I have a sort of random assortment of links I have been meaning to share, so you're getting them all today.
First, you know about my deep devotion to This American Life, discovered ever so late in the game.
Wait, have I ever told you about WHY it took me so long to listen to it? I am sorry if I am repeating myself.
It took me a long, long time to enjoy anything from NPR because I thought that the entire creation was an overly intellectual, self-congratulatory bore. Worse than that, I TRULY believed that everyone just SAID they liked NPR to seem smart.
I also TRULY believed that NO ONE liked foreign films and likewise just ran around talking about them to seem ever-so-brilliant and fascinating. It took literally five years of being together before I finally believed Wes when he said that he preferred them.
Anyway.
This American Life ran a two part series on health care a few weeks ago that totally helped me understand the depth of our problems. I mean, I knew we were screwed, but now I know the history and causation of our screwedness. I feel ever so much more well-informed, if still totally clueless about what the future holds with all these shitty plans they keep throwing together. Something has to change, though - this series made that really clear.
Here is my favorite idea from the show, meant to illuminate the utter ridiculousness of having our health care tied to employment:
Imagine that groceries were paid for by our employers. We went to the grocery store and paid our $25 copay and we were allowed to get whatever we wanted and it would be charged to our employer. We would have no reason to ever worry about what food cost and would eat lobster every day. The grocery store would have no reason to keep costs down since the employer would be stuck paying for it, and they would charge crazier and crazier prices for things.
This is what we have going on. When is the last time you (by which I mean perpetually insured people, like myself) thought about how much something cost? Did you know that a generic drug can cost $150 but the brand name will cost $650? Did you know that a hospital can charge one insurance company $1500 for an appendectomy and $15,000 for another insurance company? And did you know that Maryland passed some sort of state law to make all medical procedures cost the same everywhere for everyone and it has helped!?
Yes, so the topic is sort of overwhelming and depressing. But I like understanding things more deeply.
Related to that is Planet Money. I first heard their reports on This American Life and was impressed by the simplicity and clarity of the economic stories. I am the last person who can handle deep economic theory and yet they made it totally accessible and entertaining. I now understand what the eff is up with banks failing and why insurance for hedgehogs might give us all a model to follow. I highly recommend them, as well - both their stories on TAL and their separate, shorter podcasts. Their blog, which I just discovered, also seems useful.
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On to other, less depressing things.
You may not know this, but Wes and I have a longterm goal of ending up in Manhattan as part of an agreement made in 1997. He was wrenched out of the East Village and dragged kicking to Park Slope because of my firm commitment to return him to his rightful island sometime down the line, preferably when we have enough money to live in a doorman building (the better to monitor the midnight behavior of your teenagers...) in Chelsea.
But I love Brooklyn. I am relishing my time here, even when I get exasperated or bored by a decade-plus in the same 20 block radius. The boro is so vibrant and exciting in its own right, and sometimes it takes Martha Stewart to remind you of that fact.
Please check out her episode devoted to my chosen home - the Brooklyn Flea segment made me tear up a little bit, so thrilled was I to see people whose businesses we have cheered on and patronized over the years. And so lovely is our bridge.... The popsicles she tastes were the first ones Beck ever tried. The ice cream she mentions is my absolute favorite. The tote bag she showcases is one I have given as a gift more than once. It was exciting to see and made me ever so proud.
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Want to see what I have been up to at work? I have a new Fourth Grade arrangement where I teach library in the computer lab, and I have spent a month or so immersed in this fabulous curriculum, adapted a bit for our school. What a tremendous resource. Super big thanks to these folks for creating such a perfect-looking website with which to totally lie to my students. Their heads nearly exploded when I told them that they had just spent 20 minutes researching a pack of lies (always read the About page, suckers!). Heh.
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Reading suggestions? Did I already mention how pissed I am that a good friend and colleague turned me on to Stieg Larsson's trilogy and I devoured them, only to discover that he is dead
and the third book doesn't come out until June???? Is there anything more frustrating?
How about the fact that I finally started reading last year's most talked-about Young Adult novel, one I was super excited to begin.... and that I bought it on my Kindle for iPhone and am happily ensconced in it... but I am suddenly hyper aware that its sequel is not available in Kindle form. Grrr..... I predict that I might spend tomorrow sitting in the bookstore reading the entire thing while Beck is at music class.
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I am hopeful that the refinancing of our house will relieve a bit of our economic pressure as of late, though the double whammy of preschool and college ahead of us still remains a mystery that financial aid offices will not resolve until Spring.
The thing I miss most about our new, more-broke life is travel. It is probably Wes' and my most favorite activity and there has been absolutely none for a long, long time now. Sesame Place has become a vacation. And that is sad.
It is making me especially sad this week as Royal Caribbean launches its latest, greatest, most incredibly enormous ship yet. I SHOULD BE ON THIS SHIP. Do you HEAR ME, ROYAL CARIBBEAN? TAKE ME! I WILL BLOG FOR YOU!!
Do you want to know why I removed my Blogging With Integrity button? Because I would sell out this whole blog if Royal Caribbean would come along and offer to send me on cruises in exchange for hyper-happy blog posts about them. So just in case my every word becomes a perky lovefest to this particular cruiseline, you will have to excuse me. It will mean that my life's goal of free cruising has become a reality and you should be happy for me and accept my weakness. And also my cheesiness.
PS. That is not really why I removed the button. I just wanted The IVP to have a more prominent position, and I felt like a poseur since I haven't been as involved in BlogHer blogs as I would like these last few months.
