Jennifer Willis

About a month ago, I told some friends that I’d try being more audacious on my blog. That I’d stop pulling my punches where my opinions are concerned and just generally be less of a wuss when it came to publishing online the strong-worded statements I frequently make in private.

And then I got benched by anxiety, panic, and medication hell — and I do have more to tell on that score.

But getting back to it, I’m sharing something here that I posted on Facebook this morning. One friend and fellow writer was openly wondering if Newt Gingrich had taken a bribe from Jon Stewart to publicly announce his plans for an American colony on the moon (if he’s elected for not one but two presidential terms).

I actually laughed when I heard this on the news last night. Yes, I’m a big fan of space exploration — I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up, and we really should already have visited Mars and have a permanent lunar base. But when I heard this campaign promise from Gingrich, that at “the end of my second term” there would be a lunar colony, I couldn’t stop the giggles. It just seemed so out-of-left-field and along the lines of, “Yes! And a magical pony for every American child!”

Without going into a great deal of detail, I’ve been having a big problem with dysautonomia in recent months. It’s been a battle of one kind or another pretty much as far back as I can remember — way before I even had a name for what was plaguing me — but the past few years have been especially rough, and the last months have been the worst.
In addition to symptoms like chest pains, acid reflux, migraines, digestive issues, intolerance to heat/cold, low threshold for physical exertion, shortness of breath, an exaggerated startle reflex, tinnitus, and fatigue, new symptoms anxiety [...]

(From my “Thoughtful Thursdays” series on the Oregon News Incubator blog…)
In the days leading up to our departures for the International Reporting Project fellowships this past fall, IRP Director John Schidlovsky treated the ten of us fellows to an informal pizza lunch and a discussion about “what was keeping us up at night” about our upcoming trips.
As we went around the table and each one of us described our last-minute scrambling for accommodations, fixers and other resources, John reminded us to take some time off during our five weeks overseas to simply relax and enjoy ourselves.
No one needed to remind [...]

One of the big challenges that comes from living with mitral valve prolapse syndrome/dysautonomia is never knowing how I’ll be feeling on any given day. This makes advanced planning a bit a tricky, whether I’m trying to set an agenda for an upcoming vacation or just accepting invitations for holiday parties or group activities.
Just this evening, I’m having to decide whether or not to attend a Yule ritual and potluck with the West Hills CUUPS group. I’ve been looking forward to this for some time; I have a gift ready for the gift exchange and even made old-fashioned fudge for [...]

This morning, I set my underwear on fire.
I’ve been dealing with a fairly persistent and uncomfortable yeast infection. I normally don’t have this kind of trouble, but this infection started during my recent overseas fellowship program, and it’s been a real bear to knock out. I’ve eaten lots of yogurt, taken antibiotics, douched with vinegar rinse and practically boiled my undergarments in the laundry. An additional step includes ironing or otherwise heating underwear to kill the problematic candida.
We’re in the midst of refinishing floors here in the house, and we’re cut off from the upstairs while the newly varnished floors [...]

Some early morning thoughts, after I got up pre-dawn and still missed the lunar eclipse…
I’ve found myself monitoring or participating in several debates recently about politics, rights and services in the United States, and they all — for me at least — seem to boil down to the same concept:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the [...]