Human Rights Day December 10, 2007

On this Anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights I would like to honour two groups of people giving of themselves in service for humanity:

The men and women working in law enforcement as high-tech crime investigators devote themselves to finding and apprehending the pedophiles that use the Internet as their hunting and feeding grounds. These police officers do so at the expense of having horrific images of exploited babies and youth seared into their memories. They fight for the rights of all the children of the world: black, white, Muslim, Christian, Jew, girl or boy. And for this my husband will always be my hero.

The men, women and youth who sacrifice the comforts of home to travel to distant lands in the spirit of service, and that give of their sweat and tears to better humanity. These people deliver everything from clean water, to medication, to eyeglasses, to school supplies, all of which are readily available for most here at home, but a Godsend for the millions of wanting people of the world. This year my thoughts are especially with the people helping in Darfour and Chad, may they all soon be returned to their homelands.

God bless these admirable steps towards Universal Human Rights.

Side-effects anyone? December 7, 2007

I just love the television add for Cymbalta, a new antidepressant. I especially love the line about undesirable effects: “Antidepressants may increase suicidal thoughts or behaviours in some children, adolescents, and young adults.” Hello? This is just what we want, right? We want to alleviate depression by instilling ideas of suicide into their brains! Am I the only one completely dumbfounded, here? Is this what we get for spending ten years developing a drug while spending tens of millions of dollars to do so?

Ah, but this drug was studied in an empirically scientific way, with double blind clinical trials. And the benefits far outweigh the risks…unless it’s your twenty year old with a whole promising life ahead of him that kills himself.

This all sounds so wacky you almost expect it to be a work of fiction. Yet, when I sit at a dinner party and say that I use homeopathy on my family some people look at me as if I use witchcraft on my children. I can assure you that homeopathy is extremely safe and much more symptom effective and cost effective than any conventional medicines I’ve used in the past. Being a retired Registered Nurse, I feel that I know what I’m talking about.

I strongly believe that there is a time and a place for both conventional medicine and homeopathy, but swine will take flight the day I give my family a medication that may increase suicidal thoughts. I have too many options to settle for something so bizarre.

An Afternoon with Authors December 2, 2007

I’m on my way to my local Writers’ Association meeting, giddy like a child on her way to the candy shoppe. Today, I take the time to do my hair and wear something else besides pyjama bottoms, I pack my favourite pen and notebook, and I kiss the kids goodbye with every intention to think of only myself for the afternoon.

There is nothing like spending three hours in the company of like minded people. People who get your excitement over having written five pages in a week (what might not seem like much to a non-writer, but can sometimes be impossible, especially in December), people who get that a rejection with a personal note is a good thing, people who applaud you for actually mailing a partial manuscript. I am looking forward to giving my critique partner a big hug for her successful pitching session in Toronto. We are like a family–we feel each other’s joy and pain as our own.

I can’t wait to get there, where I am known as, Tammy, the girl who writes deep and colourful mainstream romance, and bakes a killer ginger cookie. Next to actually writing, spending time with writers is absolutely divine.