Whitney Houston - We must mention the drug use

I have written a tribute to Whitney Houston on another blog:  http://suzettenaples.hubpages.com/.  We must look at a person's entire life when doing a retrospective of their life and that is why I chose to look at the beauty of her music and songs and the beauty of her life.  But, along the way, Whitney succumbed to drugs and alcohol.  Was it because of an inferiority complex?  Was it because of the pressures and stress of fame?  Was it because of the tabloid headlines so constantly negative lately?

We will never know the state of Whitney Houston's mind at the moment of her death.  However, I think we all know, even without the toxicology test results, that drugs and alcohol had taken its toll on Whitney Houston.  Yes, there are very recent photos of her looking desheveled and "out of it."  It is said by some people close to her that she was again drinking heavily, and exhibiting "erratic behavior."

To all those people who looked up to Whitney Houston and were her fans, appreciate the short time she was here with us on this earth and her voice and music.  But, also beware of the pitfalls of fame and using drugs and alcohol as a crutch through the tough times.    When times were tough for Whitney, she chose the weak way out - to take drugs and alcohol to numb the pain she was feeling.  She so much as said that to Oprah Winfrey several years ago when interviewed by Winfrey.  She admitted to abusing pot, cocaine and alcohol.  And, who knows what drugs she took that she didn't admit to.

To young people and others who looked up to Whitney and saw her as a role model:  Don't follow in her footsteps.  Don't think it is okay to use drugs and alcohol to numb the painful feeliings you are having.  Better to feel the pain.  Be strong, instead of weak.  We all have free will and choices in this life.  Use your will to say no to the easy and weak way to deal with pain.  Be Strong and take the tough way of dealing with your pain.  Feel it, and get therapy and the help you need, if necessary.  But, don't try to drown yourself or your pain away as Whitney did.

Whitney Houston ruined her voice because of her addictions.  She was trying for a "comeback."  If you don't succumb to drugs and alcohol, then you never need to "come back" from anything.  Drug and alcohol free, you are always on the road moving forward, not "coming back."

It is easy for us all to look at the beautiful Whitney and listen to her gorgeous voice and forget the reason why she is dead.  It is a death that most likely could have been prevented.  No doubt, she wore out her body and herself from all the drug and alcohol use.  Both take a terrible toll on the body.

 But, she left a daughter, only eighteen years old who still needs her mother.  Whitney still had a daughter to guide through life, even though we say Bobbi Kristina is an adult.  Chronologically, she is an adult, but emotionally she still needs her mother.  It is too bad Whitney didn't stop to think she had to preserve herself for her daughter, just at the cusp of womanhood and needing her mother's help and guidance, now more than ever.

So, let us learn from Whitney Houston's faults and flaws.  Let that be the important lesson we learn from her.  And as we listen to her beautiful voice in her recordings, remember to BE STRONG and not to succumb to the crutches of alcohol and drug use Whitney Houston tried to use to get through her life. 

Catholicism: Journey to the Heart of the Faith by Robert Barron

I have been a practicing Catholic all my life, but I'm not sure I have always been what is called a "good Catholic."  Although, I am definitely Christian, and believe in the Holy Trinity of God, the father, God, the son, and God the Holy Spirit, I do not always agree with all the dogma and creeds of the Catholic Church.  Sometimes my views of Catholicism differs from that of Pope Benedict XVI, but my views of Jesus Christ and God are pretty much in accordance with God's teachings, which sometimes differ from lay man's teachings.What I am trying to say in my ramblings is that I have a "personal relationship" with God/Jesus Christ which is not always what the Catholic Church teaches.

The Catholic Church is full of sacraments, saints, the Virgin Mary and angels which the protestant faith does not have or rely on  for their faith in God.  My father being protestant, a Methodist, allowed me to learn how they see God/Jesus Christ as a personal relationship with God, without the intervention of priests, saints or sacraments.  It has always been for me a much simpler and truer God/man relationship rather than what the Catholic Church puts forth with confession of sins, now called "reconciliation," sacraments and all the saint's  interventions for the sake of our souls and guardian angels to look after us on our journey toward the final destination and God.

 I have always been puzzled and amazed that the "visions" seen by peasants of the Virgin Mary at Guadalupe, Mexico and Lourdes, France, for example, were only seen by Catholics.  God and the Virgin Mary only seem to reveal themselves to Catholics, never to Protestants or Islamics.  Now, why would God choose to do that?   I do not believe Catholics to be the "chosen religion" of God - especially in this day and age when Islam is believed in by more than half the world.  God is God - there is only one.  And, we are we.  If we are truly "all God's children," then He can't pick out one religion and say it is truer than the rest.  Or, that one religion is the best of the best. 

What this is all leading up to is that in today's chaotic world, where exactly does Catholicism stand?  What are the Catholic Church's beliefs today?  Are they the same or different than what I learned in the Balmoral Catechism classes I took as a child?  The title of this article and a new book written by a Catholic priest, Father Robert Barron, Catholicism:  Journey to the Heart of the Faith, answers these questions that I have about Catholicism.

Fortunately, my present Catholic church parish, St. William's in Naples, FL,  is holding sessions to view this book on DVD and having  discussion sessions after viewing the DVD with other Catholics.  In a sense, I am back in "catechism class" to learn what the Catholic Church is all about in the 21st Century.

So far, we have had two viewings of the beginning of the book and two discussion sessions following to discuss what we are seeing and hearing on the DVD.  It is an excellent program lead and monitored by Sister Christa of St William's parish.

In the first session we discussed the Incarnation and the place it has in the beliefs of the Catholic Church and all of Christianity.  We discussed whether we had doubts about the Incarnation - that God became man in Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ does not represent God but IS God and man all wrapped up in one person.  This is the central belief of the Catholic Church and all of Christianity.  We discussed this topic and came full circle with most of us in agreement with the Incarnation because of the miracles that Jesus performed and are described to us in the gospels of the New Testament have given us faith in God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy Spirit.  Whewwww!  That one out of the way.

In Session 2 we viewed more of the DVD of Barron's book, in which Father Barron takes us to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights and other places in Israel, to bring our religion alive for us.
In this session, most of us at our table did not realize that Jesus Christ had four tasks to perform for God and these four tasks were his purpose here on earth given to him by God to accomplish as described in the Old Testament.  His four tasks were:
1.  To gather all the tribes of Israel together
2.  To cleanse the Temple of God
3.  To deal with the enemies of Israel
4.  To reign as Lord of the nations

Our discussion centered on whether Jesus Christ accomplished these four tasks while on earth and the importance of the crucifixion and resurrection to our Catholic beliefs.  Again, through out discussions we came full circle and determined that, YES,  Jesus Christ did accomplish all four tasks and, therefore, died for our sins and made possible everlasting life for us with God. 

Jesus gathered everyone to his table:  good, evil, rich, poor, sinners, prostitutes, beggars, disabled, sick etc.  No one was cast away.  Jesus was all inclusive at his table; he gathered us all there. Task one completed.

Jesus Christ did cleanse the Temple in Jerusalem, both literally and figuritivly.  He cast out the corrupt priests and rabbis, the corrupt money changers and usurers, from the Temple.  The Old Testament stated that water would flow from the new temple Christ created.  And, unbeknownst to me, I learned from Father Barron that at the crucifixion, water flowed from Christ's side after the blood.  Catholics now see Jesus as the "new temple", not the stone and mortar "Temple" standing in Jerusalem.   So task number two is completed.

How did God deal with the enemies of Israel?  He sent Christ as a warrior, but Christ is not the type of warrior that people were expecting.   Jesus arrived in Bethlehem  as a small vulnerable child, born in a stable to Mary and Joseph, a carpenter.   He was not the great warrior king everyone was waiting for or expecting.  Jesus Christ was the humble man cleansing out the Temple in Jerusalem.  He was a non-violent warrior and had a loving, non-violent way of "turning the other cheek."  This was a visual very different than what the people's mindset was at the time.  Jesus taught that God is love, not secular power of any kind. Task number three accomplished.

And, the crucifixion became the epitome of the Sermon on the Mount.  The eight beatitudes became true with the crucifixion.  And, the finite proof that Jesus Christ was not just man but God - the resurrection and Jesus' appearance to show his body and wounds to his disciples.  This was the definitive proof to those that lived, saw the crucifixion, knew Christ died on the cross, and then saw the risen Christ alive and with his wounds.  This was the definitive proof to those that lived during this time and became the basis of the beliefs and faith in the Catholic Church and all of Christianity.  Task number four completed.

Jesus saves us by showing us a new way to live.

Our task and purpose in life is to live this new way of life through our faith in God, the father, God the son, and God, the Holy Spirit, and that our example in life will encourage others to follow Christ and the Father.

This is a series of eleven or twelve sessions, which I hope to write about here on my blog.  If you are in Naples, FL and are interested in joining the sessions, call Sister Christa at St. William's Catholic Church located on Seacrest Dr., to obtain more information.  We meet every Thursday evening from 7-9 p.m..

Isernia, Italy - a 3rd Century BC city 65 km from Rome

Street in Isernia, Italy on which my grandfather was born and lived.

Portal to the home where my grandfather was born and grew up.  Now my cousin;s architecture business.

Isernia, Italy

One of the most beautiful, small Italian cities to visit on your trip to Italy is Isernia, the birthplace of my grandfather, Eduoardo Guglielmi.  Born in 1900, my grandfather grew up and played here on this street and in front of this door.   This old section of Isernia has been around since the 12th and 13th centuries and the buildings were literally built during this time.  Through this portal has gone so many generations of the Guglielmi family.  Our family still owns this home and today it is the location of my cousin, Cosmo Guglielmi's architecture business he runs with this wife, Adrianna, and a friend of his. 

Isernia is nestled at the base of the Appennine Mountains 65 km east of Rome which is the heartland of Italy.  Isernia was founded 300 years before the birth of Christ by the Samnites, a fierce warrior tribe of original Italians.  This tribe ruled the Abruzzi-Molise region of Italy, until the Romans ruled Rome.  Then, they were conquered by the Romans and made the slaves of Rome and the Romans.  However, the Samnites were not just warriors, they were a tribe of highly intelligent people.  They were not about to remain slaves of the Romans, and, therefore, negotiated legally and judicially free Roman citizenship for their tribe.  The Samnites became free citizens of Rome on the same level as the Romans and enjoyed all the individual rights and freedoms the Romans did.  Therefore, Isernia is not only the birthplace of my grandfather, but the birthplace of individual rights and freedoms the Italians enjoy today.

My grandfather lived in Isernia and was educated there in stone masonry and then went on to higher education in Florence, Italy, eventually becoming and architect.  In 1920 he came to America to visit an aunt of his living in Philadelphia, PA.  He met my grandmother, also Italian, married her, remained here, and eventually became a U.S. citizen.   But, the ties to his family in Italy were never broken.  He kept in touch which his brothers and sisters in Italy and traveled back there to visit many times during his lifetime.  Two of his brothers, Alfonso and Tonino, eventually came to America, got jobs and remained here, also becoming U.S. citizens.  Two sisters and a brother remained in Italy all their lives and so, I have many cousins living in Italy today.

Several times during my life, I have visited the relatives in Isernia and it is wonderful to have been able to meet my grandfather's family there.  I have visited his actual birthplace many times, most recently in 2010.  My cousin, Cosmo Guglielmi, has remodeled the inside of the home to use as his architectural offices.  These homes are most like the townhouses we have in the U.S. today.  They are narrow and usually three or four stories high.  Each story has a room or two on each level and usually a steep set of marble stairs, without railings or banisters, up to each floor.  The marble stairs are hard on the knees and ankles, but the Italians navigate them with no problem.  They dash up and down these stairs from each floor to another a few dozen times a day.

As I mentioned before, Isernia is in the heartland of Italy.  This region of Italy is best known for the dairy products it produces and they are all delicious.  The fresh cheeses produced in this region of Italy are outstanding.  Here you will find the fresh mozzarella, riccotta and scamortz cheeses of Italy.  To walk in the small grocery stores and dairy specialty shops and see these three fresh cheeses is enough to make me salivate.

Italians shop daily for the fresh meats, fish, and vegetable and dairy products for their meals.  Food stores open at seven or eight o'clock each morning and my cousins make the round of the stores for the food for their daily meals.  If we ate fresh food everyday like the Italians eat, we would not have the weight and obesity problems we have in the U.S. today.   I know we don't have the culture here in the U.S. to shop daily for our food, so we rely heavily on processed foods and fast foods, but we would all be much healthier if we ate the amount of fresh food the Italians do.   The stereotype of the fat Italian is just not true.

Isernia is a typical small city in Isernia and a great place to visit off the beaten track in Italy.  When in Rome, talk a day or two and visit this heartland Italian city.  Here is where you will meet the true Italians, so friendly to Americans and other foreigners.   You can rent a car in Rome and drive east about an hour to get there, or take the train from Rome right into Isernia's train station in the old section of the city.  The train ride takes about an hour and a half.  From the station you can walk all over Isernia.  Walk into the piazzas and the narrow streets and explore the city.  You will enjoy the fresh food markets and stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, kitchen stores, pasta stores etc.  Stop in any of the cafes and have an expresso, cappucino or a glass of regional wine and a dish of pasta.

For a small city of 20-25.000 people there is a lot of history, art, and architecture to see here.  One of Rome's popes, Pope Celestino V, was born here in Isernia.  It has a university in the town with a library for research on this city, founded three centuries before Christ.  It has part of the original wall from those ancient times that surrounded the city.  The city's original church, St. Cosmo & St. Domiano, built centuries ago,  also can be viewed.  And, in the spring and summertime you can attend the various fests and festivals they celebrate in honor of important past saints and citizens of Isernia.

So when in Rome, do as the Romans do:  visit the heartland of Italy, Isernia, and sample the history, culture, food, art, and architecture of a typical Italian city.  Viva Italia!

The fabulous fresh cheeses sold in Isernia produced locally in the Molise region of Italy.

Fresh meat sold in the butcher shops in Isernia, Italy.

The Egret - a Native Bird of Florida

One of Florida's native birds -- the egret.

The Egret

One still egret, standing silent as a statue cemented to the ground in the still air.
Looks right; looks left,
Pokes and pecks the ground.
Extends one long, lovely leg, then the other.
Folds one long, lovely leg beneath its body,
Stands silent, one-legged in the shade of the bush looking straight ahead.
Not a feather ruffles
Gazing straight ahead, knowing where it is going.
The leg drops and it prances forward.
Neck long and elegant in a curve.
A slight breeze carries the palm leaves to one side.
The bush sways and the egret soars.
Willowy, white wings extend across the blue sky.
A white beacon to those left behind.






Florida egret in flight.

Dolphins of Florida

Florida dolphin helping the U.S. military.

I have just recently seen the film, Dolphin Tale, and I highly recommend it to people of all ages.  It is truly an inspiring story of a dolphin named Winter, who is found injured and caught in a fisherman's trap and rope on a Clearwater, Florida beach by a young boy.  Winter, the dolphin, is so seriously injured that her tail has to be amputated to save her life.  She is coaxed back to life by the boy who found her and they have a special bond and connection and they become "family forever."

This is a heartwarming story of a boy who is struggling in school and life and becomes completely engaged in helping this dolphin to live.  One of its many themes is that the disabled dolphin can also inspire and bring comfort to those humans who are disabled and missing a body part as well. 

We witness in the movie the intelligence of dolphins as Winter "talks" to and communicates with her rescuer, the boy, by the clicking and whistling sounds she makes.  We also see the playful attitudes of dolphins as we watch Winter and the boy frolic and swim in the pool at the marine biology rescue station and hospital.

This is a heartwarming story on many levels as we watch the boy's cousin, injured in the Middle East war, slowly identify with the tailless dolphin.  As prosthetic limbs are made for our soldiers, so is a prosthetic tail made for Winter.  She can finally swim without injuring her spine with the new prosthetic tail made for her.

We are "family forever" with all those injured and "repaired" as well as with Winter the "repaired" dolphin.  We are all in this life and on this planet together, even with the injured animals around us.

See Winter, the dolphin with the prosthetic tail,at the Clearwater Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida or view her on her web-site:  http://www.seewinter.com/



Florida Dolphins

Dolphins are marine mammals closely related to whales and porpoises, and they are found worldwide in the shallow seas of the continental shelves.  They are carnivores and eat mostly squid or other fish.  They belong to the Delphinidae Family and are the largest beings in the cetaceans order.  They are found in abundance in the Gulf of Mexico here in Florida.

Dolphins have a streamlined fusiform body, adapted for fast swimming.  They have a tail fin, called the fluke, and it is used to propel them through the water.  Their pectoral fins, along with the tail, are used to control their direction.  The dorial fin provides stability for the dolphin while swimming.

The head of the dolphin contains a melon, a round organ used for echolocation, which is a sonar sound system the dolphins have for locating food and navigating when submerged in the water.  They breathe through a blowhole on top of their head.  And, their brains are large and highly complex.

Both in and out of water, dolphins have acute eyesight.  They have extraordinary hearing and can hear frequencies ten times or more than adult human hearing.  Surprisingly, most of their hearing is done with their lower jaw.  The jaw is used to conduct sound to the middle ear via a fat-filled cavity in the lower jaw bone.  And, the dophins' teeth act as an antennae to receive incoming sound and pinpoint exact location of an object.

Dolphins are very social and live in pods up to a dozen individual dolphins.  They can temporarily merge into superpods of 1000 or more when swimming in the Gulf.   Dolphins are capable of establishing very strong social bonds and will stay with injured dolphins or ill individuals, helping them to breathe by bringing them to the surface of the water if needed.  They will protect human swimmers from sharks by swimming circles around the swimmers and they will charge sharks to shoo them away  from swimmers.

They are the most intelligent of animals  with a friendly appearance and their playful attitude has made them popular to humans.  They are capable of making a broad range of sounds when communicating with each other or humans:

• frequency-modulated whistles
• burst-pulsed sounds
• clicks that are directional and for echolocation

Dolphins will occasionally leap above the water surface and perform acrobatic flips and twists  Play is an important part of their culture, they enjoy riding the waves, and the will playfully interact with human swimmers.

One of our friends of the sea, dolphins are enchanting and entertaining.  They will perform great leaps and jumps to entertain those watching from the beach.  They are one of the most athletic fish in the sea and their intelligence has amazed scientists and researchers for years.  They are capable of close bonds with humans and we have used them to help the U.S. military and fisherman at sea.

The Incredible Journey of the Monarch Butterfly

The Monarch butterfly of North America



 

The white morph Monarch butterfly of Oahu, Hawaii



As I sit here on the lanai in Florida, I am watching the lovely and delicate Monarch butterflies as they flutter around the flowers and plants out back.    The Monarchs in my back yard are here all year round because of the warm Florida climate; however,  this is the big time for the northern Monarchs, because they are making their "incedible journey" from Canada to Mexico. 

Starting in August and on through October, the Monarch butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains, begin their journey south for the the winter.  Destination:  the sanctuaries of the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve in the pine-oak forests in the state of Michocan in Mexico.  The western  Monarchs winter in central and coastal California in Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz in santuaries there.

The life span of the Monarch butterfly is two months, so migration exceeds its normal lifespan.  The last generation of Monarchs of the summer enter into a non-reproductive phase known as diapause and may live seven or more months.  During diapause, Monarchs fly to one of the many overwintering sights.  The generation of Monarchs that overwinters does not reproduce until it leaves sometime in February or March.  The overwinter population east of the Rockies may reach as far as Texas and Oklahoma during the spring journey.  Second, third, an fourth generations return to their northern locations in the U.S. and Canada in the spring.

The Monarch is the only butterfly that goes both north and south like birds do, but no single Monarch makes the entire round trip.  It takes four generations of Monarchs to make the trip.

How do they manage to return to the same place over different generations is still under research.  It is believed by researchers that the flight patterns appear to be inherited based on a combination of the position of the sun in the sky.  Monarchs have a time-compensataed sun compass that depends upon the circadean clock based in their antennae.

Brand new resesarch shows that Monarchs can use earth's magnetic field for orientation when flying home.  The antennae contain cryptochrome which is a photoreceptor protein that is sensitive to the violet-blue part of the spectrum.  In the presence of the violet/blue light it can function as a chemical compass which tells the Monarch it is aligned with the earth's magneetic field, but is unable to tell the difference between the magnetic  north or south. 

Monarchs are one of the few insects capable of making trans-sea crossings.  Monarchs born in Bermuda usually remain there year round beecause of the mild climate.  Monarchs are found in the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira.  They are also found in India and Hawaii.  The beautiful white morph Monarch is  found on  Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.   The N. American Monarch butterfly is closely related to the Jamaican Monarch and the S. American Monarch  south of the Amazon River

The Monarch butterflies, I think,  are the most beautiful of the N. American butterflies.  If you want to attract Monarch butterflies to your yard or garden, be sure to plant with the milkweed species.  This is what they feed on and will be sure to land and entertain and enchant you as you watch them.

Related web-sites:

www.santacruzca.org/Monarchs

www.earthjustice.org/butterfly

http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/

Troy Davis - Face of the Death Penalty

Troy Davis, executed last week in Georgia because of the death penalty in a case that has reasonable doubt.

As most people know, Troy Davis of Georgia, was executed last week for a crime he most likely did not commit.  He exclaimed his innocence up to the end.  The death penalty is an abomination in this country, and is arbitrarily and capriciously sentenced and used.  Civilized countries do not kill their own citizens.  The U.S. is as barbaric and cruel as the middle eastern countries of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran, which we abhor for their governments and societal ways of handling those that break the law.  But, America is not much better when it keeps use of the death penalty.  The U.S. needs to abolish the death penalty because it is capriciously sentenced, it is racist, and it marks us as an uncivil society.

Years ago, more than I want to remember, when I was a senior in high school and taking a course called Advanced Composition, our teacher, Karen Wrobleski, had us, as a class, pick a social issue to pursue in our writing of term papers and arguable issue papers. (And I thank Karen Wrobleski for her guidance and lessons in writing so that today I am able to write a blog!)  She wanted to not only teach us writing but also to research and become aware of an important social issue in the U.S.  After brainstorming for ideas and having  whole class discussions, as a class, we chose to write about the U.S. prision system/justice system.  All our papers that semester were on that same theme and we chose different specific topics within that theme to write about.  Most of my papers where about prision reform, but one paper I wrote was about abolishing the death penalty world wide, because at the time it was illegal in the U.S.  It was in l975 or l976 that it was reinstated in the U.S. (And, yes, I graduated from high school before those years.)

Since I was seventeen, I have been against the use of the death penalty, not only in the U.S. but anywhere in the world.  It is cruel and unusual punishment.  It is not for man to judge who lives and who dies.  We are not aware of the entire life of a person that has led them to murder another, and I for one am not going to make a decision on who lives and who dies.  We have to put ourselves in another's shoes.  Even, Charles Manson, who I believe to be the most evil, vile human being created, and who killed for "fun" as well as being a svengali to others to get them to  kill for him, should not be killed by society.  Left if prision  to rot for the rest of his life,yes, but it is not our right to judge in areas of life and death.  To this day, I have been ademantly against the death penalty.

Even at seventeen, I was able to see and present evidence and statistics that the death penalty was not applied fairly and was barbaric.  Today, it is a more racist decision than ever.  Usually it is the poor and the minorities that are given the death sentence and penalty.  It is given more times to men than to women. It is given more to black men than to other minorities.  In the case of Troy Davis, even when witnesses recanted their stories, changed their testimony, and even one person confessed to the crime Troy Davis was suppose to have committed, his death sentence was carried out.  I find this unconscionable.  He at least deserved another trial or life in prision if prosecuters really felt he was their man.  But, our justice system blindly went along and murdered Troy Davis anyway. Our justice system is no better than any murderer they have on death row.  I hold the justice system, the U.S. Supreme Court, and yes, even President Obama for not intervening and putting a stop to the execution of Troy Davis.

I realize the murdered victims and their families want justice for their loss; however, two wrongs do not make a right.  As Confusis say:  "He who seeks revenge digs two graves."  Our whole societal mindset needs to be changed.  Seeking revenge helps no one, even to those who feel they are justified in seeking it.  It only brings out more revenge.  Althought very difficult, forgiveness releases the victim and loved ones from the emotional pain and dark memories of the murder of their loved one.  If we cannot become a more forgiving society, we will do ourselves in.  Killing another in return is not a civil or judicial act to take. 

"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth", leaves us all blind and toothless.  Is this what we really want for an intelligent, educated, civil American society?