Heroes,
Vietnam War
"In writing my preview of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s epic
10-part documentary The Vietnam War, which is now airing on
PBS and streaming on the network’s app, I couldn’t stop thinking about one
particular figure who reappears throughout the series: an eloquent, soft-spoken
veteran named John Musgrave. In recent days and weeks, I have
learned, other viewers and professional reviewers have found Musgrave equally
captivating. Why? Take heed that some big spoilers lie ahead in the next
paragraph, if you haven’t yet watched the full series.
It isn’t only that
Musgrave is able to vividly summon the fear and
pain he experienced
as an 18-year-old Marine serving in Con Thien in 1967, but also that he
underwent a profound evolution after suffering grievous wounds and then coming
home to an America that was in no mood to honor its veterans. As the documentary
advances, Musgrave, who grew up in a Missouri town where his father and his
neighbors were revered for their World War II service, retreats into
depression, considers suicide, and ultimately evolves into an anti-war activist
and member of the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War (V.V.A.W.). One
of the series’ most dramatic moments comes in a later episode, when a bearded,
long-haired protester first glimpsed in a still near the very top of Episode 1
is revealed to be the formerly clean-cut Musgrave: a transformed man.
For my V.F. article,
I spoke by phone earlier this year with Musgrave, who now lives outside of
Lawrence, Kansas, and has published volumes of poetry about his wartime
experiences. Here are some previously unpublished excerpts from our
conversation, about the documentary, his life, and the pride Musgrave still
takes, despite everything, in having served as a Marine in Vietnam."
Puerto Rico, Hurricane
Maria, Disaster Assistance
"Royal Caribbean, which
operates cruise ships and tours around the world, canceled a voyage so that its
ship can help with recovery efforts on the Caribbean islands devastated by
Hurricane Maria.
Royal Caribbean announced Wednesday that
it will cancel its Adventure of the Seas cruise, which was scheduled to depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on
Sept. 30 and sail to various islands in the Caribbean, to free up the cruise
liner to dock in ports in San Juan and on the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas
and St. Croix to aid in relief efforts.
The ship will bring
donated supplies to each port and bring evacuees from the islands to Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, ahead of ship’s next scheduled cruise on Oct. 6.
The company said it will
give full refunds to the customers who were booked on the Sept. 30 cruise,
including for payments for onshore activities. On top of that, Royal Caribbean
will offer a 25 percent cruise credit for those who rebook trips within 30
days."
Opioids,
Addiction
"The gravest public
health emergency in America has hit Brumage’s home state hard, with
the nation’s highest drug overdose rate that claimed nearly 900 lives last
year.
Brumage, executive director and
health officer of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, runs a harm-reduction program that includes
overseeing a clean needle exchange for opioid users. It’s powered not with
federal or state dollars, but with donations, grants and volunteers. In just
over two years, it has grown as large as a similar program run by the city of
Baltimore after 20 years ― serving some 3,700 patients.
People enrolled in a
harm-reduction program are five times more likely to go into recovery than if
they’re not a part of it, he said.
And while the challenge
is immense, Brumage ― who also serves as assistant dean at the West Virginia University School of Public Health among other social positions ― has
pushed ahead with his innovative approach to a stark crisis.
“I’m convinced based on
the evidence that syringe service programs, as part of a larger harm-reduction
program, are really one of the major solutions to dealing with the
epidemic,” Brumage said. “So in the syringe service program, of course,
what we’re trying to do is avoid becoming the next Scott County, Indiana, where they had over 200 cases of HIV in about
a year.”"
Child Care, Work
"When workers have access to affordable, high-quality child care,
they are less likely to experience unplanned absences, which reduce
productivity and hurt an employer’s bottom line. These absences aren’t
negligible, either. A 2017 survey reported that 21% of households with at least one working parent
reported being absent from work in the last three months. Some employers even
provide child care on premises as a way to keep productivity high and as a
recruitment tool.
With access to child care, they’re also less likely to drop out
of the workforce entirely, which is a tremendous expense for employers. For
most workers, it costs approximately 20% of salary to replace a lost employee. That’s
significant whether you’re a small or large business.
We also know that investing in high-quality early learning now
will pay off in the long run for our future workforce. In fact, high-quality
child care has been shown to have positive impacts on children’s cognitive and
social developments, leading to better outcomes in school and
later in life. When I ran the
YMCA of Greater Miami, countless parents from our child care program would
share with me how much more prepared their child was for kindergarten than many
of the other children in the class."
Business,
Email Etiquette
"If you're brand spanking new to the professional world, there
are hundreds of perfectly good lists of email etiquette tips out there, reminding you to do basic
things like proofread, keep it brief, and use a short, sensible subject line. This list is not one of those.
This list is for people who have been firing off emails for
years, who have not only long ago banished excessive exclamation points and
long-winded asks, but have even mastered the dark art of the subtle email clapback and figured out how to pack even complicated communication
into a tight, five-line missive.
But even email pros sometimes make mistakes. They're not just
the "reply all" disasters of the less experienced (or less
cautious). Instead, they're usually errors of context, timing, or empathy, like
these below, that can lead to misunderstandings, hurt feelings, or blown deals."
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