Dr Matt Newsletter October 12, 2022
Joseph Ladapo - Florida’s Surgeon General - featured below in “Research of the Week”.
Below are some interesting items I like to share each week and please feel free to send me ideas of your own for the newsletter. Today’s newsletter sections include:
1) Musical selections of the week: Waltzes
Music is up first this week so you can “whistle while you work”. Waltzes are beautiful, and also great for dancing, especially with a little practice and a lesson or two. Think about it when planning the next family wedding…
2) Community building - Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm Tour Sunday November 5th, a local family farm near Shenandoah National Park – This is best for people who are interested in pastured animal products - space is limited so sign up quickly if interested.
3) Family-run business of the week: Natural skin and hair care products from Rayvon and Sasha Wills.
4) Inspirational quote from Dr Matt’s Mom.
5) Research of the week – Florida Department of Health promotes healthy living as the best strategy for dealing with whatever “super-virus” comes along - Joseph Ladapo was named Surgeon General for Florida in spring 2021. They promptly ended quarantines for people with no symptoms and made vaccines voluntary. Recently the they recommended against the covid-19 vaccine for people under age 40. Included below is a link to an extended interview with Dr Ladapo and a link to his book with the subtitle: “A Blueprint for Mindful Leadership in Public Health”.
Yours truly, one moment at a time.
Matt Irwin
1) Music of the week – Waltzes of various colors
Classical, Jazz, and Folk waltzes make great listening. However, with some practice and perhaps a lesson or two, a waltz can be an elegant way to start off a wedding dance. You know: Bride & Groom, Father-Daughter, Mother-Son, etc. Perhaps you can pull off something as elegant as the scene at the end from Charlie Chaplin, one of my favorite comedic actors, directors, and writers.
Tchaikovsky is considered the most popular Russian composer in history. His life may look easy on the outside, but he lived through traumas just as all people do. He toured the United States in 1891 with great success, showing that his music popularity spanned the globe, and the music from The Nutcracker proves this point quite well, including this “Waltz of the Flowers” which also makes great wedding dance music :-).
Miles Davis recovered from heroin addiction in 1954 and made his most creative work for decades afterwards. He also made music that is delightful and fun, such as this jazz waltz - which would also fit well for a wedding waltz.
Gymnopedie: Here is a modern jazz version of this classical impressionist piano piece by Eric Satie, which already had a slowly swaying waltz rhythm.
Al Pettaway is a modern folk musician who became famous on the soundtrack of Ken Burn’s documentary, “The National Parks”. There are countless folk music waltzes, but this is one of my favorites - at a wedding dance it could use piano and violin - just sayin’ ….
Charlie Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” character cannot even afford clothes that fit or shoes, but in the end, he always finds a circuitous route to happiness.
2) Community Building: Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm Tour Sunday November 5th - Pastured animal products
From Jane and Florissa - Volunteer WAPF Leaders
The Fairfax Weston A Price Foundation chapter invites you to join a tour of Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm! Bean Hollow is a regenerative farm located in Rappahannock County, VA raising and offering 100% grass fed lamb and beef. We will get an in-depth experience learning how the farm manages their land and soil health. Bean Hollow has an interesting history - its roots date back to 1890 and it is still in the original family's operation.
Although eating meat is challenging to some people’s beliefs, it is also an integral part of the natural world. Native Americans revered the buffalo, but also used every part of the animal to sustain their health.
This farm tour will last around two hours and will include walking around the farm's fields. Please wear farm-suitable clothing and shoes and dress for varying temperatures. Children are welcome to join. Bean Hollow's self service farm store will be open so don't forget to bring your cooler, and cash or check as credit cards are not accepted.
Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm's Website: https://www.beanhollowgrassfed.com
Date: Saturday, November 5 - Time: 11:00am - 1:00pm
Place: Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm
15 Over Jordan Farm Lane
Flint Hill, VA 22627
RSVP: Please RSVP to jane.kadish@gmail.com by October 20. Space is limited so RSVP soon.
3) Family-Run Business of the week:
Natural skin and hair care products from Rayvon and Sasha Wills - Ray of Light Products is their all-natural company for skincare. Their toothpaste doesn’t contain any fluoride or other harmful chemicals and uses bentonite clay to remove toxins and polish teeth. Their Honey Oatmeal Eczema Soap cleans and moisturizes your skin. Their foaming hand soap doesn’t contain any dye or other additives, for a safe and healthy cleaning. To make a purchase visit www.rayoflightproducts.com
4) Inspiration of the week - from Dr Matt’s Mom.
When I was in 4th grade I was not happy in my new school, and I was very emotional about the idea of continuing to college after high school. I told my mom in tears that I didn’t want to go to college. Her reply was simple and quickly freed me from my distress:
“Well Matthew, if you still feel that way when your older, just tell people you don’t want to go”.
She was likely quite amused, in her spirit form, to see that I seemingly ended up going to college forever…
5) Research summary of the week: Joseph Ladapo and the Florida Department of Health
Dr. Ladapo was a professor of medicine at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center when the social isolation and solitary confinement policies took effect in March 2020. Because his major research area was improving health through exercise and lifestyle changes, he was dismayed to see outdoor spaces with locked entrances and even gates with locked chains on them. He also was someone who had to overcome childhood trauma, which allowed him to see through fear based narratives more clearly. He describes this all in his book, “Transcend Fear: A Blueprint for Mindful Leadership in Public Health.” (see link below).
He quickly realized that the entire policy of social isolation of solitary confinement was irrational and counterproductive. He wrote articles about this which the governor of Florida found inspiring, and he asked him to be Florida’s surgeon general in spring 2021.
Below is a link to a very recent extended interview with Dr Ladapo, and a link to the latest Florida health recommendation against the vaccine in people under forty which describes their research results. One of his very first policy decisions was the end quarantining of people who did not have symptoms, and go back to the old policy of only keeping people home when they are symptomatic with symptoms like fever, cough, or generalized fatigue. Shortly after that they made covid-19 vaccines voluntary.
Although he speaks very calmly during the interview and never talks about someone’s character, he will often be quite blunt about how misguided the policies were. For Example, regarding forced quarantining of healthy people that they eliminated, he said:
“It’s just so absurd. Right? Sending people who are healthy… home because they were close to someone or might’ve been in the same room as someone who has a condition that is close to harmless to that individual and their contacts. It is profoundly disruptive to families. And that is also what the studies showed…. It’s just so profoundly stupid, So it was good to be able to X that out.”
As usual there are some areas I disagree with. For example, about pharmaceutical companies being “only in it for the money”. I have learned over the years that money follows beliefs. Also, some medicines from pharmaceutical companies, such as antibiotics, are often quite helpful, although generally more effective when combined with natural healing approaches that support our own healing system.
We all have difficulties when our beliefs are challenged, whether with regards to health beliefs, political beliefs, or even what color to paint to use. When I point my finger at others, it invariably ends up that the finger is also pointed back at myself 😊.
At the very end of the interview, doctor Ladapo is asked whether he is concerned, as many people are, that we are entering a period like George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Dr Ladapo has a reassuring message for the long term.
“Concerned, yes, but confident that the outcome is going to be a good one.”
Joseph Ladapo interview from September, 2022
Florida Health Dept. description of research showing that harms outweigh benefits for covid-19 vaccine in people under age 40:
https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2022/10/20220512-guidance-mrna-covid19-vaccine.pr.html
Moral of the story from Dr Matt is quite simple: Let people choose their own health journey, whether you agree with it or not, and that our connection as humans is more important than our connection to any belief system.
References
https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2022/10/20220512-guidance-mrna-covid19-vaccine.pr.html
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YZ2DXB1/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0