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today: PARENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR ONGOING AUTISM INCREASE?
plus MORE MUSIC, including THE ECHO OF THE ECHO

Elsa's Creativity Space - Update
   Hello again,    

I may be way off-base in what follows. I saw a show on Larry King Live - 2 mothers and a father (a doctor) dealing with autism. The main story: what may help most after diagnosis. A side issue: is vaccination related to autism? and would these people allow vaccinations, at the current rate, if they had more children? The mothers' answers: no. I've done a tiny bit of resarch online, on mercola.com, a large alternative health site. It seems there is very likely a link between autism and vaccines containing a mercury-related compound.

In the heat of the moment, I wrote. I've heard since from 5 doctors that there is no link between autism and vaccines. I need to do more research. I still have my underlying question: how much responsibility do parents have when recognized experts give clear answers? Yet experts, it's also widely recognized, have made many errors.

What follows is what I wrote. I'll start with a conclusion: before I came to a decision on what to do, I would do much more research.

Elsa, October 13, 2007

October 8, 2007

Childhood rates of autism have skyrocketed, are up over six-fold in less than 2 decades. At the same time, the rate of childhood vaccines has also skyrocketed. That the vaccines are responsible for at least some of the increase is almost totally certain. I come to chains in the mind.

The people who come to mind first are parents, who let their children be vaccinated despite the dangers. No measles. Just autism. No mumps. Just autism.

An American pediatrician whose son, now 11, is autistic was told by his wife: you did this to him, you fix him. She clearly saw: he was guilty, he was responsible. They had had a healthy son. Since her husband was a doctor, she held him accountable. He should have known better than to allow the many vaccinations. He has devoted his life since then to finding out how best to treat autism and even, at times, enable recovery.

But why should he be held accountable and not other parents? Loads of parents have access to the same information.

What's going on? The parents care enormously. One can see it especially when one sees the care given to many autistic children by loving parents. Chains in the mind. Here's what comes to mind.

Chain One. Fear. Fear of taking responsibility ...    

For the FULL ARTICLE on MENTAL CHAINS THAT KEEP PARENTS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, etc., from responding, CLICK HERE.

****

The spark for my thoughts. A few days ago, I saw an interview with a mother of an autistic child on Larry King Live. She'd done so much since her son's diagnosis, found every possible help for recovery. She had, before her son's illness, loved him just as much - but she'd gone along with the vaccination program. 37 shots.

An ounce of prevention, goes the old proverb, is worth a pound of cure. I'm all in favor of cure. But why, I asked myself, isn't there more done for prevention? Surely preventing autism is more important than preventing measles.

Note: I don't hold parents responsible - just as parents aren't responsible for the death of children at the hands of drunk drivers. But to stay silent is to acquiesce to the situation. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers started as a group of mothers who refused to stay silent. They became a powerful lobby for strong drunk driving penalties - which now save many children's lives, though more has to be done. My hope is that, likewise, parents will come together powerfully to protect their babies and toddlers as much as is possible against the threat of autism.

I pause. And the question keeps going through my mind: how much (or how little) responsibility do parents have? To care is more than to feel caring. We need knowledge, we need to have the courage to act on information, we need to have enough commitment to our children to do things that aren't easy - to address bullying, whatever. We need healthy priorities.

So I won't say parents have no responsibility to keep their children as safe from autism as possible. Far more children are struck by autism than struck by cars. Way more children are hurt by autism than are abducted by evil strangers. I would say that parents of healthy babies and toddlers should care enormously to do all to protect them from autism - get information, get together with other concerned parents, and act.

Your comments, ideas and experiences are very welcome. I wonder: how will you respond? Anger? Interest? Agreement? What are your thoughts?

****

There's been more to my week than this article. Among other things, I taught - good classes.

And then, music.

I dusted off 3 old recordings - my words, with music by Michel Robidoux for all 3, and once also (very different) by Fred Fizet. Help getting it all on the web came from Mark Corwin.

The songs / word pieces:

     The Echo of the Echo

     I feel the echo of the echo
                of your touch
      It isn't much

     I feel the faintest of faint traces
               on my face
     Then that's erased        more with music

     ****

     It's Taboo to Say I Love You

     It's taboo to say I love you
          just because I feel
     the words rising in me
          strong and clear and real

                    It's taboo       more with music

     ****

     Don't Waste My Time

     Don't waste my time
     It's all that's mine
     Don't hold me close
     just to be kind              more with music

This is the simplest of simple pieces - and it's been the one that's attracted the most musicians. I have 4 versions, one with my voice (spoken word), and 3 sung (folk, tango, country). I've put 2 on the web - the spoken word, and a rough song version recorded years ago in my living room.

As always, comments are very welcome. Or if you're a musician, your version is welcome.

****

I could have ended here, but one question is going through my head: why do all this uploading of rough drafts? My answer: I've been hankering for a podcast for months. I want to draw on the pieces for the podcasts, tell stories around some of the pieces. I could say more, but it would take long and it wouldn't make things clear. I'll let you know as soon as the podcasts start going up. And then, if you like, you can see for yourself.

****

In the meantime, it's Thanksgiving here in Canada. For us, it's a year with much to be thankful for.

Hope you too have much to be thankful for.

As always, all the best,

Elsa
October 20, 2007

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Elsa's Creativity Emporium - Updates
October 20, 2007
vol 1, no 14

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Welcome to Elsa's Creativity Space

New! Elsas Creativity Space Update explores: Autism, Vaccines,
and Parent Power. What can parents do to help prevent autism?
Plus, more music. Don’t Waste My Time. Echo. It's Taboo.
Words and music.

Elsas Creativity Space,
an all-round creativity site
exploring moments, memory, thoughts
through spoken word, song, story,
idea pieces, rap, journal, reflection, dreams, more.
Elsas Creativity Space.

Elsas creativity space is
Elsas creativity emporium is
Elsas creativity place

Gertrude Stein said, almost a century ago, a rose is a rose is a rose.

Much easier to say that, than to say
Elsas creativity space is
Elsas creativity space.

But just as a rose is a rose is a rose,
Elsas creativity space is
Elsas creativity space.

One could even go on to say that
a rose is a rose by any other name.

Likewise, one could hold that
Elsas creativity space is
Elsas creativity space
by any other name.

And many humans might not even notice if,
instead of
Elsas creativity space
I wrote
Elsas creativity place
or
Elsas creativity site.

Most humans would just register that it's
Elsas creativity something or other.

And it is.
But there's more.

The name is a signal.

This is
Elsas creativity place
Elsas creativity space.

i am not calling mayday. This is not a distress signal.

It's a hello signal, come see me, notice me.

Hello,
it's Elsas creativity space
Elsas creativity place
calling all search engines
to find me on my island
deserted but fertile
enchanted but isolated
creative and creating but too too alone.

Who will help me through my dark?
Who will help me make my mark?
Who will help me build my ark?
I cannot do it alone.

I'm calling to people
but strangely it's not people
I am turning to for help.

It's the web
the world wide web.

I'm calling hoping the web will hear that
Elsas creativity place
Elsas creativity space
is calling, calling, calling with longing and hope.

signed,

Elsa

Zee

Not-me

Sexe-Tete

All of me

including my early childhood self, Dely,
who took the name Elsa

July 9 , 2006
somewhat revised, February 6, 2007

copyright © Elsa Schieder, 2007 - all rights reserved

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