In sixth grade, I was the tallest in my class and very thin. When I got off the train returning from summer camp in NC, my mother cried, saying I looked like someone liberated from a concentration camp.
I felt fine and had lots of energy. My height didn't bother me, except at dancing class where I always loomed over potential partners. On the plus side was the fact that I could consume huge amounts of food without gaining weight.
But my mother, looking into the future and envisioning a skinny giant of an old maid, hanging about the house, decided to seek medical intervention.
And so, in the summer after the seventh grade, I was taken to a clinic in north Georgia that specialized in aberrations of human growth. It was a very weird experience-- all I really remember was a building with few windows and before and after pictures of naked children standing next to a measuring chart. I really hoped I wouldn't have my picture taken like that.
I must have been x-rayed at some point for I remember the doctor telling my mother that my wrist bones were still hollow which meant I could grow a good bit more--maybe to over six feet.
To my mother, that was a catastrophe. So steps were taken. I think a series of shots, maybe steroids, were prescribed. I don't remember having an opinion or being asked for one--it just happened.
I topped out at a little over 5'8"--though age and two pregnancies have taken away an inch.
Sometimes I've wondered what my life would have been like at over six feet--no big deal for a woman these days but kinda freakish back in the Fifties. A model? A Rockette? An athlete? (Despite my total lack of suitability or ability for any of these.)
But now, after having done a bit of online snooping, I find that there is NO approved method for limiting growth short (!) of, in rare cases, surgery to reduce leg length.
So what was I given? Was this some sort of experiment? And did it work or not?
I'll probably never know.
UPDATE: Claui sent me this link which explains a lot.
Indeed, when Brian Kilmeade, a commentator on Fox suggested solving the problem of mentally ill homeless people by lethal injection, he was only reprimanded. Meanwhile, Matthew Dowd at MSNBC was fired for saying that Kirk was a very divisive and polarizing figure" and pointing out the dangerous combination of political toxicity and gun culture in America.
Alas, the right is coming for everyone's free speech. Teachers, firefighters, and military personnel are among those terminated for speaking ill of the right-wing's new saint. The GOP government is scanning the internet in search of adverse comments by those they can fire, deport, or refuse entrance.
And self-appointed social media warriors are threatening to make lists of and dox those with whom they disagree.
I don't have a job to be fired from nor a business that could suffer. I think I have to keep on speaking my mind--just like Charlie did.
For a fuller account of this free speech ban, check out this excellent article in The Guardian. HERE
"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other god-given rights."
Quoting Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot to death yesterday. I wonder if his wife and children agree it was worth it.
Charlie also thought that the Civil Rights Act was "a huge mistake," that "Jewish money" was ruining American culture, and that, according to the Bible, gay people should be executed.
Of course political murder is terrible and wrong, but, recalling that Charlie said "I think empathy is a made-up New Age term that does a lot of damage," I'll save my New Age empathy for all the school children killed, wounded, or traumatized in school shootings, including the ones affected by the shooting yesterday at Evergreen High School in Colorado.
Or as Cory the photographer said, " an overly proper portrait of a completely improper dog."
Too right. When I opened Cory's email, herself was, at the moment, relaxing on the dining table in the sun, working on her tan.
Cory is a friend of many years. He has some amazing photos available for viewing on Flickr and on Instagram.
Speaker Mike Johnson explains it all: Dear Leader was an undercover (giggle) operative for all those years he was hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein.
Right. Go on and pull the other one.
Now I don't doubt that DJT may have ratted on his good friend, after they fell out over a real estate deal--perfectly in character for our FOTUS.
But, as has been pointed out elsewhere. would it be in character for the loudmouth egotist in the White House to keep quiet about his heroic role bringing Epstein to justice?
I think not.
RELEASE THE UNREDACTED FILES!
And let the chips fall where they may.
