelmed by the situation.  The other parent entered the room and called out the medical personnel almost immediately.

That story really had an effect on me.  Because of it, I am always on guard when interacting with the medical community.

First example, when Tommy was 2 or 3 we went to Florida for Christmas.  My late mother-in-law (who is dearly missed) lived on the west coast near Sarasota.  Christmas Eve Tommy was nauseous and listless.  We took him to the ER  Now full disclaimer, I am a wicked snob about Boston being the hub of the medical world and if you are down there in "God's Waiting Room", well......  So anyway, we are in an exam room and a very pleasant young man comes in and begins checking on Tommy.  Eyes, ears, heart, temperature.  He tells us that the rectal thermometer isn't reading correctly and excuses himself.  He comes back with another and tries again.  He's still not happy.  Now Tommy is sick and in a strange place and being prodded..... So when the nice young man says he has to get someone/something else to get this temp, I reply "Nope, you had two shots  at it, put your hand on his head and guess.  He feels bad enough already."  LOL!  My ex and this guy are flabbergasted!  So there was some conferencing with the other medical people and they told us he had an ear infection.  They gave us a script, which I threw away on the was out the door.  Tommy hadn't touched his ear once.  The next day Tommy was better and everyone else was sick.  It was a 24 hour stomach bug.  The script would have been useless.  But even if it had been an ear infection, there is still no reason to treat a sick baby that way.  And I didn't care if people in this hospital thought I was rude or abrupt.

Second example, Tommy again.  Now he 3 1/2 and his cardiologist was ready to correct Tommy's PDA.  Patent Ductus Arteriosis is a condition where a small neonate blood vessel doesn't close at birth.  Everyone has the ductus arteriosis while in the womb, but in most people it closes.  So when it doesn't close on it's own, it must be surgically closed.  If there is no shortness of breath and the baby gains weight normally, they wait for the baby to gain enough weight/hit a certain age.  So Tommy had no other symptoms and they had been doing this surgery since the '40s and never lost anyone.  But that didn't matter too me.  I read everything they gave me.  This was 1985 - no internet.  But there was one thing that I did know about; AIDS.  1985 was when they started screening the nation's blood supply.  So I told them that we would be donating the blood for Tommy's operation.  They tried to dismiss me but I held fast.  Some people thought I was overreacting.  But I stuck to my guns and made them screen us and take our blood.  I KNOW they thought I was a pain in the ass.  When we took Tommy in for his one year post-op visit, the doctor told me that I was ahead of the curve and everyone was donating their own blood.  That the whole pre-op process was changed.

What's my point?  I was pushy, bossy, aggressive and I'm sure some found me abrasive.  In other words, no different than the Pelletiers.  I was aggressive when advocating for my child.  Reading their story is like finding out you have no brakes after you safely glide to a stop.  I look back and realize the very same thing could have happened to me.  As a matter of fact, according to the December 15th article on the case;

Dr. Eli Newberger, a pediatrician who founded the child protection team at Children’s in 1970 and ran it for three decades, cautions that “doctors in this new specialty have enormous and really unchecked power.”

As an expert witness in cases around the country, Newberger said he’s seen a tendency for state child-welfare agencies to be “overly credulous to hospitals” and for some child protection teams to show a “reflexive willingness to label and to punish,” especially educated mothers who are perceived as being too pushy.

Sounds like me.  There but for the grace of God.....

The Annual Updating Of The Blogger Profile

Today, the vernal equinox, I hit the update button to note my move from 52 to 53.  Time I am grateful to have.

And I noted the addition in my life of the handsomest grandson evah!

Why Mireille Miller-Young & The Left Should Be Ashamed

UPDATE*****Mirielle Miller-Youmg is being charged for her assault on pro-life protester.  I am happy*****
A few days ago an anti abortion group set up in the designated free speech zone at University of California Santa Barbara.  They had literature to pass out and some poster with graphic photos of aborted fetuses.  Their First Amendment rights were violated.

Mirielle Miller-Young, an associate professor of feminist studies, stole one of the posters and gave it to some students who verbally harassed two of the protesters.  The protesters followed calling for the poster to be given back, asserting their 1st Amendment rights to speak and were met with such smug ignorance that I am shaking my head.

Can you imagine such uncouth and self righteous behavior being tolerated if this had been a pro-choice poster?  Of course not.

There is no issue that allows the speaker to be touched.  Period.

The two protesters were sisters Thrin & Joan Short.  And considering that they were set upon by a grown woman, an associate professor no less, I find them very brave.

Thrin & Joan Short called out that their poster was taken and being carried away.  Those helping Professor Miller-Young (who grins maddeningly throughout) tell the girls that Miller-Young can do this because she is a professor and besides the Short girls are not students, they "don't pay money to go here".

Perhaps these students should spend a little more time in a government class than in "feminist studies" class.  And what does one do with a degree in "feminist studies" besides teach the same nonsense at other schools?  What is the practical application?

It doesn't matter if Miller-Young is an associate professor, a full tenured professor, an administrator, a janitor or a student; she had no right to touch the poster, direct anyone to carry away the poster or, most of all, touch Thrin Short.

Assault charges should be filed.  As well as petty larceny and destruction of private property.  The police showed up and found the poster destroyed.

Now for the part I find bitterly amusing.  The thing people are quibbling about.  The thing this professor and her students seem to find justification in.  The red herring.

The graphic images on the posters.  What rank hypocrisy.  The poster shows the reality of an abortion.  It educates you about what a fetus really is and what an aborted fetus really looks like.

Now to those who would say that it's just for shock value and not education, let me ask you this -

What about the anti-smoking campaigns that show people who have trachs?  Or are horribly disfigured?  That's supposedly ok.  It's very graphic but it's meant to educate on the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

What about the "Faces of Meth" campaign that shows people's booking photos to illustrate the ravages of meth-amphetamine abuse?  They are graphic, but they are meant to educate.

What about the people who want you to stop buying from puppy mills or eating veal?  They show us poor animals in horrible, stomach churning conditions.

There are people out there every day demanding that little elementary school student receive sex education and information on sexual orientation.  Many before their parents want them to know about sex in such detail.  But those parents concerns are pushed aside in the crusade to educate.

And what about the pro-choice protesters who never miss a chance to wave a bloody coat hanger at their rallies?  That's pretty graphic.  And the pro-choice people who brought used tampons and sanitary napkins to the Texas legislature to throw at those opposing that ridiculous Wendy Davis.  Even if it was some other substance to make the tampons just look used (ketchup?), still gross.

But apparently when it comes to abortion, no education is necessary.  People, that's how we end up with such fiends as Kermit Gosnell (no, I will not call him Doctor).  Many of Gosnell's victims had no idea what the procedure would do to them and how they'd feel afterwards.

And before you dismiss me as "Republican" and "Catholic" and "conservative"; on abortion I am libertarian.  You want one, have one.  But don't involve me.  I would never, it's my personal choice.

Just don't ask me to drink the Kool-Aid when certain people cry for education on all these things and often times in very graphic terms.....but not for abortion.