#I do think the environmental factors make the stories different enough to pit against one another | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

withastolenlantern · 3 years ago

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What do you think it was like?” Rafael asked as he hacked at the tough vegetation with his hoe, pulling the dense vines into a pile in the pathway. The soil was nitrogen poor, even when heavily fertilized, and the local flora had a fibrous root that was always threatening to choke out their transplanted species. The ground cover was too thick for the harvesters to handle, so the crops were still pulled by hand at the end of the wet season.

“Why do you always ask that?” I said, stooping down to the ground and dusting the dirt from the now exposed potatoes, gently brushing them clear like an archaeologist might some ancient, precious treasure. I pulled the tubers from the ground and put them into the cart.

“You don’t wonder?” He leaned on the handle of the hoe, brushing the sweat from his dark brow.

“I try not to.”

“Come on, Shan. If I have to have one more meeting about soil nutritiation, I’m going to kill myself. And you’re down there all the time…”

“We’re not having this conversation again.” I hadn’t come out to the fields looking for a fight, but I was always prepared for one. “Stop changing the subject.”

He frowned. “Please don’t start.”

“I’m just saying. The season’s almost over, and we’re not getting any younger.”

He put down the hoe and knelt down next to me, lifting another potato and cradling it. He looked at me plaintively. “I just… are you sure this is what you want? To spend your life toiling in the dirt? I mean, your father…”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “My father is a drunk, and he has nothing to do with this.”

“He didn’t used to be. He might snap out of it. Some of them do,” he said. “I’m just worried you’ll get bored of me, of this. It’s not a glamorous life.”

“No, but it would be our life, Rafe,” I pleaded.

“One more season. The bureau is due to review the allotments soon, and I almost have enough saved up for a down-payment on my own forty.” He kissed me gently on the forehead, then stood, and stared up toward the sky and sighed. “You honestly don’t wonder? What it was like, knowing what was happening out there?”

I stood too, matching his gaze. I put my arm around his wrist and held it gently to my chest. “Come with me. I have to check on him, and then maybe you’ll see why I’d much prefer to farm potatoes with you.”

It had been one-hundred fifty-nine years since we’d last heard from anyone outside the system. The Network had gone down July 17th, 2938, or at least that’s what the history books said. And that is only if you went by the original Earth calendar, which no one did anymore. With a twenty-eight hour day and a rotation period of six-hundred seventeen days, matching time here on New Caledonia to that on Earth was pointless. With The Network, information would take an interminable time to transit the two-hundred eighty-four light year and four relay distance between us; even then, relativity was unclear on whether there was any such thing as simultaneous events at these stellar distances anyway. For me it was irrelevant: the Earth might as well not exist, may not exist, and Sol was just a very dim star you could barely make out in the southern sky.

For us, it had been a normal Sunday, Wet Season 12, CSY 134. New Caledonia is an eccentric planet with a single landmass in its northern hemisphere surrounded by a large planetary ocean. Because of its near forty-five degree axial tilt relative to the ecliptic, the year is divided into two seasons of nearly equal length. During the Wet Season, the more direct sunlight heats the seas, driving strong currents that bring strong storms to the western coast. The moist air blows in and dumps copious rain across the western plains before climbing into the central mountain range that separates the continent, the only remnant of the clash between the two gigantic tectonic plates that formed the land we now call home. This quirk of a jetstream leaves the eastern plains beyond the mountains in a giant rain shadow, barren and dry. For this reason, all the major settlements are here in the west, and in the Dry Season, the ocean gyres cease and we hunker down for a long, cold, arid winter.

The rains were strong that Wet Season, or so the stories go. At first they though the heavy cloud cover and unstable air was interfering with communication to the satellite arrays. Minkowski Transmission provides a supraliminal link through the interstellar void, but it was still subject to the space-time warps of a heavy gravity well; we are forced to rely on more pedestrian broadcast methods to communicate with the Network Relays out in longer orbits free from gravitational interference. But they checked the dishes and the transmission center and everything was fine. Then they checked again. Then they waited until the Dry Season, and checked again. And then they waited.

We walked up the path to the main road where I’d parked my truck, and Rafe loaded the cart, only half-full of potatoes, into the rear cargo bed. “How is he doing?” he asked, hopping into the cab and pulling on his safety belt.

I pushed the ignition switch and the engine purred to life. The battery chimed a plea that it needed to be recharged soon, and I felt that deep in my soul in a way the inanimate vehicle could never understand. “He has good days and bad.”

“How much longer?”

“Too long.” I put the truck into gear and programmed the destination into the navigational system. It lurched forward, the tracks catching slightly in the soft, damp clay of the plain. “Honestly I stopped counting a long time ago.”

We made it maybe half a mile before the rain started again, at first light pricks ricocheting off the windscreen of the truck, but quickly growing to fat blobs that exploded with a violent thud. I opened the valve to the distillation unit on the roof and a slow drip of cleansed water trickled into my canteen. After a few seconds I closed the valve and took a sip; the water was cool and clear. I offered some to Rafe, but he demurred with a slight wave. “Do you think he’ll go back to his career, after?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. At the beginning they said they’d welcome him back, but I think we all expect that was just a pleasantry. I’m… I’m not sure if he could handle it, now.”

We rode in silence for a few more minutes before he spoke again. “I’m not sure he’ll approve,” he said with subtle defeat. “Especially if he goes back to work.”

“He doesn’t get a say,” I replied. I reached across the seats and took his hand in mine. I smiled as brightly as I could in reassurance. “I’ve made my choice. This is what I want, for myself. For us. He can object if he wants, but what’s the worst that happens? It’s not like we can be further apart, not after what’s happened.”

It was several days into the Dry Season before the panic really set in. The original settlers had always known it was a one-way trip out here- four hundred years was a long time in stasis, and there was never a guarantee the planet would provide a sufficient fuel source to power the generation ship’s massive thrust engines back up. So like seeds in the wind humanity scattered itself across the stars, secure in the knowledge that the Network Relays would prevent them from ever being truly alone. Mankind might diverge physically and spacially; over time genetics and environmental factors would certainly breed out several new homo subspecies. But with the Network we could at least stay connected enough to share our stories, our art, our discoveries, and what else has humanity ever been but that?

The governor made an address and appealed for calm. New Caledonia had been self-sustaining since the beginning, she reminded everyone. They’d be fine. It was always a known possibility that this might happen, and the best everyone could do was to go on with their lives. The Network would come back, or it wouldn’t; they’d keep trying to re-establish communication.

The rumors started swirling immediately. The panel show ratings skyrocketed. We watched some of the footage in school, when I was younger; one talking head insisted it could be an alien threat, splitting us up before some pending invasion. There’s never been any sign of extraterrestrial intelligence even exists, let alone in competition for colonization, the other shouted. A third argued it was a sign from God, that humanity had outreached its grasp.

A popular conspiracy stream posited that maybe it was just New Caledonia. What if everyone else’s Network connection still works, and they’re cutting us out? The opposition party saw an opportunity and ran with it- what if the government shut down the link? On purpose! What if this was all a ploy to consolidate power and rule the planet as an oligarchy? The riots lasted three days, with violence and looting in the city streets before cooler heads prevailed. The government stayed in tact, and the opposition leaders were purged for fomenting insurrection. And thus was born the New Caledonian hermit kingdom.

“I don’t think I’d even want it to come back, at this point,” I groused. “Not after all of this.”

“How can you say that?” Rafe asked, incredulous. “You’re not the least bit curious?”

I thought for a moment. “Curious, yeah, I guess. But I don’t know that it would change all that much. It’s been so long. What if it comes back and it’s just… too different?”

“Yeah but think of what we might be missing out on,” he argued. “It might have helped with The Rot. It might have…”

“Don’t,” I warned, feeling the threat of tears welling my eyes.

For one-hundred fifty-nine orbits we’d tended our flocks and tilled our soils alone. Without a broader knowledge base, technological progress slowed. In CSY 204 a plague came, some meta-organic compound released from a pit mine dug too deep. The Rot claimed thirteen percent of the population before we could quarantine it out. When I was nine they finally found a way to inoculate against it. I remembered wincing at the shot as my father looked on, relief evident in his face that I’d be spared the fate that had claimed so many lives, including my mothers.

Maybe Rafe was right; maybe someone out beyond the stars might have helped us avoid that tragedy. And maybe someone here might know or do something that could save lives elsewhere. But in the years since the Network went down, we’d persevered, raised generations on our own. And inevitably just like Rafael they would stare up at the night sky with the same wonder as those before. And then they’d also ask about the abandoned broadcast center in the empty valley beyond the outskirts of the main settlement, grown over with the local moss-analogue from years of disuse.

The truck crested a small hill, the tracks struggling for purchase in the mud as they pulled the vehicle over the incline, and we looked down into the valley where that broadcast center sat. Every two years an adult was selected by random lot to man the station, in the increasingly unlikely event communication with the Network was re-established. The government called it “The Receiver” in an effort to present it as some important position, but everyone knew it was a joke. It came with no real benefits, just a small stipend and the obligation of a community. We all prayed at the Harvest Festival that our number would not be drawn from the bowl.

My father was a proud man, an engineer who helped manage the settlement’s geothermal power station. His luck had run out eight-hundred sixty-three days ago. He swore up and down that the lottery was rigged; that the government thought him being a technical expert instead of a field-hand, that the fact that his wife was gone and his children all grown, made him expendable. He might have been right, but that didn’t absolve him the responsibility. So he’d resigned himself, and us with him, to the doldrums of minding an interface that may never come back online.

He read a book a day, or at least he claimed, and while the library did have a fair amount of humanity’s literary efforts prior to the cutoff, their plots and concerns were divorced from life here on the frontier. He took up drinking, inevitably, as did everyone else assigned to the posting. What they don’t tell you when your name is pulled from the bowl is that the sacrifice is not yours alone- the burden is your family’s to bear. My brother’s and I took turns minding him, bringing him food and checking on his mental well-being but they all had families of their own now, and I was desperate to start mine too. We were all ready to move on, and I hoped by bringing Rafael with me he could see that I was serious about starting our life together.

We pulled up outside the comms center and dismounted from the truck.

“Hang on a second,” Rafe said. “I want to talk to him.”

I looked at him quizzically.

“Just… let me do this, okay?”

I smiled and kissed his cheek gently. He went inside while I unloaded a tote filled with fresh fruits and a sandwich I’d laced with some amphetamines to help keep him lucid. The interior of the building was dark; the lights hard burned out several months ago and no one from the government could be bothered to maintain the place on any expedited time scale. I brushed some of the local vines from the threshold of the entryway as I entered. “Dad? It’s Shan. I brought some food.”

As I passed from the mottled grey sunlight outside to the dark interior I could make out blurry figures backlit by the eerie glow of his reading lamp.. They were both standing, which was odd. Dad was usually in the chair when I visited, most of the time asleep.

Rafe emerged suddenly from the shadows and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Shan. Stop.”

“What is it?” I asked, taken aback. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s… here. Let’s go outside.” He pulled me gently but forcefully toward the door.

“What the fuck, Rafe, stop it. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s your dad. He…”

I shoved Rafael out of the way and stepped forward into the comm station. My father came into clearer focus, and I could tell immediately something wasn’t right. I came closer and dropped the basket to the floor in shock. His body hung limply, his feet swaying gently five centimeters from the floor. A length of electrical cord, half-stripped from the wall behind him, was wound tightly around his neck. I grabbed his feet and lifted, crying. “No no no no no, dad, fuck.” I pushed and contorted his body, trying to free him but to no avail. Tears were streaming down my face now, hot and wet.

I pulled a short table across the concrete floor and climbed up onto it, my vision blurred with anger and fear and sobs. I yanked at the cable, trying to unwind it, to free his body. I pulled and wrenched and screamed in desperation, banging on the overhead truss that supported it until I nearly broke my hand. I collapsed onto him, my hands around his shoulders, my face against his chest. His skin was cold and pallid. I was too late to save him.

“Shan.” Rafael stood in the entryway to the station. He offered his hand I took it gingerly, climbing down from the table and following him outside. He pulled me in close as I wailed. “I’m so sorry. I don’t…”

I pulled Rafe to the ground and cried for another few minutes, my chest heaving with agony. “It’s not your fault,” I whispered finally.

“It’s not yours either. You did the best you could.”

“I know.” I pulled the sleeve of my jumper up over my hand and wiped my eyes. “I think a part of me knew it would always end like this. It has so many times before. In a way it might be… I don’t know. Better? I’d always worried about what he would be like after.”

I gulped in air as my breathing stabilized. “Come help me get him down?”

“Sure,” he said, mustering a weak smile.

We went back into the station and looked upon him once more. He looked frail, fragile in a way he hadn’t before. Being alone this long, it just did things to a person. Rafael grabbed his feet as I climbed back up on the table. With Rafe bracing his weight I was able to loosen the taught cable and slip it free, and we lowered the body gently down to the table. He went out to the truck to get a bag to cover my father, and I stood silent vigil, until in the quiet I heard a strange humming noise from across the room. I turned and saw that the Network terminal screen was activated. “That’s… weird.”

I walked across and stood in front of the terminal, suddenly alive with activity. Rafe entered back in with the bag. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know. It’s not usually… on.” I leaned in close. “It’s displaying something.”

A line of dots and dashed appeared on the interface. “I… I think it’s old morse code. Dad had to learn it. I helped him practice.”

“What’s it say?” he asked, a sudden dread in his voice I didn’t recognize. I could feel my stomach welling up in anxiety as well.

“It says.... HELP.”

#was thinking about this again the other day #and then i expanded it to... this #i legit think this is one of the better short forms i've ever written #anyway screaming into the void etc

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bigskydreaming · 4 years ago

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IGN’s recent Bat-focused article (Batman: What Does Red Hood Need to Do to Get A Good Story?) praises fanfic writers and also is an amazing critique of how stagnant Jason has become under recent DC management and I’m so surprised at how good it is and how well thought out the solutions were

Hmmm. I just looked it up and I mean, I’m not trying to start anything but I both agree and disagree? Like, it makes some points for sure, I mean, its not like its saying things that I haven’t said a thousand times about Dick, like.....these characters need to be allowed access to a full range of emotions, both good and bad, in order to be fully fleshed out, so I mean yes on that premise alone I absolutely agree this is as true for Jason as it is for Dick or anyone else.

Tbh my only real criticism of the piece is it thinks Jason exists in a particular predicament the other characters aren’t in as well. And that I just don’t agree with, like they kinda lost me a bit with their first paragraph:

His complexities and moral ambiguity make him a compelling and distinct character among his more strait-laced Robin-brothers. Sadly, the character has seen little growth since his rage-filled reintroduction into comics. The ‘former Robin becomes a villain’ idea was enough for DC to coast on for a while but since rejoining the heroes, Red Hood has done little else.

First off, this may just be me being pedantic but I’m ALWAYS going to go fetch a grain of salt before continuing reading anything that pits Jason against his brothers in a war of his moral ambiguity against their strait-lacedness. Because to me, that’s just a fundamentally shallow view of the Batfam that caters to the idea that they each must have their own distinct niche in order to be fully viable individual characters, when a) no, and b) they don’t fit neatly into the niches people keep trying to slot them into and it never ends well for anybody.

Like Jason is morally ambiguous in a lot of ways too, yes, but umm, even if we assume that the writer is only speaking of Dick, Tim and Damian, we’re talking a guy who beat the Joker to death with his bare hands and has ten assassins and mercenaries on his speed dial and who co-led the Outsiders, a guy who was deeply immersed in weighing the pros and cons of getting revenge for his father by getting Captain Boomerang killed and is forever being DMed by Ra’s because he’s convinced he can get Tim to say He Has Some Points Actually, and the kid who was an assassin with a body count by age ten and who has struggled constantly ever since his debut to define his OWN personal view of morality that is not wholly predicated on what he was taught by any single individual.

And this is a big part of where I part ways with the article, because I think it falls into the same trap that a lot of people do by believing fanfic is inherently better by doing the same thing from just a different angle. Fanfic CAN be better than the canon, I absolutely believe that, I believe it is at times, but to do so, it has to like, BE BETTER. It has to do things differently, and not just paint a slightly different veneer over the same things. Like, pedantic though it might be, I outlined the above issue because its a mode of thinking the canon absolutely falls into again and again, and just like the writer of that article themselves, like....I think fandom as a whole is no different?

Like, yes there are great stories about Jason out there, some writers have done great and interesting things with him, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a huge trend in fandom of doing the exact same thing I see here.....which is honestly a huge part of the exact same problem the article is decrying canon for......LIMITING Jason (and all the Batfam) by reducing them and their stories to finite niches as a way of spotlighting them as different from their siblings.....except they’re not that different! And that’s okay! They don’t have to be! Families can have lots in common, families DO have lots in common due to like.....shared variables during their formative years.

I mean Jason was heavily influenced by environmental factors in how and where he grew up before he ever met Batman, but like the article goes into itself, he was no less influenced by Bruce himself as his father figure.....which is something he absolutely has in common with his siblings, thus its not hard at all to see how his siblings could have similar complexities and moral struggles that stem from trying to reconcile Bruce’s influence with the many other things and people that have influenced their childhoods.

And similarly, while the article is dead-on about Jason’s stagnancy....this is something that applies in equal measure to the rest of his family, because they’re all facing the same issues in terms of how DC views and utilizes them, and fandom as much as it likes to condemn DC for doing just that....frequently does the same thing. Like, Jason’s stuck in canon, absolutely......but Dick keeps being popped out into his own microcosm to experience a couple years of stories that essentially turn him into completely different characters isolated from every communal part of his character’s history, and then ERASE everything that’s happened at the end of each of these stories and reset him to square one.....and that’s just a different kind of stagnancy that again, still never allows for actual character progression or development. Tim has LITERALLY been regressed back to Robin, like a hard reset that’s its own kind of stagnancy and Damian has had years of character development upended just to kick him back to where he started, effectively strip away all the connections he’s developed at least in any meaningful way, etc.....and the same holds true for Babs and Cass and Steph and even Bruce himself IMO, in a lot of ways.

Its absolutely a problem, but its a problem that extends far beyond just Jason even if he is a great example of it. And its also a problem that extends into fic itself, and that’s why I don’t agree with a lot of the conclusions that article draws beyond just the fundamental “these characters need to be allowed access to a full range of emotions.”

Yes. That. That right there, THAT I think is crucial, but I think that writer needed to widen the scope a little to take in the full impact of what that actually MEANS for the characters....so as to not accidentally repeat the same problem they’re being critical of by essentially arguing for a full range of emotions for Jason....while still defining or viewing Jason through a finite lens of “the more morally ambiguous Bat character, at least as compared to his brothers.”

Because its that last part that’s so detrimental, because it seems like such a little thing at first, until you realize that essentially its just putting a ceiling, a cap on how far those full ranges of emotions can be expressed. Like the problem with Dick Grayson in canon and fanon is NOT that he can’t be written with a full range of emotions.....its that his character absolutely can encompass a wide range of opinions and viewpoints and emotional stances from “I don’t believe in killing as a first option” to “I absolutely can, will, and have beaten a damn clown to death for joking about murdering my brother”.....and he can still walk away as Dick Grayson after expressing both those things, because his character is big enough to include them both. HE’S not limited as a character, its canon writers and fandom writers that both heap artificial limitations of their OWN on him, say that his character is so defined in such a specific way that there’s no way for the latter expression of his character to actually be IN character.....and the fatal flaw here is fully fleshed out characters are never just one thing. They don’t fit in niches anymore than people do, and notice the problems we all run into when we try and pigeon hole people as being just one thing, like humans can’t be contradictory or act against their own self-interest or be hypocritical or evolve or even regress past prior viewpoints....basically, any time you try and sum up a human being in one line, no matter how accurate that description is, there’s still SOME things that are going to be left out of that picture.

Now, these things don’t always have to matter that much, like if I look at a serial killer and say that’s a serial killer, like, I might be leaving out of the picture that once he helped an old lady across the street and didn’t kill her and he doesn’t even know why, and I for one, simply do not care that I leave that out of the picture. Its irrelevant to the big picture for me. I can acknowledge that it adds a smidgen of nuance to that particular picture and then go yeah but also I don’t care, nuance denied.

But in terms of fictional characters, these things that get left in the discard pile when we try and sum up characters as just one thing, like, they can be hugely significant, because characters unlike real people, are simply WHAT WE MAKE OF THEM. That stuff that’s been left out of the big picture look at that character because its stuff most people to DEFINE what that character looks like have deemed irrelevant....its still there, and still perfectly relevant for anyone who wants to pick that stuff up and make something of it, use it to change the overall picture or even just point to ways and places that picture can absolutely encompass and include these other elements and STILL fundamentally be that same picture, that same character.

And this isn’t to say that characters can never be written out of character, its to say that usually IMO what ACTUALLY makes the difference between something being out of character and something just being an unexpected but still valid character choice is just.....how these things are executed. The latter is when writers make the effort to JUSTIFY their character choice, to sell audiences on why and how this is absolutely something this character would do, to take them on a journey of what led the character to making this choice and let them see how those steps actually line up, that’s an actual journey that character might take. The former is when writers just don’t bother and are just like, well here’s a thing that character did, and you know it was in character because well that’s the character and that’s what I wrote them doing lol, what more do you want. No. Yawn. Next.

But the trick is if you’re going to try and make a character a SPECTRUM of emotions and choices rather than just a same datapoint recurring over and over again endlessly, a literal sticking point that never advances, never progresses, never changes......you have to actually give that character free range to utilize that spectrum of emotions and choices.....not just confine them to accessing all those possibilities but ONLY within a narrowly defined niche that is its own kind of limitation.

A character can START from a logline, absolutely. Can BEGIN in a narrative niche as a way to INTRODUCE them as seemingly different from their surroundings or their peers when they do not yet have the backstory, the evidence of past stories and character choices readers can use to interpret their actions or guess their choices.....but narrative niches, IMO, are meant to have a shelf life, an expiration date. They’re a seed for characters to grow FROM, to grow PAST, not return to over and over again.....because that’s when a niche just becomes another house that stagnancy built.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts and the article mention.....it was an interesting exploration of thoughts for me even if I didn’t ultimately agree with a lot of what was already said....still a worthwhile read though I think and I mean hey, its cool if you still agree with it more even if I don’t, lol. This is just my take.

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photodustorg · 6 years ago

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LUMINA: CONVERSATIONS

PART TWO: JESSIE BOYLAN AND LYNDAL IRONS

Jessie Boylan is a photomedia artist based in Chewton, Victoria. She explores the human impact on the land and communities in relation to environmental and social devastation such as nuclear testing, mining and war. Lyndal Irons is a Sydney-based photographer and writer interested in social histories and parts of Australian society that are familiar, accessible, yet not often closely encountered. They are both members of new national documentary collective Lumina - here in conversation via email for PHOTODUST.

Jessie Boylan, Aurum, 2017. Layered photomedia: Kalgoorlie Super Pit, Western Australia (2010) & North Mara Gold Mine, Tanzania (2009). Photographic light box, 100 x 150 cm.

Lyndal Irons: Reading your journal from Gaza in 2009, I noticed you incorporated the quote from Anne Ferran: “… Once something gets left out of the historical record, that absence itself becomes a fact and not something you are free to recreate/reinstate later …” This feels like a natural place to start, as memory and history are relevant to both our work in quite different ways. As I was learning photography it was often drummed into me that, from a historical perspective, there are a whole lot of unrecorded moments even today in an image-saturated world. Many are both mundane and sensitive and can carry an incredible amount of information about our society ... but are rarely photographed. For example, a Centrelink queue. I’ve always carried that interest in missing pages from society’s photo album and I’ve tried to add a few pages into today’s record that may have otherwise gone unrecorded and considered inconsequential. You are on the flip side of memory in your work: shooting issue-based series on deeply consequential topics where one side of the story does not have an equal voice.

Jessie Boylan, Portrait of a Whistleblower, 2015. Installation shot. Various photomedia, video, artefacts, documents.

Jessie Boylan: Well, there are undoubtedly dominant narratives in society, and as an image-maker, I often look to ‘uncover’ or ‘reveal’ that which isn’t visible, or more importantly, that which isn’t shown or seen (these issues are most certainly visible if you look!). I think what’s interesting, or a motivating factor for me, is that issues change and shift over time; an event occurs and it cannot only be looked at in purely historical terms. I’m thinking here about the British nuclear tests at Maralinga: how an event occurred, yet the implications and effects of that event are still very much ongoing in people, place and country. I’m interested in how, as an artist, you can keep returning to issues or ideas and revisit, reimagine, re-understand, and show new ways of looking at, or engaging with, that particular issue. This may come from not wanting these issues to fall away and become inconsequential like you say, or it may just come from a deep fascination with the way we relegate things to history and try to move on, ignoring almost what has become as a result of that history/action/event.

Jessie Boylan, Taranaki, Maralinga, South Australia, 2011. Digital Inkjet Print, 80 x 60 cm.

LI: ‘Re-understand’ - I like that idea. Do you ever find yourself in conflict over what makes a better-looking photo that people will respond to versus the most accurate image?

JB: I think each project carries aesthetic and factual decision-making processes; how to show and give enough ‘information’, or how to create spaces or evocative and aesthetically pleasing imagery that may prompt people to engage or inquire further about a specific issue. I think my practice has shifted a lot over the past few years where I am actually less concerned about providing specific information (enough of course!) but more about creating work that allows for each individual’s experience and knowledge and perspective to come into play, i.e. allow them their own journey through that work, not decide that there is only one way to view and to interpret or understand that work, that if something is gleaned from it, or if it is affecting in some way, then that’s what I can hope for. And I am talking very much more about concept-driven work, rather than a photojournalistic or documentary practice where the facts of the story must be known and revealed.

Jessie Boylan, William Creek Camp, South Australia, 2012. Digital Inkjet Print, 100 x 80 cm.

LI: Many people debate the power of photography today and say we are desensitised to images. As a photographer attempting to tell another person’s story, I feel the opposite - that visual representation is most often very powerful and very sensitive even in everyday circumstances. Do you agree and do you have a personal code of ethics when representing the voice or faces of other people?

Jessie Boylan, Yami Lester, Wallatinna Station, 2006. Digital Inkjet Print, 100 x 100 cm.

JB: Photography has become a whole lot less novel and a whole lot more available and therefore takes a lot more to stop us in our tracks. However, I do agree, that what shocks us, or does eventually stop us in our tracks, tends to be photographic imagery; I’m thinking here baby Aylan, Abu Grahib, Don Dale, etc. We can’t get these images out our heads once we’ve seen them, sometimes no matter how much we want to. They can be very galvanizing and also bring about great change, governmental policies, reviews, Royal Commissions, etc.

In regards to my own personal code of ethics, yes for sure, I always seek to make sure that my subjects are aware of what I am doing, for what purpose, that the images may be around in the world, online, available, for perpetuity, as much as that can actually be understood (these concepts are difficult sometimes for people living remote lives far away from telecommunications). I often try to give my subjects some sense of control in how their image is taken and made also, that they can decide a certain level of what happens, where they are located, what is shown, what is not shown, check back in and get approval, if possible. Of course, these methodologies are all good in theory and not always easy to maintain in practice, but is certainly my intention and ethics when making work.

In my practice or process I am very open with the way that I make work, i.e., learning as I go through it, not pretending that I always know the answers or have a complete vision of how I want the work to look and what I want it to say from the very beginning, to reveal more about the whole process for me, it’s a very raw way of working sometimes. I could probably be more protective or hold more back, but I think it allows for more conversation or potential in points for subject, viewer and myself if I allow that. [Continued below.]

Jessie Boylan, Shift, 2016 (with Linda Dement). Installation shot. Multi-channel video, dimensions variable, 13 mins, 15 seconds.

I worked on a project about the Government’s Intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, a project which I never show because I didn’t feel like I gave the issue, the people, enough time to really understand (and therefore show) what was happening for people, or what the multitude of impacts were on individuals, families and communities. This process was driven very much by my code of ethics as described above, but the issue felt so complex and so multi-layered that I really didn’t feel safe or confident in showing beyond its initial exhibition. I felt the people we were talking to were so in the thick of it at the point (2008), that it was so new, that one moment they were able to describe the devastation it was causing, and the next they were worried about losing their job if they spoke out against it; it was something that I thought I might return to later, with more space, more of a tangible understanding on what occurred and what the impacts were.

I think in regards to making work about heavy subject matter, specifically when projects involve interviews, or testimony from people who have experienced trauma in some way, that the process is so delicate there has to be an understanding and recognition it might cause pain for the subject to talk about it, to reveal, to trust me/us with their story and there is a great honour and responsibility in that, so it can’t be taken lightly, for me or for them. I think also, as image makers responding to trauma, violence, war, we have to be careful about what stays with us, what impacts us, what we carry with us. As Sontag said, the camera is a shield, and I recognise that sometimes, but also I do actually want to connect to people and to their stories, I think that it’s necessary to do so in order to have any capacity or integrity when showing that through art in any way.

Jessie Boylan, King Tide Coming, Marshall Islands, 2014. Digital Inkjet Print, 100 x 80 cm.

LI: I’m impressed with your dedication to the medium when a lot of voices fall away in photography in a couple of years. It’s difficult to make work often without financial reward or even at a substantial personal cost in the face of ethical grey areas. What keeps you motivated in photography? What are your rewards?

Jessie Boylan, Tennis Court, Maralinga, South Australia, 2011. Digital Inkjet Print, 80 x 60 cm.

JB: I think motivation ebbs and flows; at times I feel so inspired and like I just want to make make make, and at other times I feel lacklustre and like I am not making work that I like, or that is saying/showing what I want it to. More recently, being engaged with teaching undergraduate students has been motivating and inspiring, seeing people go through and be a part of their journey of trying to visualise and speak about their ideas, that’s so exciting.

Also, I think what has kept me motivated is finding new freedom in ways of making work, and a sense of a shifting and growing practice, that not everything has to be done in the same way, i.e. moving more into the video, installation, whilst alongside maintaining my photographic practice. I really enable myself to allow the slowness of projects, that they don’t necessarily have to be completed now, that I don’t have to be achieving everything now, that it’s ok if I return to projects over time, as long as I find my way back to it, or find ways to make work, to research, to think, to engage, which isn’t always easy amidst the busy life of work, kids and multiple competing commitments etc.

For me, there is a deep sense of knowing that I want to be making work, that I am excited by the possibility of making work, and the act of doing it, what it gives to me, that in itself is rewarding. Of course, seeing your work in exhibitions or published some way, seeing the outcome and public presentation of your work, seeing people engage, discuss, enjoy or be impacted by your work is such a rewarding process. What is even more rewarding is seeing the people who have shared their story with you be proud, be happy they did so, that you have honoured their story or done it justice. That is such a beautiful reward.

Jessie Boylan, Ngurini (Searching for home), 2015 (with Nuclear Futures). Installation at QUT ‘The Block’. Immersive installation, originally a 360° cylindrical arena with 6 projectors and 7 sound speakers, 20 minutes.

A selection of Jessie Boylan’s video work can be viewed here:

Ngurini (Searching for home), 2015. Preview.

Shift, 2016 (with Linda Dement).

www.jessiebolyan.com

www.lyndalirons.com.au

Lumina is an Australian collective of award-winning photographic artists intent on breaking ground in visual storytelling, founded by Donna Bailey, Chloe Bartram, Aletheia Casey, Anna Maria Antoinette D’Addario, Lyndal Irons, Morganna Magee and Sarah Rhodes.

www.luminacollective.com.au

Instagram: @luminacollective

Facebook: Lumina Collective

Please consider following PHOTODUST on Twitter and Instagram.

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angelinacanipe5-blog · 7 years ago

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Enjoy Just By Having Ogre Truck Games

When people think of board games, they naturally think of a somewhat large box with some form of board folded up inside. Usually the game will have tokens representing the players along with dice, cards, or some other form which will generally indicate movement for the players. However, not all board games have to use tokens to indicate the players or even necessarily use a hard-backed board to indicate the area of game play. Many different types of games primarily use decks of cards to indicate every aspect of the game, often presenting a challenge matches and often goes well beyond the challenge that a typical board game might present. These card games will often follow a very specific format, for when players lay different cards down in different positions, they can all mean one of many specific things. One card laid in one relative position might end up as an attack pattern while that same card placed somewhere else might end up as a defense. To help players learn the difference and never be confused, many of these games come with a large, foldout sheet which all of the cards can be placed on, indicating which area means what specifically. This sheet often serves as the board which the card game takes place on. One of the most popular collectible card games functions much like a board game. This game turns each of the players into a wizard, faced off in an epic battle against the other player. Each of the cards represent some of the many spells, creatures, or items which are available to each wizard in their battle. There are intricate sets of rules which go along with the game in all of its incarnations, making it a very detailed experience. The cards themselves have come to be collectible, with many cards being rather rare and prized not only for their power within the context of the game, but for their aesthetic artwork. Players, upon becoming qualified enough, are able to enter tournaments and potentially win prizes upwards of $40,000. A few select individuals have actually become professional players of the game, making their way around the different circuits, playing the game as their living. Another game helps players understand the format of play by teaching players with the help of a mat that is like a board. This game takes images and events from famous space action movies and turns them into playable cards, pitting two players against each other for victory. By using characters, weapons, and events from the universe, however, they not only will play a competitive game to win, but they will shape their own story using some of the most familiar images from the popular space war movies. This game is unique because it came out with expansion packs, each of which details a specific location from one of the movies, allowing players to build their own personal decks to form the strengths and characters that they want. It allows players a great deal of control in not only shaping their own game, but their destiny within the game.

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wallythayer · 8 years ago

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Taking on the Allergy Epidemic

These days, it seems like just about everyone has an allergy — and that’s not so far from the truth.

In 1970, only 10 percent of Americans suffered from a rhinitis allergy, the miserable runny-nose, watery-eye reaction associated with hay fever and other seasonal woes. By 2010, the percentage had grown to 30 percent.

The number of U.S. children with food allergies increased by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011, while the number of kids with peanut allergies tripled from 1997 to 2008. In Europe, hospital admissions for severe allergies rose sevenfold from 2003 to 2013.

Around the globe, an estimated 300 million people have asthma, and an estimated 1 billion people now experience an allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity. That’s roughly one in every seven of us.

We are in the throes of a global allergy epidemic.

But why?

Many health experts view the present moment as a perfect storm of allergy-inducing factors: Climate change is causing longer warm seasons and more pollen exposure; allergenic weeds are on the rise due to increased carbon emissions; and the decreasing quality of our food damages our microbiomes and, by extension, lowers our immunity. In addition, more than 100,000 new chemicals have been developed for use in material goods in just the past few decades, according to a study published in the journal Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research. Of these chemicals, only a small percentage have been tested for their long-term health effects.

Despite all this, there is hope. As allergies are on the rise, so is knowledge among health experts about how to build resistance and stay healthy in a challenging environment. Here’s what they’re learning.

It’s in the Air

The dramatic uptick in allergies is linked to an increase in many forms of pollution, says Leo Galland, MD, a New York City–based functional-medicine practitioner and coauthor of The Allergy Solution.

Today, upward of 253 million vehicles travel on United States roadways, an increase from around 74 million in 1960, and their exhaust and particulate matter harm us directly, says Galland. Exposure to air pollution can trigger inflammation and oxidative stress in the lining of the respiratory tract and also increase our vulnerability to allergies by sensitizing these tissues. Still, traffic emissions are hardly the only source.

Forest fires have increased substantially because of climate change, scientists report. Fires now start earlier in the season and burn hotter and longer than in times past, all of which affect air quality. Their thick, black smoke can travel hundreds of miles and “is directly toxic to everyone,” Galland states.

Backyard fire pits and outdoor, open-flame cooking have similar effects. All wood smoke contains fine particulate matter and toxic chemicals, including benzene, formaldehyde, acrolein, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This problem particularly affects people in impoverished areas around the world who use open-flame cooking indoors.

Toxic chemicals in our indoor environments have also multiplied dramatically. They hide in seemingly benign places — cleaning supplies, cosmetics, new furniture, and carpets that release chemicals into the air, resulting in that signature “new” smell.

Studies by the Environmental Working Group show that routine chemical exposure increases our overall “toxic burden” — the accumulation of chemicals that can be measured in our bloodstreams at any one time. This can change immune-system function, says Galland, making us more prone to allergic reactivity.

Some pollutants are double trouble. Carbon emissions, in particular, are not only airborne particulates, but they feed certain flora and make it easier for allergenic plants like ragweed to flourish.

In a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers planted ragweed across central Baltimore as well as in suburban, semirural, and rural locations in Maryland. The urban ragweed “grew faster, flowered earlier, and produced significantly greater aboveground biomass and ragweed pollen” in the warmer, carbon-dioxide-rich urban locations than in the cooler, less-polluted rural locations, the study authors found. For anyone susceptible to allergies, an increase in pollen counts means a more severe allergic reaction.

As temperatures rise globally, the season for allergies begins earlier and ends later, so sufferers are not just sicker — they suffer longer. A 2015 report from the World Allergy Organization summed up these effects, noting that climate change “affects the start, duration, and intensity of the pollen season on the one hand, and the rate of asthma exacerbations due to air pollution, respiratory infections, and/or cold air inhalation, and other conditions on the other hand.”

This soup of airborne pollutants can be a toxic diet for the lungs. “The lungs have their own microbiome,” explains P. Michael Stone, MD, MS, an Ashland, Ore.–based functional-medicine physician. Airborne toxins take a toll on this delicate microbial ecosystem, weakening our defenses against allergies.

The sheer number of toxicants we are now exposed to daily “leads to imbalances,” says Gregory Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP, a functional-medicine practitioner in Minneapolis. Overexposure triggers inflammatory processes in our bodies that would normally resolve when a threat has passed; instead they get stuck in the “on” position and “we can’t turn them back off,” he says. The result can be chronic inflammation.

What does chronic inflammation have to do with allergies? Ongoing inflammation interferes with the function of the body’s regulatory T-cells, explains Galland. Also known as T-regs or T-lymphocytes, these cells are responsible for turning off the immune response. When T-regs aren’t functioning properly, they don’t respond to the signal to stand down, and an ordinary immune response never resolves.

This is how we end up with autoimmune conditions, when the body attacks healthy tissue as if it were an allergen.

“The immune system works through balance,” says Galland. “When you have an excess of activity in some part of the immune system, it’s because of a failure of the mechanisms designed to control it.”

Diets on Fire

The food you eat can either help your body defend itself or fan the flames that lead to allergies. Like environmental toxins, the standard American diet — processed and fast foods high in sugar and unhealthy fats and low in protective phytonutrients — can trigger chronic inflammation. It’s bereft of foods that support microbial diversity, and it’s low in fiber, which is essential for healthy digestive function.

Because around 70 percent of the immune system is located in our gastrointestinal tract, optimal digestion and a diverse gut microbiome with enough beneficial bacteria are critical to reducing susceptibility to allergies and allergic reactions.

Processed foods often contain synthetic food additives, colorings, and preservatives that can also challenge digestion and provoke symptoms. Robyn O’Brien, founder of AllergyKids Foundation, points to the parallel rise of synthetic additives in the food supply and the spike in food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities. She believes the body interprets some additives as invaders that require an immune response.

Pesticides and herbicides in conventionally grown foods may also be partly to blame for the rise in allergies and sensitivities. A 2013 study published in the journal Interdisciplinary Toxicology implicates glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup (an herbicide frequently applied to wheat crops), in the rise of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

Likewise, a 2012 study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology found a class of chemicals called dichlorophenols (DCP) — which are created during the breakdown of common pesticides and commonly found in tap water — that correspond strongly to the presence of at least one allergy.

Of the 2,211 study subjects, 1,016 had an environmental allergy (ragweed, pet dander) and 411 had food sensitivities. While most subjects had DCP in their urine, those with the highest levels were nearly twice as likely as those with the lowest levels to test positive for a food sensitivity, usually to peanuts, milk, or eggs. (Wheat, corn, and chocolate are other common food triggers.)

What’s the difference between allergies and sensitivities? They’re distinguished mainly by the allergy pathway involved. The immunoglobulin E (IgE) allergic reaction carries no mystery. IgE antibodies are released instantly and produce unambiguous symptoms like sneezing, watery eyes, and, most seriously, anaphylaxis.

An immunoglobin G (IgG) reaction is slower and doesn’t have the same unmistakable antigen-antibody response. Its symptoms are subtler — headaches, fatigue, or constipation. One can have an IgG response to a particular food for years without ever knowing it, while an IgE response can’t be ignored. (For more details on the differences, see below.)

Gut Instinct

Finally, exposure to excess antibiotics, common for people with frequent infections, kills the good bacteria in the gut along with the bad microbes they target.

Before the advent of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and our present understanding of the “good bacteria” in the microbiome (something that would have once sounded like a contradiction), many doctors didn’t give antibiotics much thought; they were seen as wonder drugs. “When I trained as a pediatrician, we didn’t think twice about giving people antibiotics,” says Plotnikoff. Now most practitioners know better.

In addition, it’s common to see antibacterial hand-sanitizer pumps in the hallways of schools and the aisles of grocery stories. Plotnikoff is concerned that their overuse is harming our immunity and allergy resilience. “We’ve been raised in a culture that fears bacteria, so we get rid of all of them — even the good ones.”

The idea that our obsession with destroying germs is related to the rise of allergies is called the hygiene hypothesis. (For more on this, see “Dirt, Germs, and Other Friendly Filth“.) Galland emphasizes this cannot be the endpoint of any discussion about the rise in allergies (because it “lets polluters off the hook,” he says), but it does appear to be one aspect of the complicated matrix.

For example, some research suggests that total avoidance of certain foods might actually increase the risk of allergies to them. Take peanuts. The dramatic rise in peanut allergies that began in 1997 prompted health professionals to recommend that pregnant and nursing mothers avoid peanuts and not feed them to children until age 3. These guidelines were rescinded in 2008, since little research supported them, and a study published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2014 found children whose mothers consumed higher quantities of nuts during their pregnancies had lower rates of nut allergies.

Earlier this year, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommended feeding babies as young as 4 to 6 months old peanuts to give them a better chance of staving off potential allergies. This suggests early exposure may help build an immunity that tolerates the food.

The Great Shape-Shifter

Allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities don’t always turn up as a runny nose and itchy eyes. According to Leo Galland, MD, coauthor of The Allergy Solution, allergies are “great mimics” because they can manifest in unexpected ways. Many people may be suffering an allergy or sensitivity-related symptom and have no idea that an underlying immune reaction is the root cause.

These are some of the common symptoms of a sensitivity-related reaction or allergy that, on the surface, appear to be something else.

• Weight gain: Allergies can lead to unexplained weight gain, or an inability to lose weight despite changes in diet and lifestyle. Studies have also linked antihistamine use with increased body weight.

• Muscle aches: Sore muscles have been associated with some of the classic allergy manifestations, like asthma and eczema, and have been linked to certain food intolerances and reactions to specific metals, like nickel. Galland says many of his patients with a sensitivity to mold report muscle pain.

• Joint pain: Allergy-fueled arthritis, often triggered by problem foods, is one of the most common, well-established “hidden” allergies.

• Fatigue: Feeling tired as a result of a sensitivity has been dubbed allergic tension-fatigue syndrome, and a food intolerance — often to wheat, corn, milk, or chocolate — is likely the cause.

• Brain fog: Galland says trouble with concentration and memory is often linked to food intolerances and mold sensitivity.

• Bloating or stomachache: Food intolerances inflame the lining of the intestines, leading to cramping, bloating, and pain. A trigger food can also cause heartburn. An elimination diet may help root out the troublemakers.

• Headaches: Decades of research have linked headaches — both migraines and nonmigraines — to allergies. Among the most common triggers are toxic fumes and foods like chocolate, nuts, soy, citrus, coffee, and alcohol.

• Insomnia: A dairy intolerance may be the reason you’re having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

• Hair loss: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition in which hair loss on the scalp goes beyond normal pattern baldness. It is more common among those who have been diagnosed with allergies, such as to gluten. Avoiding exposure may help stop — and even reverse — the hair loss.

• Depression, mood disorders, or psychiatric symptoms: A German study recently found that people with doctor-diagnosed allergies had higher rates of psychiatric symptoms. Galland notes that teenagers with asthma are about three times more likely than those without an allergy to be diagnosed with depression or a bipolar disorder later in life.

Defend Yourself

Addressing allergenic forces — pollution, chemical exposure, a low-nutrient diet, and a -weakened microbiome — may seem daunting. These straightforward, lifestyle-based strategies can help reduce your allergy susceptibility.

• Eat plants. Because some 70 percent of your immune system is located in your gut, increasing your consumption of whole foods, especially plant-based foods, is one of the most direct ways to support immune defenses.

Make whole foods the mainstay of your meals, preferably ones that “look as close to the way they looked when they came out of the ground,” says Galland. This will ensure your consumption of processed foods is minimal. Opt for organic to protect yourself from pesticides and herbicides. Support your T-cells with foods high in folates, vitamin A, and plant compounds called flavonoids.

Galland suggests you emphasize these potent allergy-defense foods:

Strawberries are high in the flavonoid fisetin, which helps protect T-regs from damage.

Sweet potatoes contain high amounts of vitamin A.

Lentils are chock-full of folates. (For more on folate, see “Follow the Folate“.)

Parsley is rich in the flavonoid apigenin, which has anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory effects.

Green and oolong teas are both bursting with protective flavonoids.

• Favor cooked over raw. Many raw foods are high in allergens, but cooking can help: Heat renders some allergenic proteins inert, says Plotnikoff. Someone who reacts to fresh apples may do just fine with sautéed apples, for example. (Anyone with an anaphylactic allergy should try this only with the support of his or her doctor, for obvious reasons.)

• Keep it fresh. Leftovers can cause problems for allergy sufferers. Histamines, an immune chemical released during allergic reactions, grow on foods the longer they sit. So while a meal straight off the stove might not cause a reaction, eating that same food two days later for lunch could trigger one.

• Support your digestive enzymes. “A lot of allergens are fragile, and the digestive enzymes in the stomach or pancreas will render them inert,” says Plotnikoff. But if you aren’t producing enough digestive enzymes, you won’t break down those allergens. Signs of weak digestion include burping, belching, gas, feeling full quickly, and acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). “Supplementation with digestive enzymes can make up for what isn’t there,” he adds. (For more on this, go to “Digestive Enzymes“.)

• Skip the antacids. Regularly taking antacids may suppress stomach acid, which is required for activating enzymes that help break down potential allergens.

“Antacids increase the development and triggering of food allergies by blocking the normal digestion of proteins to their smallest molecules,” explains Stone. “The longer someone is on acid blockers, such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), the greater the incidence of them developing food allergies and hypersensitivity.”

People on acid blockers also have trouble with complete digestion, he says, and aren’t able to absorb as many of the healing nutrients in the food they eat. While we often assume digestive problems are due to excess stomach acid, the problem more often is that we don’t have enough. (For more on dealing with acid reflux, go to “Natural Ways to Fight Heartburn“.)

• Heal your gut. “Gut health is the foundation for all health,” says Plotnikoff. “And proper digestion, absorption, and elimination are the signs of a healthy gut.”

Up your fiber intake by eating whole, green leafy vegetables and other plants; promote good gut bacteria by incorporating fermented foods, like sauerkraut, kvass, and kimchi; take a high-quality probiotic; and consider drinking bone broth or eating grassfed gelatin to help seal up a leaky gut lining — a common condition in allergy sufferers. (For more on this, see “How to Heal a Leaky Gut“.)

• Reduce plastic in your life. Plastic is everywhere, from computer keyboards to steering wheels. Finding ways to reduce exposure to it where you can — especially in contact with food — can make a big difference.

Most plastics contain the potentially hormone-disrupting chemical -bisphenol A, or BPA. Trade plastic food containers for glass or stainless steel. Never heat food in plastic, since heat leaches chemicals directly into the food. And if you do use plastic water bottles or food-storage containers on occasion, make sure they’re BPA-free, which some experts believe is less dangerous.

• Improve indoor air quality. Research suggests that 86 percent of air fresheners contain hazardous phthalates — even ones that are marked “all natural.” Dryer sheets are equally dangerous because the chemicals in them are heated and vented into the air.

New furniture (especially particleboard) and carpet can both release chemicals that end up in household dust. Opt for vintage or secondhand items when you can. You can also let new furniture breathe in an outdoor area for as long as weather permits.

• Clean up body-care and household-cleaning products. Steer clear of any products with synthetic fragrances, which often contain endocrine disrupters. Propylene glycol is a common additive in body-care products and an increasingly common allergic trigger for many people. Consult the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database for a comprehensive guide to safe personal-care products. (For more on fragrances, go to “The Problem With Perfume“.)

• Embrace a few germs. A little exposure to dirt and germs helps keep the immune system in good working order, so stick to soap and water and stay away from the big guns, such as antibacterials and antimicrobials, as much as possible, says Galland. Be aware that antibacterial and antimicrobial chemicals can turn up in places beyond hand soap and household cleaners — like toothpaste and mattresses. Read labels.

• Get your vitamin D. “Ensuring a good vitamin D level year round supports balance and immune function,” says Plotnikoff. The Endocrine Society, which is considered by many to be the top authority on optimal vitamin D levels, recommends a blood serum level greater than 30 ng/ml, but Plotnikoff believes optimal levels are slightly higher, between 40 and 60 ng/ml.

To achieve a good baseline, he recommends getting your vitamin D levels tested and then adjusting your supplement accordingly. Just about everyone needs to supplement, he says, especially those who live north of the Mason-Dixon line or work long hours indoors and get less sunlight.

• Opt for natural antihistamines. When allergies do strike, Plotnikoff suggests, reach for a natural antihistamine combination like quercetin, stinging nettle, and vitamin C.

Reactions that affect the lungs, including asthma, might also be helped by increasing your body’s glutathione production. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant produced by the body — and it plays a key role in tissue repair.

“For those with rhinitis manifestations, glutathione production is super important,” he adds. Sulphur-rich foods like garlic, onion, and broccoli boost glutathione in the body, or you can take a glutathione-supporting supplement, such as N-acetyl cysteine. (For more on glutathione, go to “Glutathione: The Great Protector“.)

Get the full story at https://experiencelife.com/article/taking-on-the-allergy-epidemic/

#brain

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