Fighting tooth and fingernail for better health care

Fingernail torture is a barbaric way of inflicting pain. Bamboo splints or needles are slid under the nail, or the nails are yanked out. This is not the stuff of legend, it was the scene in a Quebec medical clinic this past weekend and the patient/victim was my 11-year-old son.

He broke his finger playing football. He was a trooper throughout the two-hour wait in triage and did not cry when the doctor froze his hand using two very long needles and then realigned the bone. But because we were from away and not covered by provincial public health insurance, the paperwork further dragged out an already slow process. The baffled registration clerk did not know if Halifax was in Ontario or if Nova Scotia was part of Canada. My husband patiently completed the geography lesson and agreed to pay cash for our visit. By this time the doctor had determined our son's nail would have to come out – and the boy's anesthesia had all but worn off. Rather than top him up the doctor swiftly used pliers to pull his nail off. My son screamed and a river of blood (his) and tears (his and mine) flowed. 

Virtually every Canadian has a story to tell about their health-care experiences. My family's recent adventure was nowhere near the worst.

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Drive-by Saviours worth stopping for

One of my favourite things about living in Halifax, N.S. is that the writing community is a manageable size and in my experience, overwhelmingly supportive. I do my bit by occasionally reading a book by a local author and that was my main motivation behind purchasing Drive-by Saviours by fellow Haligonian Chris Benjamin. I'd also been following Chris on Twitter and while we've never met, we've had brief on-line conversations that led me to expect he would be a thoughtful and articulate writer. He is, and so much more.

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An Earth Day fairy tale

Once upon a time there was a beautiful planet called Earth. Mercury-free salmon spawned in crystalline rivers. Whales sung songs of freedom in the oceans. There was no such thing as smog advisories. The ozone layer was a thick shield that protected living things from harmful ultraviolet radiation. The polar ice cap was extensive, regulating the temperature of the land, water and air. There were lush rain forests and dense jungles. Plants and animals lived sustainably...ah, the good old days.

A lot has changed on Earth in recent times and our planet has become sick. Not so desperately ill that it can't still enthrall us with its diversity and beauty, but sick in more a chronic, annoying way–like a cough that nags and worsens, or a joint that aches and steadily deteriorates.

In the midst of our current federal election, we've heard remarkably little about the environment. It's a non-issue. The Green Party was excluded from the debates and gets precious little media coverage compared with the Conservative, Liberals and NDP. But we can't just blame the establishment. Politicians respond to the issues people tell them they care about–either because they (the politicians themselves) genuinely care or because they want to be seen as caring­–sometimes it's hard to tell which.

Polls show that the number one issue concerning the electorate in the 2011 federal election is health care. Hence, key messages this week had more to do with keeping emergency departments open, forgiving medical school loans for rural doctors, and making sure every Canadian has a family physician, and less to do with reducing carbon emissions, protecting wilderness areas or cleaning up the Alberta tar sands.

Herein lies the irony. There cannot be a healthy population without a healthy environment. We depend upon the bees that pollinate our orchards, the quality of the food we eat and water we drink, and the cleanliness of the air that we breathe. We cannot be healthy without a healthy environment. Anyone with foresight can tell you its better to focus on health prevention that to react to the consequences of unhealthy living. Cleaning up the planet is a great start to improving our overall health so we don't rely so heavily upon doctors and hospitals to fix our polluted and broken bodies.

Today is Earth Day. I hope you find a moment today to appreciate and celebrate our beautiful planet. Better yet, do something to help restore it to its former glory – pick up garbage, turn over a garden, hang your laundry on the clothesline, ride a bike or walk instead of driving your car. Municipalities often organize group events so if you're stumped perhaps look into what's going on in your neighbourhood or check out this site: http://www.earthday.ca/pub/

Let's start talking about the environment again, and making it an issue of local, national and international importance. No matter what your political affiliation this is everyone's responsibility. Keeping the earth healthy means keeping its inhabitants healthy. We are not separate from the environment, we are the environment.

Happy Earth Day.



Penny for your thoughts on writing

Last week I met with a grade three class to talk about the joy of writing when a boy surprised me by saying: "I don't care about writing because my dad told me writers don't make any money." I suppressed the urge to reply, "True that," and instead talked about writing for pleasure. It satisfies my curiosity, I explained, to learn new things. And I get to meet interesting people. When I'm lucky, I work hard and do a really good job, I said, I earn a decent living. My message was that it's not easy but it's rewarding. I chose my words carefully. There's nothing cool about lying to children.

As I see it, it's more important to give people the straight goods and let them decide for themselves if want to try to survive on a freelance writer's salary, whether that income comes from writing nonfiction (as mine does) or fiction. It's a lot of pressure if you need to support yourself on this income, and a huge amount of pressure if you need to support others on a writer's salary. But that's not to say it can't be done. A defeatist attitude does not serve any writer well. If you don't think you deserve to be paid decently, and don't demand fair pay, you won't receive it.

I decided to brainstorm some ways self-employed writers can stay above the poverty line and here are some of the ways I've managed. If you have other ideas, please leave a comment so this list can grow. I'm offering the proverbial penny for your thoughts. That I can afford.

1. Be professional. Good, even great writers don't get work if they lack professionalism. Honour your commitments. Meet your deadlines. Write to the word count you were assigned. Return phone calls and emails. Send follow-up notes to sources thanking them for their time and insights. Basically, have manners and use common sense.

2. Know your craft. Write well. This doesn't mean be a show-off. It's more important to be clear, concise and (hopefully) engaging. Find the best sources. Read voraciously. Practice. Don't file your first draft. Rewrite until it's publishable. Read your work aloud to hear how it sounds. Commit to lifelong learning and take the occasional workshop or course. Don't ever be sloppy. Misspellings and typos are inexcusable.

3. Network. Cultivate relationships with editors who pay decently and on time and with writers whom you respect. Social media has opened up a whole new world of on-line networking. You can promote yourself on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and these sites are fantastic forums for bouncing around ideas and engaging in conversations with like-minded professionals and audiences.

4. Specialize and generalize. In most newsrooms writers are assigned a "beat" and develop a network of contacts and an expertise in that subject area. As a freelancer, you have the power to choose your own beat so pick something you find particularly interesting (e.g., music, human rights, feminism, sports, etc.) and immerse yourself in it. Figure out what the writing markets are for that beat and start pitching stories. If you're passionate, that will be apparent and you'll do a great job because you care. You may even land a regular contract as a correspondent or columnist. At the same time, stay open to writing articles in other subject areas and don't be afraid to tackle something new. If you're willing to admit you don't much about a topic but you're willing to ask questions and learn, you'll be fine.

5. Diversify. Depending upon your interests and skill set, consider editing, consulting or teaching. As an editor, you'll still be working with words and may find your own writing improves when you start dissecting other peoples' writing. Consulting or business writing is one of the most lucrative forms of writing so don't be afraid to offer "words for hire." And teaching both children and adults has been a wonderful sideline for me. Not only are keen learners inspirational, they force you to articulate your thoughts and heed your own advice.

This is merely a brief introduction to this subject. There's much more that can and should be said on this subject. I'd love to hear from writers who've received grants or stipends, or have other entrepreneurial ideas to share. Yes, writers struggle but rejecting the notion that to be a writer you must necessarily be poor is a first step toward changing that.



Secret Daughter Not Completely Satisfying

My first book review in a new series I'll be posting.

Do you ever find a book unavoidable? Your mom is reading it, your friends are reading it, there's chatter about it on Facebook, and strangers on the bus are poring through it? Secret Daughter was such a book for me so when I saw it on a shelf in Buy the Book, my local used bookstore, I picked it up. The bookseller even chimed in with, "Great choice. It's a terrific book." My expectations were high–slightly too high in the end.

In Secret Daughter, author Shilpi Somaya Gowda juxtaposes the stories of two women struggling against circumstances beyond their control.

First we meet Kavita, a young woman in a rural India who gives birth to a girl. Her husband Jasu is a poor farmer. He only wants a baby boy who can contribute to, rather than drain, the family's meagre resources. With the threat of infanticide looming (in the horrifying opening scene we learn Jasu had the couple's firstborn girl killed), Kavita flees with the baby and leaves her at an orphanage in Mumbai before returning home.

Next we meet Californian Somer (the cheesy name fits), who seems to lead a charmed existence. She's ambitious, privileged and married to charming Krishnan, whom she met in medical school. But after a series of miscarriages, Somer learns she's infertile so despite her many other accomplishments, she feels unfulfilled.

The stage is set. Somer and Krishnan return to his native Mumbai and adopt Kavita's baby.  (Don't worry. All this is so obvious from the start I'm not giving anything away.) The plot from there examines the clash between American and Indian culture in both countries. It also examines themes of loss, longing, forgiveness and acceptance in mainly predictable yet believable ways. The problem is not in the storyline so much as how it is told. Here is a story loaded with potential I didn't feel was realized. The writing never sung for me; I didn't once stop to reread a sentence simply because of how beautifully it was structured. I would describe the writing style as: this happened, then that happened, then something else happened, which resulted in this. At the end the characters are enlightened and reflective, but it is too little, too late.

I don't regret having read Secret Daughter. It is a quick read but like a quick snack, it didn't leave me feeling full. I wasn't able to forgive Jasu for ordering his firstborn girl murdered, although the author treated him sympathetically. I never fell in love with either main character, especially Somer. She struck me as privileged and her disdain for Indian culture was stereotypical. Her eventual awakening coincides with her taking up yoga, which seemed like a cliché.

The author, an Indo-Canadian/American, draws upon her heritage effectively to compare the different wedding customs, marriage, food, grooming and parenting norms in each culture. She also examines life in the infamous Mumbai slum Dharavi, and the declining birth rates of Indian girls compared with boys beginning in the 1980s due to widespread infanticide and the introduction of ultrasound technology (which led to the abortion of many female fetuses).

So while there were parts of this book that held my attention and while I understand its appeal, the reading experience, for me, was like eating a chapati when I craved spicy paneer.

Next book review coming April 2011: Annabel by Kathleen Winter