He's a relatively new (2 years) massage therapist located in Oak Ridge TN 37830, but I must say he did right by me.  He's recently married and his wife Stefanie Cooke is also a LMT.  Bill does deep tissue massage without fancy tricks, no trigger points or talk of fixing your energy.  He joked in fact that he just puts all his energy into giving a good massage.  And he does.  He works mostly with the athletes at the University of TN (my alma mater).  My terminally knotted right shoulder has been un-knotted since he worked it into submission.  I did not expect that.  My shoulder has been bunched for over 30 years, and through countless massages and other therapies.  I did have a couple of days of recovery but it was worth it.  Thank you Bill for going for the gusto.  You can get an appointment with him or his wife at Oak Ridge Sports & Therapeutic Massage, 865-4six6-0six95.  Worth every dollar.

The boys from the City of Oak Ridge were just here and they hacked off my mother's beautiful tree just above the chain link fence.  When I called the City about a week ago, I told them it was in the power lines and I was having trouble getting the vines out.  They lady said that they would call me before coming out to cut on it, but they did not.  The ticket the boys were operating on was written by someone named Butch.  Butch drives a jeep and was the one who came to inspect the tree.  He was supposed to call me to talk it over.  The ticket he wrote said cut it above the chainlink, and also "(dog will bite)".  The sign on the gate says "attack dog" but that is a joke: this dog has never bitten anyone and is about the friendliest dog I have ever known.  The dog will not bite.  He would have known that if he had talked to me.  I gave my cell phone number and expected that call.  I am angry that they butchered the tree.  I am angry that Butch didn't call.  I have been watching for local calls.  They could have cut it right below the telephone wires.

The sirens blared for a minute yesterday morning, still tested monthly on the first Wednesday of the month.  My mother has no idea what to do if they go off.  She says she supposes she'd turn on the radio and wait for instructions.  I remember when there was a real feeling of fear, here.  We thought we'd be the first ones to get bombed.  This town was built in the 1940's to support the production of the atomic bombs and other secrets.  Whoever names the city calls it "Secret City" now---it used to be the "Atomic City" but I guess that's not such a popular name these days.

The scientists who work at the labs don't live in Oak Ridge anymore.  I used to think of Oak Ridge as a pocket of international PhD's who were above the southern morass.  Educated and openminded.  That is no longer true.  The road between the plants and West Knoxville has many more lanes, and at rush hour you can see where the lab personnel are going.  My friends tell me that Oak Ridge is become more like the rest of east Tennessee, that is, less educated and more religious and patriotic.

Patriotic externally at least.  On my mother's block most houses have a flag or some sort of "God Bless America" display going on.  My mother has an American flag hanging on her front gate, and there's one in the window of her neighbor's house, and one on the porch of the neighbor across the street.  My father, in another neighborhood, also has one up.  I don't know what exactly all these flags mean.  I think that if you do not display your patriotism, you are suspect of being a terrorist.  I also suspect that the flags declare gun ownership, because the second amendment is enshrined here.  Certainly one would be foolish to threaten anyone, because stickers on vehicles declare that their guns will only be removed from cold dead hands, or that the guns will be smoking hot and out of ammo.  Hanging a flag is in a sense cammo for my relatives who are not so well armed.

Religiousness is endemic here.  Christianity, to be specific.  My mother says Baptists are the dominant sect but the Catholics and Methodists have churches near here and active communities.  I walked by the Methodist church this morning, taking the dog out, and noticed that they have a "First Steps" program for "child development".  Every church has some program for the little ones.  It occurs to me to wonder, does anyone attempt to teach the little ones skepticism and critical thinking?  Are the children getting properly socialized, or dogmatized?  Probably some of each, I suspect.

Oak Ridge is overwhelmingly white.  I did run across a Hispanic mother and her two children waiting for the bus.  She kept them far away from my mother's dog.  And I have seen a few blacks here and there.  The talker who used to work at the gym who now hangs out by the door at Panera to keep social.  He doesn't know when to say goodbye.  Another nonwhite is my mother's old friend Dimitri who is Middle Eastern, and walks everywhere, picking up trash and coins from the sidewalks.  He was an engineer at the plant, has plenty of money in the bank, but lives in a tiny apartment and does not own a car.  I would like to talk to him.  I haven't seen a single native since I've been here, that is, aside from white eyes who were born here like myself.

I used to wear heels that made me six feet tall.  I loved being tall and accepted my big feet for the anchors.  I never liked my body much though, or my face, always found fault.  When I was approaching 30 years old I decided to get in shape.  I'd been in shape a couple of times before... from jiujitsu in high school and my first year of river guiding.  My plan at age 30 had to do with biking, swimming, and walking, hopefully running but I had never been a runner.

( When I was living in Knoxville,Collapse )

I wouldn't believe it either, if I hadn't seen this.

Statistics show that the "stroke belt" is also where you have the highest likelihood (in the US) of dying of cardiovascular and lower respiratory disease (smoking), cancer and accidents. Obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome are probable causes, but what about accidents? Why do southerners have the most accidents? Bless their dangerous little hearts....

SOURCE
http://consumer.healthday.com/cardiovascular-health-information-20/heart-attack-news-357/southeastern-states-have-highest-number-of-preventable-deaths-687436.html

As if it were as legitimate a "theory" as evolution... This is painfully embarrassing to me, as a Tennessean. The governor who allowed it is William Haslam. Unimpressed, I am. What will we call this period in time---the Unenlightenment?

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/11/tennessee-opens-door-to-creationism-in-schools/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/law-allows-creationism-to-be-taught-in-tenn-public-schools/2012/04/11/gIQAAjqxAT_story.html

http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/04/11/tennessee-passes-law-allowing-creationism-in-the-classroom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BadAstronomyBlog+%28Bad+Astronomy%29

This is entertainment. I wasn't there, but I just love to see that many canoeists whuppin it up.

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

You can check out the progress of America's increasing BMI by state, since 1985, on this govt page. The South leads the charge.


Colorado is the Rocky Mountain holdout but they are sliding too.