They are determined to use music to heal Ukraine

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos discussed a possible cause of toxic masculinity. Does watching Fox News sufficiently explain carrying assault rifles into grocery stores or screaming at the local school board? An article in Communications Biology found that many risk taking wolves in Yellowstone National Park were infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. They are more aggressive and less predictable. That same parasite has been linked to increased risk-taking in rodents, chimpanzees, and hyenas. Infections by it are possible in almost all mammals. So, what about humans? Yes, toxoplasmosis does occur in humans. It is linked to foodborne illness and can lead to death. The CDC says there may be lots of people with infections but very few people show symptoms. But is that last part true? Symptoms in human males might include higher vigilance, suspicion, and jealousy. They’re more likely to disregard rules, be dogmatic, and have less self-control and curiosity. They had more difficulty establishing relationships with women. They had a higher risk of traffic accidents. Sound familiar? Toxoplasmosis in women tended to have the opposite effect. They were more warm hearted, outgoing, conscientious, persistent, and moralistic. One can avoid the parasite by avoiding food, usually undercooked meat, infected with it and by avoiding animal, especially cat, waste (which is why pregnant people are told not to clean the litter box).

Is “toxic masculinity” really “toxo masculinity?” Without more testing and treatment, it’s difficult to tell. Certainly all these traits seem to exist in uninfected men. It’s just the infection simply makes things worse.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos discussed political takeaways from 2022 for Democrats. These are lessons we need think about. 1. It isn’t enough for Democrats to turn out their base. They must also reach out to independents and pro-democracy Republican. 2. As the abortion issue has shown Democrats are winning on social issues. 3. Even though every Republican president over the last several decades has made the economy worse and every Democratic president has cleaned up the mess, Republicans still get credit for being better at handling the economy. Democrats need to change that perception. 4. Saving democracy is not a thing completed in a single election. Safeguarding democracy will be the work of a generation. We must work at it as a transformational project, not as a catastrophic disruption. 5. We are all part of the solution, whether donating, organizing, writing, running, campaigning, or simply talking to friends and family. We can also elevate the voices of those who inspire us. Marissa Higgins of Kos held a discussion with author Alisson Wood about her book Being Lolita. Yes. The title refers to the book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. In the book Wood tells her story of being groomed by a high school English teacher – not a drag queen – and then being sexually abused. Calling LGBTQ people “groomers” is an insult to those who were victimized by actual groomers. When she first started telling her story she got three reactions: people simply thanking her for writing, women sharing their own experiences of sexual assault, and angry men calling her a slut and a liar. Since the book came out that last group has been a lot smaller. Alas, the book came out during the pandemic, so there were no in-person promotional events. Each event she did take part involved reliving her trauma and there was no one else in her apartment who could comfort her. One misconception is that the survivor remains broken or is fully healed. But Wood, and all other victims, are in a gray area. Life is better, but they’ll never fully heal. A couple of important things Wood wrote:

Grooming is a precursor to sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. Not only can you not “teach” someone to be queer, but being queer isn’t harmful to anyone. It’s more of the right demonizing homosexuality because they think becoming gay is the worst thing that could happen to anyone. And as a queer woman, I can assure you it is not. Minors are in far more danger from heterosexual men than anyone else. Child Protective Services data says that 88% of all perpetrators of sexual harm are men, and 93% are known to the victim. ... It is wildly unfair for women to have their bodies, and so their lives, controlled by geography, and at the whims of people in power, usually white men who have no business making any decision about my body. It is immoral and cruel. Our citizenship is to the United States, not our governor. Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women, and pregnancy is a grueling process for the body. It’s dangerous for women. Forcing someone to carry a child and give birth is just wrong. It’s just another way our culture shows that we don’t care about women. We just want to control them.

Several years ago I suggested Peak Oil had happened or was about to. My friend and debate partner criticized that post and was quite correct in doing so. But that won’t stop me from reporting that Assaf for EV Revolution of the Kos community believes Peak Oil happened in 2019. Peak Oil is the time of maximum oil consumption. From the 1960s up to about 15 years ago the phrase Peak Oil was used as a threat – it would signal societal collapse. We as a society had better give Big Oil everything they want, including heavy subsidies and paying the bill for oil explorations. Whatever environmental damage we might be facing was not as bad as walking home with the last small container of oil. The concept of Peak Oil has been a deadly ruse. Then we saw how bad climate change can be and how good and available alternatives to oil could be. And Peak Oil became something desired, even craved, instead of feared. Assaf’s belief that we’ve passed Peak Oil comes from a “Peak Fossil” series of reports put out by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Their numbers show a drop in oil usage in 2020 due to the pandemic. Usage has rebounded since then, but still below the 2019 peak. The switch to electric cars and to more energy from renewable sources means we probably won’t top the 2019 peak. That doesn’t mean we’ll get off oil quickly. Passenger vehicles tend to last 15-20 years. So only about 1/15 of the fleet is replaced in any year. And EVs are still a mighty small fraction of that. And though companies like GM have embraced EVs Big Oil has turned public opinion away from them and is still at that effort, including stressing all EVs are way too expensive. Beyond vehicles we use oil for aviation, heating, and plastics. We’re beginning to make progress in those areas too. Maybe we’ve passed Peak Oil, perhaps even Peak Fossils, but there is still plenty of work to be done and still plenty we can do as individuals. David Horsey of the Seattle Times tweeted a cartoon of a Climate Carol. The first verse is:

You better watch out, You might want to cry, That bad CO2 is Filling the sky. Climate Change is Coming to Earth.

Charles Jay of the Kos community discussed the Ukrainian folk song that became a Christmas carol. I had known that a piece by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych, which has nothing to do with Christmas, was given English Christmas lyrics and became Carol of the Bells. Since my instrument is handbells I have, of course, played several arrangements of the piece for handbells, including in our series of concerts at the start of the month. But there is a lot more to the story than just a change of words. The original piece is titled Shchedryk, meaning bountiful with words about the first swallow of spring bringing riches to the home. Leontovych adapted it from a folk tune and it was first performed in 1916 in Kyiv. At that time the Russian tsarist regime was collapsing and Bolsheviks were taking power. In 1918 Ukraine declared independence as Bolsheviks threatened invasion. In the January 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where European countries were deciding what to do at the end of WWI, Ukraine petitioned for international recognition. As part of that Ukraine President Symon Petliura started some cultural diplomacy. On February 4, 1919 a newly formed Ukrainian National Chorus left Kyiv to start an international tour. That was the day before the city fell to the Red Army. Over the next two years they performed hundreds of concert across Europe, then moved on to the Americas with a concert in Carnegie Hall. The hit of their program was Shchedryk. They achieved recognition of a distinctly Ukrainian culture. But, alas, that did not translate into diplomatic or military recognition and in December 1922 Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union. The tour ended in 1924. Some of the singers stayed in New York and continued to perform. In the 1930s Peter Wilhousky heard the piece and wanted his school choir to sing it. That’s when he added the English words and switched the meaning from spring to Christmas. Ukraine is again threatened with a Russian invasion. And Shchedryk is regaining its original significance as a song of freedom and independence. Earlier this month the Shchedryk Children’s Choir of Ukraine brought the song back to the stage at Carnegie Hall. They had to do some of their rehearsing in the light of their phones because the electricity was out. They are grappling with the trauma of war, but are determined to use music to heal Ukraine and to promote Ukraine’s culture around the world. Jay’s post includes videos of the song with the Ukrainian words translated into English, of a 1922 recording of the Ukrainian National Chorus singing it, of the Carol of the Bells, of the Children’s Choir rehearsing in the dark, of them singing in Grand Central Station, and of the Carnegie Hall concert. At the end of the post is an 11 minute video of the history of the song. Mike Luckovich tweeted a cartoon of Santa at a chimney and the kids below saying, “We’re fine. Please make sure Ukrainians have everything they need.”