DEAR JOAN: Ten years ago we built a birdhouse and followed all of the instructions. Unfortunately, our home is now only used as a bathroom!

I actually have tried cleansing it with a weak Clorox solution, brushing off the (guano) and cleansing it with plain water, but to no avail. What can we do?

DEAR NORMA: They say you’ve gotten to be patient when organising a brand new birdhouse, feeder or birdbath, but my friend, you’re taking it to a brand new level.

Maybe it's best to start out over and work out what went improper.

The first step concerns the actual house. Most birds prefer houses manufactured from unpainted wood that mix in with their surroundings. Heavily painted, quirky or decorative houses usually tend to attract uninvited visitors.

You'll also desire a box built specifically for blue tits. The interior size can vary, but the doorway hole must be the best size: large enough for the birds to get out and in easily, but not so large that predators can get in. No front perch needed.

Bluebirds, whether or not they are the eastern bluebirds in your area or the western bluebirds in my area, wish to nest in open spaces where they’ve room to fly around and snatch insects out of the air. Placing the birdhouse in order that it faces your own home or one other constructing can act as a deterrent to the bluebird.

The birds like a clean house, but it surely is healthier to avoid chemicals and harsh cleansing products. Usually, an intensive sweep after the breeding season and a light-weight dusting of the home with food-grade diatomaceous earth needs to be enough to eliminate pests. Rubbing the ceiling and partitions with a bar of unscented soap might help prevent wasps from constructing nests in the home.

The birdhouse needs to be mounted on a sturdy pole and native plants growing nearby will help attract the birds.

Now is a superb time to place up birdhouses. Birds won't start nesting for just a few months, but they will use them for shelter during bad weather—and begin exploring the neighborhood now.

None of this guarantees that you’re going to attract a pair of blue tits, but it surely does increase the possibilities. We hope it really works higher the second time around.

Remembering a friend

I recently received news of the passing of Ruby Waderich, who for at the very least 20 years was probably the most effective friend the Solano County Friends of Animals ever had.

I met Ruby several years ago when she asked me to advertise her Give a Buck campaign. Ruby believed that almost all people could afford to provide a dollar to the nonprofit, all-volunteer group, and that the sums would add up quickly. And she was right. In the primary few weeks, readers of this column donated nearly $3,000, an unexpected windfall for this small group.

Ruby was tireless and cared for a whole bunch of cats. She also loved the pigeons that visited her garden. She was one in every of the kindest and most dedicated people I actually have ever known.

In her memory, I ask readers to donate a dollar for Ruby by sending what they will spare to Solano County Friends of Animals, PO Box 235, Benicia, CA 94510.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Ayahuasca, a holy drink Made from the stem and leaves of a grapevine, it goes by many names: psychedelic brew, hallucinogenic tea, mood medicine, and more. It's even often called a teacher or healer due to its supposed ability to assist an individual turn inward and are available to terms with past traumas.

The plant and the rituals related to it have deep roots within the shamanic traditions of South America. But in recent many years, stories of the spiritually enhancing magic of ayahuasca have found their approach to Europe and North America.

Praised for its transcendent healing powers by celebrities reminiscent of Lindsay LohanAthletes like Aaron Rodgers and successful business people like Elon MuskThe psychotropic appeal of the plant now attracts lots of of hundreds of non-indigenous consciousness seekers worldwide. More and more Ayahuasca retreats are arising everywhere in the world.

Indigenous peoples in South America – particularly in Peru, Brazil and other parts of the so-called Upper Amazon – have been using ayahuasca for medicinal and spiritual purposes since at the least 900 BC. Hieroglyphic paintings show the use of the sacred brew in a ceremony dating back to 900 to 250 BC. However, Western interest in ayahuasca has presented some challenges to indigenous communities.

As a medical anthropologist I even have spent the last quarter century I study how culture influences how people view and make selections about their bodies. Through researching the connections between sexuality, drugs, and cultures, I even have come to know the role of plant medicines like ayahuasca for people and communities.

Dying to get up

Anthropologist of shamanism Michael Winkelmann describes Ayahuasca as a “psychoindicator”, a substance that integrates emotions and thought processes.

According to Western scientific interpretations, the substance's major function is to eliminate the egocentric, conscious understanding of the world. Seekers “die to themselves,” one shaman told me.

It is believed that in an altered state of consciousness the person can access their true desires and experiences and start the technique of deeper healing, awakening or spiritual cleansing.

Traditional anthropologists note that Ayahuasca is utilized in South America to release information from invisible worlds. In particular, it is usually used for divination, artistic inspiration, strategic insights, healing, and shamanic journeying.

Herbal medicine

While hundreds of tourists from everywhere in the world flock to South America every year looking for an “authentic” ayahuasca ritual, the precise principles of the ritual are actually controversial, but some common themes are emerging.

The most Scientists and indigenous and non-indigenous healers agree that the plant needs to be cared for and treated by a plant expert, a so-called “ayahuascero”, who, after a lengthy eight to 10 hour brewing process, prepares a mud-like tea for consumption.

The medicine is dropped at the seekers during a ceremony that is generally held within the evening around a sacred fire. A healer, called a “curandero”, asks the spirit world for defense initially of the ceremony. The healer then looks within the 4 cardinal directions north, east, south and west and sings the “icaros”, the healing songs, with a branch of the vine and a rattle constituted of the ayahuasca tree.

Usually, purging begins after 20 minutes to an hour. For some people, this purging takes the shape of vomiting or defecation. The purging of energy that some experience physically is experienced by others emotionally in the shape of laughing, crying, shaking, or screaming into the wind. This is then sometimes followed by a movement into hallucination or a reference to the inner self, where the surface world begins to vanish.

And while every person describes barely different experiences, recurring themes include ego death—where people see themselves without attachment to material things or status—visions of past selves and lives, waves of healing energy, and painful moments of confronting past wounds.

Cultural swamp

In spring 2018 Double murder within the Peruvian Amazon shocked the shamanic Ayahuasca community and solid a dark shadow over the hallucinogenic brew. Olivia Arevalo, a preferred 95-year-old curandero, was killed by a Canadian ayahuasca tourist named Sebastian Woodroffe. The death of Arevalo, who was celebrated because the grandmother of the Shipibo-Kobibo tribe, sparked outrage locally. and Woodroffe was lynched by a mob.

These incidents triggered widespread debates about non-indigenous tourists flocking to the Amazon to drink the psychedelic tea: Spiritual seekers don’t all the time respect the boundaries and processes established by local healers – the above incident is an extreme example.

Namely as an anthropologist Veronika Davidov mention, thatAs ayahuasca use increases amongst non-indigenous peoples, the emergence of “entheogen tourism” – travel for the aim of spiritual awakening – raises questions on the importance of spiritual contexts in these ceremonies.

As a Peruvian archaeologist and healer Ruben Orellana argues that ayahuasca rituals were developed in a particular cultural context for indigenous peoples. Without context, non-indigenous seekers may, at best, drift into the realm of cultural appropriation while concurrently exposing themselves to the mental and physical health risks of the psychedelic brew.

Critics of spiritual tourism Also note that most of the lodges should not owned by locals and that the influx of tourists has a negative impact on the ecosystem. The local economy doesn’t all the time profit from the capital flowing into the realm when outsiders act as middlemen, even when local resources are getting used.

Not only are the subtleties of the cultural experience not all the time respected or appreciated, however the ecosystem suffers from this entheogen tourism when demand for the plant results in overharvesting of the Banisteriopisis caapi Tendrils of the Ayahuasca trees.

Harmonizing and healing

While concerns about cultural appropriation should not necessarily misplaced, scholars reminiscent of Mark Hay Note that this doesn’t mean that individuals within the West have to avoid herbal medicine altogether.

Hay and others indicate that the plant has many positive effects on mental health and be combined with Western approaches to illnesses reminiscent of treatment-resistant depression. Likewise, the healing powers of ayahuasca will be harmonized with Western approaches to treating mental illness and spirituality.

This harmonization will not be unlike the numerous urban Catholic Brazilians who combined indigenous rituals with Christianity. At least within the early twentieth century three recent and different Ayahuasca religions were born in Brazil: Santo Daime, Barquinha and Uniao do Vegetal got here to areas where shamans had been practicing ayahuasca rituals for lots of of years before the arrival of Christianity. These religions combined Christianity with earth-based spirituality by emphasizing the role of the Holy Trinity in giving medicinal plants to humans.

Church leaders also emphasized that the plants allowed them to catch up with to God and that Christ spoke to them through the psychedelic potion. As a result, these practices took root in indigenous and non-indigenous communities in South America.

These adaptations can provide a guide for using ayahuasca with due respect for its cultural and spiritual basis.

Violence and harassment within the workplace are all too common: greater than 1 in 5 staff According to the International Labor Organization, it affects people worldwide, with women being affected barely more often than men. In the United States, greater than 2 million staff are exposed to workplace violence every year – and that is the case only the cases which are reported.

The impact of workplace violence is profound, including physical and emotional suffering, ruined careers and damage to businesses and society. And at a remarkable economic price. Although estimates vary, researchers have determined the prices of workplace violence as much as $56 billion per yr – and that’s probably an undercount.

As a Professor who researches tourisman area through which staff are sometimes mistreatedI’m all too aware of the hazards of violence and harassment. In this text I follow the recommendations of the International Labor Organization Convention No. 190which defines “violence and harassment” together as actions that “result or may result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm.”

Service employees are in danger

No industry is free from violence, but the issue is widespread within the service sector. For example, in 2021, 10,490 violent crimes have been reported in US restaurants. Up to 90% of ladies and 70% of men work on this field Reported encounter any type of sexual harassment.

This was also the results of a survey by the AFL-CIO 53% of hotel employees had experienced harassment at work. From 2018 to 2020, the variety of assaults in grocery stores increased increased by 63%, while assaults at convenience stores increased by 75%. In the meantime, 3 out of 4 healthcare staff report being exposed to workplace violence.

At the identical time, men with dark skin and girls of all races are at increased risk of getting experienced discrimination overrepresented amongst employees within the service industry. These are the individuals who will profit most from a cultural shift around workplace violence.

Companies don’t value security

A Survey 2001 by executives at insurance company Liberty Mutual found that, on average, for each dollar invested in improving workplace safety, about $3 or more is saved. The potential for cost savings was highlighted in one other Liberty Mutual report published some twenty years later. Workplace violence has been found to cause costs to health and social services almost half a billion dollars in 2022 alone.

Despite this fact, only about 30% of firms have safety and health programs in place, in keeping with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In other words, firms are willing to spend billions of dollars coping with the results of violence – lawsuits, insurance claims, staff turnover and property damage – without investing in prevention.

The excellent news is that violence is now Recognized by OSHA And the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is a big public health problem in lots of U.S. workplaces. In many cases, industry and government are taking the issue seriously. But what are you able to do?

There are options and solutions

Several large studies I actually have examined the effectiveness of varied Interventions against workplace violence. By implementing preventive measures corresponding to: Training programs, effective reporting systems And regular risk assessmentsAnd by maintaining a healthy work environment, firms can significantly reduce the danger of workplace violence.

Research shows that a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging perspective is useful within the workplace create a sense of security and trust that creates security. Many employees have experienced various degrees of discrimination during their time at work. By adopting a DEIB-focused approach and expressing cultural sensitivity, workplaces can turn into safer environments for everybody.

It can also be essential to have good data on the subject. Unfortunately, workplace violence statistics are sometimes isolated by the industry – or also at the corporate level – and details on essential aspects corresponding to gender, age and disability are missing. Without higher data collection, researchers will proceed to have an incomplete understanding of the issue.

Finally, social enterprises have a task to play in combating workplace violence. Personally, in 2022 I became aware of a Chicago-based company, PAVE prevention, which has developed organizational assessment tools using a human development approach to deliver curated human security training. Their evidence-based approach includes quite a lot of workplace violence interventions and works to create meaningful change in industries across the country.

Strong cultural change is required to finish harassment and violence in our societies, including within the workplace. But such a change is feasible. Using moral imagination, managers can lead firms ethically and successfully. Profit doesn’t have to come back on the expense of human well-being – and vice versa.