Thursday, October 22, 2009

Gender: A Pre-Existing Condition?

I received an email today from change.org rallying supporters to "tell Congress that being a woman is not a pre-existing condition"! While I (fundamentally) agree with the change.org task force most of the time, I'm having second thoughts on this one. While I don't think that being a woman--or a man--should have any effect on insurance companies' claim judgment, which is what, of course, this particular war cry is supposed to ignite fury over, I'm pretty sure there isn't a condition that is more "pre-existing" than gender. I mean, really, this is why men have nipples.

As a clerical admin currently employed by a hospital, I get questioned about the current health care debacle by patients all the time. August 2009 was a particularly interesting month to be a medical office employee. Truth be told, while the system is obviously broken, I'm not sure who can fix it. What I am sure of is that it's going to take cooperation and caring action by a massive number of people to get any sort of progressive ball really rolling on health care. Until we Americans stop employing capitalist-imperialist, i.e. exploitative, ideology and acting as apologists for our oppressors, the current corporate leviathan--the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical lobbying groups--is going to keep winning, and American health will continue to suffer.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Eldorado Springs, Anyone?

I have found heaven, and it is on Earth. It is called Eldorado Springs, and I am somewhat ashamed of myself for not having known about this awesome, killer, gorgeous part of the world--that is basically IN MY BACKYARD--since I've lived in Boulder for over a decade now.

On the trail, cheesing it up, in pigtails and a Camelbak. Yes, I am a Coloradan!

Eldorado Springs sits about six miles South of Boulder and has a populations of about 27 or so. Or 2700, if you count the rock climbers. As he has been climbing for his while life, and Eldorado Canyon is kind of up there on the grand list of Places Climbers Take Off Time From Life To Check Out, my boyfriend Jeremy was totally game to check it out a couple of weekends ago. He was still recovering from straining the cartilage between his rib cage and his sternum (an injury only a climber would get) so we took a chill weekend...and then decided to go check out one of the holy grails of climbing. Except that we'd be hiking, and not bring along any gear, so as not to tempt ourselves too much.

Eldorado Canyon is at the end of the town; when I say "town" I mean lovely collection of houses all along one street, which eventually becomes the road into Eldorado Canyon State Park. Driving through town, I felt an urgency to move there. I need to live here! I MUST!!! It is such a gorgeous little town, and it was such a beautiful weekend, and...well, reality interfered and I returned to Boulder, convincing myself that I needed to be close to work because I don't have a car and bussing in from Eldo would be a nightmare every day and yada yada yada...

We got to the ranger station, paid the $7 entrance fee (!!!) and crept around myriad mazelike parking areas until we secured a spot. It was a very busy day at the park, both around the hiking areas and trails and, of course, on the walls. When we first got far enough into the canyon to be able to pick out groups of climbers --spider-people, one hiking guide calls us-- it was all I could do to remain in the vehicle. Every crag, every line, everything that looked like it could possibly be a crag or line, every traverse, every possible nook and cranny--climbers looooove our nooks and crannies--was teeming with groups. As we were getting out of the car I heard the familiar sound of hexes clanking against cams and nuts and looked mournfully at Jeremy. He returned the gaze, then tried to smile a little. "We'll bring gear next time," he said, nowhere near enthusiastically enough to lift my spirits.

Jeremy scanning the nearby walls of Eldorado Canyon for climbers:


The Eldorado Canyon trail is part of a trail network that meets up with the Walker Ranch Trail in Boulder as well as other South Boulder trails...which is pretty cool. We were just doing it as on out-and-back, although it was more like a stumble-and bumble, as we spent a good amount of time watching the climbers as we hiked. Jeremy's good at this. Me, not so much. You know the old "walk-and-chew-gum" adage? Yeah, well, I can barely walk, much less do so while looking at anything other than the ground in front of my feet. So I took frequent "watch the climbers" pauses, all the while bemoaning our lack of gear.

The trail itself was quite lovely: moderately steep, not too busy, overlooking gergous valleys and meadows, Rocky Mountain wilderness and probably, plenty of wildlife. I'm always amazed at where some things choose to put down roots...Yes, that is a tree. A tiny tree, but a tree nonetheless, growing out of a boulder. AWESOME!!

I'm also amazed at the ingenuity of the state parks department. There are some interesting "improvements" made to the trail, probably to keep erosion from wearing it away (like layers of felt beneath the top inch or so of dirt near places that would be good rockslide candidates), and a hole in the ground, off-trail, where rangers have erected poles and wrapped them in bright yellow caution tape. What does bright yellow caution tape make YOU want to do?

That's right, it makes you want to check it out. Seriously, they might as well have erected a big neon sign that said, "check out this old mineshaft!". So Jeremy, the brave one, slid down the little makeshift path to the caution-tape laden hole and snappred a few shots. I'm sure it's quite dangerous, and I definitely wouldn't want to get stuck in there, but it make me wonder how many people had to be rescued from it before the area got plastered with plastic yellow "danger-do-not-enter" tape...and how many have done just what we did since. Oh, the vicarious lives we live!

Eventually, we turned around and made our way back to the car. Driving slowly out so that we could keep an eye on the climbing parties all over the walls, we started excitedly discussing gear we'd need, techniques we'd have to use and, of course, how quickly we might return.