We have 3 choices: adaptation, mitigation, and suffering

I finished the book Brave Face, How I Survived Growing Up, Coming Out, and Depression, a memoir by Shaun David Hutchinson. The most important word in that title is the last one. The title doesn’t say it, neither does the blurb on the back, but before one gets to the story there is a content warning that the story includes self harm and attempted suicide with contact info for lifeline services. The book came out before the national 988 crisis line was created. If you are in crisis or have thoughts of suicide call or text those three digits. The story begins in 1992 when Shaun is entering high school. The main story ends in 1998. This was the time of AIDS, the Defense of Marriage Act, and the military Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. As Shaun comes to realize he is gay he sees nothing good in the way society treats gay people. He figures by the time he’s an adult he’ll be lonely, sick, addicted, or dead. Behind that sour view of the world is undiagnosed chronic depression. That’s what leads to the self harm and the suicide attempt. It’s also the voice in his head that insists he’s not good enough for the good lovers and that he deserves the ones using him. That attempt is what gets him the help he needs, though in the care facility he’s in for recovery he’s very good at telling doctors what they want to hear. Later on the help guides him to understand a few things. He’s not depressed because he’s gay – he’s depressed and needed treatment for that. He learns the voice in his head is a liar. He knows that it’s OK to ask for help. He doesn’t have to do life alone. At times I wondered why his mother didn’t recognize his depression and self harm and get him in for treatment. Did she not see his mood and his injuries? Was he quite good at hiding both? Did they not have that good of a relationship? From the story I don’t get a sense of which it is, though when he’s in the hospital his mother is by his side almost instantaneously. Laura Clawson of Daily Kos wrote about the Republican reaction to their loss in Ohio over their attempt to limit state constitutional amendments. They say they didn’t have enough time – but they knew it would be on the ballot before their opponents did. They say the opposition had lots of out of state donations – so did they. They say not enough Republican voters supported it – sheesh, we’re talking about taking rights away and even many Republicans object to that. This attempt to restrict amendments won’t block the abortion rights amendment on the ballot this fall (nor affect marijuana legalization). But next year there will likely be ballot proposals to stop gerrymandering and to raise the minimum wage. So Republicans are saying this attempt to overturn democracy will be back. An Associated Press column posted on Kos begins:

Waves of severe thunderstorms in the U.S. during the first half of this year led to $34 billion in insured losses, an unprecedented level of financial damage in such a short time, according to Swiss Re Group, as climate change contributes to the frequency and severity of violent meteorological events.

Swiss Re Group is a reinsurer, or an insurance company for insurance companies. Another thread by Climate Scientist Prof. Katherine Hayhoe. The thread begins with a cartoon of a scientist at an IPCC giving reports through the years, each one more dire. In the last one he taps the mic and asks, “Is this thing on?” The center of this thread is a chart from Climate Action Tracker. In 2022 we were at 1.2C of warming. The Paris Agreement goal is to limit warming to 1.5C. Also in the chart is that the optimistic scenario – the full implementation of all announced targets – will limit warming to 1.8C. If the targets for 2030 are hit we’ll limit warming to 2.4C. If we follow current policies we’ll limit warming to 2.7C, which is well in the orange danger zone. She included:

As John Holdren said, we have 3 choices: adaptation, mitigation, and suffering. We are already seeing so much of the latter: record-breaking temperatures, heatwaves, and fatal flooding across the globe. It's not just statistics; human lives are at stake.

Charles Jay of the Kos community reported that the Hillsborough County Public School district near Tampa Bay, Florida has decided to censor Shakespeare. Instead of the full plays the school will only teach excerpts. It is part of Florida’s crackdown of banning the teaching of anything icky. And, yes, the school district is getting a great deal of ridicule. In addition to the bans there are now videos by PragerU that show historical figures spouting racist talking points, usually not at all what that real person would have said. As for the whole effort:

Hillsborough County School Board Member Jessica Vaughn, who has been targeted by DeSantis for defeat in the 2024 election, posted a warning about efforts by the DOE and state legislature to destroy public education. “Honestly, it feels that much of this is intentional, in order to cause as much chaos in public education as possible, so that the collapse of public education is swift and the agenda of education privatization can move forward with less obstacles,” Vaughn wrote on Facebook, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Jay then reminded us that DeathSantis is not Shakespeare’s first foe. That would have gone to the Puritans, who shut down all theaters in England in 1642. And Thomas Bowdler, from whom we get the term “bowdlerize” tried to create family friendly versions. Why? Because Shakespeare can be raunchy, all that innuendo and sexual language. A story on Finch Park noted seven of Shakespeare’s 38 plays include female characters disguising themselves as men. Two plays feature male characters disguised as women. In Shakespeare’s time adolescent boys played the female roles.

So just try to sort out the pastoral comedy “As You Like It”: A young male actor plays the role of a young woman, Rosalind, who disguises herself as a young man, Ganymede, for protection upon venturing into the forest. Ganymede runs into the man she loves, Orlando, and then poses as Rosalind so that the couple can act out their relationship. Meanwhile, a female shepherdess, Phoebe, has become smitten with Ganymede.

Hillsborough deserves all the ridicule. Shakespeare can teach us all a lot. But don’t worry about Shakespeare’s plays. They’ve been through worse and have overcome all that many times. SemDem of the Kos community wrote about another part of history that won’t be taught in Florida. It’s the history of drowned towns. SemDem gave several examples. One of them was Oscarville Georgia. In 1912 two black men were accused of rape. A white supremacist group ran every black resident, more than a thousand, out of town. The terror group then essentially stole the land and sold it to the government. The government wanted the land to create a reservoir to supply water to the growing towns nearby. We now know the area as Lake Lanier, named after a Confederate soldier. Another was Kowaliga, Alabama. John Benson, a former slave, managed to acquire a great deal of land. He added a brickyard, a sawmill, and cotton gin. A town sprang up to house the workers. His children went to college. In 1926, a hear after Benson died, the Alabama Power company completed the Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River. It flooded the town and a nearby black township. SemDem found no record of compensation. SemDem also discussed the Central Park Reservoir in New York City, which is where Seneca Village ha d been. There’s Delta Lake, formerly Vanport, Oregon, near Portland, though the flooding was not intentional. SemDem then lists another 17 out of a total of a hundred drowned towns. When black towns were submerged the residents who became homeless were rarely adequately compensated.

The rationale behind DID [development induced displacement] has been that short-term disadvantages were outweighed by the long-term benefits. However, the long-term advantages have predominantly favored white individuals. This is a hidden but integral part of the United States' complex and unsettling history, which cannot be disregarded. Hiding our history doesn’t ease racial strife, but learning about it can start to fix the problems of the past and the present. I only wish Florida lawmakers had the ability to learn from history instead of always trying to hide it.

In the town where I grew up there is a community swimming pool. We went a few times each summer. I and my siblings had swimming lessons there. I’m sure I dove (jumped?) off the low diving board. I don’t remember if I was ever brave enough to jump off the high one – probably not. When my oldest brother was in high school he worked for a while as a lifeguard there. But there is a decline in investment in public pools, reported Clawson. Some conservative pundits see progressive calls for public pools and blather against the “next entitlement program.” Clawson first discussed the racist history of public pools. In the mid 20th century when cities tried to integrate pools there was frequently violence by white people. Or the white clientele stayed away, leading to economic troubles for the pool. Or cities closed the pools to avoid integration. And swimming became private. “When rich people have access to something privately, public investment in it plummets.” Public pools matter because drowning is a leading cause of death of children. Black youth are three times more likely to drown than white kids. 80% of drowning victims are male. The disparities are because they had nowhere safe to learn to swim. And when the weather is hot people go to the water, even if they don’t know how to swim. There is no place to learn when public pools close and private pools are not affordable.