Four Twenty: Word Counters

  

 

 

Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks  a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with.

 

This month's number is 42. 

It was chosen by Diane of On the Border.

 

 

 

~ This month, I'm talking about today's number. Sort of. But switching it up adding a zero, to be exact. Inspired by the number Diane chose, I'd like to discuss 420. No, not blackbirds, that's four and twenty. I love pie, but blackbirdless.

~ And I'm not talking about my anniversary, (though it is 4/20) nor how I celebrate (although spoiler alert: I don't bake bird pies and I only once spent it searching for pot, and found it, but, that's a story for another day).

 

~ You may have guessed, what I'm talking about is 420 in the context of World Weed Day. I was set on this path by two diametrically opposite political attitudes. First, Biden commuted the sentences of 75 Americans convicted of nonviolent drug crimes.

~ The other is Nebraska's governor attempting to sue Colorado over Colorado's marijuana legalization. Talk about sticking your nose in your neighbor's business. Nebraska's Ricketts has (yes, fairly recently) said that cannabis is a gateway drug, and legalization "is gonna kill your kids." 

 

 

~All of this is easily paralleled to the Covid situation. Ignorance should not trump (yes, pun intended) science, and yet it does. In both instances. There are also parallels to prohibition, which didn't end alcohol use, just made the distilling unregulated, unsafe.

 

~Fun 4/20 story: Back in the 1970s a group of California high school kids (called themselves "the Waldos") used to meet after school at 4:20 to smoke pot together. Later, according to urban legend, they'd search for a rumored deserted marijuana patch.

~ The Waldos never found it (ha, Waldo humor), but 420 became their secret code. Not for long (after all, there are no secrets in high school). AND, the brother of one of the kids in the group was friends with a musician.

~ That musician's band? The Grateful Dead. The boys shared with the band, their secret code for getting high (I can imagine the conversation, over heart shaped munchies, I'm sure). The band began using it and sharing it, and the rest is history.

 

 

 

 

Peppermint Heart Meringues

 

 

~ Like alcohol, marijuana is here to stay. The schedule one status is obsolescent, the punishment associated with it, abusively severe. Legalizing it, acknowledging this drug's therapeutic value ensures its properties can be appropriately studied, dosages scientifically developed, and medical use sales regulated.

 

~ I don't advocate everyone smoke pot. I believe that pot, including recreational, should be legal. But let's at least start with compassion, for those with chronic pain, glaucoma, anxiety . . . we cannot continue to allow an archaic unscientific stance to usurp their relief.

 

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Peppermint Heart Meringues

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup finely crushed candy canes or starlight mint candies

3 TBSP multicolored nonpareils

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

*Beat the egg whites, on high speed until they get foamy. Add the cream of tartar and salt, and continue to beat until soft peaks form. 

*Add the peppermint extract and, 1/4 cup at a time, at about 30 second intervals, add the sugar and the finely crushed mints. Continue to bear at high speed until stiff peaks hold.

*Using a pencil, draw 15 hearts on the parchment paper, about 3 inches tall each. Turn the parchment paper over. This is important, do not pipe your hearts onto the side with the pencil on it.

*Spoon about half of the meringue into a piping bag or a gallon sized plastic bag with the tip cut off. Following the lines on the other side of the parchment paper, pipe the outline of the hearts.

*Using a knife, scoop the remaining meringue into the hearts and spread to fill them. Sprinkle with the nonpareils.

*Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven off, leaving the meringues inside for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to sit for 10 minutes, then and carefully peel off of the parchment paper.

The Jury’s Out

A few years ago I was called to jury duty. It was not a fun experience. I had to make arrangements for my kids early in the morning because to get all the way downtown in rush hour traffic meant leaving before school started. I had to find a parking garage and walk to the courthouse. I had to fill out forms and sit for hours. I had to stand up in a courtroom and divulge personal information. I was not home when my kids got out of school. I could not drive to activities. Dinner was late. Very late. I had to be available to do these things, including in a snowstorm, for a two week period. My life was turned upside down and I got off easy, I didn’t end up on a jury.

 I can’t even imagine the disruption to someone’s life if they do get chosen to serve. Especially in a high profile case.

Following an emotionally charged, well publicized case there will be public discourse. I think that’s inevitable, healthy even. We do and should be discussing law, rules of evidence, courtroom strategies, conviction options. But there will also be public anger and criticism and disagreement with the verdict.

What I’m asking you to consider is this: when we disagree with a verdict, who is it that we’re criticizing?

What we’re saying is this: you, juror, who have given up your time, who have made other arrangements for your life and your obligations, you who have been present through the arguments and evidence and contradictions, you who have given your thought and consideration and your energy, your head and your heart, you who have sat for hours and days through every minute of the evidence allowed to be presented to you by our legal system, you who have been given explicit instructions as to what you may and may not consider in your deliberations, you who have discussed and debated in a closed room negotiating and collaborating with strangers, you who have put your personal feelings aside in deference to the rules. You are wrong.

When we disagree with a verdict, what we're doing is second guessing and disrespecting, not the outcome of the case, but the people who reconciled it. We’re saying that their time and their commitment and their sacrifices have no value.

I’ve deliberately avoided a discussion of what I think happened to Nicole Brown, Caylee Anthony or Trayvon Martin here. It isn’t salient to this particular discussion. My point is that we have a system, including other avenues for both sides; appeals, civil cases, federal cases, new attorneys. If we feel that the system isn’t working, let’s discuss those components.

But as far as the initial court cases go, all I want to say is this: I believe those jurors acted with integrity, both individually and as a unit, given the constraints of the situation. 

Over the years, many jurors in high profile cases have talked openly about the dilemma they faced due to those constraints. Many have been emotionally scarred by the experience both of having served and by the fallout that ensued.

So no matter what my opinion of the tragic circumstances that result in any given trial, what I do want to say in reference to the human beings who made up the fabric of those juries is that I will not stand in judgment of their work and their service. I offer only my respect.