Halloween!

Halloween used to be a big production, with months of forethought. My mom sewed multiple costumes for me, which were frequently used for several years. One year, she made me a Wendy dress out of an old sheet, and I went with my neighbors Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Tinkerbell.

I miss trick or treating, and I miss dressing up. My neighborhood doesn't have enough kids for me to stay home with a bowl of candy either.

This year, I discovered something fun to do: Trick or Vote. With Halloween just four days before the big election, Portland (and 50 other cities in 40 states) are doing a fun get out the vote campaign. I get to go door to door in costume, but this time, I'm asking for a pledge from people that they will vote their whole ballot and get it in by the deadline. There are a lot of important issues on the ballot in addition to the president, so we hope to encourage people to look at all the candidates and measures. It's nonpartisan, which makes it easier to reach out to everyone.

After much deliberation, I finally settled on dressing as Beethoven because my hair is just right for it. I've compiled a black coat, white tights, short pants, a white frilly shirt, and a red scarf.

Michael Dorris and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Michael Dorris was a Native American writer, anthropologist and head of the Native Amerian Studies program at Dartmouth College. In 1989 he published an autobiographical account of his experiences raising his adopted son who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The book is called The Broken Cord. It's a poignant tale of the love and frustration he experienced as a first time father with a special needs kid. It's also the story of Dorris's unfolding research into the syndrome and its epidemiological and social nature. At the time, FAS research (both clinical and epidemiological) was just at its infancy. Dorris hadn't guessed that it was the cause of his son's physical and mental disabilities or even heard of the disorder until his son was a teenager. By that time (the early 1980's), some health care workers on reservations were estimating the effects of FAS and FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effect, with less pervasive symptoms) hit up to a quarter of kids in their communities. One of the most troubling results of FAS or FAE is poor judgement or the inability to grasp the long term consequences of immediate actions. Thus, women who themselves have been victims of FAS are the most likely to repeat the cycle. All the education attempts are tainted by the simple fact that those who are most likely to drink during pregnancy are unable to learn to avoid behaviors that are damaging to themselves and to their innocent babies. A lot of research progress has surely been made in the past 30 years since FAS was discovered, but as a disorder of the poor, the downtrodden, the uneducated, it will always take a back seat to such well-funded disorders as autism and cancer. Advocate, educate, work for change. But how? Dorris thought he was doing good by caring for these children, giving them all he could provide, but it is never enough to change the course of their preventable fate.
A Broken Life (story of Michael Dorris's suicide in Solon.com)
A well referenced wikipedia article on FAS