welcome to San Anto...

... capital of the country's highest murder-suicide rates (not just murder, not just suicide, but both - together!) and a personal welcome to me from my allergies.

joy - continued violence in a city which melds rabid-dog religious fanatics, latino morality and an economy based on tourism. And we wonder why SA's got such great numbers in other things too : overweight folks, poverty levels, violence in schools, etc, etc, etc.

If I wasn't so sensitive right now, this wouldn't be such a huge issue.

I have had huge allergy issues since 1990. They worsened each year. Before leaving here for Austin, I would end up with 3 or 4 bouts of tonsilitis each year, brought on by the congestion from allergies. Mostly pigweed - go figure - it doesn't show up much here.

I didn't have one bout of tonsilitis while in Austin though I did still have allergies. The only time I got something close was when I got strep throat but that was because the girl I was seeing at the time had it and we kept reinfecting each other - those were good times (and a much better reason than pigweed!).

I'm stuck at home the rest of the week for this tonsilitis. My throat hurts horrible, my body hurts enough and I have a low grade fever. I went to see a doctor today so at least now I have antibiotics.

Worse than that, I'm stuck at home because driving anywhere hurts me and nyquil really does make you sleepy! So, I caught yet another case of a murder-suicide that happened here in San Anto. And anther case of a transgendered woman who the news today because her case against a local police officer began today. Despite the police officer being accused of raping the victim and forcing her to please him, it was she who was repeatedly named by her male name and called a transsexual and a drag prostitute. No surprise - it's Fox news' handiwork.

And print media is using transsexual too - isn't the preferred word transgender? What's wrong that the media hasn't gotten it yet? What does it take - for Latinos to be referred to as wetbacks? Do they need to see themselves somewhere in a news story before they are willing to make change? Or even discuss the case, as several news stations didn't even mention the story.

All this shit just makes me feel my fever climbing.