Category Archives: Viva!

Mascot cat “Spark Plug” [on plane] (LOC) by The Library of Congress

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Mascot cat "Spark Plug" [on plane]

[between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:
Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://1.usa.gov/1D9d3AE

General information about the Bain Collection is available at http://1.usa.gov/1HWc8Jc

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): http://1.usa.gov/1TY2hbv

Call Number: LC-B2- 4475-2

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/E4jZZp

WHO Update : Yellow Fever Outbreak In Angola

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Over the past couple of days there have been media reports of another arbovirus outbreak in west central Africa (see Yellow fever outbreak kills 37 in Angola) vectored by the same mosquito as the Zika (and Dengue & CHKV) virus.

Yellow fever is currently a threat to 900 million inhabitants of Africa and parts of South America where it remains endemic and occasionally epidemic.

First the WHO update on the Angola outbreak, and then I’ll return with a bit more on the subject.

Yellow Fever – Angola

12 February 2016 – On 21 January 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of Angola notified WHO of an outbreak of yellow fever. 

The first cases were identified in the district of Viana (Luanda province) on 5 December 2015. Yellow fever infection was initially confirmed in three patients by polymerase chain reaction at the Zoonosis and Emerging Disease Laboratory of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa and at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal. 

As of 8 February, a total of 164 suspected cases and 37 deaths had been reported in Angola. The majority of cases (n=138) had been reported in the province of Luanda. Other affected provinces include Cabinda, Cuanza Sul, Huambo, Huila and Uige. Suspected cases are undergoing laboratory testing in order to rule out other aetiologies and cross reactions with yellow fever.

Public health response

The national task force has been activated to control the outbreak. Health authorities in Angola are implementing a number of control and response activities, including coordination, clinical case management, enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing, social mobilization and vector control. Epidemiological and entomological investigations are ongoing in the main affected areas. On 3 February, the first round of immunization campaign started in Luanda. 

WHO has deployed three experts to provide operational support. In addition to financial support, technical directives and guidelines have been shared with country officials to improve the quality of the response.

On 2 February, an immunization campaign was launched in Luanda. The campaign will initially cover a target population of 1,578,085 in Viana.

WHO risk assessment

In the affected districts of Luanda, there is a high density of Aedes Aegypti, the primary vector of yellow fever; consequently, the risk of spread to unaffected districts is high. This risk is further exacerbated by the high proportion of susceptible individuals, as the only protected groups are the citizens with international vaccination cards and those children that have been vaccinated against yellow fever since 2008. WHO continues to monitor the epidemiological situation and conduct risk assessment. WHO does not recommend any travel or trade restriction to Angola based on the current information available.

Background

Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. Up to 50% of severely affected persons without treatment will die from yellow fever. There are an estimated 130,000 cases of yellow fever reported yearly, causing 44,000 deaths worldwide each year, with 90% occurring in Africa. There is no specific treatment for yellow fever. Treatment is symptomatic, aimed at reducing the symptoms for the comfort of the patient. Vaccination is the most important preventive measure against yellow fever. Since the second half of 2015, yellow fever virus circulation has been reported in Mali and Ghana.

While Yellow Fever has been successfully eradicated from North America and Europe for decades, the mosquito vectors that transmit the virus are still present in some regions.
And just as with Dengue, Chikungunya, Malaria,  and most recently Zika, the potential for limited re-introduction of Yellow Fever is not nil.  
A 2010 Eurosurveillance Journal devoted an entire issue to The Threat Of Vector Borne Diseases, including making the case for the reintroduction of  Yellow fever and dengue: a threat to Europe? by P Reiter (excerpt below).

P Reiter (AuthorEmailAsImage.aspx?ArticleAuthorId=)1

The introduction and rapidly expanding range of Aedes albopictus in Europe is an iconic example of the growing risk of the globalisation of vectors and vector-borne diseases. The history of yellow fever and dengue in temperate regions confirms that transmission of both diseases could recur, particularly if Ae. aegypti, a more effective vector, were to be re-introduced.  The article is a broad overview of the natural history and epidemiology of both diseases in the context of these risks.


(SNIP)


The history of dengue and yellow fever in Europe is evidence that conditions are already suitable for transmission. The establishment of Ae. albopictus has made this possible, and the possibility will increase as the species expands northwards, or if Ae. aegypti is re-established.

And in 2013 Peter Hotez – Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine – and Kristy Murray, an associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine who studys mosquito-borne diseases, penned a PLoS Blog entitled.  

Posted December 5, 2013 by Peter Hotez and Kristy Murray in General, Neglected Diseases
 

Peter Hotez and Kristy Murray from Baylor College of Medicine highlight the potential for yellow fever to return to the southern cities of the United States

Spolier alert, it could.

A reminder, that when it comes to re-emerging infectious diseases – even in areas that for decades have been immune – one should never say `never’.

Be An Unapologetic, Badass Body-Love Warrior.

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“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.” ~ Mary Oliver

We need more body-love warriors.

It’s no secret why: think airbrushing (more aptly named airbutchering),  Photoshopping (Photochopping), size-ism, body shaming, and the far and wide ramifications of body image issues, from subtle yet deep to acutely life-threatening.

Radical body-love is desperately needed. Now.

I’m not talking about the lip service paid to body-love… the I’ll love my body when blahblahblah or the I love my body now that it’s blahblahblah.

I’m talking right here, right now. As is.

What if we engaged in body-love down to the potent power of our words?

What if we extended body-love from truly loving the skin we’re in to respecting all bodies?

What if we simply stopped commenting on the appearance of bodies?

Our own body.

Others’ bodies.

Hollywood bodies.

All bodies.

What’s so radical about this? It’s a far cry from where we are now and how we’re conditioned to perceive, evaluate, judge and speak about bodies. It flies in the face of industries working to keep us small and starve our self-esteem.

It’s radical in its simplicity and realness. It’s Rebelle-ious in its creative adaptation to maladjusted societal norms around bodies, women’s bodies in particular.

It’s radical, and it’s time.

The perfect storm of external influences washed clarity ashore on standing as an unapologetic, badass body-love Warrior. Ride the tides from a curious compliment about my body into softness.

A Curious Compliment

As a Nia movement instructor and trainer, my body and her changes are very visible. A beautifully-intentioned student once commented to me, “You look great! You’ve lost weight!”

She was correct. I had lost weight. How much, I had no idea. My scale is dusty. I know my body, and sensed she had shed weight.

Why was this compliment so poignant? I had just had the flu.

While feeling yucky in my post-flu recovery, I was perceived as looking great. Except for my Rudolph-esque nose, I was drained of color. Bags dragged my eyes down.

How I felt and what I saw in the mirror told a very different story from looking great. Having lost weight to flu translated into a curious compliment.

Am I grateful for this lovely woman’s well-meaning intentions? Yes. I am always grateful for good intentions.

Could my body remain where she was right then and there (weight-wise) and be healthy? Yes.

Could my body lose some weight and be healthy? Yes.

Could my body gain some weight and be healthy? Yes.

Could my body recover from the flu and return to a state that feels healthier? Yes. Thankfully, she has.

My body is healthy. I am so deeply grateful for her and for Nia’s invitation into loving my body by teaching me to live inside my body. Inhabiting one’s body helps shift the focus from externally judging to sensing from within.

Experiencing my body through her sensations teaches me to be comfortable in my skin, and to appreciate and delight in my body’s wisdom and magnificence of design.

Perceiving my body as the miracle she is doesn’t leave much room for hyper-focusing on a few pounds here and there. Number of pounds becomes more insignificant as I become more at home and alive in my body.

My body knows when she is healthy and feeling prime. When my bony knees don’t rest comfortably stacked atop one another while falling asleep, a bit more padding is desired.

When my body is more ample to the point of getting in the way of dancing as I desire, a little less ampleness would feel better. My body knows.

Even in this place of enjoying a healthy relationship with my body, a wave of responses to this student’s comment still leaked in:

“She thinks I look great after losing weight. Is the implication that I didn’t look so great before?”

“When that weight returns (which I knew it would when radiantly healthy again), will she think I don’t look great? Do I care?”

“How would I have felt hearing this if I had lost weight due to a serious illness?”

“How does it feel to have someone (literally) sizing up my body?”

My body is my most personal, private, sacred space. My temple. I was left wondering: why are any of us commenting on others’ bodies, the most private and sacred of spaces? I cannot say that I had never done so. I don’t any longer.

A Lightbulb Conversation

A lightbulb moment occurred for me when an enlightened friend shared that she never comments on another’s weight unless the other person broaches the topic.

Upon noticing that someone has lost weight, she holds the awareness that she has no idea why. It could be illness. Stress. An eating disorder. An unhealthy diet.

Not knowing if it was intentional or desired, healthy or not, she chooses not to comment. Even when she knows that weight loss was desired, she avoids this topic.

She is free-flowing with compliments that aren’t about body shape or size. She compliments something else. “You look radiant!” “Your skin is glowing.” “You are beautiful.”

Especially after hearing the compliment about my flu-induced weight loss, I follow suit, sharing compliments unrelated to body shape or size.

Red Carpet Wrap-Up

While folding laundry with the remote control on the other side of the room, one show ended and a gossip-type show began. Internal fireworks sparked upon hearing red-carpet commentary:

“While sporting that post-baby belly, I call that either a courageous or clueless choice in dresses!”

“This designer’s revealing necklines are better suited to a woman three decades her junior.”

Even the supposedly complimentary comments saddened me:

“She rocks the gown, proving that real women have curves!”

And the real women who are not as curvy as others?

This panel of women and men ripping apart women’s bodies felt violent to me. I’m disgusted that personalities are paid to make such statements, dismayed that there’s an audience for it.

Softness

Fresh eyes offer fresh insights. A beautifully simple yet powerfully striking aha moment came to me through the eyes of a child and the mouth of a babe.

A few years back, my days took a sedentary turn while healing a broken bone. Complications kept me off of the dance floor for several months. My body is used to dancing regularly. Without that outlet, I gained 16 pounds.

This non-scale gal had this reference point after being weighed before each of my two orthopedic surgeries. Dancing Nia brings me pure delight. Without it, I was relying more on chocolate, cheese and other non-dancing delights.

During this window, my then seven-year-old son curled up with me, his hand and head resting on my belly. Looking up at me with the sweetest expression and such love and adoration in his eyes, he said, “Mama, you’re so soft!”

Preciousness! I laughed, wondering: why would I not want to be soft for my little guy to snuggle?

From Rubenesque roundness… to athletic edges… to models close to the bone… what’s considered fashionable always shifts.

The arbitrary nature of the current body-type fixation at any given moment sunk in deeply in this soft, sweet moment.

Days later, my son weighed himself for a school math project. Upon seeing the number on the scale, he burst out: “Cool! I earned four pounds!”

“Earned!” Phenomenal! I, too, earned my pounds of softness.

Truth reframed. Ever since, I have been dancing with those adoring words celebrating softness in this culture which pushes the hard body image and mentality.

In so many ways, the world needs more softness.

Call to unapologetic, badass body-love warriorship

Let’s stir up a tsunami, body-love warriors.

Let’s stop using words to judge bodies, and begin using words to affirm the gifts that our bodies are.

Let’s shift from counting numbers sizing up our bodies to counting on our bodies… to be strong, fit, flexible, capable and healthy.

My body is miraculous. So is yours. This is cause for celebration. Radical body-love celebration.

***

TracyStamperTracy Stamper is a dancer at heart, in mind, of body, and with words. She is blessed and blissed to call dancing her profession, thanks to the transformational conscious movement form of Nia. She teaches Nia classes and offers Nia White Belt Trainings for fellow dancers at heart, in mind, and of body. Tracy lives in St. Louis in a home on a little hill, with a whimsical wind sculpture out front, and two crazy rescue beagle boy dogs and the two human loves of her life inside. Her current favorite colors are purple, orange and glitter. She likes her chocolate dark, her little bubble of a world Personalitics-free, her inspiration flowing, and her car dances to be uninhibited. You can connect with her on her website, Nia website, and Facebook.

***

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They Mad: Beyonce’s Middle Finger Salute to White America | Dame Magazine

What’s really behind the backlash to Queen Bey’s Super Bowl performance

They’re not just mad at Bey – they’re made at the Black women leading the Black Lives Matter movement.  They’re mad at #SayHerName.  They’re mad at the recent news that Black women activists refuse to endorse a political candidate for the presidency.  They’re mad because we be all up and down these fiber-optic streets clapping back and engaged in wig snatchery when racists come for us.

White anger is rooted in a long, deep history of needing to control the Black female body, mind and output. White America likes its Black women to be downtrodden, preferably subservient, suffering from any of the countless maladies and dysfunctions they create and maintain through racist and economic oppression, and coddling their fragile emotions.

This moment of White anger and down-by-the-riverside tears reveals deep-seated need to control our blackness. To dominate and define everything we say and do to serve their agendas. And Beyoncé brilliantly slayed all of that history and exploitation in “Formation.” She issued a clarion call to celebrate our Black selves in all of our diverse glory, and to connect to the fight for justice, be it via Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, the Civil Rights Movement or Black Lives Matter.  The sight of leather, berets and Afros, not to mention Bey displaying her body on top of a police car and drowning it in the video, compels White panic.  Worse yet, she brought the unapologetic politics of Blackness into the Super Bowl, the yearly celebration of white masculinity.

– See more at: http://www.damemagazine.com/2016/02/12/they-mad-beyonces-middle-finger-salute-white-america#sthash.a20OLyAV.dpuf

Source: They Mad: Beyonce’s Middle Finger Salute to White America | Dame Magazine

Mascot cat “Spark Plug” [on plane] (LOC) by The Library of Congress

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Mascot cat "Spark Plug" [on plane]

[between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:
Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://1.usa.gov/1D9d3AE

General information about the Bain Collection is available at http://1.usa.gov/1HWc8Jc

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): http://1.usa.gov/1TY2hbv

Call Number: LC-B2- 4475-2

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/E4jZZp

Yarrow allotting relief to Armenian orphans (LOC) by The Library of Congress

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Yarrow allotting relief to Armenian orphans

[between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:
Title from data provided by the Bain News Service on the negative.
Photograph shows Ernest Alfred Yarrow (1876-1939), who served as head of the Near East Relief in Armenia with Armenian women and children. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2012)
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://1.usa.gov/1D9d3AE

General information about the Bain Collection is available at http://1.usa.gov/1HWc8Jc

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): http://1.usa.gov/1PsRXVS

Call Number: LC-B2- 4479-4

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/D6BeHj