Letters

Can’t weight

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I’ve complained about this before, but since we’re about to start tabulating the votes in our Biggest Little Best of Northern Nevada, I figure I’ll bring it up now before I have something real to complain about. I had a pretty good, balancedif-hectic life until I started pursuing the second concurrent master’s degree. I had my reasons for doing them at the same time, but needless to say, I had to cut some things out of my life—gardening, drinking to excess, and going to the gym—in order to advance my plan.

Well, I’m sure all of you know what happens to people who lose balance. I grew gradually more stressed, and with me anyway, the stress increases gut fat. So I’m up to 235.

I’m putting the English master’s on hold for a semester, at which point, I hope to apply for the MFA in writing, using the stuff I have so far, as much of it as applies anyway. We’ll see, though. There are no guarantees.

But to restore that balance that was stressing me out, I’ve added gardening and lifting weights back into the mix. Truth be told, I also added drinking to excess for a minute, but that was more of a “I’m on vacation!” sort of thing. Since I’ve got to lose about 30 pounds to feel comfortable in my skin, the booze will have to go about the time the semester starts. Have I ever told you my theory of fat storage? My body can use four things for fuel—carbs, protein, fat, alcohol—and if I limit any two, I’ll lose weight. Almost every diet is based on this premise, even those that claim to be based on calorie restriction, because they usually cut down fats and alcohol.

I’ll lift weights three times a week until school starts, and then I’ll drop to two. I hope to get back down to 205 by Thanksgiving.

I work out at SportsWest since the newspaper has trade there. Anyone who feels like focusing on their waistline for a few months is welcome to join me. Let’s make a plan. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Back to the past

Re “Save your money, dump the union” (Let Freedom Ring, July 3):

If it wasn’t for unions, the average worker would still be working for the “company store,” with children in sweat shops and labor camps. The average wage would not be enough to pay for the room and board owed to the company. When the richest 1 percent of the world already control the majority of the wealth, the only thing that stands in the way of “monetary slavery” is a strong representative with a collective voice. In ancient Egypt the Pharaohs, didn’t enslave the people with whips and chains. They kept the people poor and needy and used the whips and chains to punish the ones that rebelled. Tyler D. Rupert Carson City

Child development is economic development

Re “Act accordingly” (Letters to the Editor, July 3):

President Barack Obama has proposed and is fighting for a comprehensive early learning strategy to promote safe, quality settings to foster healthy child development for young children from birth through preschoolage. For many of the 11 million children under the age of 5, child care is their early learning setting. Yet, several studies have shown that state child-care policies are weak, and the fact is that most states earn a failing grade on basic protections such as health and safety. Fixing child care should be the cornerstone to any early learning vision for America. Parents need child care in order to work and a strong economy depends on working parents. The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the federal law that allocates funds to states for child care and sets the framework for state child care laws, has not been reauthorized in 17 years. This is an absolute disgrace. As Congress considers any early learning strategy this year, fixing child care needs to be the cornerstone. Safe, quality child care is an economic development strategy for every community in every state. John Marchese Henderson

Martinez has lost faith

Re “Put school district under glass” (Editorial, July 10):

I agree with your article. Mike Mieras has done an outstanding job for 20 years. He proved himself over and over again with the Sparks Middle School shooting. Parents, staff, students and even Martinez along with Barbara Clark praised him. If the school board knew about this then they have also lied to the public as they have said they knew nothing about this. And voters should remember to not vote for them. The board should rehire Mieras and take a long hard look at what Martinez has done. He stated he was going in a new direction with the department! Why wasn’t the board informed of the new direction? Parents and community members should voice their opinions to the board members and show up to the next board meeting! We want Mike Mieras back.

Carolyn Royle Reno

The gateway food

Re “Lost Dowd in high weeds” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, July 10):

Great column regarding marijuana edibles. Just as most people have to suffer the seriously unpleasant effects of alcohol poisoning before they truly understand how to use that well known drug, so do people need to learn how to dose themselves on edibles.

As one who suffered an MJ overdose more than 40 years ago, I have been absolutely gun shy around pot munchies. One of the best things that should come out of legalization is an understanding of dosage, regulated content and potency of edibles.

I can’t wait. I would love to be able to eat just enough to relax me to sleep.

Roll on, reefer sanity! Paul Blakey via email

No forest, just trees

Re “Corporations are people, just like us” (Left Foot Forward, July 10):

The U.S. Supreme Court did not rob women of their rights, but protected the rights of closely-held corporations, like Hobby Lobby. Some reporters have chosen to “spin” the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. Female employees still have access to and the privilege to use contraceptives, but not on company dime for private, for-profit corporations whose owners morally object to abortifacients.

Truly, this wouldn’t be an issue if Americans had stopped President Obama from enacting health care reform. Health care reform is more costly and in more ways than previously disclosed, as this case demonstrates. Cases such as this are inevitable now that the government has been allowed to decide that every citizen is required to be insured, all of which of course requires oversight and regulation. State-mandated health care threatens to burden the budget and the effective operation of the government in manifold respects.

We’ve been fighting a war on poverty with welfare since 1964, and all we’ve managed to do is burden the state and foster a poverty mentality among what was previously the most entrepreneurial and innovative people society in the modern world! Health care reform is simply more government when America needs less! Truly, less is more!

The court decision is not a tragedy. You’re being dramatic. It’s worth repeating: Female employees still have access to and the privilege to use contraceptives, but not on company dime for private, for-profit corporations whose owners morally object to abortifacients.

That over one million unborn children are murdered annually and only 1 percent are a result of rape is tragic. Justin Zabriskie By email

Know yourself

Re “Lost Dowd in high weeds” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, July 10):

Let’s remember that dumbass Dowd gobbled an entire edible that was clearly marked as a 16-dose edible. Hell, that kind of edible dose would would have given Rasta Bob Marley heart palpitations. I have been a California medical cannabis patient since 1998 and now, after recent heart surgery and a complication or two, I can not vaporize flowers ever again, and I depend entirely on edibles and tinctures for pain medication. Kiva Bars used to be one of my favorites, and I could handle half of a rectangle regularly. My problem with Kiva was they couldn’t produce a strain-specific product. I can only use Indica strains as Sativas make my heart race, and I don’t like the feelings Sativas produce. Indicas have the pain relief qualities I need. My usual daily dosage is 20-25 mg three times a day. Any knowledgeable cannabis user knows that you start with a very small piece of whatever edible you chose, wait at least an hour to 90 minutes then adjust accordingly. The labels are already accurate, you just have to know your tolerance ahead of time. Even knowing your tolerance may be high to smoked or vaporized flowers has no relation to your tolerance to edibles. I hope Nevada finally gets its act together, gets some dispensaries open and starts helping patients get access to the excellent medicine they need.

Thomas Orsi Sacramento

Correction

Re “Ladies who lunch” (Art of the State, July 17):

Our review of of Bruka Theatre’s ongoing production of 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche mistakenly ran accompanied by a one-star “Dead Willie Shakespeare” rating, rather than the four-star “Smiling Willie” rating that our critic, Jessica Santina, felt it deserved. We regret the error and apologize for any confusion it might have caused.

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