The music started.  
     [Boomer] tumbled. He tangled. He toppled. He flew . . .
right through the ceremonial flame.
     He got the lowest score in [Summer] Olympic history.
     Mr. Hamstring croaked, "Any final words for our viewers at home?"
     “Well, Hammy, maybe I didn’t win a gold medal today,” said Boomer, “but I realized something very important. I realized. . .today has been terrific practice for the Winter Olympics!”
                   Olympig! The Triumphant Story of an Underdog
                       written and illustrated by Victoria Jamieson
                                Dial Books for Young Readers, 2012
       
       I’ve never been much about sports. (see a few previous posts: Football Memories 2/8/16, Heart of a Champion 8/2/16, and Cleveland, Ohio 7/19/16) The High School Band was always more important to me than the game. Of course, my girls were in the band and I didn’t have any children on the football team, or any other team, for that matter. My younger daughter had a brief time on a soccer team, but that’s a different story.
       This week is a sports trifecta, though.
       Last Monday, a Major League Baseball statement announced that Chief Wahoo, mascot of the Cleveland Indians, will be retired after the 2018 season. The team has been moving away from the Chief by replacing his image with a block-style “C” on road caps (2011) and batting helmets (2013). Cleveland is stepping up to the plate and doing the right and sensitive thing. 
       The Super Bowl will start just hours from now. Football always seemed to me a violent sport. So much smashing and falling and piling on each other. I have a good book, (The Wonderling, by Mira Birtok, Candlewick Press, 2017). It’s about discovering one’s destiny and finding one’s place in the world. I’ll read while my husband watches the game. 
       I *do* have a football connection. I worked at the Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio while my ex-husband finished his degree at Ohio Northern University. My brother sent me a link to a great story about the factory. (see also the reference above to Football Memories)
       More than 100 million people will be tuned in this year. I’ll probably look up for the commercials, although I haven’t heard any hype about them this year. Thirty-second ads will cost companies $5 million dollars, ten times the price of a 30-second ad during Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. That’s a lot of Pepsi! or Coke! or V8! or beer?
    (2021 addition) Meanwhile, The Washington Football Team will continue to play under its temporary name through the 2021 season and, according to Washington Football Team President Jason Wright, will announce its new name and new logo early in 2022. 
      All eyes will turn to PyeongChang, South Korea on Friday as the Winter Olympics Games begin. The big news for me is that North and South Korea will have a joint Women’s Field Hockey team. I’m not sure how that will impact world peace or nuclear de-escalation.
       But five is symbolic. The five continents are united by athletic competitions. The five interlocking rings are made of colors found in flags of all participating nations. Races, nations, religions, genders, and cultures are connected in their passion for sports.
       So with the emphasis this week on sports of all kinds, I’ll go about my days taking care of important responsibilities: volunteering at a local diaper bank, making an eye-doctor appointment, and staying in touch with friends and family. 
                          --stay curious! (and take some time to play)  

    Nya filled the container all the way to the top Then she tied the gourd back in place and took the padded cloth doughnut from her pocket. The doughnut went on her head first, followed by the heavy container of water, which she would hold in place with one hand.
    With the water balanced on her head, and her foot still sore from the thorn, Nya knew that going home would take longer than coming had. But she might reach home by noon, if all went well.    
                                          From A Long Walk to Water
                                                      by Linda Sue Park    
                                                     Clarion Books, 2010
    The summer before I turned 12, I went to overnight Girl Scout Camp for two weeks. It was my first experience with an outdoor bathroom. I didn’t like it. It stunk. But it was private. It was far enough away from where we slept and played and learned about nature and how to get along with each other. It was an experience all of us girls shared.
    We carried water in our canteens when we hiked. Mine had a long strap that crossed my body so the canteen could ride on my hip. It was easy to reach whenever I wanted a drink. (Now, I suppose, the ones in charge condone using plastic water bottles!) 
    I pay my quarterly water bill to ensure that water comes into and out of my house whenever I wish. For washing—clothes, dishes, myself. For drinking. For cooking. 
    When my husband and I bought our house, all those years ago, there was a working well on the back patio with a working pump. We had the water tested. It’s good water, but tastes a little iron-y. I use it to water the plants around my house. I pump the water into a 2-1/2 gallon galvanized can. It takes many trips to and from the pump, filling and sprinkling, to satisfy my flowers, tomatoes, and herbs. My house-plants are on their out-of-doors stay-cation and drink their share, too. The water is very cold. I also drink my fair share.
    Not too long ago, (11/20/18) I told you about Sivan Ya’ari, founder and CEO of Innovation: Africa. She almost single-handedly brought solar energy to many remote villages in many countries in Africa. She taught the people how to use it to provide electricity  for schools, refrigeration, irrigation, and wells to pump water.
    But over two billion people around the world are still without safe water. Water that it is accessible when it is needed, affordable, and free from contaminants. 
    The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in 2010 stating that “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation [is] a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/64/292 It builds on a previous resolution creating the International Day of Water.
    The United Nations General Assembly officially designated March 22 as World Water Day in 1993, and has been celebrated around the world ever since.
    The day is set aside to highlight the importance of freshwater. According to UNICEF, 800 children die daily from unsafe water. Every 88 seconds, water-borne disease kills a child. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have no safe drinking water. Smart and caring people are working on the problem, but it is a problem. 
    Each person on the planet needs about 2-3 liters (4-8 cups) of clean water to replenish what is lost through respiration, perspiration, and elimination. Every cell depends on water to survive. We can't live more than a week without it. And we've got a finite supply -- only a fraction of the water on our planet is drinkable. 
    Even though 71% of our Earth is covered in water, less than 2% is fresh water, and most of that is frozen, or found underground. 
    We all know how to conserve water. 
    This March 22, at least for that one day, I’ll be conscious of my water use. For at least one day, I will use water wisely.
Here are a couple of good places to find more information and join the efforts of the good people trying to solve a big problem, one drop at a time.
    World Water Day Organization: https://www.worldwaterday.org 
                        http://www.unwater.org/world-water-day-2018-2/ 
    Greening the Blue http://www.greeningtheblue.org 

2021 update: Here are some photos from Innovation Africa’s 10th anniversary. A summit was held recently with leaders representing 39 of Africa’s 54 countries. 
Here in the US, almost half the country is experiencing drought conditions. 
Increased evaporation due to high temperatures combine with lower than average snowfall is depleting California’s reservoirs. 
Currently (September, 2021) Lake Mead, the reservoir formed by Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, is at 35% of its capacity. It’s at its lowest level since the 1930s.
The Colorado River Basin supplies water to San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles and 4-5 million acres of farmland in the Southwest.
                                              -—stay curious! (and involved)

    …If bacteria are making you sick, the doctor usually prescribes some drug. The drug will either kill the bacteria or stop them from growing.
    Doctors do not yet have drugs to cure diseases caused by [all] viruses. But they can give you shots to prevent some of these diseases.
                                            from Germs Make Me Sick
                                               written by Melvin Berger 
                                           illustrated by Marilyn Hafner
                                                  Harper, 2015 (revised)
                                                      EPUB edition, 2020
    Here’s a definition to start things off this morning. “A vaccine is a substance that helps protect against certain diseases. Vaccines contain a dead or weakened version of a microbe. It helps your immune system recognize and destroy the living microbe during a future infection.” https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/qa/what-is-the-definition-of-vaccine 
    Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. When I was growing up, polio was still a common and dreaded disease. It did not kill most of its victims, but many were forced to live with crippling aftereffects. 
    There is no cure.     
    Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921. It left both his legs paralyzed. Shortly into his second term as president, he helped create what would become the March of Dimes Foundation, originally formed to to find a cure for polio.
    The March of Dimes was Jonas Salk’s primary funding source as he researched his vaccine to prevent polio. Salk developed a “killed-virus” vaccine. He grew samples of the virus, then killed them with formaldehyde so they could not reproduce. The inactive strains of the virus tricked the immune system into producing protective antibodies to prevent an infection.
    Most scientists, including Albert Sabin, believed only a live, but weakened microbe would be effective. They called Salk’s “killed-virus” vaccine dangerous. But it takes a long time to develop a live-virus vaccine. Funding went to Salk.
    Between April 26, 1954 and the end of June that same year, 1.8 million people became “polio pioneers,” volunteering to participate in a double-blind experiment to prove the Salk vaccine’s efficacy. It was declared “safe, effective and potent,” on April 12, 1955. 
    Sabin’s oral vaccine did not become available until 1962. It was given on a sugar cube and quickly replaced Salk’s injection. The Sabin vaccine was less expensive and easier to administer. But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), although polio vaccination prevents countless infections, in 2019, Sabin’s live-virus vaccine was responsible for nine new polio cases. WHO calls it the final obstacle to eliminating polio and urges the use only of Salk’s killed-virus vaccine.
    I was around ten years old when, after dinner one evening, Mom and Dad rounded us up and hiked with Gram the quarter mile to our elementary school. We were off to get our vaccination for polio.  
    It seemed like the whole neighborhood turned up. We chatted as we stood in line, waiting our turn. The proper amount of drops of the Sabin oral vaccine was dosed on a sugar cube and given to men, women, children, grandparents, and babies. It was easy. 
    According the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the United States has been polio-free since 1979.
    The first step to developing a vaccine these days, is to discover the genetic code of the virus. This structure is used as a guide to learn which antibodies will create immunity in humans. Scientists then determine whether any of several vaccine candidates fights the virus effectively. 
     An antibody is the only component of our immune response that recognizes a virus before it has infected a cell. So right now, the only people who can produce antibodies against the protein in the COVID-19 virus are people who have recovered from an infection.  
       Two processes need to work together: the combination of antibodies to prevent further infection and those antibodies’ effect on a person’s own T-cells. The antibodies cause a person’s T-cells to clear out the existing infection.
    Once an antibody to the specific virus is isolated, it must be tried out in people to see if it is effective (that’s the T-cell component) and what, if any, side-effects it might cause. This is necessarily a slow process. The collection of antibodies, the trials in real, infected people, and analysis of the data all take time. No one wants a drug that is ineffective. For sure no one wants one that is harmful. 
    Once a vaccine has gone through the clinical trials and determined to be safe and effective, scientists determine the proper dose. Making proper dosage adjustments could take a year or more.
    Scientists all over the world are looking for an effective and safe vaccine for COVID-19, delivered at the proper dose. When it is discovered, people all over the world will be grateful.
                                             —stay curious! (and patient)  
2021 update:
    Three versions of a safe, effective vaccine are available to all people in the United States 12 years old and older. While breakthrough infections happen, they are rare and much less serious.             
    The current, deadly surge our country is experiencing has confined itself (mostly) to unvaccinated individuals. They claim many reasons for refusing the vaccine. Very few are valid.  
                          -—stay curious! (and get vaccinated, please)   

    I’m the same girl and not the same...Folks keep growing from one person into another all their lives, and life is just a lot of everyday adventures. Well, whatever life is, I like it.
                                               from Caddie Woodlawn 
                                        written by Carol Ryrie Brink
                                 originally illustrated by Kate Seredy
                                                         Macmillan, 1935
                          (new illustrations) by Trina Schart Hyman
                                                         Macmillan, 1973
                                         winner: Newbery Medal 1936
    Yesterday was Labor Day. 
    My first job was babysitting for my neighbor’s three kids: two and a half; four; and five. I was eleven.
    It wasn’t babysitting, really. I played with the kids while their mother was keeping house. You know, laundry, dusting, mopping the kitchen floor, and such. She was a housewife in a day before we had a name for stay-at-home moms (and dads). Then, it was the moms who mostly stayed home. 
    It was summer so we played outside. I’d give the kids some lunch and my job was finished. My neighbor paid me 50 cents an hour for a couple of hours of work.
    I learned responsibility, time management, and how to have fun.
The kids looked up to me. I learned to respect myself and trust my decisions.
    (In 2015) I just spent a week working closely with fourteen smart, creative, and high energy teenagers. They mostly reported for work on time, stayed focused, and worked well together. And they had fun.
    (Now, 2021) my grandkids are growing up, faster than I imagined when I held them in those tiny, soft blankets and they each squeezed my pinkie finger and we gazed into each others’ eyes. 
    Maybe it’s my rose-colored glasses, but despite the global pandemic of COVID-19, Climate Catastrophe, rampant gun violence, laws skewed toward the wealthy, inequality between demographic groups (Black, white, brown; LGBTQ; women; national origin; well the list is long, but you get it) watching and listening to the kids is what gives me hope.
    The world will be in good hands when these kids are in charge.
    Have a great and productive week!  
                                         --stay curious! (and work hard)