Arrows Over Lemnos

10 Great Things About My Dad, Thomas Robert Peters, Sr. (1929-2000)

1. He was in the back seat of a car that was hit by an oncoming car which was driven by a drunk.  The car he was in burst into flames, but he was thrown from the car. He was unconscious for moment, and then he walked back into the flames, pulled a friend out, saving her life. He burned about 20% of his skin and had scars on his face and hands all of his life.

2. When he worked downtown, he noticed a grand piano in one of towers of the RenCen. So, he started playing it everyday at lunch. He was self taught; played jazz, ragtime, some classical pieces and many original works; A natural at improvisation, he had an incredible harmolodic sense. He loved the way the piano resonated through the corridors of the Renaissance Center. People assumed he was the hired entertainment and generously tipped him.

3. He wrote a novel that incorporated the seven deadly sins into its organization and Maslow's pyramid of human needs into the characterizations. The main themes are about the importance of independent thought and the hypocrisy of most authority.

4. He wrote a play about a Mensa meeting that was produced by the Mensa organizations at one of their conventions. My mom thought he was pretty arrogant to think he could write dialog for a bunch of geniuses. Then they went to the after party, and she was gobsmacked at how accurate his characterizations had been!

5. He believed that all the saints and angels lived on another planet; called himself an Extraterrestial Catholic.

6. Every time our cat had kittens, and after they were weaned and on hard food, he would bring them to work and let them play in his office. By the end of the day, they would all be adopted by coworkers who couldn't resist them.

7. He saw a ghost. He was driving near the border of Michigan and Ohio with a friend. Headlights fell on a man in warpaint and a headdress, who appeared to be injured, stepping out of a wooded area. He and his friend both saw him distinctly. They stopped the car to see if they could help him, but he was nowhere to be found--just vanished!

8. When he met Francis "Edie" Parker, former bride of Jack Kerouac, he had the chutzpah to ask her how Jack had been in the sack. She replied, "Great! We were both young."

9. He started a program in the Detroit Public Schools requiring the students to read the Detroit Free Press and helped the teachers incorporate current events and op/eds discussions into their curriculum.

10. He was a high school football champion. His picture was often in the local newspapers with little snippets about his amazing skill. Teenage girls who he had never met would often call him up and ask him out.

(The best thing about him was that he revered kindness and goodness of heart above all things! I last saw him on Fathers' Day of 2000.)

I think I have uncovered a secret being held by both the professional tennis world and the world of British films:

Andy Murray, Scottish tennis pro, and....


Rupert Everett, British actor, are father and son!



Not really, I just think they really look alike.

Behavioral therapy should be the cornerstone of any child with autism's therapy. There is more data supporting its ability to improve the ability to speak, socialize and progress academically for children on the autism spectrum.

My Obsession with The Outer Limits

There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal, and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity - and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to... The Outer Limits. Please stand by.

I took some photographs of the episode The Guests because I am so in love with the imagery:

This is when the giant brain is stealing all of The Drifter's experiences:



( Beware: The Giant Brain Awaits You! )

I was having terrible symptoms, especially eyes watering out of control, from allergies the other day, but I had to go pay the mortgage bill at the bank. So, I put on sunglasses, hat and coat and went to give to Caesar what is Caesar's. As soon as I walked into the bank I noticed everyone was looking at me. I felt really self conscious and strange. Especially, with the intense allergies. I kind of felt like I was on another planet. So, I looked at myself on the security camera screen. I realized I looked just like Patty Hearst in the footage from the bank robbery. I was wearing a black beret, dark sunglasses, black boots and a black pea coat. I immediately took off my hat and glasses. Didn't want to freak anybody out.

[But, I do have this recurring dream that I am robbing a bank. This is one of three recurring dreams, which I think all come from watching a lot movies. The other two are that I am doing life in prison and that I have killed someone. and I am trying to get away with it.]

So, I was at the counter at the Coney today, and there were twin boys about 7 or 8. One was coloring on the back of the kids' menu; the other one was engrossed in some hand-held digital device. They didn't say a word to each other for about ten minutes. Then the kid drawing referred to his picture and said: This is a Chinese guy in an aquarium. The other kid was quiet for a minute, and then said: I want to see Gran Torino. His brother said: What's that? The other one responded: It's a movie about this guy who hates his Chinese neighbors and then ends up liking them....because he was in the Holocaust. The other kid was silent and went back to coloring.

This cracked me up.

The other night PBS broadcast a Frontline documentary I had seen before: From Jesus to Christ--compiling the historical and literary evidence of the life of Jesus and how he came to be the inspiration for the biggest religious movement of the last two thousand years. You can view it on the web site or read about it. I think it is one of the most interesting and best documents explaining the world in which Jesus lived, what we can know about him from a historical perspective, how the Christian religion began, struggled and became dominant.

When I was searching for the web site, I came upon a dire warning about the documentary: Beware of PBS television series on the Christian Answers domain. This was my favorite quote from the warning:

" It is worthy of note that no evangelical scholars were used in the series. Rather, the emphasis was on people from such liberal institutions as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Duke, Brown, Union, etc. According to Craig Blomberg of Denver Seminary, the series "does not acknowledge distinctively evangelical perspectives at any point."

This seems so funny to me for so many reasons. First of all, if you truly have faith, can't it withstand the perspective of historians and "liberal" bible scholars? Secondly, the site contends that no evangelical scholars were consulted. It seems ridiculously naive to me that they would assume a historical documentary would even consider consulting people who view the Bible as literal. Having had some experience in the evangelical community, I think the real warning is that if the documentary is viewed, one might have independent thoughts apart from what "The Church" teaches.

I also think it is sad, because it is in regarding the true history of Jesus's world, what we can surmise about his life and his tiny ministry, the multitude of challenges Christianity faced throughout history--Roman oppression, inter-church power struggles and corruption, etc.--that makes his incredibly challenging, spiritually revolutionary message to love one's enemy even more powerful. The fact that it is known the world over, nearly 2000 years later is profoundly beautiful and inspiring.

I highly recommend the documentary From Jesus to Christ.

Mr. Foe (U.K. title Hallam Foe)

This weird Scottish indie pic was intriguing and great. It was entirely original in its' storyline, imagery, and characters. I knew next to nothing about it, which I think helped me to thoroughly enjoy it. So, I don't want to say too much. I will just give a bit about the plot and theme: An unusual 18-year-old boy, Hallam Foe, spends much of his time spying on people and writing down nasty things about them and drawing pictures of them in his journal.  He practically lives in a tree house his father built for him on the property of his father's country mansion. He has suspicions about his father and stepmother that become substantiated by evidence he finds and compiles. When he is convinced he is right, he goes on an unconscious search for his mother in Edinburgh--or a symbolic search for her or something.  Despite the many fantastical elements to his life and experiences and his horrible behavior, I found myself believing this story and believing in Hallam. Also, the music is great, and the title sequence is accompanied by a delightful rough animation inspired by Hallam's drawings.

The King

Gael Garcia Bernal plays Elvis Valderez in this American indie pic. Elvis is just back from a stint in the military, and he is on a search for his father--whom he has never met. He was the product of a short affair his Mexican mother had with an American man. [William Hurt becomes almost unrecognizable as his father, the scary, red-neck Bible thumper.] He tracks his father down at the evangelical church where he is the sole preacher. Elvis follows him home, and introduces himself. His father tells him he wants nothing to do with him, introduces him to his wife and children as someone interested in the church, and then tells Elvis privately that they are his family with the implication that he is not. The story that happens after this fateful meeting is pure Flannery O'Connor southern gothic. It is very tense and somewhat shocking--even in this day and age. This film questions notions of faith, revenge, family ties and the nature of social taboos. I'm not sure I agree with what it concludes about those matters, but it is a movie that really makes you think---and squirm!

I have wanted to write about my friend D. He killed himself a couple of years ago. Mostly because of his drug addiction--which was ruining his life. From what I have heard, I was lucky to have grown apart from him before addiction brought his nadir. I think about him often. He made a big impression on my life, you could say.

( Read more... )

I saw this amazing documentary about archeological evidence that substantiates events from the Old Testament--primarily the Pentateuch (first five books of the old testament). [Obviously, I was raised Christian as I refer to it as the Old Testament. Just wanted to fully disclose my bias.] It is called The Bible's Buried Secrets.

They then put together a time line as best as they can. It was totally fascinating.

Basically, they hypothesize, based on archeological evidence, that the ancestors of the Jewish people, were the poorest, most powerless caste of the people of Canaan (a region between Egypt and Mesopotamia.) They believe that this group began to forge their own culture as a sort of counterpoint to the wealthy society's culture. Almost like the Friends' church (the Quakers), they sought to keep everything simple. Their crockery was not decorative, but smooth, etc. In the Bible, there are many claims that these ancestors of the Jews conquered many of the kingdoms of Canaan; according to the evidence, it is more likely that around 1250 BCE, as the powerful societies declined, this lower caste had more influence, and eventually led an insurrection, became known as the Israelites and settled the hill country.  At this time, all of the Canaanites including the Israelites were polytheists.

Then in 1208 BCE, the Pharoah Merneptah conquered the Israelites, enslaving them.

The following is more conjecture based on historical suppositions: around 1000 BCE, David led a group of the Israelites to escape Egyptian slavery. As they traveled an arduous journey back to Canaan, they passed through a place called Midian. The people of Midian nurtured the escaped slaves back to health and taught them about their, the one true God YHWY. His law was two-fold: YHWY is the only God, and no man shall profit from another man's labor--which sounded pretty good to escaped slaves. [And also seems like the antecedent to Marx's theory about the collectivization of production. ] They accepted YHWY as the god that blessed them with the salvation of their escape and also the caretaking of the Midian people.

They went back to Canaan, and David led them under the dominion of YHWY and his law. David's son Solomon became the next king. He made his mark as a builder king, along with other well-known qualities. To build at his time, it was believed, you must have slaves. So, Solomon forsook the second law and enslaved some of his people to build him a kingdom. Also, at this time and probably for several hundreds of years, the people secretly worshiped another god, the wife of YHWY, Ashera--breaking the first law.

In 925 BCE, Pharoah Shishak conquered the Israelites; and then in 840 BCE, they were conquered by Hazael, a king of Damascus. (I think in Aramaic the translation for "Canaan" was "Free Slaves." Sorry just some Bible nerd humor.)  After each attack, enslavement and escape, the Israelites would question why YHWY would allow this to happen. They would determine it was because of the secret worship of Ashera or other idols, and they would reaffirm that YHWH was the one true God.

PBS has a great timeline that reveals all of the archeological evidence behind this rough history.

The best thing about working with children is being privy to their strange world:

I was pushing a couple of kids on the swings--a 4-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy.

We heard a siren. I inquired: What do you think is going on?

The girl said: Maybe a tree trunk is shooting fire from it!

The boy said: Maybe somebody exploded. They both had excited smiles on their faces.

Then the boy said: But that only happens on TV. He seemed a little bummed at having to acknowledge this reality.

I enjoyed imagining what was going on in their minds: tree trunks randomly shooting fire; people walking down the street and spontaneously combusting.

Our good boy, Banjo was overcome by chronic arthritis and cancer last night at about 4am. He woke us up to let us know he was sad to leave us and his home, but he needed to be relieved of his pain and discomfort. It was overwhelmingly sad for us, but it was the last kind thing we could do for our good boy.



Banjo was an excellent pet who lived to please us. He loved meeting people and dogs; chasing squirrels, rabbits, muskrats and pheasant; guarding his yard and home; going to Angel, Balduck and Belle Isle parks; playing keep-away with balls and sticks; howling along with sirens; wading in the water and attacking waves; riding in the car with his head out the window; but mostly being with us and his best friend Emily.




He was a great, loving and loyal friend, pet and family member. He is and will continue to be very missed.

I believe this was shot last year (with our still image camera--it only makes short digitally limited movies. So, at least some of the poor quality I can blame on the camera. Also, if it sounds like Darth Vadar is the cinematographer, it is because of allergies--which I am enjoying again right now). I am reviewing all of the great little films we have of Banjo before the spinal arthritis, and now the giant tumor on his leg. He has lost a bit more of his mobility this week. He is still enjoying life in a limited way, but not like this. I call this film: "Let me see that for a second"

Recently, my mom told me a funny story about my dad that I never had heard before:

When my parents and brother and sister lived on Bradford Court, in Saint Clair Shores, before I was born, my mother tripped on some toys and broke her leg. My dad would be in the basement playing with my brother and sister. My mom would begin her slow descent down the stairs with her leg in a cast, and she would hear my dad whisper to my brother and sister: OK, Kids, Mom's on her way. So, you have about ten more minutes to have fun.

When my mom told me this she was laughing so hard tears were pouring down her face. She knows it's funny, because it's true;)


This is at the house on Bradford Court. In this picture, I was about one, my brother and sister were 8 and 10. My mother was 39. She had just gotten a Vidal Sassoon haircut--which was asymmetrical and awesome. (In '84, I took this picture to the salon and had them give me the same cut. Also, I had my mother copy this dress for me in purple. I have very similar flats, but hers had little leather bows.)



I don't have a picture of my dad from that period uploaded, but I can't resist posting this one of him. Believe it or not, this was his 8th grade picture.



Here he is on the gridiron. Don't know if this one is from high school or college. He played halfback for Saint Anthony High School and Hillsdale College.

We had a picnic on Belle Isle this morning and I took some photographs because it was such a beautiful day. Above is Blue Heron Lagoon. It looks like a summer day even though we are already nearing the middle of October. Below is the bridge beside the casino building. That is Caleb on the bridge. I don't have a zoom, so this was as close as I could get and still catch the ornate bridge. The bottom picture is where we had breakfast. Banjo and Emily enjoyed bits of bagels and leftover vanilla yogurt:)

I have had a spate of excellent movies come over my transom of late. Just thought I would recommend a few. Oh, and I saw two in the theatres that I really liked, too.

In the theatre:
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: The two main actors, Michael Cera and Kat Dennings are both so charismatic and watchable. They really made this film for me. The dialogue was witty and charming, not too snappy or phoney. The plot is a little meandering, but it didn't drag at all. And of course, the soundtrack was Mothersbaugh--so it was fresh and interesting.

Tell No One: This is a French thriller. They seem to have an obsession with wives going missing over there in France.  I was on the edge of my seat for the whole movie. It is a very smart thriller--which means you have to do a lot of figuring out what is going on on your own. It is not going to spell anything out for you, and there are a lot of loose ends and red herrings that do have conclusions.  So for pure intellectual escape with thrills, this movie is the top of the heap!

Over the transom:
The Lookout: I was so inspired by the storytelling in this film. It is about a high school hockey star who recklessly messes up his life. I don't want to give too much away, but he is left in a very vulnerable position in life, and the vultures come out of the woodwork to take advantage of him.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the former hockey star; Isla Fisher and Jeff Daniels turn out amazing performances as different types of unattractive flawed friends. I won't go into who plays the vultures, but they scared the crap out of me. This movie made me thankful that I have really only come into contact with wanna-be criminals and no actual low lives.

Dirty Filthy Love: This is a British film about a guy who is in denial about his OCD and Tourettes, until he loses his job and wife, and has to go completely off the deep end to actually admit it and get some help. I think this movie is great because it captures the hilarity and absurdity of mental illness as well as the serious consequences of not getting help. Shirly Henderson is one of my favorite actresses, and she does a really great job of playing the sanest person in any room who just happens to have OCD. I Loved this movie.

Samurai movies: I have recently taken a dive into a genre I never thought I would watch. Not an action fan at all. However, I am complete sold on the ability for this genre to grasp the gravity and humor of life. Some of these are extremely disturbing--at least they were for me, but I felt faced with the bare-faced truth of existence. It was like an anecdote against the bullshit politicking, materialism, and hypocrisy of our culture.

Harakiri: This movie is about great fulfillment and great loss, and then the desparation that comes afterwards.  It was both riveting and painful to watch, but I felt empowered with clarity after watching it. This movie might be my most favorite of all time. Although it was probably the most difficult film I have ever watched.

Hidden Fortress: This one is multi-faceted: it's funny, exciting, and profound. I understand George Lucas was highly influenced by it in his making Star Wars--So, Lucas basically ripped off an amazing story about the illusion of the material world and then merchantised the crap out of it.

Throne of Blood: Kurasawa's take on MacBeth. Moody and beautiful. A masterpiece of cinema.

Yojimbo: Fistful of Dollars was based on this. It is really funny and entertaining.

Documentary
Andrei Nekrasov's Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case: This is a documentary about the Russian ex-spy Litvinenko who ended up being poisoned with radiation and died in a British hospital. I had heard things about this man when he was dieing in the hospital, but found it hard to believe that Putin really had anything to do with it. Well, this documentary reveals the very frightening situation that Russia found itself in the the 1990s: A culture of corruption and ruthlessness embraces capitalism. Nekrasov makes the case that Litvinenko and several journalists began to make the claim that Russia was actually responsible for the Moscow bombings of the apartment buildings, blamed on the Chechens. And then, Letvinenko and those specific journalists ended up mysteriously murdered. Litvinenko had been a Russian spy who had been assigned assasinations. This film was incredibly interesting and frightening.  I highly recommend it. (I saw it on TVO, so I hope it is available on dvd

Since I am a behavioral therapist working with children on the autism spectrum, I often get questions about "Cures." I put the word in quotes because it is a very controversial concept: that autism needs to be cured. Many people on the spectrum take offense to the idea. They contend they have a different neurology, but it is who they are. It is not an illness they have that needs to be cured.

I have been close with approximately 40 adults and children on the spectrum; I have continued to read professional journals exploring every theory and treatment available; and I read most of the novels, memoirs, biographies and autobiographies related to autism.

I end up in so many conversations about the "epidemic," treatments, causes, etc., that I thought I would try to put into words some of what I believe and understand about autism:

Autism is a major neurological difference in the brain, created by a genetic predisposition possibly, in my opinion, probably, triggered by environmental factors. (Mercury is a neurotoxin. We have continued to increase levels of mercury in the environment; perhaps, this is the trigger and the possible reason autism has presented more frequently in the last twenty years.) There is a theory that vaccines with Thimerosol or just vaccines in general have caused autism. There is a new book out about the history of this notion. I recommend reading this article in salon for further information.

MRIs have shown that people on the spectrum use different parts of their brains, than people with typical neurology, to process information about numbers, letters, human faces, spatial information, etc. I don't believe there is a cure for autism, just like I don't think there is a cure for people who aren't good with numbers or at remembering faces.

Even if people on the spectrum did want to be "cured," it would involve rewiring neurological pathways in the brain--or prenatally changing genes and epigenomes so that their brains would grow along the brain mapping of typical neurology.

There are many other treatments.There is certainly little harm in trying something that may help a child with autism be more comfortable and confident.  However, there is no conclusive data  showing that chelation, cranial/sacral therapy, listening therapy, play therapy and vitamin treatments will "cure" autism. They may help a child be more comfortable. However,  DAN (Defeat Autism Now), Jenny McCarthy and others who misguidedly purport to have found the "cure," lead many parents down a heartbreaking path.

So, in my opinion, where we are with treating people with autism is: using the treatments that have conclusive data showing improvement in the participants to help them to communicate better and to behave in a way that will cause them less problems socially. These treatments are: applied behavioral analysis therapy* (ABA), occupational therapy and diet**--each program customized for each child.

* The verbal behavior form of ABA is less stressful for most children. Dr. Vince Carbone has an excellent method.

** Diet: many people on the spectrum have intestinal problems. By eliminating wheat and gluten from their diets, they may feel more comfortable which will lead to less self-stimulating behavior--like flapping, scripting, rocking., etc.

I disabled the comments on this entry because I was personally attacked by a stranger, some parent in Pennsylvania, who takes my opinions on this matter as a criticism on her treatment of her son. She was completely misinterpreting my message, so that I could be a straw horse for her frustrations and anger. I tried to engage in a civil debate in which I encouraged mutual respect for people who don't necessarily agree with you, but she just became less rational and more insulting.

As a final caveat: I emphasize that all treatments should be considered and researched by parents and caregivers. As someone who has been researching autism  for 19 years and working with people with autism as a behavioral therapist, life and work skills counselor, and facilitation communicator for 8, I recommend that the VB form of ABA be the cornerstone of any treatment program intended to help a person with autism communicate better and be more effective socially. This does not mean I do not think other treatments should be considered as well!

I like Sam Roberts,a Canadian singer/songwriter, quite a bit. 
Basically I think his music is the kind of music that ought to be top
of the pops. He writes catchy songs with clever lyrics that rock a bit. 

David Foster Wallace RIP

So sad to hear about the death of David Foster Wallace. ( Read more... )

The US Open

There were so many exciting moments.
I think my favorite was in the Fourth Round, Rafael Nadal--possibly the best player in the world, at least the first seeded at the open, takes on Sam Querry, an American who is ranked 55th by the USTA. ( Read more... )