Eugene Roberts (2007), Scholarpedia, 2(10):3356. doi:10.4249/scholarpedia.3356 revision #91298 [link to/cite this article]
(Redirected from GABA)
Curator: Eugene Roberts
Eric Barnard
Dr. Eugene Roberts, Neurobiochemistry, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, CA
Figure 1: A plaque created by Dr. C. van der Stelt, chemist and artist, in honor of Roberts’ discovery and subsequent work on GABA at a meeting honoring him in Amsterdam, 1965 (provided by Dr. Eugene Roberts).
The term GABA refers to the simple chemical substance \(\gamma\)-aminobutyric acid (NH2CH2CH2 CH2COOH). It is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. Its presence in the brain first was reported in 1950 (Roberts and Frankel, 1950a).
1 Discovery of GABA and early history
2 Basic neurophysiology of GABA
3 A brief synopsis of the neurochemistry of GABA
4 The inhibited nervous system: a global view of GABAergic function (Roberts, 1976, 1986b, 1991)
5 GABA and diseases of the CNS
6 GABA, The quintessential neurotransmitter: electroneutrality, fidelity, and specificity (Roberts, 1993)
Discovery of GABA and early history
The history of GABA in brain began with the discovery of the unique presence of this substance in tissue of the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS). In the course of the study of free amino acids of various normal and neoplastic tissues in several species of animals by paper chromatography, relatively large amounts of an unidentified ninhydrin-reactive material were found in extracts of fresh brains of mouse, rat, rabbit, guinea-pig, human, frog, salamander, turtle, alligator, and chick. At most, only traces of this material were found in a large number of extracts of many other normal and neoplastic tissues and in urine and blood. The unknown material was isolated from suitably prepared paper chromatograms. A study of the properties of the substance in mouse brain revealed it to be GABA. The initial identification, based on the co-migration of the unknown with GABA on paper chromatography in three different solvent systems, was followed by an absolute identification of the GABA in brain extracts by the isotope derivative method. An abstract was submitted to the Federation meetings in March of 1950 reporting the presence of GABA in brain (Roberts and Frankel, 1950a). Three papers dealing with the occurrence of GABA in brain appeared later that year in the same issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Roberts and Frankel, 1950b; Udenfriend, 1950; Awapara et al., 1950). Detailed histories of the early chemical work outlined above have been published (e.g. see Roberts, 1986a).
Detailed account of the discovery of GABA here: /history.
The 3 methylene groups between the amino and carboxyl groups of GABA endow it with great structural flexibility, allowing it freedom to explore the surrounding chemical space with a continuum of structures ranging from full extension ( Figure 1, upper right) to the contiguity of the amino and carboxyl groups shown in the cyclic form ( Figure 1, lower left). Therefore, GABA has potential capacity to engage in innumerable energy-minimizing, mutually shaping interactions with molecular entities encountered in its immediate environment.
Basic neurophysiology of GABA
For several years the presence of GABA in brain remained a biochemical curiosity and a physiological enigma. It was remarked in the first review written on GABA that “Perhaps the most difficult question to answer would be whether the presence in the gray matter of the central nervous system of uniquely high concentrations of \(\gamma\)-aminobutyric acid and the enzyme which forms it from glutamic acid has a direct or indirect connection to conduction of the nerve impulse in this tissue” (Roberts, 1956). However, later that year, the first suggestion that GABA might have an inhibitory function in the vertebrate nervous system came from studies in which it was found that topically applied solutions of GABA exerted inhibitory effects on electrical activity in the brain (Hayashi and Nagai, 1956). In 1957, the suggestion was made that indigenously occurring GABA might have an inhibitory function in the central nervous system from studies with convulsant hydrazides (Killam, 1957; Killam and Bain, 1957). Also in 1957, suggestive evidence for an inhibitory function for GABA came from studies that established GABA as the major factor in brain extracts responsible for the inhibitory action of these extracts on the crayfish stretch receptor system (Bazemore et al., 1957). Within a brief period the activity in this field increased greatly, so that the research being carried out ranged all the way from the study of the effects of GABA on ionic movements in single neurons to clinical evaluation of the role of the GABA system in epilepsy, schizophrenia, mental retardation, etc. This surge of interest warranted the convocation in 1959 of the first truly interdisciplinary neuroscience conference ever held, at which were present most of the individuals who had played a role in opening up this exciting field (Roberts et al, 1960).
During the aforementioned period, GABA became established as the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). It was found to fulfill the “classical” requirements for neurotransmitter: proof of identity of postsynaptic action with that of the natural transmitter, presence in inhibitory nerves, releasability from terminals of identified nerves, and the presence of a rapid inactivating mechanism at synapses. Information on the GABA system, as a whole, up to 1960 has been thoroughly reviewed and extensively documented (Roberts and Eidelberg, 1960, and Roberts, et al., 1960) and major updates have appeared at intervals (Roberts, et al., 1976; Bowery, 1984; Olsen and Venter, 1986; Martin and Olsen, 2000).
Figure 2: Some metabolic relationships in nervous tissue.
A brief synopsis of the neurochemistry of GABA
GABA is formed in the CNS of vertebrate organisms to a large extent, if not entirely, from L-glutamic acid ( Figure 2). The reaction (reaction 5) is catalyzed by L-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), an enzyme found in mammalian organisms largely in neurons in the CNS, although there now are many reports of the occurrence of both GAD and GABA in neurons in the peripheral nervous system, as well as in some nonneural tissues (e.g., pancreas) and in body fluids. Brain GAD catalyzes the rapid \(\alpha\)-decarboxylation of L-glutamic acid and, of the rest of the naturally occurring amino acids, only L-aspartic acid to a very slight extent. Genes for two brain GAD isoforms have been cloned, as have families of other GABA-related proteins, such as 19 GABAA receptors and 2 to 3 GABAB receptors. It now is possible to visualize GABA, itself, and most of the proteins involved in GABA metabolism, release, and action on sections of the CNS at the light and electron microscopic levels, employing antisera to the purified components and peroxidase-labelling techniques. This has led to much more definitive data than were hitherto available through cell fractionation and lesion studies and has given detailed information of the interrelationships of GABA neurons in various nervous system regions (Roberts, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1986a).
The reversible transamination of GABA with \(\alpha\)-ketoglutarate (reaction 9) is catalyzed by a mitochondrial aminotransferase, termed GABA-transaminase (GABA-T), which in the CNS is found chiefly in the gray matter but also occurs in other tissues. The products of the transaminase reaction are succinic semialdehyde and glutamic acid. There is present an excess of a dehydrogenase that catalyzes the oxidation of succinic semialdehyde to succinic acid, which in turn can be oxidized via the reactions of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Because succinic semialdehyde is oxidized to succinate without the intermediate formation of succinyl-coenzyme A, one consequence of the operation of the GABA shunt in brain, through which 10% to 20% of glucose metabolism may flow, is a decreased rate of phosphorylation of guanosine diphosphate (GDP) to guanosine triphosphate (GTP). The latter may be involved in activation of G proteins, formation of deoxy GTP for mitochondrial DNA synthesis, and synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Although the exact functional significance of this GABA-dependent metabolic shunt still is not apparent, it seems certain that GABA plays a special metabolic role in brain mitochondria, which is abrogated when inhibition of GABA-T occurs. Of the keto acids normally present, only \(\alpha\)-ketoglutarate is an amino group acceptor. In addition to GABA, several other ω amino acids also are effective amino donors.
Steady-state concentrations of GABA in various brain areas normally are governed by the activity of GAD and not by GABA-T. In many inhibitory nerves, both GAD and GABA-T are present and are found throughout the neuron, GAD being more highly concentrated in the presynaptic terminals than elsewhere. The GABA-T is contained in mitochondria of all neuronal regions. GABA is a precursor of several substances found in nervous tissue and cerebrospinal fluid, among which are GABA histidine (homocarnosine), GABA-1-methylhistidine, \(\gamma\)-guanidinobutyric acid, GABA-1-cystathionine, \(\alpha\)-(GABA)-L-lysine, GABA-choline, and putreanine [(N-4-aminobutyrl)-3-aminopropionic acid]. Homocarnosine is present exclusively in brain and cerebrospinal fluid, and there are data suggesting important roles for it as an antioxidant, an optimizer of immune function, and a modifier of brain excitability.
Important controls in regulation of the GABA system might be exerted at points related to the availability of glutamic acid, the substrate for GABA synthesis in nerve endings by GAD (reaction 5). Glutamate carbon can originate from glucose through glycolysis and the Krebs cycle (upper right-hand corner of Figure 2), from glutamine subsequent to uptake (reaction 6), and from proline (reactions 3 and 4) and ornithine (reactions 2 and 4). Ornithine (reactions 2 and 3), but not glutamate, is an effective precursor of proline in nerve terminals, a putative inhibitory neurotransmitter. Arginine can be converted to ornithine (reaction 1), which in turn gives rise to glutamate (reactions 2 and 4), proline (reactions 2 and 3), and GABA (reactions 2, 4, and 5).
GAD requires pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), a form of vitamin B6, as a coenzyme (Roberts et al., 1964). Dietary forms of vitamin B6 are absorbed and converted efficiently in tissues to (PLP), which is synthesized in brain from ATP and pyridoxal. PLP can readily be removed from the enzyme protein of GAD causing loss of enzyme activity, and the lost enzymatic activity can be restored simply by the addition of the coenzyme. Pyridoxine-deficient animals show a decrease in the degree of saturation with the coenzyme of the enzyme protein of cerebral GAD, but no decrease is found in the content of enzyme protein in the deficient animals. Brain GAD activity is restored rapidly to normal on feeding of pyridoxine to deficient animals. Pyridoxine deficiency, however produced, results in a susceptibility to seizures in animals, including humans, probably because of decreased ability to make GABA. Seizures in an infant with a simple dietary deficiency of vitamin B6 were abolished completely almost immediately after intramuscular injection of pyridoxine. This indicates that in a normal individual there is an extremely rapid conversion of pyridoxine to pyridoxal phosphate, association of the coenzyme with the apoenzyme of GAD, and formation of GABA in nerve terminals. Hydrazides and other carbonyl-trapping agents react with the aldehyde group of PLP and decrease its availability as a coenzyme. The seizures that result when such agents are administered are partially attributable to the decreases in the amounts of releasable GABA in nerve terminals of inhibitory nerves.
The inhibited nervous system: a global view of GABAergic function (Roberts, 1976, 1986b, 1991)
Perhaps the subject of neural inhibition had lain dormant for so many years because there was no material basis for it. Inhibitory neurons had not been identified, an inhibitory neurotransmitter had not been isolated and characterized, and postsynaptic sites for neural inhibition had not been shown. It is well to remember that it was not until 1952 (Eccles, 1982), two years after the discovery of GABA in brain, that the controversy as to whether synaptic transmission in the CNS is largely electrical or chemical in nature was settled in favor of the latter. It also was 3 years before modern molecular biology was begun by Watson and Crick (Watson and Crick, 1953).
GABA increases the permeability of membranes to specific ions in such a way as to cause the membranes to resist depolarization. For example, by acting on a particular class of receptors (GABAA), GABA produces an increase in permeability to Cl- ions that is measured as an increase in membrane conductance. GABA also produces increases in K+ conductance by action on another distinct class of receptors (GABAB) that are not colocalized with GABAA receptors. In general, GABA accelerates the rate of return of the resting potential of all depolarized membrane segments that it contacts and stabilizes undepolarized membrane segments by decreasing their sensitivity to stimulation. Thus, at many sites in the nervous system, GABA exercises inhibitory command-control of membrane potential. In this way this naturally occurring inhibitory transmitter can counteract the depolarizing action of excitatory processes to maintain the polarization of a cell at an equilibrium level near that of its resting value, acting essentially as a chemical voltage clamp. In most instances studied, GABA has been shown to exert hyperpolarizing or inhibitory effects by this mechanism. However, if high intracellular Cl- concentrations should occur, GABA can produce a decrease in membrane potential or depolarization. Data now suggest that the benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium) and barbiturates exert their pharmacologic effects largely by reacting with components of the GABAA receptor complex, thereby enhancing the efficacy of neurally released GABA.
GABA is inactivated at synapses by a mechanism that involves attachment to unique membrane recognition sites, different from those for the receptor, and subsequent removal from the synaptic junction by a Na+- and Cl--dependent transport process that is similar in principle to that used for transport of many other substances. The removal of synaptically released GABA takes place by reuptake into terminals of neurons and into glial processes that invest the synapses.
Figure 3: (A) Control section (non-immunostained) of nucleus interpositus in rat cerebellum. Neuronal soma (s). (B) Neuropil of nucleus interpositus immunostained for GAD. Soma of neuron(s), dendrite (d), reaction product (long arrows), grazed neuron soma (encircled by short arrows) with bouton-like reaction product on cell surface (b). (C) Neuron shown in Fig. 2B, photographed with Nornarski optics. Soma (s), dendrite (d), bouton-like deposits of reaction product (b).
Figure 4: Electron micrographs of various types of synaptic terminals which contain GAD, the enzyme that synthesizes GABA. All specimens were obtained from the rat CNS. (a) axodentritic synapses in the substantia nigra (T1 and T2) with a dendritic shaft (D) in the pars reticulate; (b) axoaxonal synapse in cerebral cortex; (c) axosomatic synapse in dorsal horn of spinal cord; (d) axoaxonal synapse in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord; (e) dendrodentritic synapses in the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb.
The ubiquity and extent of immunocytochemically visualized presynaptic endings of inhibitory GABAergic neurons on various structures in the vertebrate nervous system are striking. The impression is that of looking at a highly restrained nervous system ( Figure 3 and Figure 4). In coherent behavioral sequences, innate or learned, preprogrammed circuits are released to function at varying rates and in various combinations. This is accomplished largely by the disinhibition of pacemaker neurons whose activities are under the dual tonic inhibitory controls of local-circuit GABAergic neurons and of GABAergic projection neurons coming from neural command centers. According to this view, disinhibition is permissive, and excitatory input to pacemaker neurons serves mainly a modulatory role.
Disinhibition., acting in conjunction with intrinsic pacemaker activity and often with modulatory excitatory input, is one of the major organizing principles in nervous system function. For example, cortical and hippocampal pyramidal neurons are literally studded with terminals from inhibitory GABAergic neurons. Not only are the endings of the local-circuit GABAergic aspinous stellate neurons densely distributed around the somata and dendrites of the cortical pyramidal cells, but they are also located on initial axon segments, where they act as frequency filters. In addition, GABA neurons have terminals from other GABAergic neurons impinging on them. Pyramidal cells are tightly inhibited by local-circuit inhibitory neurons that may themselves be inhibited by the actions of other inhibitory neurons in such a way that disinhibition of the pyramidal neurons occurs. Local-circuit GABAergic neurons also participate in processes that result in feedforward, feedback, surround, and presynaptic inhibition and presynaptic facilitation.
Both inhibition and disinhibition play key roles in information processing in all neural regions. Normally, the principal cells in particular neural sectors may be held tightly in check by constant tonic action of inhibitory neurons. Through disinhibition, neurons in a neural sector may be released to fire at different rates and sequences and, in turn, serve to release circuits at other levels of the nervous system. Communication among neural stations and substations may take place largely by throwing of disinhibitory neural switches. This may be the way information flows from sense organ to cerebral sensory area, through associative areas to the motor cortex, and by way of the pyramidal paths to the final motor cells of the medulla and spinal cord.
GABA and diseases of the CNS
Defects in coordination between the GABA system and other neurotransmitter and modulator systems may involve a local brain region, several brain regions, or the entire CNS. Enhanced synchrony of neuronal firing (e.g., in seizures) may arise in several ways: increased rate of release of synaptic excitatory transmitters, blockade of inhibitory transmitter receptor mechanisms, desensitization of receptors to inhibitory transmitters, decreased availability of inhibitory transmitter, decreased activity of inhibitory neurons, and increased formation or activation of electrotonic (gap) junctions. Immunocytochemical studies of the sensorimotor cortex in experimental epilepsy in monkeys showed highly significant reductions in numbers of GABAergic terminals of electrographically proved epileptogenic sites of alumina gel application. Electronmicroscopic observations showed a marked loss of axosomatic synapses on the pyramidal cells and a replacement of synaptic appositions with astrocytic processes in the alumina cream-treated animals. However, the symmetric, presumably excitatory synapses on the dendrites of these pyramidal cells appeared to be largely intact. Comprehensive biochemical studies complementary to the morphologic ones showed a significant correlation with seizure frequency only with losses in GABAergic receptor-related binding and decreased GAD activity. Current data support the notion that actual destruction or inactivation of inhibitory interneurons is one of the major cerebral defects predisposing to seizures, at least in the case of focal epilepsy (Roberts, 1986b). Mutations in GABAA receptor now have been shown to predispose individuals to various types of seizures (Macdonald, et al., 2004). GABA neurons play important roles in control mechanisms in various hypothalamic and brain stem centers. If their activity within these structures is compromised, abnormally enhanced responses may be observed, for example, in emotional reactivity, cardiac and respiratory functions, blood pressure, food and water intake, sweating , insulin secretion, liberation of gastric acid, and motility of the colon.
The roles of GABA neurons in information processing in various regions of the nervous system are so varied and complex that it appears doubtful that many useful drug therapies will come from approaches that are aimed at affecting one or another aspect of GABAergic function at all GABA synapses. Currently there are no drugs that are process and site specific. In this regard, the detailed molecular characterization that is being carried out of the enzymes of GABA metabolism, GABA receptors and transporters, the components of GABA receptor-associated anion channels, and the relationships among these structures and the lipidic membrane components in which they are imbedded should give rise to many opportunities for devising specific therapeutic modalities (e.g., see Roberts, 2006).
GABA, The quintessential neurotransmitter: electroneutrality, fidelity, and specificity (Roberts, 1993)
Isoelectric Points (PI) of Major Naturally-Occurring Amino Acids and Peptides in Animal Tissues (From Greenstein, J.P., Winitz, M. Chemistry of the Amino Acids, Vol. 1. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1961, pp. 486-489).
Aspartic acid 2.77
Glutamic acid 3.22
Cystine 5.03
Asparagine 5.41
Phenylalanine 5.48
Homocystine 5.53
Threonine 5.64
Glutamine 5.65
Tyrosine 5.66
Serine 5.68
Methionine 5.74
Hydroxyproline 5.74
Tryptophan 5.89
Citrulline 5.92
Isoleucine 5.94
Valine 5.96
Glycine 5.97
Leucine 5.98
Alanine 6.00
Sarcosine 6.12
Proline 6.30
β-Alanine 6.90
Cysteine 6.94
Homocysteine 7.05
\(\gamma\)-Aminobutyric acid 7.30
Histidine 7.47
\(\delta\)-Amino-n-valeric acid 7.52
\(\epsilon\)-Amino-n-caproic acid 7.60
l-Methylhistidine 7.67
Carnosine 8.17
Anserine 8.27
Lysine 9.59
Ornithine 9.70
Arginine 11.15
Nature’s choice of GABA as the major inhibitory neurotransmitter is an example of evolutionary optimization. Alone of the known neurotransmitters, GABA is an electroneutral zwitterion (isoelectric point, 7.3) at physiologic pH, the ionization constants for both its amino and carboxyl groups being sufficiently far removed from neutrality so that shifts of pH in the physiologic range produce little change in net charge (Table 1). This endows GABA with a capacity for higher fidelity of information transmittal than that of other known major neurotransmitters, enabling it, in “stealth” fashion, to escape the charged minefields encountered in passage through the dense extracellular environment lying between presynaptic sites of release and postsynaptic sites of action. Coordinate enhancement with progressive acidification occurs in GABAergic inhibitory function because GABA formation and its anion channel-opening efficacy are increased while its metabolic destruction by transamination and removal by transport are decreased. Diminution of GABAergic inhibitory function occurs on alkalinization. Contrariwise, acidification decreases postsynaptic efficacy of glutamate, the major excitatory neurotransmitter, and alkalinization increases it.
In this manner the delicate balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain is maintained within the adaptive range in response to local or global activity that acidifies the environment in which it occurs. Accelerated metabolism after nerve activity results in accelerated formation of carbon dioxide and lactic acid; the accompanying acidification applies physiologic “brakes,” so to speak, preventing structural and functional damage from taking place. When GABAergic-glutamatergic relations are unbalanced by glutamatergic overactivity, seizures may occur. For example, the excitement experienced at an athletic event with the attendant hyperventilation and consequent alkalinization not infrequently causes seizures in susceptible individuals. Overbalancing in favor of the GABA system can lead to maladaptive decrement in neural activity and even to coma.
The properties of the simple GABA molecule itself, and of the machinery built to support its function, make it eminently suitable to guide the brain in a “civilized” manner. The yin-yang relationship between the glutamatergic excitatory and GABAergic inhibitory systems is played out on the tightrope of a delicate balance, and imbalances between them lead to serious disorders.
No \(\alpha\)-, \(\beta\)-, or \(\omega\)- amino acid known to occur in any abundance in animal tissues approaches GABA in molar efficacy at the GABAA receptor. Therefore, the noise level created by nonspecific effects at the GABAA receptor are minimal, ensuring quantitative fidelity of the neural messages delivered by GABA.
The “charm” of GABA lies in nature’s choice of this simple molecule, made from the common metabolic soil of glutamic acid, for the all-important role as major controller of the infinitely complex machinery of the brain, allowing it to operate in the manner best described as freedom without license. Try as one might, one cannot come up with a better choice for the job (Roberts, 1991, 1993).
Awapara, J., Landua, A.J., Fuerst, R., and Seale, B. Free gamma-aminobutyric acid in brain. Journal of Biological Chemistry 187:35-9, 1950.
Bazemore, A.W., Elliott, K.A.C., Florey, E. Isolation of Factor I. Journal of Neurochemistry 1:334-339, 1957.
Bowery, N.G., ed. Actions and Interactions of GABA and Benzodiazepines. New York: Raven Press, 1984.
Eccles, J.C. The synapse: from electrical to chemical transmission. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 5:325-339, 1982.
Hayashi, T., Nagai, K. Action of ω-amino acids on the motor cortex of higher animals, especially γ-amino-β-oxybutyric acid as the real inhibitory principle in brain. In: Abstracts of reviews: Abstracts of communications. Brussels: Twentieth International Physiological Congress, p. 410, 1956.
Killam, K.F. Convulsant hydrazides. II. Comparison of electrical changes and enzyme inhibition induced by the administration of thiosemicarbazide. Journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics. 119:263-271, 1957.
Killam, K.F., Bain J.A. Convulsant hydrazides. I. In vitro and in vivo inhibition of vitamin B6 enzymes by convulsant hydrazides. Journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics. 119:255-262, 1957.
Macdonald, R.L., Gallagher, M.J., Feng, H.-J., Kang, J. GABAA receptor epilepsy mutations. Biochemical Pharmacology. 68:1497-1506, 2004.
Martin, D. L. & Olsen, R. W., eds. GABA in the Nervous System. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
Olsen, R.W. and Venter J.C., editors Benzodiazepine/GABA Receptors and Chloride Channels: Structural and Functional Properties. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1986.
Roberts, E. Formation and utilization of γ-aminobutyric acid in brain. Progress in Neurobiology. I. Neurochemistry. Korey, S.R., and Burnberger, J.I. eds. New York: Hoeber-Harper, pp. 11-25, 1956.
Roberts, E. Disinhibition as an organizing principle in the nervous system: the role of the GABA system. Application to neurologic and psychiatric disorders. In: Roberts, E., Chase, T.N., and Tower, D.B., eds., GABA in Nervous System Function, New York, Raven Press, pp. 515-539, 1976.
Roberts, E. Roles of GABA neurons in information processing in the vertebrate CNS. In: Karlin, A., Tennyson, V.M., Vogel, H.J., eds. Neuronal Information Transfer. New York: Academic Press, pp. 213-239, 1978.
Roberts, E. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA): a major inhibitory transmitter in the vertebrate nervous system. In: Levi-Montalcini, R., ed. Nerve Cells, Transmitters and Behaviour. Rome: Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 163-213, 1980.
Roberts, E. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA): from discovery to visualization of GABAergic neurons in the vertebrate nervous system. In: Actions and Interactions of GABA and Benzodiazepines, Bowery, N.G., ed. New York: Raven Press, pp. 1-25, 1984.
Roberts, E. GABA: The road to neurotransmitter status. In: Benzodiazepine/GABA Receptors and Chloride Channels: Structural and Functional Properties, R.W. Olsen and J.C. Venter, editors, pp. 1-39. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1986a.
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Roberts, E. Living systems are tonically inhibited, autonomous optimizers, and disinhibition coupled to variability generation is their major organizing principle: inhibitory command-control at levels of membrane, genome, metabolism, brain, and society. Neurochemical Research 16:409-421, 1991.
Roberts, E. Adventures with GABA: Fifty Years On. In: GABA in the Nervous System: The View at Fifty Years, D.L. Martin and Richard W. Olsen, editors, pp. 1-24, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2000.
Roberts, E. GABAergic malfunction in the limbic system resulting from an aboriginal genetic defect in voltage-gated Na+-channel SCN5A is proposed to give rise to susceptibility to schizophrenia. Advances in Pharmacology 54:119-145, 2006.
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GABA Receptors, Interneurons, Neural Inhibition, Synapse, Synaptic Transmission
Reviewed by: Dr. Eric Barnard, Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, UK
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Messages from the President Emeritus
Home / President Emeritus Charles L. Flynn, Jr.
President Emeritus Charles L. Flynn, Jr.
Dr. Charles L. Flynn, Jr., is President Emeritus of the College of Mount Saint VIncent. He served as professor of history and president from 2000 until 2021.
Originally from Connecticut, Dr. Flynn received a B.A. from Hamilton College, and the M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
A historian, Dr. Flynn is the author of White Land, Black Labor: Caste and Class in Late Nineteenth Century Georgia. He is co-editor of an award-winning volume entitled Race, Class, and Politics in Southern History, and the author of numerous articles.
Dr. Flynn has served many community and professional organizations, including the Executive Committee of both the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and New York’s Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU).


Transnet Cares May 2014
Transnet Cares - Transnet Foundation Official Newsletter
Enriching the Lives and Well-being of Communities
Community-based and non-profit organisations play a crucial role in uplifting impoverished communities, where the majority of people don’t have the means to help themselves. By providing much needed care and services, they help empower people to live productive, healthy and fulfilling lives. They also offer hope for a bright future when prospects are dim.
The University of Pretoria, Faculty of Health science, School of Dentistry in partnership with the Transnet Foundation
The University of Pretoria, Faculty of Health science, School of Dentistry in partnership with the Transnet Foundation have committed itself to allocate dental and oral hygiene students to the Transnet Phelophepa Health care train on a fortnight bases for a period of five months. Currently the first group of students joined the train on 31st March 2014 and they returned on the 12th April 2014. The next group of students will soon follow.
Transnet Bids Farewell to Dr Coetzee
In the month of March 2014, Transnet SOC Ltd will bid farewell to one of its passionate and dedicated long serving member of staff Dr Lynette Coetzee. Dr Coetzee is founder and project manager of the ‘train of hope’ Phelophepa and Portfolio manager for Health, at the Transnet Foundation. For 20 years, she has successfully headed the Phelophepa initiative and as she exits Transnet on retirement, she takes us through her experiences with the project that has been and will forever remain close to her heart.
Transnet Donates R550K towards MISTRA Research Work
Transnet’s Corporate Social Investment contribution towards social and economic upliftment of the country continues to impact both individuals and organisations. One recipient was Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), a non-profit organisation founded in 2010 which combines research and academic development, strategic reflection and intellectual discourse to promote heritage preservation. To support and enhance research skills among African youth, Transnet Foundation gave a once-off sponsorship of R550, 000 towards the sustenance of research projects.
Transnet Community Centres (“TCCs”) provides economic benefits
Three years ago Transnet Foundation set in motion projects aimed at providing infrastructure and basic services to remote rural communities through constructing centres and approaching service providers that would help deliver safety and security services, as well as social services. To date three TCCs have been erected and are fully operational in Springs, Khuma in Potchefstroom, Ireagh in Bushbuckridge while two centres in Thokoza, Emalahleni and Idondotha in KZN are under construction.
Transnet Foundation Support System for High School Teachers
Transnet Foundation through its Education Portfolio continues to embark on programmes which improve the quality of the education system within the country. The portfolio has been running a project called Transnet Foundation Teachers Development Programme which offers support to targeted high school teachers.
School of Excellence Matric and Sports Awards
The SAFA/Transnet Football school of Excellence held an awards ceremony on Friday the 21st of February to celebrate the academic and sport achievements of the matric class of 2013. The ceremony, in its splendour, was attended by officials from SAFA, Transnet, the 2013 matriculants and their parents, current students at the school, local area councillor and former students of the school who have now made it big in professional football.
Transnet Funds building of 4 Classrooms to a North West School
Transnet has granted funding of R 750 000 to Batswana Commercial Secondary School. The mixed sex institution is situated in Mafikeng, in the North West province and home to more than 1300 learners. The donation which will be spread over three consecutive years at R 250 000 per annum, effective February 2014, will help alleviate severe classroom shortages being faced by the school.


Write For DUO
INSIDE DUO
GOODS TO DO GOOD
Bob Tinsley
Many of us don’t even know what we want todo at the age of 22, let alone having written,produced and performed your own songs,started your own production company andsigned a contract with a major recording studio. It’s no wonder why Bobby Tinsley is becoming hotter than ever!
DUO (D) How and when did you start your music career?
BOBBY (B): I have been singing and making music my whole life, but I would say my “career” actually started early 2004 with the self-release of my first album “Page 1”.
D:What are some of the challenges you encountered throughout your career?
B:Getting started in music is no easy path. I have had to face haters, people doubting that you can really “make it”, shady record companies, broken promises, and the list can go on and on. Overcoming all of that is a day-to-day struggle; still, however, if you really believe in yourself, you get through the bad weather!
D:How do you characterize your style and how do you stand out from other artists?
B:My style is definitely R&B, but more like the stuff you would hear back in the ‘90’s, Jon B, Brian McKnight, songs that really gave you that “feeling”, ya know. I play guitar and keys live, and I write and produce pretty much all of my stuff. To me, it’s really about the message in the song. I feel like my music can really touch a broad range of people, just from a lyrical and emotional standpoint, so I think that definitely helps me to stand out.
D:How did your life change after signing a record deal with Jean Rah Fya Records?
B:This has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, business-wise. I really thank God every day for my label situation, and the type of people that Doug and Jackie are. It’s hard, because, unfortunately, we have a “music-business”, two words that really don’t go well together, but you have to be a businessperson with this stuff. Signing this deal, with everyone from my label to my management, has really helped me be able to focus more on the music side of things, which I am not complaining about!
D:What can the audience expect from your album “What about Bob”?
B:It’s really an emotional journey of my life over the last couple years. Some of the songs I wrote two years ago, and some of them were just recently added; but, all in all, I think people are really gonna love what they hear. There’s joy; there’s pain. It’s really a lyrical ride. I put my heart out there.
D:On what projects are you currently working?
B:Well, just recently, I wrote and produced some songs off of my label-mate Chani’s CD, so that has been a blast! I also am doing some writing and production for a lot of folks behind the scenes, and working with some other production houses that I really respect and look up to, like the Insomniax. I try to stay busy.
D:Do you do charity work?
B:Jean Rah Fya owners Doug and Jackie Christie support the Millionaire Club and the Children’s Hospital, so I’m really looking forward to getting involved in some of that with them. I also have plans to start a foundation of my own, hopefully as I get more known. I have a lot of ideas.- DUO


Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc. is a member-owned full service rural electric cooperative serving approximately 24,000 customers in parts of 18 Northern Kansas Counties. Headquartered in Norton, Kansas, Prairie Land Electric's 86 employees maintain and operate almost 7000 miles of line.
Our Power Supply
Our Kitty: Kilowatt
14935 US Hwy 36, P.O. Box 360
223 West 5th Street, P.O. Box 469
Our offices are open from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For after hours outage reporting, call 1-800-577-3323.
To make automated payments by phone at any time, call 1-844-241-0263
Electricity is a unique product in that it can't be stored. It must always be on the move until it's used, and it has to be delivered in just the right amount needed by the consumer. A wholesale supplier generates the electricity, and uses transmission lines to provide it to the utility distribution provider that purchased it.
Electricity can be generated from coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar, water and biomass.
Prairie Land Electric gets electricity from a Generation and Transmission cooperative called Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, based in Hays, Kansas. Sunflower Electric owns and operates generation and transmission assets that crisscross 36 central and western Kansas counties. Sunflower was created in 1957 by six rural electric cooperatives in western Kansas, including Prairie Land Electric, because they needed assurance they would have a reliable long-term power supply available to them at a price lower than what each individual cooperative could obtain independently. For more information on the sources of the power generated by Sunflower Electric, click here.
Prairie Land Electric is a distribution cooperative and the direct point of contact with the electricity consumers. Distribution cooperatives purchase power at wholesale from a G&T and deliver it to members by reducing the voltage and transferring it to smaller distribution lines that allow it to travel safely to the consumer.
The mission of Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc. is:
to make electric energy available to its members at the lowest possible cost consistent with sound economy and good management.
After the devastating ice storm of December, 2006, an employee returning from purchasing supplies was surprised by a kitten that had found her way into his warm truck. Prairie Land adopted the cat, and named her Kilowatt. Kilowatt earns her keep by sharing the monthly safety features in the newsletter, Kilowatt Tips, and by hunting rodents in the warehouse and along the tree line at the headquarters.
In the Fall of 1938, interested citizens of Norton and Decatur counties met in various places for the purpose of organizing a rural electric company to bring the conveniences of electricity to their farms. Other efforts having failed, they were convinced that in order to get the job done they would have to do it themselves. The Norton-Decatur Cooperative Electric Company, Inc. received its charter on October 13, 1938 and became the first rural electric cooperative in Western Kansas.
The first meeting of the board of trustees was held at the City Hall in Norcatur, KS on November 7, 1938. The first certificate to operate as a utility was issued by the Kansas Corporation Commission on December 13th that same year. The area covered by this certificate was along Highway 383 from 8 miles east to 20 miles west of Norton and also an area south and west of the City of Norton.
The first meeting of the members was held at the City Hall in Norcatur on February 14, 1939, with 30 members present. The first Norton-Decatur office was in two rooms in the Broquet building in Norton rented for $13 per month. Norton-Decatur's first loan from the Rural Electrification Administration was granted on May 19, 1939 in the amount of $88,000 to construct approximately 104 miles of line. The section of that construction was energized in February 1941. Due to wartime material shortages, further construction became virtually impossible. Power was purchased from the City of Norton.
On January 1, 1997, history was made when the Northwest Kansas Electric Cooperative Association merged into Norton-Decatur Cooperative Electric Company, Inc. The Norton-Decatur territory now included counties from the Phillips/Smith county line westward to the Colorado border. The first annual meeting of the merged cooperative membership was on April 3, 1997. An important item on the agenda for that meeting was the announcement of the merged cooperative's new name: Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc.
History was made again on April 1, 2007 when Prairie Land and the other five members of Mid-Kansas Electric Company, LLC completed an acquisition of the West Plains Kansas electric properties owned by Aquila, Inc. With that transaction, Prairie Lands electric service area extended eastward to include customers in Smith, Osborne, Jewell, Mitchell, Republic, Cloud, Washington, and Clay counties. Several counties already in the Prairie Land service area (Rooks, Phillips, and Norton) gained new customers from the acquisition as well.
Norton Headquarters Map
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Home Extras Social Work Month 2015 Black Lives Matter - What a Social Work Educator's Students Have To Say
Our Clients/Our Selves - Mezzo Morning/Mourning Mezzo – Intervene (W)here? (!)
Happy World Social Work Day, March 17, 2015
Black Lives Matter - What a Social Work Educator's Students Have To Say
photo credit: Gino Santa Maria
Ferguson Protest
by Dana K. Harmon, Ph.D., MSW
Let me start by saying that there are countless names that could be mentioned and that definitely need to be recognized and honored.
On August 28, 1955, White men in Money, MS, murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till for allegedly whistling at a White woman. On February 26, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s race has been of much debate. However, another Black male’s life was lost. On November 23, 2012, in Florida, Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old, was fatally shot by a White man for playing loud music in his car. On July 17th of that same year, Eric Garner was choked to death by a White New York City police officer. Also in 2014, on November 22nd, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by a White Cleveland police officer within two seconds of the officer approaching Tamir.
It was not until August 9, 2014, when 18-year-old Michael Brown was gunned down in the middle of the street in Ferguson, MO, by a White police officer, that the words “Black Lives Matter” resonated on Twitter, Facebook, other social media sites, and in national and international news. Why did Black lives matter then, when they always have?
As I saw the breaking news about Michael Brown, his body lying uncovered in the middle of the street, and Black people who looked like me standing in the neighborhood as officers came to the scene, I sobbed and became extremely angry - especially when I saw Michael’s mother.
I was engrossed in watching the news media for hours and then thought about how classes at my university would start in a week. How will I feel when I see my students? What will they say to me about what happened? How will we talk about the situation and for how long? Interestingly, I was to teach a cultural diversity and social justice course that semester and had never had a problem engaging my students about social issues in which injustices occur. However, this felt different for me, because when I saw Michael Brown, I saw my brother, father, cousins, friends, and others I care about in the middle of the street. And Lesley McSpadden, Michael’s mother, symbolized every Black woman in America.
It was a typical, warm August day and the first day of classes at this small liberal arts university in Alabama. Yes, the state with many, many years of racial tension. What was I walking into? The week since Michael Brown’s murder and seeing the tears and anger of Ms. McSpadden and Michael Brown, Sr., had definitely taken an emotional toll on me. As always, I was ready and excited to see my students, but being the only Black faculty in my department and part of a handful at what is a predominantly Black university (based on percentages), there was some ambivalence and anxiety. There has always been mutual respect and open dialogue in my classes about vulnerable populations and social justice, but would we be divided by race, just as the country had been?
It was 11:00 a.m., and I was headed to my 11:15 Cultural Diversity and Social Justice class. The students said, “Hi, Dr. Harmon!” I replied, “Hello everyone, it is great to see you!” After the pleasantries, most of the students said they could not wait to see me so that we could talk about what had happened in Ferguson, MO. Oh wait. There were 11 students (four White and seven Black) who were all female. I will share later about the Black male students (only two) that I had in two separate courses.
So, we went over the syllabus and spent about 30 minutes processing. That is what we do in social work, right? They immediately wanted to know my thoughts and feelings, which were what I conveyed earlier in this essay, but I wanted to hear from them. For me, it is about hearing my students, because they teach me something, too. Also, I was curious about what Millennials thought, because I always heard, “I do not see race,” and “Things are not the same as they were many years ago.” The Black students quickly expressed their anger and how they “feel like we are going backwards.” The White students sat quietly and then one said, “I am sad about what happened, because no one should be treated that way for being Black.” She went on to say, “We do not see White men being killed for being White.”
As for the two Black male students I saw later that day, one I knew said, “They do not care about us. They just see us as a threat and not human.” I said, “Who is they?” He replied, “White people.” As the conversation continued, he also included White professors. We talked further about him being in a classroom with White professors in which he already felt marginalized by some. When I met the other Black male student, he expressed after class how glad he was to see me because none of his other professors, who were all White, brought up Ferguson.
Fast forward. The semester was going smoothly, but #BlackLivesMatter was still everywhere - thus, still with my students and me. In all my classes, we continued talking about the importance of advocacy, organizing, and the NASW Code of Ethics. The university was quiet about the protests going on across the country, and my students were frustrated about that, but there was not silence in my classroom. There is a wonderful DVD called If These Halls Could Talk, in which Lee Mun Wah brought together 11 college students to share the frustration and anguish of trying to be understood and acknowledged on campus where the faculty and students are predominantly White. Last semester was a symbol of the halls of the university being quiet. The students wanted to fight for justice, but they voiced not feeling supported to do so.
The Black students were proud to have allies, and both White and Black students communicated how most faculty and administrators were missing out on what solidarity looks like. I recalled the Freedom Riders and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This new generation of activists for human and civil rights have effectively used 21st-century technology in communicating with each other from across the globe to risk taking a moment to a movement. This emerging movement by White and Black millennial activists has encouraged those who were already passionate about social justice to become leaders and change agents.
As the semester ended, I told my students how proud I was of their resilience and strength. I further told them how their voices are important and need to be heard loud and clear, because I strongly believe they are the catalyst for confronting a system that fractures Black men, which has an impact on all of society.
So, to my and all social work students - think about these few words to Ella’s Song by Ella Baker:
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers' sons
Is as important as the killing of White men, White mothers' sons
http://thue.stanford.edu/jacquie/songs/ella.html
Ella's Song - Sweet Honey in the Rock
Dana K. Harmon, Ph.D., MSW, is an Assistant Professor of Social Work in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of West Alabama. Her research interests include African American males’ and family functioning, marriage quality and commitment, spirituality/religiosity among African Americans, and parental loss. Dr. Harmon has published peer-reviewed journal articles on the factors associated with fathers’ involvement with their children, the impact of that involvement on mothers’ parenting stress and children’s behavior, and African American men’s perspective on the intersection of marriage and fatherhood. She received her B.A. in sociology from The University of Alabama, her MSW from Loyola University Chicago, and her Ph.D. in social work from The University of Alabama.
BlackLivesMatter Racism Social Work Month 2015 Social work education


Statistics Canada Updating Poverty Cut-Off, Causing Bump in Low-Income Rates
OTTAWA — The national statistics office is looking at changes to the federally adopted poverty line which, if approved, could mean more people are considered to live below the low-income threshold.
The last time the made-in-Canada measure was updated was in 2008 and poverty rates increased by 2.2 per cent because the financial cut-off used to define low-income was raised.
Experts suggest that a plan by Statistics Canada to recalculate the threshold by changing the “market basket measure” early next year could lead to a similar bump in poverty rates.
The measure calculates the minimum a person or family would have to earn to afford a basket of goods and services needed to reach a modest or basic living standard.
The Liberals adopted the measure as the country’s official poverty line last year and set aside $12 million over five years to update the basket, which doesn’t include things like wireless services.
In July, the top official at Employment and Social Development Canada and the minister at the time were told federal officials would decide “on the actions to be taken” with Statistics Canada’s recommendations, including which to implement, and which to send for more research when it comes to making the changes.
A final report from Statistics Canada is expected in February.
The Canadian Press obtained copies of the briefing notes under the access-to-information law.
Statistics Canada has published reports outlining possible updates to the cost and items in the basket of goods and services, as well as “disposable income” thresholds, which are how much income a family has leftover after accounting for taxes and payroll deductions.
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A family or individual would be considered in poverty if the basket of goods strips away too much of their disposable income.
Other updates proposed by Statistics Canada include reflecting changes to the national food guide in the cost of food, and updating transportation costs to reflect census findings that while some low-income earners take public transit, others drive. The agency has also suggested excluding capital gains taxes when calculating disposable income to avoid families “appearing to be in poverty” from a hefty tax bill, and putting homeowners with a mortgage and people in subsidized housing on “more equal footing” with renters when determining who is in poverty.
Garima Talwar Kapoor, director of policy and research at Maytree, said the cost of housing, for instance, has gone up faster in the last 10 years than earnings, which could help increase the percentage of Canadians living in poverty.
She said a similar effect happened in the 2008 update when costs rose faster than incomes.
“That trend is continuing,” Kapoor said.
“The growth in costs is so much faster than the average income … which would therefore translate to a higher poverty level.”
Changes to measuring poverty would likely result in an increase not only in the percentage of people in poverty, but a slight increase in the raw numbers as well, Kapoor said.
The Liberals have touted that under their watch, more than 800,000 people, including some 280,000 children, have been lifted out of poverty, and rates have dropped by about 20 per cent of where they were in 2015. The figures are key benchmarks — politically and from a policy perspective — to track the path of the government’s anti-poverty strategy.
Updates to poverty measurements
Iglika Ivanova, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, doesn’t foresee a revamped poverty line shifting Canada off the recent decrease in poverty rates.
The changes could drop those just above the line into poverty despite no material changes to their circumstances, she said.
Updates to the measurement will help identify the financial pressure points for people in poverty, which in turn would help governments set anti-poverty plans, she said.
“It’s just important to keep updating these things because sometimes they are used to say we’ve done enough by the government — provincial or federal.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2019.
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military mobilization
Active Military Duty: How Will It Affect My Relationship With My Child?
Under Texas legislation the courts have a right to temporarily amend certain existing orders concerning a parent who is ordered to military deployment, military mobilization or temporary military duty. This legislation was set into Texas law, beginning September 1, 2009.
If a conservator is ordered to military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty that involves moving a substantial distance from the conservator’s residence so as to materially affect the conservator’s ability to exercise the conservator’s rights and duties in relation to his or her child, either conservator may file for an order under subchapter (a) of Section 153.702 of the Texas Family Code.
The Court may then render a temporary order in a proceeding under this subchapter regarding:
1. possession of or access to the child; or
2. child support.
A temporary order of the court under this subchapter may grant rights to and impose duties on a designated person (with certain limitations) regarding the child, except the court may not require the designated person to pay child support.
After a conservator’s military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty is concluded, and the conservator returns to the conservator’s usual residence, the temporary orders under this section terminate and the rights of all affected parties are governed by the terms of any court order that was applicable before the conservator was not ordered to military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty.
Further, if the conservator with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child is ordered to military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty, the court may order appointment of a designated person to exercise the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child during the military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty in the following order of preference:
1. the conservator who does not have the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child;
2. if appointing the conservator described by Subdivision (1) is not in the child’s best interest, a designated person chosen by the conservator with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child; or
3. if appointing the conservator described by Subdivision (1) or the person chosen under Subdivision (2) is not in the child’s best interest, another person chosen by the court.
A designated person named in a temporary order rendered under this section has the rights and duties of a nonparent appointed as sole managing conservator under Section 153.371 of the Texas Family Code.
The court may limit or expand the rights of a nonparent named as a designated person in a temporary order rendered under this section as appropriate for the best interest of the child.
If the court appoints the conservator without the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child, the court may award visitation with the child to a designated person chosen by the conservator with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child.
1. The periods of visitation shall be the same as the visitation to which the conservator without the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child was entitled under the court order in effect immediately before the date the temporary order.
2. The temporary order for visitation must provide that
a. the designated person under this section has the right to possession of the child for the periods and in the manner in which the conservator without the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child is entitled under the court order in effect immediately before the date of temporary order.
b. The child’s other conservator and the designated person under this section are subject to the requirements of Section 153.316(a) with the designated person considered for purposes of that section to be the possessory conservator;
c. The designated person under this section has the rights and duties of a nonparent possessory conservator under Section 153.376(a) during the period that the person has possession of the child; and
d. The designated person under this section is subject to any provision in a court order restricting or prohibiting access to the child by any specified individual.
3. The court may limit or expand the rights of a nonparent designated person named in a temporary order under this section as appropriate for the best interest of the child.
If the parent without exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child is ordered to military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty, the court may award visitation with the child to a designated person chosen by such conservator if the visitation is in the best interest of the child. The temporary order for visitation must provide that:
1. the designated person under this section has the right to possession of the child for the periods and in the manner in which the conservator described by Subsection (a) would be entitled if not ordered to military deployment, military mobilization, or temporary military duty;
2. the child’s other conservator and the designated person under this section are subject to the requirements of Section 153.316, with the designated person considered for purposes of that section to be the possessory conservator;
3. the designated person under this section has the rights and duties of a nonparent possessory conservator under Section 153.376(a) during the period that the designated person has possession of the child; and
4. the designated person under this section is subject to any provision in a court order restricting or prohibiting access to the child by any specified individual. The court may limit or expand the rights of a nonparent designated person named in a temporary order under this section as appropriate and as is in the best interest of the child.


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Book Review: Double Dead
January 26, 2012 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments
Ever wake up on the wrong side of the bed? It’s terrible. You’re bleary-eyed, groggy, sore from where your spouse has been elbowing you in the ribs all night to stop your snoring… and you’re starving. It’s that stomach-gnawing hunger you just can’t shake until you’ve devoured half the pantry. If that sounds familiar, you’ll immediately relate to the protagonist of Chuck Wendig’s debut novel Double Dead. Excepting of course that Coburn’s a bloodsucking fiend.
That’s not hyperbole. When we meet Coburn, there’s no question that he’s a monster. Vampirism has not turned him into an upper-class snob or a glittery mewling fangless stalker; Coburn the vampire’s an asshole. He knows it. He revels in it. It was what made his nights so much fun until he woke up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He hooks up with an RV full of humans heading to the West Coast and, being no fool, volunteers to protect them in exchange for the occasional nibble. Better than getting torn limb from limb and your brains eaten, right?
On the surface, Double Dead is deceptively simple. It’s the sort of premise fans of the horror genre and zombie fiction will find immediately appealing. Diving into it, though, we quickly find these dark waters run very deep. Sure, there are a couple characters who get picked off here and there because it’s the end of the world and everything, but many of them have enough dimension and living, breathing presence that its clear there’s more going on than a simple monster mash-up.
I can’t say it’s for everybody, though. The squeamish will want to avoid it, and be forewarned that Chuck is his usual (and in my opinion, delightfully) profane self. But chances are, being a novel about zombies with a vampire as its driving force, you know already if Double Dead is interesting to you or not. I challenge you, though, to find another zombie apocalypse yarn with a Wal*Mart cult of cannibals, wilderness fortifications manned by juggalos and the scariest thing in a pink bathrobe you’ll ever encounter.
Flash Fiction: David and Victoria
October 17, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 3 Comments
For the Terribleminds flash fiction challenge, Five Words Plus One Vampire.
The cockroach scuttled across the insulating layer of dust on the floor. David frowned as he swept his flashlight across the gatehouse interior. The castle had apparently been abandoned for the better part of a century, according to the locals. Nobody seemed to want to say much, though, and the taxi driver had been quite eager to leave once he’d drop the pair off.
“Can you imagine?” Victoria’s voice echoed slightly in the murder holes above them. “Plenty of ski resorts in Romania are near castles, but none of them have one as its centerpiece!”
David kept walking towards the interior side of the gatehouse. His wife had been just as skeptical as he was, but being a venture capitalist meant taking the occasional risk. Two successful start-up companies back in the States gave him plenty to work with, and Victoria’s nose for real estate opportunity had put his businesses in fantastic locations.
“I think there’d be a lot of up-front work to do.” It was the most tactful way he could disagree with her.
“Naturally. But it’s removed from major tourist centers, the drive up was lovely and getting electricity up here wouldn’t be that hard.” She smiled at him encouragingly. “Come on, there’s more to see.”
They emerged from the gatehouse into the courtyard. Towers loomed over the pair of Americans as they crossed the cobblestones. The fountain in the center had been dry for years. David caught sight of a rat scurrying along one of the walls to his left. The great hall dominated the section of wall across from the gatehouse. Victoria was at its massive double doors before David could say a word.
Within, portraits of people long dead watched them investigate the quiet stasis of the castle. Despite the windows, the interior was much darker than he had expected. The flying buttresses high above showed no rot, at least. But David could not shake the feeling that it was wrong for them to be here.
“I love old castles. They were built to last.” Victoria was still smiling. “This place must have been beautiful in its prime.”
“Oh, it was.”
Both of them turned to aim their flashlights at the interior door of the great hall. Standing there, holding a candle, was an elderly man in a dark robe. David narrowed his eyes. The robe seemed to be consuming him, a bit of the red lining visible under the black velvet. His voice was as withered as his form, but strong.
“Forgive me for startling you. You are tourists, yes?”
Victoria found her voice first. “Sort of, yes. I’m sorry, we didn’t know someone still lived here. The locals…”
The old man waved his hand dismissively. “Pah. They fear what they do not understand. My obligation to my family, this castle, is one I will not abandon. They do not understand it.”
David’s frown returned. “You live here alone?”
“Yes. Hence why it is not as lovely as it once was. I am only one old man, you see.” He cackled softly and David looked at Victoria. She was rolling her eyes when the rain started.
“We better go. Sorry again for disturbing you.”
“Go? In this downpour? You are brave indeed, my boy.”
He looked out the window. The rain was coming down in sheets. All he could see was water flowing down the glass. How had it hit them so quickly?
“Come, I have food to offer. You vill be my guests for zee evening.”
They followed him through a dark corridor leading down the anterior wall to one of the towers. Within was a small reception room and a staircase on the wall leading both up and down. Sure enough, a small roasted game bird was waiting for them, with some fruit and vegetables. The old man, introducing himself as Nicu, told of how the castle once defended the valley and its villagers from raiders and Cossacks. Victoria listened with interest while David examined the bottle of wine. Despite the decay in the rest of the castle, things here seemed fine. Maybe the old man really had just let the maintenance get away from him.
The rain did not abate, and Nicu invited them to stay the night. Above the small dining area were a pair of solars, a room for each of them. David tried to call home but got no signal. With the rain outside and a long day of travel behind him, he settled into bed.
He awoke when he felt her on top of him.
“You look so peaceful when you sleep, David.”
He blinked. Victoria straddled him on the wide bed, smiling down at him. She was wearing Nicu’s robe, and nothing else. It hung open, pale flesh and curves luminous in the moonlight. Her hands slid the blankets away from his chest.
“Vicki, what…?”
“Hush.” Her lips pulled back from her teeth as her smile widened. They were as red as the lining of the robe. “Nicu has shown me his true self, and we have much to do, you and I.”
“I don’t understand.”
“And that is your protection.” Her fingers slid over his neck, felt his pulse. She inhaled, and David couldn’t deny it was an enticing sight. “Your heart… it’s beating so fast.”
“I’m married…”
“She is unimportant. The castle will live again, thanks to us.”
“You will see. But first, let me show you what Nicu showed me.”
She licked her lips and gasped as she slid against him, feeling the response he could not hide. Fangs descended into the darkness of her mouth.
“I am his queen, and you our servant. When I finish with you, your will shall be ours. Don’t fight it, David. I know you want this.”
He admitted he’d had his fantasies, and wondered if this was a new one. It was when he felt the fangs in his neck that he started screaming; in pain at first, then for other reasons entirely.
Requiem for the Masquerade
March 29, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments
Has it really been 20 years?
Obviously it has, since the 20th Anniversary Edition of Vampire: the Masquerade is coming. I’m definitely interested, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which the time I spent playing that game both on the table and in live action. This pending milestone, plus my current re-read of Niven & Barnes’ Dream Park, has me thinking back on those times I donned a suit for a purpose other than a job interview.
Masquerade was a fun and engrossing game world, but it wasn’t without its flaws. A diverse set of clans for power specialization and fluff flavors coupled with an intriguing take on old vampire legends made it appealing right out of the box. The premise of it being based on ‘personal horror’ was fascinating as well, to me: what does this change, these powers, mean on a personal level? How hard will you fight against these new instincts, this new society, to hold on to the person you were? How far will you go to make a place for yourself among the other creatures of the night? These questions, to me, were far more important to me than any number of filled-in circles on a character sheet, especially in retrospect.
There’s a part of me that wonders if I left a good amount of this really juicy storytelling material unexplored. When I first became acquainted with the game I was still developmental in both my abilities for telling tales and my maturity in handling character beats. To put it another way, I was all about the circles. As time went on I did delve into some of the deeper issues but more often than not, real life found a way to upset the pace I was setting for myself in an ongoing Masquerade game.
Then came Requiem. I haven’t played it anywhere near as much as Masquerade, although I did get a great taste of it when I met Will Hindmarch. The questions are still there, but the answers felt odd, in a way. There felt like there was a clean disconnect between who a character was after becoming a vampire, and who they were before. Maybe it’s just me, but the pitch and timbre of the ‘music’ of Requiem felt a bit more avant-garde than that of Masquerade.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some great stuff in Requiem. I adore the fact that they did away with cookie-cutter villains, letting player factions and politics become the crux of the drama in gameplay. The change to clans felt a bit odd to me; while I acknowledge it adds potential diversity through bloodlines, it also seemed like an overcomplication of an aspect of the game that didn’t need fixing, in my humble opinion. The obliteration of the Cainite history, and most history for that matter, felt like the least-welcome change. Traditions, tales and lore added depth and a sense of weight to the condition of the players: You are a product of all that has come before you, and it’s up to you if you follow in those bloody footsteps or strike out on your own. In Requiem, any ties to your past or your lineage is tangential at best. There’s less pressure on the player… fewer questions asked.
I’ve long felt that the perfect vampire game (at least in the World of Darkness) lies somewhere between these two settings. The Cainite history, august lineages of the clans with their centuries of infighting, betrayal, absorption and breakaways and deeper personal questions from Masquerade coupled with the faction politics and cagey-yet-social nature of the Beast from Requiem seems like the best of both worlds. Then again, that could just be me. Either way, the characters continue to be the focus of any decent story, and when it comes to the World of Darkness, they’ve been fascinating for 20 years and hopefully will continue to be so for many more years to come.
Header image courtesy Highmoon’s Ponderings
Cardboard Memory Lane
December 4, 2010 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments
With colder weather coming at us and my World of Warcraft account on hiatus for now since I zigged when I should have zagged in allocated this last paycheck, I figured it was high time for me to organize the rather large collection of trading card game stuff. For a while it’s lingered in a couple of old boxes, but I blew off the dust and started putting things together, if only to make sure I’ve plucked what Magic cards I still have out of the rest.
And boy oh boy, did I sink a LOT of money into this hobby.
In alphabetical order:
If memory serves, this game preserves some of the elements that made the video game a great time for anybody into giant fighting robots in general and the BattleTech universe in particular. Iconic mechs, heat management and pilot selection all came into play. I guess slinging cardboard wasn’t a good substitute for either digital recreations or miniatures, though, as players were hard to come by.
There was a time when I enjoyed watching this show. There was also a time when I enjoyed bringing certain characters in it to life in a card game. I never enjoyed it as much as I did Magic, which makes me once again wonder what possessed me to give away so many classic cards.
Jyhad/Vampire:TES
This game’s complexity always appealed to me. I’m not entirely sure why, but the intricate structure of the politics and powers of the Masquerade being intact in these cards makes me happy. It’s like slipping on an old, comfortable pair of pants. Or fangs.
This is a universe I’ve always wanted to explore with more depth. The combination of bushido honor codes with hedge magic and dark powers beyond the wall is full of ideas I like. See also why I enjoy George RR Martin’s books. I’ve yet to get into a role-playing group that plays the tabletop game, and I only played this card game a few times. It was always fun, though.
While I’m on the subject, I seem to have a Hantei/Shadowlands deck that isn’t mine. Ring any bells among my readers?
Introduced not long after Magic itself got started, NetRunner came with built-in PvP. One player was the Corporation, furthering goals of world domination. The other was the Runner, hacking into the Corp’s servers to make a quick buck. It’s definitely fun if you ever enjoyed things like Tron, Hackers, the works of Gibson or Dick or even The Matrix. Although there’s more actual hacking and less wire-fu.
I taught some kids how to play back in Bloomsburg.
…Don’t you judge me.
I was going to demo this and help promote it at the Roundtable in Conshohoken, before they shut down. I still have my demo materials, which feature characters like Felicia from DarkStalkers, Cammy from Street Fighter, Tira from SoulCalibur and Mai from King of Fighters. Yes, there’s a pattern there. I also have the Penny Arcade decks. Gabe & Tycho make anything more awesome.
I have more of these cards than I do Magic. I might have had similar numbers if I’d kept my original stock. I competed in a few events, picked up some of the raid decks (Onyxia & Molten Core) and even own a Aleyah Dawnbringer play mat. That may actually come with me on my next Magic trip. Anyway, most of these cards are, from what I understand, all but useless now, as power scopes have far outstripped the original expansions and, unlike Magic, the old cards have lost their luster. I doubt I could get $2000 for any of the rares from Heroes of Azeroth the way I could if I owned a Black Lotus. So they’ll likely sit in the bottom of the box until I can catalog the lot and try to sell it.
Any other card players out there? If so, what’s your game of choice?
Ghoulish Games I: Bloodlines
October 28, 2010 / BlueInkAlchemist / 1 Comment
Halloween is right around the corner, despite the tendency of retail outlets to forget the holiday as quickly as possible. You can’t milk consumers for as much cash with costumes as you can with guilt-induced gifts for family and co-workers they don’t like. Anyway, since horror is interesting from a variety of standpoints and I missed talking about it in last night’s Classholes podcast, I’m going to talk about three games that really get under my skin when it comes to giving me the creeps. The first one is the most recent, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.
The Ocean House Hotel is the setting for a task you can undertake early in the game. Unlike the other two games I’ll be discussing, this setting is unique in that it doesn’t contain a single enemy encounter. That’s right. No shambling zombies. No bloodthirsty vampiric rivals. It’s just you and the hotel.
Of course, the hotel’s haunted.
The horror comes from some brilliantly simple set pieces and the building of atmosphere. The dilapidated, aging building already has a creepy air about it, the sort of building you might think of tearing down or fixing up if you could bear to get anywhere near it. Once inside, it’s even worse. The peeling wallpaper, stained carpets and flickering light fixtures all point to something being very wrong, and that’s before the clock chimes on its own and light bulbs burst without warning.
Add the chilling sound design, from the rather subtle music to the quiet whispers to the peals of thunder, and you’re bound to be on the edge of your seat for the entire time you’re in the hotel, provided you can even step foot into it. I know of people who turn their sound off and wait for a bright morning to tackle this place, and still struggle to get through it with their hearts at a calm rate.
I would love to talk more specifics, but I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who haven’t played it. Seriously, beyond the hotel, Bloodlines is a game that holds up pretty damn well despite being buggy and a bit dated in aesthetic. It’s available on Steam.
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Bolivia signs the Nuclear Ban Treaty
Home/ Bolivia signs the Nuclear Ban Treaty
17April Russell
Bolivia has become the latest state to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was agreed at the United Nations in July 2017. The Treaty was supported by 122 nations, with the UK and the other nuclear powers refusing to participate in the process.
President Evo Morales made Bolivia the 58th signatory to the Treaty, with seven of those states having already completed the ratification process. The Treaty will come into force once it has been ratified by 50 states.
Christian CND continues to call on the UK government, and all states possessing nuclear weapons, to join the international consensus against nuclear weapons. As part of our Embassies Walk in March we visit a number of diplomatic missions in London and spoke about the need to make swift progress on ratification. We are please to see progress continues to be made and thank God for it.
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The B.C. Centre for Disease control is telling people to keep an eye out for the poisonous death cap mushroom, which thrives in fall weather conditions. (Paul Kroeger/BCCDC)
B.C. expert asks residents to be wary as death cap mushrooms sprout
B.C. Centre for Disease Control is warning people of poisonous mushrooms
With cool, wet fall weather rolling in, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) is warning people that the most poisonous mushroom in the world — the death cap — is back in plentiful supply.
Because mushrooms thrive during the wetter months of the year, the BCCDC says the death cap can now be found in both urban areas and forest. The centre is urging people with young children or pets to keep a careful eye on them when they’re playing outside.
Mushroom foragers should also be wary. The fungi can be easily mistaken as a puff ball mushroom but, unlike this tasty lookalike, the death cap mushroom can be fatal if ingested.
“Foragers should remember one basic rule: never eat anything that hasn’t been identified with certainty. A mistake can have serious or even deadly consequences,” said mycologist Paul Kroeger.
In 2016, a three-year-old Victoria boy died after ingesting one. He had been out foraging for mushrooms with his family.
READ ALSO: Victoria toddler dies after ingesting poisonous mushroom
In the first six to 12 hours after ingesting the death cap, the BCCDC says people will experience cramping, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration.
These symptoms can clear up after the first 24 hours and remain clear for up to 72 hours, giving people a false sense of being fine. Symptoms of liver and kidney damage will start to appear three to six days after ingestion.
A 2008 survey by the Vancouver Mycological Society found the death cap growing in more than 100 urban sites in the Vancouver area. The mushroom has also been spotted in various locations in Greater Victoria.
READ ALSO: Island Health issues warning after death cap mushrooms found in Greater Victoria
Most years, the majority of mushroom calls the Drug and Poison Information Centre receives are for children aged five and under. This year, that number has dropped significantly to 36 per cent.
UPDATED: American Indigenous group, province argue over cross-border rights at Canada’s top court
It could snow along B.C. mountain passes over Thanksgiving weekend: Environment Canada


Back Street Slide
in Archive, Bands/Musicians
‘Back Street Slide’ at The Railway, Curzon Street.
Nigel Jones, Terry Biddulph, Trish Hathaway, Mark Stevens, Keith Jones & Dick Shaw.
http://keithjonesmusic.wordpress.com/bands/back-street-slide/
L- R Paul Harris (guitar), Matthew Edwards (vocals), Tina Adams (synth), Martin Recci (bass). Nigel Collis (drums) not visible in this shot.
Dance at the Fighting Cocks March 1980:
Tea & Symphony
in Bands/Musicians
Tea & Symphony 1971 via Pete Chatfield
Tea and Symphony was a British musical group of the late 1960s and early 1970s whose style may be described as “progressive folk”. From Birmingham, they recorded two albums for Harvest Records, had one track, “Maybe My Mind (With Egg)”, included on the Harvest sampler Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air, toured Britain with Bakerloo (Blues Line) and were guests on John Peel’s BBC radio programme.
The group was generally a trio, though sometimes supplemented by extra musicians. Members included Jeff Daw (vocal, guitar, flute), James Langston (guitar, vocal), Nigel Phillips (keyboards, vocal, percussion, left 1969), Dave Carroll (guitar, bass, violin, vocals, joined 1970, left 1971), Bob Wilson (guitar, keyboards, joined 1969, left 1971) Peter ‘Chatters’ Chatfield (drums, joined 1970, left 1972), Tom Bennison (bass guitar, French horn, joined & left 1970), Mick Barker (drums, joined 1971), and Stewart Johnson (guitars, vocal, joined 1971).[1] Steve Eaves is another former alumnus.
An Asylum for the Musically Insane
LP Harvest SHVL 761 (1969)
“Armchair Theatre” – 3:54
“Feel How So Cool The Wind” – 3:19
“Sometime” – 4:14
“Maybe My Mind (With Egg)” (Jeff Daw) – 3:42
“The Come On” – 4:30
“Terror In My Soul” (Jeff Daw, Nigel Phillips) – 6:06
“Travelling Shoes” (Fred Neil) – 4:25
“Winter” (James Langston) – 3:19
“Nothing Will Come To Nothing” (Nigel Phillips) – 6:12
(All tracks written by Jeff Daw except where noted.)
Personnel;
Jeff Daw – lead guitar, flute, triangle, vocals
James Langston – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, kazoo, bells, cymbal
Nigel Phillips – drums, recorder, mandolin, organ, piano, vocals
with;
Mick Hincks – bass (05)
Bob Lamb – drums (05)
Clem Clempson – lead guitar (05)
Ron Chesterman – bass (07)
Gus Dudgeon – percussion, producer[2][3]
Jo Sago
1) Jo Sago – A Play On Music (Jeff Daw) including;
a. “Miniature” – 2:01
b. “Nyada” – 4:06
c. “Journey” – 1:19
d. “Brother” – 3:51
e. “Africa Paprika” – 3:29
f. “Fairground Suite” – 2:25
g. “Desperate Oil” – 5:53
h. “Umbilical Bill” – 0:51
i. “Goodnight” – 3:33
2) “Try Your Luck” (Nigel Phillips) – 3:18
3) “Yourself” (James Langston) – 3:28
4) “Green Fingered” – Redhanded (Jeff Daw) – 0:54
5) “Seasons Turn To One” (Jeff Daw) – 3:04
6) “View To The Sky” (James Langston) – 2:41
7) “The Nortihorticulturalist” (Nigel Phillips) – 3:26
8) “Dangling” (Bob Wilson) – 0:59
James Langston – lead vocals, acoustic & 12-string guitars, percussion
Jef Daw – acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, bass guitar, percussion, flute, backing vocals
Bob Wilson – piano, organ, harpsichord, acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, bass guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Nigel Phillips – drums
Mick Hincks – guitar.
Produced by Tony Cox
Info available under CC [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_and_Symphony]
Phoenix: formed by Rick Jones of Scarlet Fantastic. Line up Rick, Amanda Porter and Richard Porter via Mike Davies
Rumblefish
RumbleFish press shot. Via Mike Davies
Rumblefish were a UK indie pop group, formed in Birmingham in 1986. After several releases on independent labels they were signed by East West who issued the band’s only album while still together in 1992.
The band was formed in 1986 with a line-up of Jeremy Paige (vocals, guitar), Dominic Crane (guitar, keyboards), Phil Edwards (bass guitar), and Rupert Knowlden (drums). Their first release was the track “Theatre King” on the Pink Label’s Beauty compilation. The band had an Indie hit single with “Tugboat Line” in 1987 followed by releases on Summerhouse Records (“Medicine” in 1988 and “Don’t Leave Me” in 1989). The band signed to Atlantic Records imprint East West Records in 1991, releasing a self-titled album in 1992. A retrospective album of early singles called 1234 The Early Singles was released in 2006. Several tracks were also included on compilations (Beauty, It Sells or it Smells, The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol. 6). Members of the band went on to form Low Art Thrill.
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.[3]
“Tug Boat Line” (1987) Pink Label (#34)
“Medicine” (1988) Summerhouse
“Don’t Leave Me” (1988) Summerhouse
“Everything Electrical” (1992) East West America
“Mexico” (1992) WEA
Rumblefish (1992) East West America
1234 – The Early Singles (2006) Summerhouse
[info available under CC license]
The brilliant and much missed Delta. Press/label release. Via Mike Davies.
This Moseley, Birmingham, England-based band remains one of the best kept secrets on the UK independent music scene. Delta was formed in 1993 by James Roberts (b. 4 March 1970, West Bromwich, West Midlands, England; guitar/vocals), Patrick Roberts (b. 1972, West Midlands, England; drums/vocals) and Robert Cooksey (b. 14 November 1969, Solihull, West Midlands, England; guitar), who had previously played together in cult indie band the Sea Urchins. Adding Bird (b. 1972, England; drums) and John Alford (b. 1977, England; bass), they debuted with the 10-inch single ‘Sugared-Up’ on the Che label. Three singles for Dishy Records followed before the band signed to the Acid Jazz Records subsidiary Focus. This move effectively put the band’s career on hold for almost five years, with no material being released. They eventually broke free of the contract, returning to early supporters Dishy. Laughing Mostly, a compilation of EP tracks and demos recorded between 1994 and 1997, finally saw the light of day in 1999. Cooksey was subsequently replaced by keyboard player Louis J. Clark, the son of noted arranger Louis Clark who collaborated with Jeff Lynne on most of ELO’s albums. The band’s debut album proper, Slippin’ Out, was recorded at UB40’s studios and utilised horns and a string section to augment the Roberts brothers’ classic pop songs. The follow-up was originally slated for release on a major label, but the band’s run of bad luck continued when they were dropped following a management reshuffle. Hard Light was eventually released on the band’s own label.
[info from: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/delta-mn0000165805/biography ]
Table Scraps, Scruffy Murphy’s 01/06/13 via Paul Harris
Band Members: Scott Vincent Abbott (guitar/vocals,) Poppy Twist (drums/vocals)


Free Essays Book Review Nickel and Dimed
Nickel and Dimed
Nickel and Dimed is a non-fiction book written by Barbara Ehrenreich about the plight of the low-wage earners in the United States after the welfare reform act signed by Bill Clinton in 1996. She developed the idea about writing Nickel and Dimed over an expensive luncheon with Lewis Lapham, an editor of Harper, where she wondered how unskilled workers survive on a small income. To end the curiosity, Barbara decided to take a first-hand experience by getting employment in three different cities, which includes Key West, Maine and Minnesota. In these cities, she worked in restaurants, hotels, eldercare facilities, retail outlets, and as a cleaning service provider.
Working in restaurants, hotels, retail outlets and eldercare facilities, as explained by Ehrenreich, affects the treatment and aspiration of low-wage workers. For instance, Ehrenreich expected the increase in the labor shortage to lead to the rise in the wages, which was not the case. Moreover, the market competition and the need to make profit among the investors are elevating the nickel and dimed situation in US. The need to find shelter has seen the price of houses inflated by the owners; hence, unaffordable for most of the low-wage workers.
Nonetheless, Ehrenreich found discrimination a success for her studies. For example, the poor do toilet cleaning and mopping that are accompanied by very low payments compromising their living standards. This has seen many campus and advocacy groups struggle for the improvement of the living wage. Therefore, the employers should consider basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and health before deciding on what amount to pay their employees.
Furthermore, Ehrenreich asserts that she managed to secure a house, but still could barely survive due to high prices of food. It is very clear that the poor cannot compete with the rich for houses and food leading to the price of house and food increase to the advantage of the rich. To avert this situation, the government should build state houses that the low-wage workers can rent since the welfare reform act has it that even the poor should seek employment. This has led some families to depend entirely on the services such as housing and help with childcare from the family unit rather than calling the government for help.
Further, nutrition and health is inevitable for low-wage workers due to the nature of work that they carry out. Firstly, the manual labor is taxing, uninteresting and degrading; thus needs nutritious food and good health. Secondly, such jobs need focus, quick thinking, incredible stamina and fast learning, which come because of nutrition and good health. In addition, healthy workers increase their daily productivity by increasing the number of hours they take to work- a phenomenon beneficial to the workers because their daily earnings increase. On the other hand, unhealthy workers are underproductive and get low earnings; hence, workers are motivated to go to doctors due to ill health in order for their productivity to increase. Workers who take long before going to doctors when they are ill end up spending a lot of money in treatment.
Hitherto, Ehrenreich explains that there are well paying jobs, but low paid workers are unable to find them. This scenario is characterized by, little education, transportation problems, and low self-esteem. Ehrenreich when at Minnesota encountered a challenge in moving from places to places filling the application forms. She finds out that application process for a job requires a lot of time because it takes hours to drive to places filling out the actual application form. Due to the taxing nature of the jobs done by the low-wage workers, the application process is lengthened to test the patience of the employees.
However, Ehrenreich’s experience would be different in today’s economy because the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has put an initiative that allows states to apply for a waiver for the work requirement of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) after increasing employment by 20%. The waiver allows states to help TANF applicants to find jobs without putting many restrictions.
Ehrenreich reveals that having any job is better than having no job. Ehrenreich’s colleague, Holly, is sick and does not want to go to the hospital with the fear of losing her job. Having a job is vital because it reduces dependency; for instances, Ehrenreich stays with a friend for a while then finds a job of her own which even though pays little makes her independent. The steps taken by Ehrenreich have enlightened the US citizens and the government on the conditions faced by the low-wage workers, especially women.
Women are the most victims of low wages. From Ehrenreich’s experience, her colleagues were women- indicating feminization of poverty. For example, Holly and Marge are her colleagues in Maine and Melisa in Minnesota. Based on Ehrenreich encounter in the three cities, it is evident that the low-wage workers live a poor life because they barely afford the basic needs. As a result, low-wage workers spend many hours working in order to make ends meet after reforming the welfare act.
Welfare ensured that the poor got basic needs- an exercise that saw many poor individuals reluctant to look for jobs. Although, it bridged the gap between the haves and the have-nots, it encouraged laziness among the poor. Welfare reform Act embraces employment even for the poor; however, it does not alleviate poverty among the poor due to the low wages.
Relational-Cultural Therapy The Rich and the Rest of Us
The Rich and the Rest of Us
"The Naked Truth Young"
Relational-Cultural Therapy