What are You Reading?

[+ Just Sayin]

39 minutes ago, Charlie said:

Thanks for this note. My spouse was an architect who died of Alzheimer's, so I'm sure I will find it interesting.

oh, Charlie; hold on to your hat; I had to pause from time to time just to compose myself and continue reading; here's how I found out about it: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/1085180815/writer-amy-bloom-reflects-on-her-husbands-assisted-suicide

 

[Luv2play]

I have always objected to the phrase “assisted suicide”. Here in Canada we call it “medical assistance in dying” or MAID for short. It removes the stigma associated with suicide. 
Thankfully we have moved beyond the legal impediments that exist in other jurisdictions with being able to end one’s life when there is no hope of recovery and living is an unbearable burden. 
The person in Canada who brought this about was Sue Rodriguez who fought for ending her life on her terms but had to leave the country in order to do so. The law changed shortly after her death. 

[Luv2play]

I just checked into it and Sue Rodriguez did not leave the country but found a doctor who anonymously helped her to die in Canada. Her case, which went to the Supreme Court where she lost, was a tipping point in the debate. 

[CuriousByNature]

51 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

I just checked into it and Sue Rodriguez did not leave the country but found a doctor who anonymously helped her to die in Canada. Her case, which went to the Supreme Court where she lost, was a tipping point in the debate. 

If I recall correctly (I was living in BC at the time) there was a local politician who advocated for her assisted suicide, and there was some question afterward about whether or not he was present for the final act.  I know people who have partaken of MAID, and it was a comfort to them and their families.  But I know one person who was pressured multiple times to have MAID, and that was really stressful for her because she didn't think the doctors cared to help her live.  There are other stories of people being offered MAID when there are other options still available.  Canada's healthcare system, while 'free of charge' for most things, is very inconsistent in the quality of care received - and Canada has fallen far behind other countries with respect to medical innovation and options for treatment.

Edited July 20 by CuriousByNature

[Luv2play]

I am an avid reader of the Saturday obituaries in the Globe&Mail newspaper and often see references to MAID as being the cause of death, although it’s usually not explicitly stated as such. Phrases like “the time and place of their choosing “ or “they left on their own terms” are used. These instances are becoming more prevalent as resort to MAID is increasingly being chosen. Often the people have had very accomplished careers or lives and choose to go out on a positive note before the suffering becomes unbearable. If I were in that situation I know I would do it. I saw what my mother went through 40 years ago and would not want that for myself. 

[mike carey]

I think this is the appropriate thread to post this.

 

[+ Charlie]

I have just finished reading A Troubled Oasis: A Critical History of Palm Springs, California, by Ronald Eugene Isetti, an historian who has written several histories of places in California. It is a serious analysis of the area from its original settlement by the Cahuilla Indians until the present. It deals with all sorts of social and political issues, but the long last chapter deals with the arrival and influence of the gay community, entitled "Coming of the Gays and Lesbians, 1990 to the Present." Obviously, they didn't arrive out of nowhere, and there are many references earlier in the book to notable gay residents, but the placement of this chapter at the end of the history seems to imply that the GLBTQ community is now the most important social influence in the city. I am not sure that I would agree with that conclusion, but it is the only serious academic history I have ever read that seems to arrive at such a claim.

[Luv2play]

9 hours ago, Charlie said:

I have just finished reading A Troubled Oasis: A Critical History of Palm Springs, California, by Ronald Eugene Isetti, an historian who has written several histories of places in California. It is a serious analysis of the area from its original settlement by the Cahuilla Indians until the present. It deals with all sorts of social and political issues, but the long last chapter deals with the arrival and influence of the gay community, entitled "Coming of the Gays and Lesbians, 1990 to the Present." Obviously, they didn't arrive out of nowhere, and there are many references earlier in the book to notable gay residents, but the placement of this chapter at the end of the history seems to imply that the GLBTQ community is now the most important social influence in the city. I am not sure that I would agree with that conclusion, but it is the only serious academic history I have ever read that seems to arrive at such a claim.

I’m trying to remember when I first visited Palm Springs but think it was around 1994. The second time was maybe 1996. I stayed longer the second time with friends who had winter home there. All their friends were gay and one night they threw a dinner party for me and I met them. 
Another night we went with a group to a gay friendly restaurant. 
On both visits I had the impression these folks had deep roots in PS and that the gays were an affluent crowd with some influence in the place.