by Julia Sneden

The week ahead
Holds lots of dread:
I have to buy a bathing suit.
I’d be a dope
To have much hope
Of finding fit (don’t mention cute).
In fact if my long search is fruitless
I may well have to dive in suitless.

It’s an annual chore for most people, this business of buying a bathing suit. For me, it comes around every six months or so. Actually, the one I’m wearing these days has lasted longer than most, but what was once a trim, simple, black suit is now a saggy, baggy brownish body drape covered with odd spots where the color has disappeared altogether, so that dapples of flesh (mine) show through. In a mud-and-sand camouflage contest, I’d be a winner. When other people at poolside start staring and snickering, it’s time for a change.

I don’t mind spending money on a suit if I can find one that I like. In fact, I usually buy two suits at a time, because I have a dread of needing a suit at the wrong time of year when there simply aren’t any in the stores. Besides, a good fit is rare. Alas, when I bought my current suit, it was the only one on the rack that fit me.

With older women and men all across the country doing water aerobics and swimming laps, wouldn’t you think the bathing suit manufacturers would twig to the idea that there’s a huge market out here? Not only do we seniors buy suits; we buy suits more often than even the teenagers do, because we’re harder on them. No clean surf ‘n sand for us, no lying still on a beach blanket for hours, or languidly standing around the lifeguard’s chair. No, we are up to our clavicles in health club pools full of chemicals, stretching our suits (and our bodies) to all sorts of outrageous extremes, sweating inside them even though the water is cool.

It’s a marketing maven's  dream: virtually endless demand, a quick turnover, and not much need for endless re-styling.

Continue reading Julia Sneden's classic, Utterly Unsuitable. http://www.seniorwomen.com/news/index.php/choosing-a-swimsuit-for-an-older-woman

The IRS division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement, financial constraints and an unwillingness to spell out just what it expects from social welfare nonprofits, former officials and experts say.

The controversy that erupted in the past week, leading to the ousting of the acting Internal Revenue Service commissioner, an investigation by the FBI, and congressional hearings that kicked off Friday, comes against a backdrop of dysfunction brewing for years.

Moves launched in the 1990s were designed to streamline the tax agency and make it more efficient. But they had unintended consequences for the IRS's Exempt Organizations division. 

Checks and balances once in place were taken away. Guidance frequently published by the IRS and closely read by tax lawyers and nonprofits disappeared. Even as political activity by social welfare nonprofits exploded in recent election cycles, repeated requests for the IRS to clarify exactly what was permitted for the secretly funded groups were met, at least publicly, with silence.

All this combined to create an isolated office in Cincinnati, plagued by what an inspector general this week described as "insufficient oversight," of fewer than 200 low-level employees responsible for reviewing more than 60,000 nonprofit applications a year.

In the end, this contributed to what everyone from Republican lawmakers to the president says was a major mistake: The decision by the Ohio unit to flag for further review applications from groups with "Tea Party" and similar labels. This started around March 2010, with little pushback from Washington until the end of June 2011.

"It's really no surprise that a number of these cases blew up on the IRS," said Marcus Owens, who ran the Exempt Organizations division from 1990 to 2000. "They had eliminated the trip wires of 25 years."

Of course, any number of structural fixes wouldn't stop rogue employees with a partisan ax to grind. No one, including the IRS and the inspector general, has presented evidence that political bias was a factor, although congressional and FBI investigators are taking another look.

But what is already clear is that the IRS once had a system in place to review how applications were being handled and to flag potentially problematic ones. The IRS also used to show its hand publicly, by publishing educational articles for agents, issuing many more rulings, and openly flagging which kind of nonprofit applications would get a more thorough review.

All of those checks and balances disappeared in recent years, largely the unforeseen result of an IRS restructuring in 1998, former officials and tax lawyers say.

"Until 2008, we had a dialogue, through various rulings and cases and the participation of various IRS officials at various ABA meetings, as to what is and what is not permissible campaign intervention," said Gregory Colvin, the co-chair of the American Bar Association subcommittee that dealt with nonprofits, lobbying, and political intervention from 1991 to 2009.

"And there has been absolutely no willingness in the last five years by the IRS to engage in that discussion, at the same time the caseload has exploded at the IRS."

The IRS did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Social welfare nonprofits, which operate under the 501(c)(4) section of the tax code, have always been a strange hybrid, a catchall category for nonprofits that don't fall anywhere else. They can lobby. For decades, they have been allowed to advocate for the election or defeat of candidates, as long as that is not their primary purpose. They  also do not have to disclose their donors.

I don't understand lots of things.  Like, for instance, what keeps airplanes up and ships afloat?  What keeps the planets spinning in the vastness of space without colliding with each other? 

But apart from such esoteric conundrums, I'm also confused about many much more mundane mysteries, such as ....

Why is Jack a nickname for John?  Isn't John short enough?

Why would you actually pay a premium price for jeans that are ripped and frayed?  And how can you tell when they're worn out and ready for the trash bin?

Why are restaurant tips calculated as a percentage of the total bill?  Is it harder for a waiter to serve a fifty-dollar fillet than a five-buck burger?

Ursula Andress in the film Dr. No trailer (cropped) wearing her famous white bikini; Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli (MGM/United Artists). Wikipedia

Do today's tech-savvy kids really believe in Santa Claus ... the tooth fairy ... the Easter bunny?  You don't think they've Googled them all?

Why do women with curly hair straighten it, and those with straight hair curl it? Speaking of hair — Donald Trump.  What's with that?? 

How come when I want to shut down my computer, I have to click "Start"?

Why do some people use their microwave ovens and dishwashers only to store dinnerware and extra groceries?

When you're in the hospital, why do they wake you up in the middle of the night to give you a sleeping pill?

Do those kids with all their tattoos ever give a single thought to what all that so-called body art will look like in forty or so years when their muscles turn to flab and their skin wrinkles?  (And it will.)

Further, what's with all those grotesque piercings?  Isn't it painful to have a hunk of metal stuck through your lip and/or tongue?  How do you eat?  Kiss? And what about a hoop through your nipple? (OOOPS!  Did the baby just swallow it with her lunch?)  A ring in your nose?  (Ah-choo!!  Oh, oh!)

Earrings can be attractive.  But what's with those chandelier thingies that are almost as big as actual ceiling fixtures?    

When did bathing suits disappear?  I saw my first bikini on a beach in Nice during my first trip to Europe, back in the ‘60s.  I couldn't believe how brazen its wearer was!  Today that bikini would look positively Victorian. 

By Sarah Yang

People may be adding a bit more than a touch of color to their lips,  according to a new UC Berkeley study.

Researchers at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. They detected lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals, some of which were found at levels that could raise potential health concerns. Their findings were published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Prior studies also have found metals in cosmetics, but the UC Berkeley researchers estimated risk by analyzing the concentration of the metals detected and consumers’ potential daily intake of the metals, and then comparing this intake with existing health guidelines. 

"Just finding these metals isn’t the issue; it’s the levels that matter," said study principal investigator S. Katharine Hammond, professor of environmental health sciences. “Some of the toxic metals are occurring at levels that could possibly have an effect in the long term.”

Lipstick and lip gloss are of special concern because when they are not being blotted on tissue or left as kiss marks, they are ingested or absorbed, bit by bit, by the individual wearing them, the study authors said. The researchers developed definitions for average and high use of lip makeup based on usage data reported in a previous study. Average use was defined as daily ingestion of 24 milligrams of lip makeup per day. Those who slather on the lip color and reapply it repeatedly could fall into the high use category of 87 milligrams ingested per day.

Using acceptable daily intakes derived from this study, average use of some lipsticks and lip glosses would result in excessive exposure to chromium, a carcinogen linked to stomach tumors. High use of these makeup products could result in potential overexposure to aluminum, cadmium and manganese as well. Over time, exposure to high concentrations of manganese has been linked to toxicity in the nervous system.

Lead was detected in 24 products, but at a concentration that was generally lower than the acceptable daily intake level. However, the lead levels still raised concerns for young children, who sometimes play with makeup, since no level of lead exposure is considered safe for them, the researchers said.

The study authors say that for most adults, there is no reason to toss the lip gloss in the trash, but the amount of metals found do signal the need for more oversight by health regulators. At present, there are no US standards for metal content in cosmetics. The authors note that the European Union considers cadmium, chromium and lead to be unacceptable ingredients — at any level — in cosmetic products.

"I believe that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) should pay attention to this," said study lead author Sa Liu, a UC Berkeley researcher in environmental health sciences. "Our study was small, using lip products that had been identified by young Asian women in Oakland, Calif. But, the lipsticks and lip glosses in our study are common brands available in stores everywhere. Based upon our findings, a larger, more thorough survey of lip products — and cosmetics in general — is warranted."

Ann Rojas-Cheatham, director of research and training at the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in Oakland, Calif., co-authored the study. The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Education Research Center helped support this research.

Editor's Note: FDA Product Information about Lipstick and Lead, Questions and Answers

FDA Analyses of Lead in Lipsticks – Expanded Survey (Table)

http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/productandingredientsafety/productinformation/ucm137224.htm

• FDA's Testing Method for Lead in Lipstick
• Bad Reaction to Cosmetics? Tell FDA: Consumer Update and Video

We’re so often brought up short by clichés that we soon realize how difficult it is to express ourselves without resorting to them. Now I wonder if we’re right to feel so reluctant to say something that someone else said first. Unless we can say it better, maybe we should be less interested in novelty or fresh images or reputations for originality. When it comes to strong emotions, all that seems to take too much energy.  Why bother to coin new similes?

As the familiar hollowing of my insides began again and I tried to shut down the flood of renewed grief, the image came to me of a view through the wrong end of binoculars. I jotted it down so as not to lose it before morning. Of course, in the morning, I realized how hackneyed the thought was.

Back in my early widowhood, a kind friend asked me how I felt. I tried to verbalize the truth without dissolving into a puddle of self-pity. I’d figured out I couldn’t tell any more where I should fit into ordinary life. It was like trying to work a jigsaw puzzle without the picture to refer to — without a clue as to where the pieces could go. Eventually I even wrote a poem about that feeling. It remains an apt description, but the binocular image has now intruded on that one.

Almost every move through each day pulls the past into mind. Like everyone in my place, I’m enjoined repeatedly to dwell on happy memories. We all try, but now it’s struck me that our experience as we recall it is as distorted as the present — as if we view it in reverse magnification. If we can manage to look at a photograph, either it brings us to tears or it resembles someone we might have encountered casually once and now no longer recognize. The familiar is all but unrecognizable from the viewpoint of extreme grief.

Clichés offer the solace of the familiar when nearly everything has become alien. We find ourselves in a slough of despond, perhaps without the prayers we need, not recognizing the face in the mirror, jolted by waves of unrelenting and vaguely unfamiliar recall. We find ourselves leaning on whatever seems to help us reorient ourselves. It’s trite but true that we’ll never be more alone. If the only balance we can find is already waiting to prop us up until we search out the new person we have to learn to become, we’d be foolish to reject it. So isn’t it justifiable to speak of broken hearts, interior emptiness, welling tears, loss of joy?

For all those sufferers from dementias, I ache, and even more for those who love them. Some days, at the same time, I wonder if they may be blessed. Like animals, they seem to have little sense of temporal relationships. The distances between the past and the present are contracted, and they seem to have neither fear of nor interest in the future. If their physical needs are met and they aren’t prey to anxiety, perhaps their status is enviable. If they lose what they once valued most, perhaps they don’t notice. For the ones who love them, there’s no lens to dim the absence while the physical presence remains.

That’s the cliché I’ve come to rely on: basically one manages by counting one’s blessings. When death robs us, we’re spared the daily reminder of loss without relief yet in sight. The miniaturized image isn’t available. At least, that reduced size continues to attain a new clarity when you can look through the lens backwards.

 ©2013 Joan L. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com

" In 1978, as a staff member to then-Congressman Leo J. Ryan, she was shot five times while trying to rescue constituents from the People’s Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana — an attack that left Congressman Ryan and six others dead and was followed by the mass murder-suicide of more than 900 Temple followers. Jackie tenaciously hung onto life for 23 hours on a dusty airstrip before aid arrived. It is this fighting spirit that defines her to her constituents at home."

Rep Jackie Speier Exposes Disturbing "F'N Wook" Marine Facebook Page, Calls for Hagel and Marine Calls for Hagel and Marine Leadership to Respond

 After being made aware of a disgusting and offensive Facebook page called “F’N Wook” that included hundreds of comments denigrating women in the Marine Corps, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Marine Commandant James Amos, and Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks to express concern and call for a response. (Editor's Note: Facebook voluntarily took down these pages, according to Rep. Speier on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry's Saturday Show, May 11th, 2013)

In the letter Congresswoman Speier writes, “The “humor” expressed on this page and similar pages like “Just the Tip, of the Spear,” “U Suckers Missed Christmas — USMC,” and “POG Boot Fucks” contribute to a culture that permits and seems to encourage sexual assault and abuse.”

The PDF includes images that some readers may find offensive.

Congresswoman Speier is committed to ending the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military and believes that systemic changes are necessary to increase the prosecutions of sexual crimes. She is the author of three pieces of legislation to change the military justice system’s treatment of cases of rape and sexual assault.

The STOP Act (HR 1593) will take all cases of rape and sexual assault outside of the chain of command by creating an independent office within the military to handle the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of these crimes. The bipartisan bill has 122 cosponors.

The Military Judicial Reform Act  (HR 1079) is a bipartisan bill that will strip commanders of the authority to overturn convictions or lessen sentences handed down by judge or jury at a military court martial.

The Protect Our Military Trainees Act (HR 430) is a bipartisan bill that requires the military justice system to acknowledge the power imbalance between trainer and trainee and strictly penalizes any instructor who engages in sexual acts with a trainee during the time of instruction and for 30 days afterward.

The Congresswoman delivered a passionate floor speech about the arrest of the Air Force’s head of Sexual Assault Prevention and the startling increase in the number of rapes and sexual assaults in the military as reported by the DOD.

Transcript of Rep. Speier's speech on the floor of the House of Representatives:

Groundcover Plants Add to a Garden

I have pachysandra growing in my backyard. It is flowering now; delicate white blossoms are peeking out from their green leaves. Pachysandra is a groundcover plant. Groundcover is exactly what it says — a plant that covers the ground. It spreads easily and makes the space where it’s planted a garden feature.

We have another groundcover in our front yard, too. It is Vinca or periwinkle, a plant that sprouts little purple flowers and can take over a lawn.

I love the way these plants seem to take care of themselves. Whatever the season, they bring green vibrancy to the area where they grow. In Spring, they send up flowers that are a nice reminder of what is ahead. In Winter, they remain green under the snow and slough off the frigid temperatures. The rest of the year they just grow — and spread — as the garden goes through its cycles.

This year I think I will make an attempt to grow my own basil outside. My friend’s neighbor, who owns an Italian restaurant, has a virtual nursery of basil plants in pots outside his townhouse. It doesn’t seem that hard to do. I would be in basil heaven to have so much of that herb growing in my garden.

 http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/hortcult/herbs/ne208hrb.htm  

©2013 Ferida Wolff for SeniorWomen.com

Editor's Note:  Ferida  added this gem about a type of sprouting and planting we expect to love and profit from:

"I just put in potatoes that were growing on my windowsill. Now I have lettuce heads to transfer. I just cut off the bottoms of romaine lettuce and put them in water. Now they are growing, sending up leaves and setting down roots! Very exciting." 

We realized that not many have heard about this phenomenon which apparently also extends to celery and green onions. Consequently, we did a little investigating and found these posts with similar advice:

http://backtomyrootsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/re-grow-romaine-lettuce-hearts.html#.UYacQsqkaZQ

http://threepsandq.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/peculiarities-and-plants-romaine-lettuce/

By Stephen C. Fehr, Staff Writer, Stateline

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin literally had a nose for news when she took a group of journalists on a tour of the state Capitol’s basement “dungeon” in January. Gas from raw waste fouled the air, the result of collapsing sewer lines underneath the century-old building. But the nasty odor didn’t bother a hairy-legged bug crawling out of its moldy, moist habitat to say hello. “Ooh, there’s a big cockroach,” Fallin said.

Oklahoma State Capitol Dome photograph by Serge Melki

The Oklahoma Capitol is one of many statehouses around the country that need fixing. Visitors enter the building under scaffolding so they don’t get bonked on the head by falling rock. The south steps are blocked off by a plastic yellow safety fence, a photo of which Fallin stuck on the front of the state budget book. “I did that on purpose to make a point,” the Republican told Stateline. “It’s embarrassing to have barricades and scaffolding outside when the public comes to visit.”

Though Fallin stands out for her passion, she is not alone among state officials seeking capitol makeovers. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett also have called for money to repair their declining capitols, as have officials in Alaska, Colorado, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and Wyoming.

Elsewhere, there has been a little-noticed capitol renovation boom. New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin have refurbished parts of their statehouses in the last few years, and major restorations are winding down in Illinois and Kansas. More than two-thirds of the states have carried out upgrades since 2000. They range from minor fixes, such as North Carolina replacing the carpet in the House and Senate chambers, to Virginia spending $105 million to restore its capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson, in time for director Steven Spielberg to film scenes there for “Lincoln.”

The dilemma for elected officials is how to justify the expense of overhauling capitols after years of cutting spending on just about everything else. Oklahoma’s House rejected a plan backed by Fallin last year to borrow $200 million for statehouse repairs, with lawmakers in both parties saying they didn’t want to pile up that much debt. She was back this year with a modest proposal to spend $12 million to fix the crumbling limestone that threatens visitors and develop a plan for the rest of the renovations. Lawmakers agreed May 1 to delay a planned cut in the income tax rate, freeing up $60 million in each of the next two years for the renovation. Fallin is expected to sign it.

“This is no different than a person taking care of their own home,” Fallin said.

Historic and Expensive

Oklahoma’s neighbor to the north, Kansas, has spent more than any other state on the 12-year, $332 million restoration of its capitol building. Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican who has cultivated a reputation as a fiscal conservative, did not start the project but backed a plan last year to boost spending by $17 million to wrap it up. “It’s gorgeous,” he said, “but expensive.”

"Suicide is a tragedy that is far too common," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "The stories we hear of those who are impacted by suicide are very difficult.  This report highlights the need to expand our knowledge of risk factors so we can build on prevention programs that prevent suicide."

CDC investigated suicide trends among US adults aged 35 to 64 by sex and other demographic characteristics, state of residence, and mechanism of injury from 1999 to 2010, using data available through CDC’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Annual suicide rates for this age group increased 28 percent over this period (from 13.7 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999 to 17.6 per 100,000 in 2010), with particularly high increases among non-Hispanic whites and American Indians and /Alaska Natives. Increases in suicide rates among males and females were also observed from suicides involving hanging/suffocation, poisoning, and firearms. The suicide rates for those aged 10 to 34 and those aged 65 years and older did not change significantly during this  period, the report said.

Suicide rates among those aged 35 to 64 increased in all states with statistically significant increases occurring in 39 states.

"The findings in this report suggest it is important for suicide prevention strategies to address the types of stressors that middle-aged Americans might be facing and that can contribute to suicide risk," said Linda C. Degutis, Dr.P.H., M.S.N., director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Key findings:

by Julia Sneden

“Soon I will be an old, white-haired lady, into whose lap some one places a baby, saying ‘Smile, Grandma!’ — I, who myself so recently was photographed on my grandmother’s lap.” — Liv Ullmann

I love this quote. It speaks with simple eloquence of the connectedness of family experience down the generations, and of the speed with which those generations pass.

I don’t have a photo of myself on my grandmother’s lap, but I remember that lap well. I could feel the bones of her corset and the softness of her bosom under her smooth, cotton housedress. I leaned against her as her gentle hand straightened my always-tangled hair.

I do have a picture of myself as a brand new grandmother with an infant in my lap. It was taken when my granddaughter was about one month old. Even at that early age, she bore a strong resemblance to my husband’s mother, Jean Mackey Sneden, something I’d not even considered in my imaginings during the months before her birth.

The women of my maternal line, that is my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and I, bear a strong likeness, at least in the eyes. I never realized this until someone took a picture of me holding my first born. I was wearing a hospital gown, mask and cap. In that garb, with only my eyes showing, the likeness to my mother and grandmother was truly startling. The rest of our features were disparate, and I’d have sworn we looked nothing alike, but those eyes verified our genetic connection.

Editor's Note: In advance of Mother's Day, we thought you would like to read Julia's essay on Connections.

Painting: The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt, 1893–94, oil on canvas, 35½ × 46 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington

Child Care

S. 834----Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (4/25/13)---A bill to ensure access to high-quality child care for homeless children and families, and for other purposes.

Photograph of Rep. Karen Bass  (D-CA), 37th Congresssional District

Crime

S. 822----Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)/Judiciary (4/25/13)---A bill to protect crime victims' rights, to eliminate the substantial backlog of DNA samples collected from crime scenes and convicted offenders, to improve and expand the DNA testing capacity of federal, state, and local crime laboratories, to increase research and development of new DNA testing technologies, to develop new training programs regarding the collection and use of DNA evidence, to provide post-conviction testing of DNA evidence to exonerate the innocent, to improve the performance of counsel in state capital cases, and for other purposes.

Family Support

H.R. 1752----Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA)/Agriculture (4/25/13)---A bill to require retail food stores to collect, and report to the secretary of Agriculture, detailed information that identifies food items purchased with benefits provided under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and to require the secretary to compile and publish such information.

Health

H.R. 1675----Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)/Ways and Means (4/23/13)---A bill to permit health plans without a deductible for prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care to be treated as high deductible plans with respect to health savings accounts.

H.R. 1698----Rep. Gene Green (D-TX)/Energy and Commerce (4/24/13)---A bill to provide for 12-month continuous enrollment of individuals under the Medicaid program and Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes.

Human Trafficking

H.R. 1690----Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA)/Judiciary (4/23/13)---A bill to remove knowledge of age as an element of the offense for the sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion.

H.R. 1732----Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)/Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce (4/25/13)---A bill to better enable state child welfare agencies to prevent human trafficking of children and serve the needs of children who are victims of human trafficking, and for other purposes.

International

S. 813----Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)/Foreign Relations (4/25/13)---A bill to require that Peace Corps volunteers be subject to the same limitations regarding coverage of abortion services as employees of the Peace Corps with respect to coverage of such services, and for other purposes.

Judiciary

H.R. 1797----Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)/Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform (4/26/13)---A bill to protect pain-capable unborn children in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

Miscellaneous

H. Con. Res. 36----Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)/Energy and Commerce (4/26/13)---Concurrent resolution recognizing the disparate impact of climate change on women and the efforts of women globally to address climate change.

Tax Policy

H.R. 1674----Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)/Ways and means (4/23/13)---A bill to deny the refundable portion of the child tax credit to individuals who are not authorized to be employed in the United States and to terminate the use of certifying acceptance agents to facilitate the application process for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers.

Violence Against Women:
H. Res. 193----Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)/Judiciary (4/26/13)---A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

Courtesy of Women's Policy Inc; Photo of Rep. Karen Bass  (D-CA), 37th Congresssional District

As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I feel so deeply involved with the Social Security Administration is that even though it was not in the Department of Labor when it was first established, the Department of Labor had to carry it the way you carry a dependent child. It didn't have any money. That was so unfortunate. And we didn't have very much either. But [what] we did, however, was to provide the Social Security Administration with offices in the Department of Labor Building. I even gave to the Chairman of the Social Security Board (as it was called in those days) the large, handsome, red-upholstered, high-back chair out of my own office so that he could look like a king. I didn't have to keep on looking like a queen. I found the chair somewhat uncomfortable so I made the sacrifice.

The whole Department did the same kind of thing. We gave them our best statisticians. We gave them the best of everything including Arthur Altmeyer, who was the Assistant Secretary of Labor and my real right hand, and without whom I felt very lost. It showed that we put our best people in there on loan, and we carried it for the first year and made it look like a going concern. In fact, it became a going concern in an extraordinarily short time.

When I asked what I was to speak about today, the suggestion was made I talk about the roots, or beginnings, of the Social Security Act. So I have thought about the roots. I suppose the roots  — the idea that we ought to have a systematic method of taking care of the material needs of the aged — really springs from that deep well of charitableness which resides in the American people, and the efforts and the struggles of charity workers and social workers to handle the problems of people who were growing old and had no adequate means of support. Out of this impulse to be kind to the poor sprang, I suppose, a mulling of ideas about social insurance for the aged. But those people who were doing it didn't know that it was social insurance. They just kept thinking that something definite, something that people could look forward to, would be a great asset and a great assistance to them in their work. Even De Tocqueville, in his memoirs of his visit to America, mentioned he thought was a unique state of mind of the American people: That they were so honestly concerned about their poor and did so much for them personally. It was not an organization; it was not a national action; it was not a State action; it was not Government. It was personal action that De Tocqueville mentioned as being characteristic of the American people. They were so generous, so kind, so charitably disposed.

Well, I don't know anything about the times in which De Tocqueville visited America. That was long ago, and I know little about the psychological state of mind of the people of this country at that time. But I do know that at the time I came into the field of social work, these feelings were real. It was surprising what we were able to do through volunteer work--by the volunteer support of organizations who help the poor; and particularly the aged poor. Just look over the country At the old ladies' homes and the old couples' homes and the old members' homes that sprang up because aged people had necessities that had to be met. In each case, somebody got money together and established these homes. And life went on for the aged, after a fashion, as recipients of a kind of charity. These things have been going on for years.

THE FIRST STIRRINGS

But actually, of course, the beginning of widespread interest in Social Security through the use of an insurance technique began in a serious way shortly before the great depression of 1929. When I say shortly, I mean a couple of years. It had begun as an academic subject; it was discussed by highbrows, not by politicians. It was a possible thing, you know.

We knew something about social insurance in this country — a very little — by virtue of workmen's compensation legislation which is, of course, a form of social insurance. And that was all we knew about insuring against a known hazard through payment, by persons exposed to that hazard, into a fund from which those few could be compensated who had the particular accident that was described in the law.

Attorney General Eric Holder  announced a revised version of the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations (SAFE Protocol, 2d.) The SAFE Protocol is a voluntary best practices guide to conducting sexual assault medical forensic examinations protocols.  These suggested practices will promote high-quality, sensitive, and supportive exams for all victims of rape and sexual assault.

The SAFE Protocol is based on the latest scientific evidence and provides recommendations to standardize the quality of care for sexual assault victims throughout the country.  By promoting thorough, sensitive evidence collection, the SAFE Protocol can improve the criminal justice response to rape and sexual assault to increase offender accountability. 

“The SAFE protocol is crucial to our efforts to end sexual violence,” said Attorney General Holder.  “It is our responsibility to ensure that victims feel comfortable coming forward. The SAFE Protocol helps us coordinate and improve our response when these courageous individuals do seek help from first responders including nurses, doctors, advocates, law enforcement, and prosecutors.”

In the nine years since the protocol was initially released in 2004, there have been substantial forensic medical advancements.  This revised edition of the protocol maintains the same commitments of standardization and quality as the first SAFE Protocol, but is updated to reflect current technology.  It also increases the emphasis on victim-centered care and includes additional information reflecting changes from the Violence Against Women Act of 2005.

Research shows that programs with trained examiners, such as Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) or Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners (SAFEs), using modern standards like those in the SAFE Protocol significantly increase evidence collection and investigation in sexual assault cases. Better evidence collection results in significantly higher prosecution rates, convictions, and guilty-pleas. The SAFE Protocol also helps SANEs and other medical professionals conduct exams that are sensitive, dignified, and reduce trauma.

“The SAFE Protocol helps ensure that victims will be cared for with compassion and respect when they turn to hospitals for help,” said Bea Hanson, Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). “This not only improves outcomes for victims, it strengthens criminal cases. We are working to develop a comprehensive response to rape and sexual assault. One element of this is the President’s 2014 budget that includes $20 million to address the backlog of rape kits.”

The revised SAFE Protocol reflects the many important improvements that can help increase the quality of the services victims receive. The updated protocol has increased information on populations with special needs, such as victims with limited English proficiency; victims with disabilities; American Indian and Alaska Native victims; victims in the military; and lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender victims.  It also has expanded information on topics such as drug and alcohol facilitated sexual assault, pregnancy, confidentiality and alternative reporting procedures.

The SAFE Protocol is not a requirement for any federal grant funding. Adherence to the protocol is not mandatory with the exception of the recently released Department of Defense Instruction on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program Procedures. In addition, to comply with the department’s National Standards to Prevent, Detect and Response to Prison Rape, correctional facilities that are responsible for investigating allegations of sexual abuse in their facilities must use a protocol that is adapted from or otherwise based on the SAFE Protocol or similarly comprehensive and authoritative protocols developed after 2011.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetimes, and nearly 1.3 million women in the U.S. are raped every year.  More than one in four American Indian or Alaska Native women have been raped. Sexual assault and rape are pervasive crimes that threaten the safety of all communities. The SAFE Protocol is an important step forward in the Department of Justice’s efforts to end sexual violence.

An analysis of changes in Google query volume for search terms related to finance reveals patterns that could be interpreted as early-warning signs of stock market moves.

Tobias Preis, of England's Warwick Business School, Helen Susannah Moat, of University College London, and H. Eugene Stanley, of Boston University analysed changes in the frequency of 98 terms, such as 'revenue', 'unemployment', credit' and 'nasdaq', in Google searches from 2004 to 2011. (see graph)

Preis, Moat and Stanley found that using these changes in search volume as the basis of a trading strategy investing in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index could have led to substantial profit.

In their paper entitled Quantifying Trading Behavior in Financial Markets published in Nature Publishing Group’s Scientific Reports, the team of academics demonstrate that trading on the basis of the number of queries on Google using the keyword 'debt' could have brought in returns of up to 326 per cent (see graph).

Dr. Preis, Associate Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, said: "We found that changes in the volume of certain Google search terms could be used as early warning signs of subsequent stock market movement."

The research supports the idea that drops in the financial market may be preceded by periods of investor concern. Investors may search for more information about the market before they are prepared to sell at lower prices. Conversely, the researchers found that drops in interest in financial topics could be used as a signal for subsequent stock market rises.

"Analysis of Google Trends data may offer a new perspective on the decision making processes of market participants during periods of large market movements", said Dr. Moat, based at University College London.

No better time to check out this small gem of an exhibit at The Frick Collection than now.  The magnolia trees are in bloom, and there’s arguably no better spot in town to watch nature’s glory unfold than from inside the new Portico Gallery of the Gilded Age mansion, which has floor-to-ceiling windows fronting the Fifth Avenue Garden. 

 Former home of Pittsburgh steel magnate and art patron Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), the museum has a world-renowned collection of Old Master paintings and European sculpture and decorative arts.  In 1999, Winthrop Kellogg Edey, a lifelong collector of antique clocks, gave the museum 38 timepieces — 25 of which (11 clocks and 14 watches) are now on view at The Frick, which boasts one of the most significant public collections of European clocks and watches in the US.  These items, together with five clocks on loan from collector Horace Wood Block, comprise the current exhibition.

 A tribute to art and a tribute to science, the elaborate gilded works on display date from the early 16th to the 19th century. Their provenance: England, France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.  They were valued as much for their artistry and craft as for their functionality.  They were status items in many cases, especially the early clocks and watches, which were imprecise and not reliable.  They signified a person’s wealth and taste.  Napoleon, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and the daughters of Louis XV were just some of the many rich and famous people who coveted them.

 The show at The Frick, the curators tell us, traces the “evolution over the centuries of more accurate and complex timepieces," all the while chronicling the “aesthetic developments that reflected Europe’s latest styles," such as its embrace of neoclassicism in the late 18th century, a reaction to the rococo style that was so popular with the court of Louis XV and throughout Europe. 

 The clocks are noteworthy for their cases, the architecture that houses and embellishes delicate mechanisms tracking time — traditional time, calendrical time, even astronomical time, as is the case with 17th century clockmaker David Weber’s two-foot-tall 'tower clock', which has seven dials, including a central astrolabe dial.  Crafted from gold, silver, gilt bronze and brass, malachite, marble and porcelain, the cases are adorned with columns, pediments, classical statues, crowns of laurel, and mythological figures, an obvious bow to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

 One standout piece among many:  Garniture of One Clock and Two Vases (c. 1764), a trio of Chinese Qing dynasty vases made from a rare porcelain, celadon bleu fleuri.  To suit the current fashion — "French collectors’ perpetual quest for increasingly more elaborate and novel luxury items" — a clock mechanism with a gilded snake to indicate the time was added to one of the vases soon after the items arrived in France; gilt bronze mounts with neoclassical architectural motifs embellish all three.

The watches are equally refined and, like the early clocks, the first watches were more status markers than timekeepers.  Watches became more accurate after the introduction of the balance spring in 1675. (For clocks, the introduction of the pendulum clock in 1653 marked a turning point, making for more precise time measurements.) 

Images:

Chavannes le Jeune (active c. 1650–1660), enameling attributed to Pierre Huaud (1612–1680), Gold and Enamel Pendant Watch, c. 1660, The Frick Collection, New York, Bequest of Winthrop Kellogg Edey; photo: Richard di Liberto

The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) preseneds Shoe Obsession, an exhibition that examined our culture’s ever-growing fascination with extravagant and fashionable shoes. In fact, designer shoes have overtaken 'It' bags as the most coveted fashion accessories. In response, shoe departments in major department stores have undergone significant expansions, and the “great designer shoe wars” have escalated. Shoes by established designers such as Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin continue to be bestsellers, while the number of rising stars within the footwear industry is multiplying. Over the past decade, heels have reached new heights — as have prices. High-heeled shoes — the fashion shoes of the 21st century — have become so tall that even a 4-inch heel is considered 'low.'

Shoe Obsession featured approximately 150 examples of contemporary footwear, highlighting the extreme, lavish, and imaginative styles that have made shoes central to fashion.

Manolo Blahnik, 2003 Courtesy of Manolo Blahnik Photograph © The Museum at FIT	Christian Louboutin Pigalle heels, fall 2012 Courtesy of  Christian Louboutin	Roger Vivier (Bruno Frisoni) Eyelash Heel pump fall 2012-2013 Rendez-Vous (Limited Edition Collection) Courtesy of Roger Vivier/Photo by  Stephane Garrigues	Pierre Hardy, fall 2010 Courtesy of Pierre Hardy

The popularity of designer shoes has grown rapidly. Little more than a decade ago, appreciation of Blahnik’s feminine, elegant designs was limited primarily to fashion insiders. Then the style-conscious characters on the popular television series Sex and the City were presented as obsessive about his shoes, and Manolo Blahnik became a household name. Shoe Obsession included a pair of Blahnik’s rhinestone-buckled, silver D’Orsay shoes — a version of which was used in a 2003 Sex and the City episode titled "A Woman’s Right to Shoes."

Blahnik’s success paved the way for other high-end shoe designers, a number of whom have become celebrities in their own right. Christian Louboutin’s undeniably sexy shoes — with their signature red soles — have established him as one of the best-known footwear designers in the world. The designer’s cherry red, fiercely spiked Pigalle pumps from fall 2012 were among his many influential styles on view in the exhibition. Bruno Frisoni, as artistic director at Roger Vivier, has maintained that brand’s legacy of opulence and impeccable craftsmanship, yet Frisoni also cultivates a style all his own. His modern, seductive aesthetic was highlighted by his exquisite Eyelash Heel feathered pump, from the limited-edition Rendez-Vous line. Also featured were shoes by Pierre Hardy, whose work is defined by strong, graphic silhouettes and bold color combinations. While Hardy’s own brand has grown steadily since its launch in 1999, the designer is also known for his collaborations with Balenciaga, Hermès, and even Gap.

At just over 30 years of age, Nicholas Kirkwood has already gained a loyal following for his edgy silhouettes and unusual mixes of materials. Kirkwood has also created some of the most memorable shoes to grace the fashion catwalks in recent years, collaborating with fashion labels such as Paco Rabanne and Rodarte. Other up-and-coming designers featured included Alexandre Birman, a young Brazilian born into a family of shoe designers. Birman is known for his expert use of exotic skins — many of which are vibrantly hand-painted. Charlotte Olympia Dellal’s glamorous shoes are often inspired by the 1940s, yet the designer’s bold choices of print and color exude a fresh, modern charm. Although Alessandra Lanvin’s shoe label, Aperlaï, was founded just three years ago, the designer’s sophisticated references to fine art — including her Cubist-inspired Geisha heels — have positioned Aperlaï as a brand to watch.   

 In addition to showcasing leading shoe designers, Shoe Obsession featured extraordinary styles from major fashion houses. Givenchy, now under the creative direction of Riccardo Tisci, produces shoes that complement the moody elegance of Tisci’s clothing. The exhibition featured a style from the spring 2012 couture collection, adorned with a metal T-strap and sharp “piercing” detail that mirrored the extreme jewelry worn by the models at the collection’s debut. While many 21st-century shoe styles may be perceived as extreme or extravagant, avant-garde designers such as Japan’s Noritaka Tatehana push the envelope even further. An example of Tatehana’s Lady Pointe shoes, a style worn by Lady Gaga in a recent television performance, was on view. The shoes measured a vertiginous 18 inches tall. While not as extreme in silhouette, Andreia Chaves’s remarkable Invisible shoes featured an asymmetrical façade of mirrors that reflects the wearer’s surroundings, acting as a unique form of camouflage.  
 

Noritaka Tatehana Lady Pointe shoes (designed for Lady Gaga), 2012 The Museum at FIT Photograph courtesy of Noritaka Tatehana	Andreia Chaves Invisible shoes, 2011 Leather, printed nylon, laser-cut mirrored façade Courtesy of Andreia Chaves	Gucci, spring 2010 From the collection of the Baroness Monica von Neumann Photograph © The Museum at FIT

 Although the average American woman owns about 20 pairs of shoes, the collections of true shoe fanatics are vast. Shoe Obsession featured shoes from women with incredible collections. Jewelry designer Lynn Ban owns 20 pairs of heels by Azzedine Alaïa, as well as three pairs of Prada’s fall 2012 “flame” shoes, examples of which were shown in the exhibition. Baroness Monica von Neumann, whose love of exquisite high heels was outlined in the 2011 documentary God Save My Shoes, was represented by styles from eminent luxury brands such as Gucci and Hermès. Daphne Guinness — one of today’s most influential style icons — lent a selection of her heels, including extreme examples by Alexander McQueen and Nina Ricci. 
 
Shoe Obsession was co-curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, and Colleen Hill, associate curator of accessories, together with Fred Dennis, senior curator of costume.

The exhibition was accompanied by a book, also titled Shoe Obsession, published by Yale University Press. In addition to essays by Steele and Hill, the book will feature more than 150 color photographs of exceptional 21st-century shoes. All royalties from sales of the book benefit the Fashion Institute of Technology.

The Museum at FIT, which is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is the only museum in New York City dedicated solely to the art of fashion. Best known for its innovative and award-winning exhibitions, which The New York Times has described as “ravishing,” the museum has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present. 

Below you will find a regularly-updated, comprehensive roundup of introduced, pending, active, and passed voting laws, prepared by the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. (See a detailed summary of restrictive legislation, as of April 5th.)

Numbers Overview

Since the beginning of 2013, restrictive voting bills have been introduced in more than half the [US] states:

• At least 80 restrictive bills were introduced in 31 states.
• Of those, 62 restrictive bills are still pending in 25 states.
• Of those, 25 restrictive bills are currently active in 12 states[1], in that there has been legislative activity beyond introduction and referral to committee (such as hearings, committee activity, or votes).
• Two states have already passed three restrictive bills this session. Virginia and Arkansas both passed restrictive legislation requiring a photo ID to vote, and Virginia passed legislation making it harder for community groups to conduct voter registration drives.

"Country Gentleman" magazine cover, November 1922. The 19th Amendment giving all women the right to vote wasn't ratified until August 1920. Painted by J. F. Kernan, Wikimedia Commons

At the same time, across the country, politicians from both sides of the aisle have introduced and supported bills that expand access to registration and voting.  

• At least 195 bills that would expand access to voting were introduced in 45 states.
• Of those, 155 bills are still pending in 37 states.
• Of those, 41 bills are currently active in 21 states[2], in that there has been legislative activity beyond introduction and referral to committee (such as hearings, committee activity, or votes).
• Three states have passed three bills that expand opportunities for eligible citizens to register to vote. Virginia passed online voter registration and New Mexico passed a bill that automates the registration process at the state’s DMVs. Oklahoma passed a bill that allows more types of photo IDs to satisfy its existing, strict, voter ID law.

Voting Restrictions

Note: In the cases where more than one piece of restrictive legislation has been introduced in a state, we designate the state’s passed, active, or pending status based on its most active piece of legislation.

Restrictions Passed in 2013 

Arkansas:

• Photo ID required to vote (legislature overrode gubernatorial veto)

When we met a lady in an expected place but unexpected circumstances, we began automatically to be on the alert. That was the way it was for us then we met Thene (short for Parthenia). From the first moment, we saw she was unique. She supplied us with more than one aphorism over the years we knew her.

We met her because we’d heard she was a wonderful riding instructor. Our children had a pony, and I hadn’t had any instruction for more than 20 years, so we decided to check her out.

A stocky, upright, white-haired lady in a typical 'house dress' greeted us by the back door of her Victorian house on a pleasant side street. Clearly a lot had changed in the neighborhood since the house had been built. Across a small yard stood what was obviously a small stable that had probably begun life as a garage. The sliding doors were open, and inside we could see six stalls with five equine heads observing over the half doors.

Thene’s personal history enticed the whole family. I still have a picture of my mother, me, and our three children mounted on Thene’s horses. Three generations, and Thene. My husband had to be at work during these times, but he would often accompany me on a Saturday to discuss our management of the pony’s replacement. That way he could offer help with some chores and have the opportunity to talk with her. She gave us a small library of quotable quotes over the year we knew her: "time come, baby come" for when awaiting a foaling or any other anticipated event; "if everybody hung their troubles on the line, you’d take your own off first;" "comparisons are odious;" and other turn-of-the-century aphorisms. She showed us how to put the best finishing polish on a groomed animal with her bare hand. She could explain what to do on horseback in ten words that someone else would take ten minutes to teach.

The daughter of the first veterinarian in the town, she had remained where she grew up, taking care of her mother after her father’s death and her sister’s marriage. She let slip enough about her own youth for us to know she’d given up her first love to do her duty — back during World War I.

by Louise Erdrich
Published by Harper Collins Books, ©2012; 321 pages

Fans of Louise Erdrich, and (full disclosure) I count myself among them, will be pleased to discover that she has given us a worthy addition to her impressive body of work. Ms. Erdrich has produced poetry, short stories, and children’s books, as well as thirteen (13!) earlier novels.

The list of awards and honors she has received in the past thirty years is so long that in the interest of saving space, I’ll simply note that The Round House received the National Book Award in 2012, an award well-earned.

Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa (also called Ojibway), a tribe of Native Americans that inhabits areas and/or reservations scattered along the border between the United States and Canada, stretching west from Ohio through Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, to North Dakota and north into Ontario, Canada. Her books reflect her heritage, but beyond that, they introduce the reader to some of the complex relationships between Native Americans and the populations of towns that surround them.

Make no mistake: the books are not polemics in defense of “the noble savage.” While Erdrich  affords us a clear-eyed look into the prejudices and arrogance of many of her characters, she has a firm grip on universal values that pertain to people of every culture. Her stories involve human beings, not stereotypes, and open our hearts to many possibilities heretofore unthought-of.

At the same time, they offer to a reader a true glimpse into some of the things with which Native Americans must cope, whether on the reservation or living outside its borders. Along with recognition of problems like alcoholism and poverty, we are introduced to the dichotomy of modern life and ancient traditions and ceremonies.

The US Supreme Court heard arguments on April 15th  in a case seeking to invalidate patents on two genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.(Illustration is of Breast Cancer 1, Early Onset from Wikipedia)

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) on behalf of researchers, genetic counselors, patients, breast cancer and women's health groups, and medical professional associations representing 150,000 geneticists, pathologists and laboratory professionals. The patents allow a Utah company, Myriad Genetics, to control access to the genes, thereby enabling them to limit others from doing research or diagnostic testing of the genes, which can be crucial for individuals making important medical decisions.

"Myriad did not invent the human genes at issue in this case, and they should not be allowed to patent them. The patent system was designed to encourage innovation, not stifle scientific research and the free exchange of ideas, which is what these patents do," said attorney Chris Hansen of the ACLU, who argued the case.

A federal district court invalidated all of the challenged patents in 2010. In 2012, a federal appeals court ruled for the second time that the patents on the genes were valid. Its 2-1 decision followed a Supreme Court order directing the appeals court to reconsider its initial decision in light of a related patent case decided by the Supreme Court last spring.

"The Patent Office's policy of granting companies complete control over portions of our bodies is both morally offensive and a clear violation of the law," said Daniel B. Ravicher, executive director of PUBPAT and co-counsel in the lawsuit. "Genes are the foundation of life, they are created by nature, not by man, and that is why we were here today at the Supreme Court to make sure they are not controlled by corporations through the patent system."

That's not so for garden tools; we're old enough to have accumulated many pruners, including an ancient one from my late father, but the hunt for additions never quite abates completely. Invariably nowadays, I reach for my favorite Japanese Saboten 1208 or 1218 (pink or yellow, small and comfortable to the arthritic hand.

And so it was that, after our annual pruning lecture at Berkeley Horticulture, we spied a marvelous bag for cutting flowers that circles the waist and leaves your hands free to reach for the next rose, salvia discolor branch (see below), gazania or whatever catches your fancy for the collection of vases in the house. It's called The Gardener's Hollow Leg ® and is a improvement over the baskets, trugs and enameled containers I'd have to balance and carry by hand to hold the bounty I'd collect. There's a new Gardener's Hollow Leg Junior size for those younger companions to wear or walkers and participants in Earth Day endeavors using them to store items. These bags would also be extremely handy for those adventurous enough to climb a ladder for trimming or obtaining higher-branch bounty.

Owner and inventor Bob Blomberg explains his path to The Gardener's Hollow Leg thusly: "What about all these piles of clippings on the walk?!  If only I had some way to eliminate the last minute clean up.  If I only had a bag that was always at my side so I could put my clippings in it throughout the day and dump it into the compost container each time it was full!  That way, when I was done pruning, I would be done!"

So armed and armoured against thorns and ready to stash my cuttings for the house in the bag attached to my hip, I'd set out wearing my West County Rose Gauntlets and, occasionally, some chaps to protect my legs.  Finally,  I make sure to put a container of Technu in the bath to scrub off any poison plant oils after gardening; regardless of whether you've observed any poison ivy, oak, sumac on your patch, it's wise to take precautions. 

We noted the brightly colored plant supports (peas, tomatoes, sweet peas, lemon cucumber) that we found at Annie's Annuals recently and happily scooped up four. Two of GlamosWire.com's deep red enamelled towers and two fuschia pink now grace our vegetable growing area; it's possible to find 10-packs of the towers for a variety of plants to climb. The towers are tall enough for ample climbing and the color choices appeal to our fashion sense. And not only that, Glamos Wire, located in Minnesota, has been family owned since 1899 and their products are made in the US.

Finally, my gifted husband recommends the Hida Tool Stainless Steel Serrated Edge trowel-knife.  It's used for digging, transplanting, weeding and cutting. The stainless steel blade is completely tempered to increase durability and is rust resistant. One side is serrated to make cutting weeds and small branches easier. The Hori Hori knife comes in a synthetic leather sheath. What's very helpful is that one side is marked for both inches and centimeters for alignment with proscribed depths. It's perfect for cutting out recalcitrant plants and roots quickly and efficiently.

Iron and Wood Garden Tools forged by the Fisher Blacksmithing firm in Montana, have the look of Old World implements, that is, strong and hand-forged.

PBS'  Nature dedicated an episode to What Plants Talk About, A world where plants communicate, co-operate and, sometimes, wage all-out war.

Watch What Plants Talk About on PBS. See more from Nature.

Critical to the development of surrealism was the art of drawing. For those involved in the movement, it was a vital means of expression and innovation, resulting in a rich array of graphic techniques that radically pushed conventional art historical boundaries. Yet the medium has been largely overlooked in visual arts studies and exhibitions as scholars and institutions have focused more on surrealist painting and sculpture.