“We produced UNNATURAL CAUSES to draw attention to the root causes of health and illness and to help reframe the debate about health in America. Economic and racial inequality are not abstract concepts but hospitalize and kill even more people than cigarettes. The wages and benefits we’re paid, the neighborhoods we live in, the schools we attend, our access to resources and even our tax policies are health issues every bit as critical as diet, smoking and exercise.

The unequal distribution of these social conditions -and their health consequences - are not natural or inevitable. They are the result of choices that we as a community, as states, and as a nation have made, and can make differently. Other nations already have, and they live longer, healthier lives as a result.”

This is an excerpt from Larry Adelman, the Executive Producer from a PBS documentary series titled “Unnatural Causes”. The series is devoted to examining the racial and socioeconomic disparities in health in the U.S. and begins airing most places in the states this Thursday, March 27th.

Feature by Clare Bakota republished with permission from her blog
Part Two:
Brazil and the United States: A World Apart?

I have lived Brazil for ten years and in the United States for ten years. The two countries, and the similarities and contrasts between them, constitute the majority of my childhood and young adulthood. The differences between the two countries are not to be understated. The smell of red iron-rich earth, the swollen bellies, the taste of freshly ground sugar cane, and the sprawling metropolis of São Paulo have no correlation to my years in the United States. But scratch a layer deeper and there are similarities that run through these countries from the times of post-colonial genocide and slave plantations to contemporary racial divides.
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Today is Wednesday, March 19, the exact fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. During these five years over 1.3 million Iraqis have died as a result of the war, 2 million people displaced inside of Iraq, and 2.5 million who are refugees in neighboring Syria and Jordan. Five years have resulted in 4,000 deaths of U.S. soldiers and more than 60,000 wounded. The FIVE YEAR occupation of Iraq has already cost over $500 billion. This weekend and many returning Iraq veterans testified against the war and revealed it’s injustices at The Winter Soldier-Iraq and Afghanistan hearings. For five years people have protested in SF and around the country and the war goes on and on and on. Today people in San Francisco and across the country continue to protest this war and there is still no end in sight.

Yesterday, after spending the morning browsing through an art and jewelry sale at Fort Mason, munching delicious veggie sandwiches in the Marina and appreciating the hell out of the warmth and sunshine, my momma and I decided to trek over to the Legion of Honor museum to check out the new Annie Leibovitz exhibit. A-maz-ing. I’ve loved Annie’s photography since I first started sneaking my mom’s subscription of Rolling Stone as a pre-teen. It was her work with musicians that first really drew me in, but having since seen her shoots of political figures, celebrities and artists, I’m pretty much enthralled with all her work. The exhibit features 200 pieces from 1990-2005 that encompass her entire life as a photographer — personal and professional. And while her over-sized prints of everyone from Demi Moore to Mikhail Baryshnikov were fascinating, I was most impressed by the simple photos she shot of her family vacationing and her small daughter (whom she had in her 50s… yow!) playing in the garden. Annie also shows a number of photos of her partner Susan Sontag that illustrate her life, battle with cancer and subsequent death a few years ago. There’s a passion and perspective in all the photographer’s work that is exceptional, but the personal element that comes out in these intimate portraits is just amazing. While she very rarely turns the lens on herself, the exhibit tells more about her than any self-portraits or writings ever could. Go see it. Now. (Runs through May 25, 2008.)

Featured Guest Blogger Clare Bakota!
Part One:
Third World Country: How America Fits the Bill

When one enters São Paulo, Brazil from the international airport, they are first struck by how technologically advanced the country is—the nice cars, flashy billboards, and innovative energy technologies are all impressive. Then, in one jarring moment, the airport bus turns into the middle of a slum. Houses made of cardboard, children playing barefoot at the edge of the highway, and an open sewer running through the haphazard jumble of make-shift houses all serve to remind you that, yes, Brazil is still a Third World country. The bizarre juxtaposition of extreme wealth and extreme poverty is something that is sadly characteristic of Brazil.
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So ok, I’m probably the only one that’s been following this and/or cares, but the San Francisco Bay Guardian has just won it’s case against SF Weekly. SF’s two alternative weeklies have been battling it out for months, with the Guardian claiming that the Weekly sold ads at below cost specifically to hurt the Guardian and then used funds from parent company Village Voice Media to stay in business. From the beginning, this whole thing has seemed a lot like a couple of kids fighting over the sandbox, which has been made only more evident by both sides pointing fingers in the blogosphere (check out the mudslinging and hair-pulling here and here.) As someone who’s worked in advertising sales, I can say the one thing that hurts ALL ad revenue, especially in SF, are places like Craigslist.com and other free online sites. Nobody uses classifieds in the paper anymore, and many businesses are moving their marketing campaigns solely to the web. Is SF Weekly lucky that some of VVM’s other markets make more money and therefore can maybe help their younger, poorer sibling out? Sure. Does that mean that what they did is wrong? I’m honestly surprised that the jury thinks so. And it appears I’m not the only one. So the verdict is that the Weekly has to fork over $15M (some sources say $6.3M, and I can’t seem to find a definite number), but we’ll obviously see an appeal. It’ll be most interesting to see if these two weeklies — always at odds over the same reviews, listings and features — can both come out of this alive, or if we’ll suddenly be one paper shorter. Seems like they’re dropping like flies…

The Mission District is host to an array of taquerias, trendy restaurants, hipster dive bars, and random specialty boutique and stores. When I walk by some of these, I often wonder if anyone shops there and how they manage to stay afloat. There is one particular store that has always intrigued me and the other day I finally walked in to the Pirate Store on 826 Valencia. This pirate store is San Francisco’s only independent pirate supply store, where you can purchase flags, eye patches, glass eyes and all sorts of pirate goodies. As you wonder through this pirate ship decorated store, you head to the back and find a hidden treasure. 826 is actually the home of a creative writing program for ages 6 to 18 and all proceeds from the pirate store go toward the writing center. This hidden yet groundbreaking program was started by Dave Eggers, a San Francisco star writer and best-selling author of “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and “What Is the What.” Dave and the 826 staff volunteer their time to sell pirate things and teach creative writing to young San Franciscans. The program offers a variety of free services throughout the school year and summer months including drop-in tutoring, field trips, specialized workshops, in-school assistance, and extensive student publishing.

826 has expanded to New York,L.A., Seattle,Chicago, Michigan, and Boston.

Greater Good is a publication produced out of UC Berkeley that addresses critical social themes in its quarterly publication from Family to Play and in the current issue: POWER
I wrote a piece on the physical effects of stress and powerlessness, I used contemporary psychological research and focused on Bayview Hunters Point as an example. Enjoy!

Volume IV, Issue 3: Winter 2007-08
Power Sickness
Feeling powerless harms our health, reports Eve Ekman. What can we do about it?

The Bayview Child Health Center is set back from Third Street, the chief thoroughfare in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. The street is lined with weathered pawn shops, check cashing outlets, small liquor and grocery stores, and bars. People in janitorial or business attire wait for public transportation to jobs downtown, while young men and women in baggy hip-hop gear hang out on the corners. Bayview-Hunters Point has the highest concentration of families in San Francisco, but the Bayview Child Health Center is one of only a handful of pediatric clinics in this neighborhood.
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