Few people, very few, have a treasure, and if you do you must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you.”

― Alice Munro, Runaway: Stories

 

“People’s lives, in Jubilee as elsewhere, were dull, simple, amazing, and unfathomable – deep caves paved with kitchen linoleum.”
― Alice Munro, Lives of Girls and Women

 

“The thing is to be happy,' he said. 'No matter what. Just try that. You can. It gets to be easier and easier. It's nothing to do with circumstances. You wouldn't believe how good it is. Accept everything and then tragedy disappears. Or tragedy lightens, anyway, you're just there, going along easy in the world.”
― Alice Munro, Dear Life

This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we go. Pema Chödrön

Skating

 

Skating (ice, inline, or roller) is an excellent, dynamic weight-bearing exercise that helps build bone density and strengthens the lower body. Because you are constantly working against the force of gravity while balancing on skates, it forces your bones and muscles to adapt, protecting against conditions like osteoporosis. [1, 2, 3]

The reason skating is such a unique and effective weight-bearing workout comes down to the mechanics of the sport:

• Bone Density: High-impact and dynamic sports like speed skating actually stimulate bone formation better than strictly non-impact sports (like swimming or cycling). The rapid weight shifts and directional changes create strong skeletal loading. [1]
• Unilateral (Single-Leg) Strength: Skating forces you to bear your entire body weight on one leg at a time while gliding. Off-ice equivalents, such as single-leg deadlifts, split squats, and lateral lunges, are highly recommended to build this specific type of unilateral strength and balance. [1, 2, 3]
• Joint and Core Engagement: It engages the deep stabilizing muscles in your shins, ankles, and core. While highly effective for conditioning, the forward-bending posture can be tough on the lower back and knees, so proper form and dynamic warm-ups are vital. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For those looking to supplement their skating with dedicated off-ice regimens, sports medicine professionals often suggest incorporating plyometric training (like jump squats and jump lunges) as well as stability work (like using a Bosu ball). [1, 2]

Heat Wave Ice Rink

 

Departments » Ice Rink

Information and Rates

 

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Rates

Note: All public sessions are Cash or Check only.

Rental Rates

• Ice Time: $260.00/hr.

Public Skating Rates

• $5.00 per person
• $5.00 per skate rental

Public Hockey Rates

• $5.00 per skater
• Goalies are Free of Charge

Note: Full equipment is required for admittance to the Ice surface.

Public Freestyle Rates

• $10.00 per ½ hour
• $15.00 per hour
• $25.00 for 2 hours

Note: All skaters must have completed Basic Level 5 to be eligible for this session. Maximum of 25 skaters on each hour of this session. No Hockey Players allowed.

Public Technical Skating

• $10.00 per ½ hour
• $15.00 per hour
• $25.00 per 2 hours

Note: This session is for Hockey Players only.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Expand/Collapse Questions and Answers

• When do you have Public Skating?

  • Sundays: See the press release above
  • Tuesdays and Fridays: 12:00pm – 1:30pm (for all ages)

• When do you have Public Hockey?

  • Mondays and Thursdays: 11:00am – 12:30pm
  
  

  Must be 14 years of age to participate.

• When do you have Public Free Style and who can skate during this session?

  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: 3pm – 5pm (for all ages) – April to November

  This open skating session is a set aside for Figure Skaters of all ages who have completed Basic Level 8 to practice their moves, jumps, and programs in a public session.

• What are the hours the Ice Rink is open?

  • Monday thru Friday: 8:30am - 11:30pm
  • Saturday & Sunday: 6:00am - 11:00pm

• How do I sign up my child for ice-skating lessons?

  Please visit the following websites for further information:

  • Northern Rhode Island Vikings (Ice Hockey)
  • Smithfield Figure Skating Club (Figure Skating)

Volkswagen Coffee Van Elephant Coffee Pot 1956

 

Nancy Wyllie's NEW FILM: The Salt in Our Tears

 https://vimeo.com/1166504724?fl=pl&fe=sh

The core of feminism is the idea that women ought to have agency over their own lives and make their own decisions based on what is right for them.

 

Yes, I’m fully aware of the awful, sexist origins of the tradition. Women long were considered chattel, and if they had any rights at all, they usually were conferred through their fathers or, if married, their husbands. So much of that tradition of subservience and inequality still reverberates today, including the way the coronavirus pandemic economy hit women hardest in part because the burden of inadequate child care access falls disproportionately on them.

But if I rejected every tradition rooted in notions that women are merely the property of men, or at the very least meant to be submissive to them, I couldn’t have married in the first place, for matrimony was traditionally seen as a business arrangement between a bride’s father and her groom.

If I took such a purist interpretation of feminism, I also could not have worn a shade of white on my wedding day, a vestige of the truly gross tradition of signaling a bride’s chastity. I designed my own ivory gown of beaded lace and silk, and sewed it with my own hands. It could not have been more a representation of who I am, and not shaped by notions from magazines or social media of what a bride should look like. What’s more feminist than that?

Kimberly Atkin Stohr Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a columnist for the Globe. She may be reached at kimberly.atkinsstohr@globe.com.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr

 

How film made us passive — and cleared the way for our Trumpian nightmare

A history of the cinema and of us.

The Globe

David Thomson is a film critic, historian, and author of “A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies.”

How did we become such a passive lot, content to watch the spectacle of Trumpian authoritarianism rather than intervene?

There are many factors, surely. But I’d like to focus on one in particular: the movies.

Or actually, what they have groomed us to do.

Let’s begin with a fable.

You are sitting out in the sun on a fine day in India. Not too hot yet. Thoroughly pleasant. You are in a garden with many flowers and a lawn leading to a density of bushes in the distance. It feels good to be there.

You notice an infant playing on the lawn. He or she? It hardly matters. This is not your child, but since you are alone with him or her you recognize a degree of responsibility. You keep your eye on the infant.

Then something stirs in the bushes. Amid the scarlet and mauve of the blooms, a shape slithers into the light. You put on your spectacles to be sure — yes, it appears to be a cobra (I told you, this is India).

The infant is chattering quietly in that lovable way. He or she has not noticed the snake. But the cobra has seen the child, and it is sliding forward across the lawn. There is no one else in sight. You can’t just sit there.

You stand up. You are afraid, but you have to do this. You step onto the lawn. How does one handle a cobra? You hope to find a stick in the grass. No good. You are going to have to defend that child yourself. You can only try to seize the scales and the surging muscle. Your spectacles fall off. God help us.

There is a battle, for a few seconds. You look into the cobra’s black eye and you squeeze until that eye pops out. You seem to have won.

Take 2: Let’s do it a little differently this time. It is still the garden, but the heat is turned off. You are in an air-conditioned movie theater, watching the scene. There’s the kid; here comes the cobra. You know the script by now. Action! You sit there waiting to see what will happen. Maybe the cobra passes by, maybe it attacks?

Isn’t it fun to watch — to just watch — and find out?

What film taught us

Not so long ago, say 130 years, we sat in our darkness watching the light. We saw things we had only heard about. The pyramids in Egypt, the Grand Canyon, the seething infinity of midocean, or Queen Victoria passing by in a carriage, noticing the camera but unimpressed. What a treat and excitement! When Captain Scott went to the South Pole in 1912 (he got the silver medal, you may recall; Norway took the gold), he had a cinematographer with him, Herbert Ponting, who shot exquisite scenes of the white desolation such as no one had seen.

The fact of it all took our breath away. This was nature, without buying a ticket for the ship and the train, without enduring the heat and the cold and surviving in that enormous midocean. It was tourism, and from a comfortable chair in the safe dark. No need for a passport.

For a while, the movies didn’t want to shake our faith in fact. So Fred Astaire really did that dance — in one shot, full figure, no cuts or stand-ins. And Humphrey Bogart simply walked across a room with a noble, unfussy ordinariness.

Yet something was shifting. Bogart’s character was not, actually, ordinary. He was in a cloud-cuckoo-land where the ridiculous witty toughness of his Philip Marlowe in “The Big Sleep” was honored. This was story. This was spectacle.

Some conventions of “decency” were still observed. That meant not just the elimination of indecency but keeping guardrails on fantasy in the name of taste and decorum. (Hold the orgy, delay the apocalypse — not now, not yet.) But we kept clamoring to see more: like the nakedness of pretty women or the knifework of a murder. So a time came in a movie when a decent young woman (no matter that she had had a momentary impulse and stolen $40,000) would walk into a motel shower and be cut to pieces. And we never got up or went into the screen to save her. We waited to see how it was done.

Oh, don’t be foolish, you are saying — how could we invade that screen, or be expected to? That limitation seems definite. But in the blink of 50 years the movie screen would reveal horrors we never saw or dreamed of — things we had never known. And we would accept them. We would enjoy them. We were no longer tourists. We were spectators.

Our passivity

A few decades after “Psycho,” the cinema made another technological leap, bringing the pterodactyl and other impossible monsters into the theater. Creating whatever the geniuses and minions of c??????????

Look, you protest, this can be art; and it’s a legitimate business for anyone who knows the rules of fact and fantasy. God help me, says God, just think of it as fun — don’t you poor bastards deserve a little of that in these times?

But suppose the most profound effect of movies has been to foster a helplessness or passivity in the body politic. Isn’t that the habit that comes from seeing a cobra and becoming a connoisseur of its tricky appearance rather than insisting that cobras need to be dealt with for the safety of our children?

Today we are anxious; we keep checking our phones. In 18 months, our Constitution and law have become toilet paper. But we wait for something to happen. We feel unable to do it ourselves. Because we have become watchers. Is there a movie that might help us now? Is our world an abyss begging to be filled by those fatuous, tired aliens from “Disclosure Day”? Why didn’t that movie take on Trump, who is so much more than an exhausted ET?

The technology continues to evolve. But the tremor we call AI is only the most up-to-date version of the horror stories we like to be frightened by. Distracted by. That tremor has been here 130 years, slithering toward us like a cobra.

Forecast

Forecast The blistering heat returns this week. Here’s when the most dangerous hot weather will strike. The forecast peak heat index, or "feels like" temperatures, over the next four days. The forecast peak heat index, or "feels like" temperatures, over the next four days.Boston Globe  

The dew points for Sunday were down in the 50s with temperatures in the upper 70s to lower 80s in what I would rank as a top 10 Sunday in July. Things just don’t get much better than that.

 Of course, everything is transient, and so too is the weather, and we are about to undergo some changes back to the hot weather this week. 

 High pressure will dominate over the next several days, bringing us sunny skies, but as the high pushes out to the Atlantic, the return flow of southwest air will bring not only more heat but more humidity. We have one more really comfortable day for Monday with temperatures in the 80s inland and inching toward 90 for Boston. Temperatures will attempt to break 90 degrees across Boston on Monday. Temperatures will attempt to break 90 degrees across Boston on Monday.Boston Globe  

Dew points will reach the mid- to upper 60s Tuesday and continue into early Wednesday, pushing the heat index up to around 100. The good news is the high humidity should back off late Wednesday and toward the end of the week. Dew points will be elevated over the next three days, making the air feel heavy across the region. Dew points will be elevated over the next three days, making the air feel heavy across the region.Boston Globe

 High pressure will keep the region dry while drawing moist air north. High pressure will keep the region dry while drawing moist air north.Boston Globe 

 Heat waves are defined as three consecutive days of at least 90-degree weather, so if we’re going to see a heat wave this week, it’s likely going to happen Tuesday through Thursday. Not every community will see an official heat wave, but all areas are going to be quite warm. If you’re on vacation this week, as long as you’re OK with the heat, it’ll be fantastic. And if you’ve rented a spot on a lake or any other body of water, you’ll be happy that you chose it.  There may be some backing off of temperatures at the end of the week. We’ve already reached 100 degrees twice this year, and there’s only one year that’s gone beyond that: 1911, when there were four 100-degree days in July! We likely won’t reach 100 this week, although a few inland areas could get close. The forecast across Boston for the next seven days. The forecast across Boston for the next seven days.Boston Globe 

Thunderstorm chances in Northern New England  There is a chance for a severe thunderstorm or two across Northern New England Tuesday night. There is a risk of a severe thunderstorm or two late Tuesday across Northern New England. There is a risk of a severe thunderstorm or two late Tuesday across Northern New England.Boston Globe

 Nighttime temps  It’s been comfortable for sleeping the past couple of nights, but that’s also going to change this week, with temperatures staying in the 60s Monday night and 70s Tuesday and likely Wednesday nights as well.  Although we did see some rain earlier this month, we still need it, and with sunny, dry weather predicted for the entire week, you’re definitely going to need to water containers and other plants as towns allow. Monday-Tuesday breakdown  Greater Boston: Look for sunshine Monday and Tuesday with temperatures Monday in the 80s and into the 90s on Tuesday.  Central/Western Mass.: Plenty of sunshine will start the work week with temperatures in the 80s Monday and rising to the mid-90s on Tuesday, with humidity making it feel near 100.  Southeastern Mass.: It’s dry and sunny Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures in the 80s on Monday, and 80s at the coast but 90s away from the water on Tuesday.  Cape Cod and the Islands: Temperatures will reach the lower 80s on Monday and mid-80s on Tuesday. Both days feature plenty of sunshine  Rhode Island: All sunshine covers the region Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures in the lower 80s on Monday, and 80s over South County, but 90s inland on Tuesday.  New Hampshire: With sunshine, temperatures will get into the mid-80s on Monday and then rebound into the 90s on Tuesday. Tuesday highs will likely be the hottest of the week across Greater Boston. Tuesday highs will likely be the hottest of the week across Greater Boston.Boston Globe 

The forecast across Boston for the next seven days. The forecast across Boston for the next seven days.Boston Globe  Sign up here for our daily Globe Weather Forecast that will arrive straight into your inbox bright and early each weekday morning.

a work-around

It’s a matter of principle to attribute the source when using someone else’s words. But what happens when you remember the words or phrase but can’t remember who said it? There was a time when I searched the internet for the person who’d written the phrase I wanted to use, describing someone’s eyes, but came up empty. [Joan] Didion suggested a work-around, circling her finger in the air as she spoke. “You could write, ‘He had eyes that someone once described as…’ and use the quote.”

SARA DAVIDSON

 

Blue Suburban

by Howard Nemerov

Out in the elegy country, summer evenings, It used to be always six o’clock, or seven, Where the fountain of the willow always wept Over the lawn, where the shadows crept longer But came no closer, where the talk was brilliant, The laughter friendly, where they all were young And taken by the darkness in surprise That night should come and the small lights go on In the lonely house down in the elegy country, Where the bitter things were said and the drunken friends Steadied themselves away in their courses For industrious ruin or casual disaster Under a handful of pale, permanent stars.

__________

From The Selected Poems of Howard Nemerov, Swallow Press, 2003, by Howard Nemerov.

The world knows Howard Nemerov as twice the U.S. Poet Laureate, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, a distinguished professor and poet-in-residence at Washington University for twenty-one years—and a bit of an enigma. A stylist impatient with literary pretension; a deep thinker who held up wit and irony as a shield, then forged on. “Romantic, realist, comedian, satirist, relentless and indefatigable brooder upon the most ancient mysteries—Nemerov is not to be classified,” Joyce Carol Oates once warned.

We know that he was the older brother, often disapproving, of the brilliant, deliberately shocking photographer Diane Arbus. That he was married, lifelong, to a woman he fell in love with when he was an Air Force pilot and rescued from World War II. That they had three children, the middle son being the art historian and writer Alexander Nemerov.

But until now, the world knew nothing of his twenty-year love for a woman from Philadelphia named Joan Coale. 

https://commonreader.wustl.edu/letters-from-howard-nemerovs-discreet-love-affair-are-finally-unfolded/

Writing is Like Making Love The best thing about writing for oneself is that you always own your own work and can do exactly as you like with it.

https://commonreader.wustl.edu/toc/dispatches/

George Bilgere: I love to stroll through our quiet Cleveland suburb on summer nights, listening to the sounds of talk and laughter coming from the screened-in sunporches, invisible from the sidewalk, where old marriages and old friendships are burning steadily, like candles.

Whenever I’m gathered with a group of people over 40 now, we just kind of sit and stare into space and say things like, “What is this life?” And I think that probably comes to everyone…. I have no idea what’s going on most of the time. I can’t handle life at all. But when I’m writing, it’s a controlled area, and I can think things through a bit more calmly, think through ideas, feelings, sort them. But in the life, no. I’m like a merchant of chaos. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know which way is up. I’m terrified of the future. I worry about everything. I’m just another citizen caught up in it. So the people you really need to admire, the people who are in the world facing everything we’re facing and yet able to really function, get out there, do grassroots action, act, keep acting, make decisions. I am not that person. I know I’m not. I’m a writer. It’s a very reduced role. And I enjoy it, and I love to do it. But it’s not to be confused with people who are really able to act in the world in a positive way for others.

—Zadie Smith, Fresh Air, September 5, 2023

What to Know About New World Screwworms and Dogs

By Nandini Maharaj

Updated: Jun 24, 2026 | 5 Minutes 

 https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/new-world-screwworms-and-dogs/ 

• parasite
• screwworm
• maggot
• livestock

AKC is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to akc.org. If you purchase a product through this article, we may receive a portion of the sale.

With newly confirmed cases of the New World screwworm in the U.S., it’s not just the cattle industry that’s on high alert. Pet owners are wondering whether this flesh-eating parasite could harm them or their pets. Although current risk to people and dogs remains very low, infections can be serious and require immediate attention. Knowing what to watch for—and how to prevent exposure—can help protect your dog.

In This Article

• • What Are Screwworms?
  • How Screwworms Spread to Dogs
  • Warning Signs To Watch For
  • How Vets Diagnose Screwworm Infections
  • Treatment Options For Dogs
  • Prevention Strategies For Owners
  • Recovery Outlook for Dogs
  • What Owners Should Expect
  • FAQs About Screwworm In Dogs

What Is the New World Screwworm?

Despite the name, the New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivora) isn’t a worm. “It’s the larval stage of a fly, and it’s actually a parasitic flesh-eating fly,” Dr. Kate Elden, DVM and Chief Medical Officer at Dutch explains. “What makes it so dangerous is that these larvae feed on live tissue, not just dead tissue like most maggots we’re familiar with.”

Female screwworm flies are drawn to open wounds, even minor wounds. “The flies lay anywhere from 200 to 300 eggs right at the wound’s edge,” says Dr. Kelly Hood, DVM. “Within 12 hours, those eggs hatch into maggots that start actively feeding.” These larvae burrow into tissue using sharp mouth hooks, enlarging wounds and causing significant damage.

As the infestation progresses, the wound deepens, increasing pain and the risk of secondary bacterial infection. Dr. Elden explains that the destruction of healthy tissue is the primary concern, followed by the possibility of infection spreading throughout the body.

How Does the Screwworm Spread to Dogs?

Although livestock are most commonly affected, screwworms can infest dogs, cats, birds, and wildlife. “A wound is the entry point, and if your dog has one, they have a higher risk of infestation,” Dr. Hood says. Even a small scratch can attract a female fly.

Common entry points include:

• Open wounds
• Tick bites
• Scratches
• Hot spots
• Surgical incisions
• Newborn umbilicus (belly button)
• Skin folds or nasal folds
• Body openings such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and genitals

Young animals are more susceptible, while senior dogs may be at risk if wounds go unnoticed. Because screwworm flies resemble common houseflies, infestations can be difficult to spot early.

Human infections are rare. Dr. Elden explains that good hygiene and frequent wound care make infestation uncommon in people.

 

©LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS - stock.adobe.com

Signs of an Infestation

New World screwworm infestations are extremely painful. If your dog has a wound of any kind, Dr. Hood advises close monitoring. Is it healing or getting worse?

Any of the following signs warrant taking your dog to the vet immediately:

• A foul odor coming from a wound
• A wound that is growing larger
• Excessive drainage
• Swelling or irritation
• Visible movement of maggots
• Egg clusters in the wound
• Restlessness or distress
• Signs of pain
• Persistent licking or chewing at the area

Early intervention can significantly reduce complications.

Diagnosis of a Screwworm Infection

If you suspect your dog has been infected by the screwworm, it’s an emergency. The most telling sign of a screwworm infection is seeing the larvae directly in or around a wound.

“If we’re unsure about the larvae, we can collect them and submit them for species identification,” Dr. Hood says. “We also diagnose by reviewing travel history and what environment your dog has been in and whether they’ve been exposed to other animals, especially livestock.”

Veterinarians will remove visible larvae, clean the wound, and may use sedation in severe cases. Antibiotics are often prescribed if infection is present.

Because screwworm affects livestock and the food supply, it is a reportable disease in certain cases. Your veterinarian may recommend observation depending on the situation.

Treating Screwworm Infections

Treatment focuses on eliminating larvae, managing pain, and preventing infection. “In suspected cases of screwworm, Dr. Elden says the first line of treatment your vet will give is putting your dog on a monthly isoxazoline parasite preventative, if they’re not already on one.”

These oral medications help kill parasites and prevent further damage. Additional care may include fluids, pain relief, and wound management.

“Your vet will determine which medication is appropriate based on your dog’s specific situation,” Dr. Hood says.

“Screwworms are obligate parasites, meaning they have to get their food from live healthy tissue,” Dr. Elden says. “If they dig through enough tissue and cause a big enough wound that gets infected, that can cause an animal to be in a lot of pain.” In severe cases, infection can become systemic and life-threatening.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized several products specifically for New World screwworms in dogs, including nitenpyram tablets (best known by brand names like Capstar or CapAction), Credelio (lotilaner) and NexGard (afoxolaner), Dr. Hood says.

How to Prevent an Infection

“The single best defense against the New World screwworm is keeping pets on routine, year-round prescription flea and tick preventatives like Credelio Quattro, Simparica Trio, and NexGard Plus,” Dr. Elden says. “Any dog that is on a parasite preventative that’s in the isoxazoline class is not going to get screwworm.” In addition to clearing screwworm infestations, these products prevent flea and tick bites and reduce scratching that can lead to wounds, which then attract female flies.

Routine care should include inspecting your dog frequently for wounds, keeping injuries clean, and limiting exposure to high-risk environments when needed. In areas closer to reported cases, additional protective measures may be recommended by your veterinarian.

Some owners may consider adding topical repellents to help deter flies, but it’s essential to use products safely and only as directed. Certain ingredients can be toxic to cats and should never be shared between pets.

“If you’re in or near an affected area, I’d be extra vigilant about limiting outdoor exposure and monitoring your dog’s skin, as well as any behavior changes,” Dr. Hood says. “As with many conditions, the earlier you detect, the better.”

 

©Dyrefotografi.dk - stock.adobe.com

Healing and Recovery in Dogs

As for recovery, it depends on the location and duration of the screwworm infection. “If it’s just started and the tissue damage is relatively mild, then it would look like a small wound healing,” Dr. Elden says. This can take weeks to heal. If the infestation is more severe or there’s a secondary infection, it’ll take a lot longer. Another delay with healing is how far down into the tissue the screwworm has gotten, which could even mean permanent damage.

What This Means for Dog Owners

There’s no need to panic. However, we should be prepared for more cases to pop up. “We have eradicated screwworm in the U.S. before in the 1960s,” Dr. Elden says. “We were able to get rid of it, but it takes time.”

As a dog owner, the most important thing you can do right now is to be vigilant about wounds, especially if you live in an affected area, and get your dog on a prescription parasite preventative.

Key Takeaways

• New World screwworm larvae feed on living tissue and can cause serious infections
• Dogs are most at risk when they have open wounds or irritated skin
• Early signs include odor, swelling, drainage, and visible maggots
• Immediate veterinary care is essential for suspected cases
• Year-round parasite preventatives are the best defense

Frequently Asked Questions

• What does a screwworm infection look like in a dog? +
  
  It often appears as a worsening wound with swelling, drainage, a foul smell, or visible maggots. Dogs may also show pain or repeatedly lick the affected area.
  
• Is screwworm common in dogs? +
  
  No. Cases in dogs are rare, and the current overall risk is low, though isolated cases have been reported in the U.S.
  
• Can humans get screwworm? +
  
  It is possible but uncommon. As Dr. Hood notes, people can become infested through open wounds, though good hygiene makes this rare.
  
• How quickly does screwworm develop? +
  
  Eggs can hatch within 12 hours, and larvae begin feeding immediately, which is why early detection and treatment are critical.
  
• What should I do if I suspect screwworm? +
  
  Seek veterinary care immediately. Prompt treatment can prevent severe tissue damage and improve recovery outcomes.
  

This article is intended solely as general guidance, and does not constitute health or other professional advice. Individual situations and applicable laws vary by jurisdiction, and you are encouraged to obtain appropriate advice from qualified professionals in the applicable jurisdictions. We make no representations or warranties concerning any course of action taken by any person following or otherwise using the information offered or provided in this article, including any such information associated with and provided in connection with third-party products, and we will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages that may result, including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death.

 

R.I. senator announces whistleblower allegations of construction problems at Kennedy Center

Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse speaks during an event protesting US President Trump's IRS settlement and his "Anti-Weaponization Fund" outside the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C.KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images

A Democratic senator on Saturday alleged that whistleblowers have detailed several problems stemming from rushed or improper reconstruction of the Kennedy Center, adding a new layer to the travails of the arts complex as President Donald Trump tried to seize control of it and its name.

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a release on Saturday that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group, alleging that “the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.”

“The Center’s subservience to the President’s desires and its corner-cutting contracting practices have resulted in steel columns that are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool that may have to be torn out and rebuilt, and a brand-new bathroom floor torn out over an offending tile color,” Whitehouse continued. “This is waste, and it treats a national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.”

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The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump seized control of the arts and culture venue, named after former President John F. Kennedy, at the beginning of his second term. Trump ousted the center’s prior leadership and replaced it with a Board of Trustees that named him chairman and added his name to the building.

Democrats sued to remove it and a federal judge ruled Trump’s name must come off the venue, which had been wracked with boycotts by artists during the turmoil. He tried to close the center for two years, only to be ordered to keep it open by the court because only Congress could change its name.

Whitehouse released a letter he wrote to the center’s executive director, Matt Floca, demanding answers by July 23. He said the whistleblower report included “firsthand accounts of multiple former Center project managers, supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs.” He also included an 83-page appendix full of internal center documents, emails and photos of apparently shoddy construction.

The allegations include that the center rushed work before it was authorized by Congress because it wanted it to be complete for Trump to accept the new FIFA Peace Prize that the soccer federation awarded him. In doing so, the letter alleges the center didn’t follow required contracting guidelines and wasted money replacing a bathroom because the president didn’t like the color and inking no-bid contracts. One $8 million contract to replace the concert hall’s floor went to a firm with no experience in concert halls, Whitehouse contended.

Nothing natural is evil. Marcus Aurelius

It’s the birthday of American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, tax resister, and transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, born in Concord, Massachusetts (1817). After graduating from Harvard, he worked in his father’s pencil factory. He taught for a time, but resigned because he didn’t want to administer corporal punishment. He opened a school with his brother, John, but John caught tetanus after cutting himself shaving and died in Thoreau’s arms. 

 He went to work for Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poet and leader of the American transcendentalist movement. Thoreau moved into Emerson’s house and tutored his children. After he accidentally burned down 300 acres of woods near Concord, his friend Ellery Channing told him: “Go out upon that, build yourself a hut, and there begin the grand process of devouring yourself alive. I see no other alternative, no other hope for you.”  

On July 4, 1845, Thoreau entered the woods at Walden Pond near Concord, built a small cabin, and spent two years, two months, and two days listening to whip-poor-wills singing, frogs croaking, and owls hooting. He cultivated beans, ate fish, salt pork, and woodchuck, and spent considerable time pondering which pond was more beautiful: Walden Pond, Flint’s Pond, or White Pond. He always left three chairs ready for visitors. It was a grand experiment: to see if simple self-sufficiency could lead to a greater, more objective understanding of society. 

 It took almost nine years for Thoreau to complete his book on his experience in the woods. He titled the book Walden; or, A Life in the Woods (1854). The book became the foundation for the future movements of ecology and environmentalism. Thoreau developed a penchant for yoga and Hinduism. He contracted tuberculosis, which set his health back, and after spending a rainy evening counting tree rings on a stump, he developed bronchitis and never recovered. On his deathbed, his Aunt Louise asked if he had made his peace with God. Thoreau replied, “I did not know we had ever quarreled.” 

 In Walden, Thoreau writes: “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”

President John F. Kennedy delivered this famous line on September 14, 1962, at a dinner in Newport, Rhode Island. He noted that humanity's biological connection to the sea means returning to the ocean is a return to our origins.The famous quote is:"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came."