Political Hunger Strikes and the Death of Mia Farrow

Dear Readers: I said I would not look into the dangers of my politcal hunger strike. But last night I felt loss of breathing and had to sit up while I slept in my bed with my cat on my legs. In the morning my eyes hurt when I look up and down or sideways. I was forced to research hunger strikes. On Dec 3rd, 2011, I will have arrived at the beginning of week 5. If you have followed me you'll know my reasons. If not, it's time to dig your heart into my past blogs.

But I'm happy I looked. I found I was not eating properly - not the right foods - and doing wrong things. It was difficult to Google "Planned Hunger Strike," without hitting a ton of prison strikes. ...and finding out that hunger strikes usually do not work because in a lot of cases there is force-feeding. Keep in mind that Mia Farrow was not in a civilized country. I am. I still don't believe my time will be wasted. I would so happy if the news, the media would pick up my story. Keep in my that babies in wombs suffer permanent brain damage. I'm a bit damaged anyway and I still can't hold one single deep and meaningful relationship. I guess that's why I feel I don't have as much to lose and I know even famous people are not heard when they stink about political things.

Hunger strike exceeding 7 days

Emphasis on SMALLER AMOUNTS amounts of food, introduced more SLOWLY. If this is your first time through something like this, share these guidelines with a friend and have them help you or stick with someone who has experience fasting for longer periods of time. More than a seven day fast is not dangerous for most of us in good health.

Rest is very important! Respect yourself, rejuvenate and stay strong.

Water strike

First, it is important to reintroduce plain, room temperature, pure water slowly. SIP about 2 ounces every ½ hour for the first 3-4 hours. REST! The lack of attnetio will go on without you for a while.

• Chrysanthemum tea as above and/or miso broth in 2 ounce increments can be taken after 2 hours.
• MELONS can be introduced after 3-4 hours and follow as above.

Health Effects of Hunger Strikes

Depending on the length of a hunger strike a person can do severe, in some cases irreparable, damage to their body. The following is a short list of the serious health risks involved in carrying a hunger strike beyond 2-3 weeks -- this info assumes that you are engaging in a water-only hunger strike and you are basically healthy when you begin your hunger strike, also some of these effects are not permanent:

• Damage to muscle tissue (after approximately 4 weeks)
• Weakening of bones (after approximately 4 weeks)
• Hallucinations / Dementia (after approximately 3 weeks)
• Potentially permanent brain damage (after approximately 4 to 5 weeks)
• Potentially permanent damage to internal organs (after approximately 4 to 5 weeks)
• Potential failure of internal organs (after approximately 4 to 5 weeks)
• Death (could happen at any time depending on the state of your health)

Ten days into Mia Farrow's Darfur hunger strike

Today, Hollywood actor Mia Farrow begins the 10th day of her hunger strike for the refugees of Darfur. But will it do any good, wonders Stuart Jeffries

Five days into her hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Darfur, Mia Farrow posted a video on YouTube.com. The 64-year-old actor and Unicef goodwill ambassador, her granddaughter on her knee, said: "I'm fine. I'm feeling not at all hungry." She added: "A doctor is coming to check me out. And I was thinking, gee, the people in Darfur don't have doctors because Doctors Without Borders [aka Médecins Sans Frontières] was expelled. The well pumps are breaking because Oxfam isn't there to do maintenance."

Farrow is striking now to raise awareness of how she believes the Sudanese government has risked the lives of many in Darfur's refugee camps by expelling aid agencies from the region. For her, it is the latest miserable twist in Darfur since violence erupted between the Sudanese government and rebels in 2003, the catalyst for what the UN has described as the "world's greatest humanitarian crisis" in which up to 450,000 people have died and millions have been displaced from their homes.

"I can't imagine, as a mother, what it would be like to watch a child die," says Farrow. "As a Unicef ambassador, I know that it's the children under five who die first."

How is Farrow faring with no food, just water? Three days ago, she posted on her website (miafarrow.org): "At this point I don't think about food. I am weaker and I am mostly in bed. I am clear-minded. I sleep less." As if she wasn't suffering enough, Farrow reported that the previous night she had watched Schindler's List and couldn't stop crying. She has been reading Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi - Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul is next up - and listening to the slow movements of Bach and Mahler. "Alongside my bed is a large window through which I can see the sky, a lake, trees, birds and, at dusk, the deer. I am at peace and busy with my thoughts."

"I'm just an actress," she told reporters before starting her fast. "I'm not presuming anybody will care whether I starve to death or whether I go on a long hunger strike or what. But it's a personal matter. I can't be among those [who] watch - and I honestly couldn't think of anything else to do." It may, sceptics suggest, be one of the world's less effective hunger strikes, since, 10 days in, only now is it becoming widely known about.

What does a relatively pampered Hollywood celebrity best known for her appearances in Rosemary's Baby and Hannah and Her Sisters, not to mention her marriages to Frank Sinatra and André Previn and her relationship with Woody Allen, hope to achieve? The hunger strike is certainly not, despite what Farrow says, just a personal matter. On day eight, she posted another video on YouTube, saying of her fast: "I really hope it results in action.

Farrow hopes her fast can increase pressure on Barack Obama to ensure that the expelled agencies return to Darfur. "No one voted for President Obama with more excitement and passion than I did, but he's really been lagging and the people of Darfur can't wait. So please contact the White House and say you need him to get the 16 aid agencies returned or the gap filled somehow. The word from the camps is that they're already suffering from hunger. There isn't any time to waste."

Farrow's fast is unusual. Many who go on hunger strike for a political cause do so while in custody, facing the risk of force feeding (which suffragettes contended was such a violation of their bodies that it was a form of rape). Farrow's fast isn't like that: it is being conducted from the comfort of her home in rural Connecticut and will end after 21 days, rather than at her death. Many of those blogging and tweeeting their views about Farrow's fast doubt that, historically speaking, hunger strikes have ever achieved their objectives. Farrow might want to take succour from Mahatma Gandhi who, on 8 May 1932, went on a 21-day hunger strike against British rule. As part of his campaign of civil disobedience, it helped undermine colonial rule. But it is difficult to find an example of a hunger striker whose protest has been directly responsible for achieving a humanitarian goal such as the one Farrow is fasting for.

Unlike some hunger strikers, Farrow is not prepared to fast to death. "I'm still a parent," she said before the hunger strike began, "and I don't want to die." Indeed, she has 14 children. But Farrow is consciously playing fast and loose with her future health: "I looked it up online just to see kind of what to expect, and the reason I'm gonna try to go for three weeks is because you do permanent, irreversible damage, possibly to your organs."

In preparation, Farrow took vitamins and ate a diet mostly of fruit and vegetables, gaining 9lb in the process. Her doctor tried to talk her out of her strike. Friends did, too. Gabriel Stauring, co-founder of StopGenocideNow.org, said: "You've seen Mia's size. There's no way she can go that long without doing permanent damage. We want to convince her that if we have somebody else [who] is famous and [who] would draw attention, that she should stop."

Farrow carried on regardless. She has been taking advice from David Blaine, the illusionist who once spent 44 days with no food in a Plexiglas case hanging over the Thames, losing 34lb in the process. "He told me about how to prepare and what to expect," Farrow said. "He said after six days I won't feel hunger." In her latest YouTube video, Farrow certainly looks gaunter than she did at the beginning of her fast. Last night, she was due to appear on The Larry King Show by video link.

Her hunger strike has divided opinion. Typical of hostile blogosphere comments was one on the New York Daily News site yesterday: "She's a crackpot." On YouTube, another wrote: "Beautiful thing to do Mia ... Please ignore the habitually negative people that hide behind internet anonymity and hurl insults."

As for the Sudanese authorities, they are sceptical about the protest. "We appreciate Mia Farrow's intentions and we respect her for her interest in the welfare of the Sudanese people," says Khaled al-Mubarak, media councillor at the Sudanese embassy in London. "She is a good actress and a good human being, but as a politician she is only a beginner. She is like George Clooney, who has also got involved in the Darfur question. He is good looking but ignorant. She is ignorant too."

"I don't know what will happen," Farrow said earlier this week. "But it is a punishment to the body for sure".

Yes, Mia Farrow is "only an actress" but that is surely the point? She is not a politician and she is using the powers that she does have at her disposal (i.e. her celebrity) to draw attention to something she is passionate about. Yes, she is privileged but her intentions are good and she is acting within the parameters open to her, which is actually a lot more than most people will ever do.

Do You Really Think This Is A Joke?

I am now on day 21 of my hunger strike and I will continue until I get someone from the government and/or the news to listen to the great message. But it escapes me how the great message is not spread more than I had expected, True, I have followers from a lot of countries, and still I feel so empty about it all. Not for lack of trying but for lack of care. What am I doing so wrong?

Yes, I eat something every 3rd or 4th day. If I were dead my goal would also die. But I'll tell everyone who reads this. Hunger pangs don't magically disappear. And the tummy doesn't shrink first. It's the limbs. They feel weak. The mind is dizzy. But as long as I shall live I will continue to go days without food. I haven't even checked Websites about starvation because I don't want to know what can happen to me. I figure when I get too dizzy, have a huge bowl of rice and vegetables. That's how it is. My best friend is worried about me. He is Paul. He still supports me.

We always meet at Tim Horton's or Starbucks for a few hours every Friday night. He would testify that I always refuse food or a treat even if he payed for it. I used to always insist on a Bosten Cream donut. Now it is not allowed to me. Coffee, water, tea, or 1 glass of milk. Being on disability myself, I do not get that glass of milk every day.

Don't call me a martyre (Is that how you spell it?) and don't try to call me a hero or a saint or anything even close to that. I am happy to make this sacrifice- that's all. And I want to showcase it but few take me seriously. It's like the crosswalk that goes in only after someone gets killed. They don't plan it and neither do I. But if something should happen and the doctor said, "Eat or die," I think I'd rather die. I am not trying my best for nothing. Terry Fox killed himself prematurely by taking on his super-hero feat.

I actually feel guilty now to eat. It is more strong too because I think some of the news stations have yet to take my story seriously. Guess there is too much red tape. But it's true. I do feel strange after I eat something. I feel like I'm cheating. I know it may sound strange and for some, maniacal, but it's not to me. I was already given the big forfeit on being great at anything whn I was birthed by a drinking mom.

So if you really want listen and help, bother your MP. I mean bother he or she. Write one letter. Just one, and address to Steven Harper. It's free. Just write "Steven Harper" and "Prime Minister." His office will get it. And since I have many countries following me, I say with gratitude and a plea: Write to your Prime Ministers, Presidents, even congressmen. Write a single line like this:

I am sick of the world's #1 birth defect and I demand that you do something about it.

You must include your name, address, phone number - at least make sure you are tracable. You know, with a pile of mail we might actually get somewhere. Look at the size of my blogging. Surely you could write one sentence. Personally, I don't see that I can do much more short of killing myself. But I am doing that, am I not? I'm killing myself over this. Why? Why? Why?

YOU KNOW WHY.

 

(ADD), Cancer, Schizophrenia Linked to Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

FOURTEENTH IN A SERIES BY: BRUCE RITCHIE
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.


Prenatal alcohol exposure can produce a host of other disorders and serious medical health problems. It would be irresponsible of me to let people think that FASD is the only result. Here are a few:

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Inability to filter out distractions. Little or no retained memory – often cannot focus long enough to retain information. Learning disabilities. Mental health issues.

Cancer

Including: Childhood acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) and Childhood acute non-lymphoid leukemia (ANLL).

Heart

Cardiovascular and metabolic medical disorders, including ischemic heart disease, enlarged heart (cardiac hypertrophy), hypertension (high blood pressure), Interventricular septal defect, Atrial septal defect, insulin resistance, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

Diabetes Insipidus

This is a condition characterized by excessive thirst and excretion of large amounts of severely diluted urine, with reduction of fluid intake having no effect on the concentration of the urine.

Schizophrenia

The odds of the appearance of six psychiatric disorders and traits were more than double in adults exposed to one or more binge alcohol episodes in utero. Three of these six odds ratios were uniformly stable against confounding axis I substance dependence or abuse disorders and axis II passive-aggressive and antisocial personality disorders or traits. Prenatal alcohol exposure can lead to early alcohol use and abuse in youth, leading to prenatal alcohol exposure in their offspring – a vicious circle creating a new generation with FASD.

MADD’s At IT and So Am I

News Article - MADD: I can’t copy a story directly this time but I can reveal what I remember about it. It was about a person who was a quadriplegic looking out a window at his girlfriend and best friend kissing in the park. One person, from Vancouver did not agree with the ad because he related that quadriplegics can have love too. The ad does not sit well with para or quadriplegics but most would agree to let the ad remain simply because of the image, not their personal lives.

The article did not say this but I will: Though it is sad and to a few, offensive, the goal of the ad is too strengthen an idea: drinking and driving, if it doesn’t kill you, can cause life long damage.

That’s an idea not far from my idea about alcohol (not the mothers) making monsters on my blog at: http://fetuswinning.blogspot.com/2011/11/if-you-have-faint-heart-dont-look.html. Or, babies could also die from alcohol.

So here is a Christmas ad from me before the Government Liquor Store rush begins:

As you need to be aware, drinking can permanently impair or kill in either instance.

Here now, I know for a fact that MADD ads are for the most part geared towards men. I can handle that because it is fact, even though there are also women offenders.

I also know for a fact that my FASD ads are for the most part geared towards women. I can handle that too because there are also male offenders. The pressure from men on pregnant women help persuade, even insist that, to a women, a drink is OK tonight, or a different night. Also, male sperm from a heavy drinker, as detected and proven again and again, can also impair the fetus. I don’t mean “drunk” impair. I mean “cell growth and cell damage” impair.

In both cases we (MADD, FAFASD) are not the bullies here. The drinkers are. We must never forget that difference. We must never forget that the reminders are out there and that they should remain out there. And like MADD, in this desensitised world, my ads also need to be more shocking to really grab the attention of the problem of drinkers whether pregnant or behind the wheel of a car. Men and Women. Women and Men. Both have the potential to maim or kill by alcohol. 

Poetic Drink From the Womb

Not On My Side

Double heartbeats.

Hers, with mine in here.

She doesn't know does she?

The tragedy that awaits -

The desires that will forever

Be sheered from both our lives.

Supposed to be nicer than this.

Doesn’t she know?

Her heart beating.

Her juices flowing.

Creating a clhid.

The oen to be, em?

Shouldn’t I tell her?

Oh, but – I can’t.

I don’t have a voice.

Not even a ready tongue.

I’m barely three months old.

What is three months anyway and....

What is that sweet taste again?

Is that really food?

‘Cause all week long,

It wasn’t the same.

And all that noise out there.

What kind of room are you in?

Whoof, I’m dizzy.

Falling asleep.

Deep, deep sleep.

Too dee…,

...,

…

Wahhh!

It’s like fire.

And I’m all trembly.

I can’t find my mouth.

Where’s my thumb?

Wahhh!

What has happened again!?

Please not again mama

‘Cause I ‘m starving.

I’m starving so bad.

Feed me mommy.

Mommy wake up and feed me!

So that’s it? I want out!

This feeling is too much.

There used to be a beautiful light,

Now there is barely a beam.

And my teeny heart keeps throbbing, asking,

“Someone, please, PLEASE, speak for me!”

by::

 “WE DO”

at

Post 5 - How Badly FAS Childrens Brains Are Compromised

THIRTEENTH IN A SERIES by BRUCE RITCHIE                                                                Hunger strike below...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.


We will be looking at the six major regions of the brain that give FASD babies the lives they have never asked for. They are: Frontal Lobes, Corpus Callosum, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia.

Hippocampus

The hippocampus plays a fundamental role in memory, learning, and emotion.

Neurobehavioral studies show that animals exposed prenatally to alcohol are impaired in many of the same spatial learning and memory tasks sensitive to hippocampal damage.

The hunger strike is going...that's about it. Rain, eating every 4th day. Rice with veggies. Maybe 3 beers. Start over tomorrow. Like smoking, the first day is always the worst. But then you forget you have a stomach (or you remember that you do) and think about the goal, the issue. And you think it's neat that you're doing it. Cause you don't know anyone else who has ever done that for FASD. I went into Hedy fry's office today because I always want to make my presence known. Well I asked Steve, "the chief," if he's seeing my blogs. He said' "I hope you're eating something." "Hedy's a doctor you know." Then I told steve my eating plan. Rice and mixed vegetables. I mentioned, "I kinda have to be here anyway, don't I?" Smiles. It's never wasted time to visit Hedy Fry's office with her friends working hard there. Peace! Healthy babes.

Post 4 - How Badly FAS Childrens Brains Are Compromised

TWELVTH IN A SERIES by BRUCE RITCHIE                                                                     Hunger Strike update below...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.

We will be looking at the six major regions of the brain that give FASD babies the lives they have never asked for. They are: Frontal Lobes, Corpus Callosum, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia.

The Cerebellum controls coordination and movement, behavior and memory. The cerebellum is one area that is particularly vulnerable to prenatal alcohol. Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure causes microcephaly and disproportionate reductions in the corpus callosum, basal ganglia, and cerebellum.

“Alcohol inhibits insulin-stimulated survival signals causing cerebellar hypoplasia in the developing brain. Using a rat model of FAS, this study found a decreased expression of the insulin gene in the cerebella of exposed rats. Alcohol exposure also caused a decrease in the amount of insulin, insulin-like growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, glucose transport molecules, and steady-state levels of ATP in the cells of the cerebellum. These results suggest cerebellar hypoplasia resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure is caused by a deficient energy supply.

So. We are at day 11. One should think I'd be in the hospital suffering. But I said I was not going to be ridiculous about this. Am I hungry? Oh yeah...but I have allwed myself to eat rice and a few veggies on every 4th day. The petition I started is asking the government to table FASD, to start talking about new strategies, like making law, is small. It's not a legal petition but I'm satisfied that there is a record of my exposure in the city and that there are people who support my hunger strike.

Have A Nice Rememberance Day Canada

Post 3 - FAS Childrens Brains Are Compromised + Day 4 Hunger Craziness

ELEVENTH IN A SERIES by BRUCE RITCHIE    

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.                               

                    + MUST READ my 4th day sanity mixed with craziness...... at bottom in red. I'll tell ya, things are feeling a bit wierd during my BIG PLAN, if you will, that is supposed to gain exposure not for me, but for FASD. (bottom-ish)

But first read the third edition about how alcohol affects the brains of fetuses.

Today, we will be looking at another of the six major regions of the brain that give FASD babies the lives they have never asked for. They are: Frontal Lobes, Corpus Callosum, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia. Today, the hypothalamus:

Hypothalamus

 

The hypothalamus controls appetite, emotions, temperature, and pain sensation. Controls and influences many automatic functions of the brain through actions on the medulla, and coordinates many chemical or endocrine functions (secretions of sex, thyroid and growth hormones) through chemical and nerve impulse actions on the pituitary gland. Alcohol depresses the nerve centres in the hypothalamus and inhibits the pituitary secretion of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), which acts on the kidney to reabsorb water.

“Prenatal alcohol exposure alters sexual differentiation in males, perhaps by altering some aspect of the prenatal androgen environment.” Our study demonstrated that exposure to alcohol during the third trimester, when components of the circadian  system in the brain are developing, can lead to long-lasting alterations in the ability

to entrain the cycles to environmental cues, like light/dark cycle. These data suggest that dysfunction of circadian systems may contribute to some of the behavioural problems observed in children with FASD." 

In mammals, the hypothalamus is a region of the brain located below the thalamus, forming the major portion of the ventral region of the diencephalon and functioning to regulate certain metabolic processes and other autonomic activities. The hypothalamus links the nervous system to the endocrine system by synthesizing and secreting neurohormones, often called releasing hormones, as needed that control the secretion of hormones from the anterior pituitary gland - among them, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). The neurons that secrete GnRH are linked to the limbic system, which is very involved in the control of emotions and sexual activity. The hypothalamus also controls body temperature, hunger and thirst, and cicadian cycle.

 

 

It seems I am writing 2 blogs now.

 

 

I went out today. Downtown Vancouver. I spoke on an open mike in the tent camp about the tent camp for justice between rich and poor at the art gallery. Most of my speech, however, was about my hunger strike. I was recieved well. I recieved some yahoos and yeehaws.

 

 

Then I went to the CTV News Room entrance and handed a guard an envelope explaining my strike. The letter requested an interview.

 

 

Then I boarded a bus to Honorable Dr. Hedy Fry's office and delivered the same letter that CTV received.

 

 

Then I went home and this is where I pick up the interesting part for you. I had pics taken of me on my hunger strike campaign. Here they are: remember please that my tired face is approaching day 5 of "I could eat a human being right now."

 

 

 

 

 

Then I went home (because I gotta tell ya, I don't have a lot of energy) but just before that I met a 59 year old woman by the name of May, by once again, the tent camp. May had lots to say. First, she told me of a doctor who had 2 babies. Both were born with health problems. One with a hole in the heart, the other with a bad spleen. May said the doctor was a coffee addict. I told May that coffee is not what I was fighting for, foremostly. She said enough caffeine, a drug in its own mind, was the problem because that very doctor went for 2 more kids after kicking the caffeine habit and they were healthy - no birth defects. That struck a note with me. And I already know that there are many other catalysts to birth defects besides alcohol and the usual drug-related births.

 

 

Then I get home, check my Email, and get this letter at 3:51pm and now I'm going into the blue:

Lamul Tiversité commented on your link.

Lamul wrote: "Hey dude, at the risk of being rude, very even, how about being militant about GUYS NOT raping women, and being critical about what MEN do to women in times of war and so on, and leave the moralism TO women to your self : when you get a uterus, you,ll get a say in what wmomen do with theirs, until then why not instead of giving lessons to women, focus on MEN'S dangerous and violent behaviours : you'll have plenty to do, AND it will be amongst your peers, NOT towards women who have had MORE than enough of guys telling us what to do with our bodies !!!


Mind men's irresponsibility around the world, warring, raping and making soldiers out of kids, neglecting them or treating them like their property, instead of minding women's business ! DO I seem enraged in my comment, I very well am ! Go after criminal women and kids sextraders, criminals that poddle those drugs and so on, NOT after women and their choices with their own bodies ! If you,r not happy with women having the entire say about what goes on during their pregnancies, well perhaps start with looking how crappy men treat women, others, and the planet FIRST, and keep your lessons for your self. :-("

Then a few minutes later (3:54pm)...

Lamul Tiversité commented on your link.

Lamul wrote: "... starve to put and end to what's going on with women beign killed and NO ONE paying any attention, right here in Canada ! more than 500 missing women have not been searched properly by men-dominted institutions that are supposed to protect ALL citizens, not only the property of rich people, or only the provilidged mostly white women ! How about starving for JUSTICE, instead of to give already vulnerable women (consumers of drugs, for example) MORE lessons and pressure and expectations !"

My answer in red:

Lamul, it sounds like you have a dozen issues going on. You have started with one thing that has led into another and then into another. Here is my response to you:

The uterus does belong to a woman but in your rebuttal of my blog it seems you are forgetting about the fetus. That to me is sad. You can do whatever you want with yourself and I'm sure by your language that you darn well will. And you actually say, "at the risk of being rude...", well you were. You were rude to me. Most of the people who are signing my petition are women so get off your wacky horse if you think I belong to militant groups, rapists, moralism against women?, making soldiers out of kids (is she talking about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge?). You girl will still get one good comment from me.

If you think for one second that I'm proud of my manhood for the crimes you mention, well, I'm not. But, girl, you are clattering at me for issues of which I do not touch. I am more worried about the fetus (not your "vagina") than I am about any of the other things you mentioned. I want healthy babes. That's all. About your other issues, talk to a psychologist and stay away from this innocent man.

Back to BLACK.

Folks, we see a lot and hear a lot. I've definitely brought out feelings. But I'm on everyone's side - everyone's newborn baby's side. Healthy babies and happy families. In a couple of blogs I have had to kind of defend myself. I'll say this. I am not scared or ashamed of anything I am doing or saying. I do have sympathy for the way women have been treated throughout history and into today. Personally I still can't grasp why it is allowed to go on. I just want you to know- I am but one person - me. And me is not a bad person.

Post 2 - How Badly FAS Childrens Brains Are Compromised

TENTH IN A SERIES by BRUCE RITCHIE                                                                        My project revealed at bottom

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.

We will be looking at the six major regions of the brain that give FASD babies the lives they have never asked for. They are: Frontal Lobes, Corpus Callosum, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia.

Corpus Callosum

Connects right and left sides of brain to allow communication between the hemispheres. In many individuals with FASD, the Corpus Callosum is damaged, smaller than normal or missing. One resulting problem can be failure to follow instructions. The individual may be able to physically hear instructions (right hemisphere) but be unable to process the meaning of the request and develop a prompt and appropriate response. The individual may then be seen as being oppositional and treated accordingly. Dyslexia - Developmental reading disorder (inability to process graphic symbols) and Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD - inability to process verbal instructions) may be similar information processing issues involving the right and left hemispheres and the corpus callosum.

A: Normal (Comparing to length and overall size as above pic)
B: Smaller
C: Missing

I have undertaken the task of going on a hunger strike specifically for legislation that makes it more difficult for pregnant women to drink or drug. Having to keep in mind Women's Rights Issues, I am not of the understanding that a pregnant woman should either get drunk, stoned or drugged up. When there is a little fetus involved I believe very strongly that it is everybody's business. It sure makes me sad to see it happening. What about you? At 6pm on Sunday the 6th, day 3 begins for my strike. The world should really know.

Post 1 - How Badly FAS Children's Brains Are Compromised

NINTH IN A SERIES by BRUCE RITCHIE                                                                                        My project clue at the end.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.

We will be looking at the six major regions of the brain that give FASD babies the lives they have never asked for. They are: Frontal Lobes, Corpus Callosum, Hippcampus, Hypothalamus, Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia.

Also, for your reference, these two pictures will accompany the next 6 posts:



As you can see, we have started with the frontal lobes. Here is what we know:

Frontal Lobes control judgment, inhibition, concentration, self-control, conscience, personality and emotional traits as well as cognition and memory, motor speech and movement skills. The Left Hemisphere deals with language based memory - logical interpretation of language, mathematics, abstraction and reasoning, facts and rules (such as safety and social). The Right Hemisphere deals with holistic functioning - processing of images, sound, touch; for a holistic" picture. Memory here is visual, auditory and spatial.

So, the Left side is logic, facts, and rules. The Right side is sensory input and reactive. The most noteworthy damage to the brain occurs in the prefrontal cortex which controls the Executive Functions.

Executive Functions:

Executive
Functions of the                       Effects of Alcohol Exposure on Behaviours
Prefrontal Cortex                    Related to Executive Functions

Inhibition                               Social inapproproate behavior, as if inebriated
Problem Solving                     Inability to figure out solutions spontaneously
Sexual Urges                         Inability to control sexual impulses, esp. in social situations
Planning                                Inability to apply consequences from past actions
Time Perception                     Difficulty with abstract concepts or time or money
Internal Ordering                     Like files out of order, difficulty processing information
Working Memory                    Storing and/or retrieving information
Self-monitoring                       Needs frequent cues, requires policing by others
Verbal Self-regulation              Needs to talk to self out loud, needs feedback
Motor Control                         Fine motor skills more affected than gross motor
Regulation of Emotion             Moody roller-coaster emotions, exaggerated
Motivation                              Apparent lack of remorse, need external motivators
Judgment                              Inability to weigh pros and cons when making decisions

I have to admit, with ARND, I exhibit 8 or possibly 9 of these 13 executive function difficulties. Remember at one point I mentioned it takes a lot of work to put these blogs together, to get them right. I later look back and actually regret some inconsistencies in wording and how far to go, things like that. I know my blogs in general are pretty good but are they as good (precise) as they could be, should be the question. Have I gone overboard? Did I become a button pusher? You know what I mean. Please, don't jump on me all at once. I really do have some very real difficulties.

And now a clue to my: "Fetus' Sweet Success." I'm downtown Vancouver for maximum exposure. I have a feeling now that I'll just spill the beans on myself making what I said yesterday a bit of a quandary. It's just that I've been thinking about you all and I don't want to create a game. At the same time, I'm a touch scared, if you will, for various external reasons but not in what I am actually doing. What I am doing is right to me. Tomorrow at 6:00pm day 3 begins. However, I will be downtown before that.

The Most Important Post I Will Ever Make

Fetus’ Sweet Success

Although my blog will remain my best friend, I have begun a new journey already:

Written November 4, 2011, 10:20 Pacific Time, BC, Canada. Start time 6pm – 4 hours 20 minutes earlier. So the official start time was 6pm this day.

It’s a sister journey, or it would not be on this site. In fact it’s a twin sister journey and if I could get closer I would. I’m venturing into the unknown, at least for me. I really don’t know what the exact result will be when I’m done but I certainly hope for the best result possible. It may be difficult to do or it may be easier than I thought.

The reason for the journey will definitely be known at the hand of another, or perhaps, others, or heaven forbid, by the whole country, or wow, even the world. Maybe even I will actually know. It will certainly not be because of old age when I die. Truth is, my body was pretty tortured in its lifetime and I always thought I’d be lucky to hit 60. That’s what I keep telling people. And I’ll also dare to say, no one will guess of that sweet success conviction of mine. If someone were to guess than I would have to stop. Or would I? This one I cannot answer. I also cannot guess whether or not this has been done before. But you know the world. It’s big and I’m not, well, er, omniscient.

I’m not trying to not taunt anyone. If you feel that feeling, I apologize. It’s only if I were to tell you or him or her it wouldn’t work and I am most afraid I would fail then. Kept internalized it is most safe. Let it out, it loses all verility and the same thing would happen as when I first started to fight for the fetus. It would slowly drag on for years and I can’t sit idly anymore. We all need action now fom the government.

Since exactly, Oct 31^st,1996, when I first began fighting for the fetus (foetus, fœtus, faetus), FASD associations, societies, non-profits or individuals who just didn’t take me seriously, made me then, in my mind, feel disappointed. Then angry. It was the “angry” that always picked me up when I had my lapses and I fought through a few let me tell you. (One Vancouver aftercare organization actually Emailed me and said they would never work with an organization called “Fetuses Against FASD.”) But the problem and the solution since my beginning was most staggeringly simple to me: the fetus. All along it was the fetus that needed the voice. Nothing else. No one else. Just the fetus. Of course we all know that but who has ever really listened? Practically no one if you take into account all of Canada as a street survey of mine revealed where 91% did not know what the letters “FASD” meant. I am proud of the mom’s who did quit. Terribly happy for the kids who made it. It is a tough go after all for those who dearly loved to drink here and there.

So my big goal was to be the voice of the fetus and nothing else at all. Every organization against me can chew on aftercare and swallow their ugly pride. It is sick to me for an organization to boast on their growing aftercare organization. It just makes more room for governments to let the prevention plan flounder, as they have done all along. The little that is available now is diddly-squat and would not be noticed on statistical paper in the end. Everyone in the know, knows it. It has gotten too big. And now we have 10 or more babies per 1,000 from 6 to 9 per thousand to be cared for with trillions of tax dollars. Yeah, that much. After care is a lifetime per child/adult.

After multitudes of scribblings and crumpled up paper, when I introduced my first brilliantly thought out organizational name, “Fetuses Against FASD,” I really thought I had had something really exciting to work with. I was inwardly proud and was so happy to insert the outgrowths of my first papers into 3 envelopes and then post them to, ME. I would keep these for court should I need them later. It was mine – the name. It was the fetus’ too. And then I invented, “When the fetus speak’s, I listen.” Ideas poured into my faltered brain and I wrote and wrote – more crumpled papers – but importantly, more self-addressed envelopes. Still have them all in a box, now buried. In fact I forget which box.

I am sure a regular reader of my blog would know by now that I have ARND, the highest and, initially, the most invisible incidence rate of FAS disorders. More of me are in any prison this very moment than any other. More of me are hopelessly in dire straights and do not even know yet why. But only a few will in time.

And my blog, my precious blog was born on April 30^th, this year, 2011. Not a very attractive starting date. Oh well. The good news, with a lot of effort on my part sitting here on disability in my recovered cracked leather chair, is I am making good progress. My hits are not increasingly exponentially but what is the one below that? That one.

So what the hell have I just started this evening?

You could say, it’s like the Twilight Zone, yet there is nothing unreal about it. You could think it’s a trick; a hoax, but nothing could be more real and genuinely concrete to me, and then, later, perhaps for you, or you, or you but not for all. I’ll let you allow your imaginations to run wild, but I already know you’ll go too far with that. I may be accidentally implying that something scary or freaky is going to happen, but neither of those is true. Nor is it without good, a real good that is going to get big attention.

Tell you what. Don’t go senseless wondering. I know you won’t anyway. I just want you, my supporters and the government of Canada to just know that I’m up to something good that I hope will change the face of FASD forever and that my “SPEAK FOR ME” method will work, putting nay-sayers back into their seats.