Cost, Coverage and Quality - a link about Health Care Reform

T. R. Reid, a journalist who studied the health care systems in other "first world" countries to look for answers to our nations's health care crisis. PBS's NewsHour featured an interview with him today:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/health/healthreform/

Around 6:17 is where I really perked up. What Reid points out is that in these other countries, the first focus, the baseline was to get everyone covered by health insurance and then manage costs and quality after that goal was met. Here, it seems, we are trying to manage costs then look to cover everyone and ensure quality.

That made a light bulb go off in my head. We should have it as a right not a privilege that every person have health insurance and then figure out the best ways to do it after it's set. Otherwise, isn't it like that gopher game at arcades? Once you hit one hole something pops up in another. Once you cover everyone, you have less ER visits, less overhead costs getting absorbed in the system..etc, etc.

There's lots of waste in our health care system, but that seems to me a secondary level of concern. You know, if there's a flood, don't start checking your bank account to make sure you can get new drywall before you stop the leaking and sop up the water.

Another good link:

"Money-Driven Medicine" on Bill Moyer's Journal - http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/profile.html

Javier Tellez and the ICA

I went to the Institute for Contemporary Art yesterday with my mom. Shepard Fairey's exhibit comes down tomorrow. I used to want to see it, then I heard him talk on NPR a few times and decided he was a bit of a tool, and a kind of moron. A vacuous sort of celebquasiartist whose allegedly anti-commercialism "Obey" message rings flat when you hear him discuss his work in commercialism, like for Macy's Department Store...But that's neither here nor there. What I came here to tell you about is the film "Letter on the Blind, For Use of Those Who See" by Javier Tellez.

The film is based on the old Indian parable "Six Blind Men and an Elephant". In the parable, six blind men feel a part of the elephant. None can tell what it is they're touching because they don't feel the whole thing.

Tellez's film features six blind people, each individually approaching and touching an elephant. The different responses and reactions tell a lot about human nature in general, possible dispositions in people. One man is excited like a child and recite Horton Hatches and Egg as he goes round the elephant, touching her skin. Another just taps and doesn't stay long. Another touches but ultimately dislikes the experience. And then there's one part that just MOVED me, and, from what I can tell of the reviews, moved a lot of people. I think I've admitted here that I cry easily but that doesn't always mean that I'm deeply moved. (It just means I'm a sentimental sap in so many ways...) But this film, and especially this one part, which I can't describe well enough to honor its poignancy, so you'll just have to track it down and view it yourself, truly moved me.

Links to reviews, interview with Tellez & the ICA home:
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/03/27/hands_on_experiments/?page=1
http://whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_tellez
http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/performance/tellez_interview.html
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Arts/79501-Video-verite/
http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/acting-out/

Shakespeare in the Park Boston Common 2009 Review: A Comedy of Errors

Yay! Yay! Yay! What larks abound in Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors" and this year's Shakespeare in the Common production was a fun evening out this past Saturday.

Plot rundown: two sets of male twins, one set the slaves to the others, are separated at birth. Many years later as adults, they end up at the same place but, not knowing they're each of a set of twins, people keep mixing them up. A comdey of errors ensues.

Boston's Shakespeare in the Park production takes place in a sort of Carribean or Floridian 1920's. The blues and purple were dazzling. I didn't feel there were any miscasts, although the Courtesan got a little pitchy, dawg, as Randy would say it, during the finale. That's my only complaint. The twin servants, dressed in Tweedle Dee & Dum gear, were the show stealers.

I was especially dazzled by the details of the costumes -- costume design, especially the courtesan's purple outfits, were my favorite part of the show. I also just like going to free shows in a beautiful park on a gorgeous night with a whole bunch of other theatre lovers. I made a new friend, a rescue tiny-sized mixed breed dog named Honey, who belonged to the family behind me. Just came along for some petting and eventually ended up curling up in my lap for a bit. So cute!

Go see the show before it's over! Last night is Aug 16. All shows start at 8 PM except Sundays, which start at 7.

Picture Blog of Millenium Park, West Roxbury

Here's a photo blog of West Roxbury's Millenium Park. A glorious time to go with all of the August wild flowers in full bloom (with a bonus photo I took in the neighborhood, around the corner):