PSYCHOLOGICAL
Brooklyn Dems
WARFARE –
abolish gender
Combating Covid-19
Stress Relief Strategies
requirements This year of 2020 is a very unusual year for all of mankind. The COVID-19 pandemic
spread over every place on the Earth, causing anxiety, confusion and fear. People
witnessed the suffering and death of loved ones on an unimaginable scale. During
previous episodes of infections outbreaks, people relied on doctors, who had
experience treating such outbreaks. In the case of pandemic COVID-19, there
were no doctors or experts, who have had such experience due to the very unique
situation, related to the nature of virus itself and its capacity to affect simultaneously
multiple organs in the body. Even though doctors have all available modern medicine
tools to diagnose infections, it took time to organize protocols for prophylactics,
diagnosis and treatment of this deadly virus.
On the individual level, stress, related to this pandemic, could be described as
intensive psychological, emotional and physical reaction in response to the infection
and the threat of getting this virus, accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and
information overflow. Several simultaneous processes are happening before our
eyes. Changing lifestyle. family relationships, isolation and decrease of usual
activities, financial hardship and illness of family members, grief and loss, all
cause different levels of stress. Symptoms of stress could be fear, anxiety, worries,
decreased concentration, attention, and memory, muscle tension, loss of sleep
and changes in appetite; alone or all together.
Working with our patients and health professionals affected by this pandemic, we
developed “COVID-19 stress relief protocol”, based on our previous protocol, related
to September 11 (Manhattan protocol). These protocols consist of several steps,
starting with non verbal (first) and verbal communications (second), slow breathing
(8 cycles per minute), mild physical exercises, meditation, medications, and diet
and vitamins recommendations. In case of intensive emotional reaction (crying,
tearfulness) simple tapping technique, combined by medications is implemented
at a first session.
These simple strategies help people to regain control over emotions, by actively
switching attention from overwhelming thoughts, fears and anxiety to feelings
coming from our own sensory motor system (breathing, muscles and joints). The
more attention goes to sensory motor activities, the more our mind, thoughts and
emotions have time to heal.
Breathing is the simple tool for actively switching our attention to yourself and your
bodily reactions. Observing movement of your chest and belly gives you time to
not think about any problems and to help your brain to feel relaxed and refreshed.
A special recommendation goes to combine breathing with finger movements,
which increase brain blood circulation and restore oxygen supply to the brain. On
inhale, your thumb touches the index finger and on exhale your thumb separates
from your index finger. It should be done with other fingers as well.
Being on quarantine and being home bound for many weeks puts an additional
pressure on all of us. Healthy coping strategies include restricting time for news,
paying more attention to yourself, to restoring mild physical activities, studying
new recipes and preparing them in your kitchen.
It is time to be creative, to watch old comedy movies, or watch travel and creativity
channels on TV or on YouTube, writing and drawing pictures. Please, pay more
attention to your food and your vitamins. Vitamins need to be discussed with your
physician.
If you feel overwhelmed by emotions and thoughts, contact your doctor or you
might choose to call OMH (Emotional Support Helpline): 1-844-863-9314
COURIER L 6 IFE, JANUARY 8-14, 2021
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Brooklyn Democratic leaders
passed a new law allowing transgender
and gender nonbinary people to
run for the borough party’s lowest
rung of elected offi ce.
The party’s 42-member Executive
Committee unanimously passed a proposal
at a Dec. 30 meeting to remove
old gender requirements from county
committee seats, which previously
had to be evenly split among male and
female members — effectively excluding
politicos that don’t identify on the
gender binary.
“This is an exciting time for Brooklyn
Democrats, once again leading the
nation in embracing inclusion and diversity,”
party boss and Flatbush Assemblywoman
Rodneyse Bichotte told
Brooklyn Paper. “The Executive Committee’s
unanimous approval was not
only the right decision, it is the only
acceptable decision.”
The rule change eliminated the
quota that evenly splits the two-tofour
seats of the party’s rank-and-fi le
membership in each so-called election
district — which cover just a few city
blocks — between men and women.
The same system exists for State
Committee members — or District
Leaders as they’re dubbed in Brooklyn
where they make up most of the Executive
Committee — and one pol who ran
for that offi ce on the female line this
year but later came out as nonbinary
said the move will open the doors for
more people to join the party in the
next election cycle in 2022.
“It feels very freeing. I think wanting
to participate on these very local
levels you want to try and remove as
many roadblocks as possible,” said
Boerum Hill District Leader Jesse
Pierce. “Classifying males and females
felt like a weird complication as part of
county committee organizing.”
The former regulations were based
off of a 1938 State Constitution amendment,
which originally intended to encourage
more women to participate in
politics, but the statute forced Brooklynites
who don’t identify along the
gender binary to tick a box as either
a “male” or “female” candidate to run
for the hyper-local offi ce.
Half a dozen prospective Dems
sued the party in April to allow gender
nonbinary people to run, but a Kings
County Supreme Court judge tossed
out that lawsuit on technicalities. Yet
the move prompted Bichotte to convene
the so-called Task Force on Gender
Discrimination and Representation
Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Rodneyse
Bichotte said the abolishment of gender
requirements in the County Committee has
been an “educational” experience.
File photo by Paul Frangipane
in August to address the outdated
rules.
The task force met 10 times during
the coming four months to discuss
and hear from experts and academics
on how best to address the gendered
clause.
The Executive Committee created
84 temporary gender-neutral seats at a
Nov. 29 meeting, but attached an illegal
amendment empowering themselves
to fi ll some 2,000 County Committee
vacancies, which progressive politicos
denounced as a “pink-washed” powergrab.
A Kings County Supreme Court
Judge voided those vacancy appointments
on Dec. 10 because the move violated
state Election Law which only
permits the full body of the party to
elect its fellow rank-and-fi le membership
at its annual organizational meeting.
At a Dec. 20 meeting, the party’s
task force eventually unanimously
voted to recommend its proposal for
the party to do away with gender designations
entirely for the borough’s
roughly 5,400 county committee seats.
The party boss said that the task
force meetings were an “educational
experience,” which she hoped it would
be for the borough at large as well.
“It was a very educational experience
for me, and I hope that it can be
an educational experience for all of
Brooklyn,” Bichotte said.
Additional reporting by Meaghan
McGoldrick
Valentin Bragin MD.
Stress Relief and Memory Training Center.
Brooklyn, NY.
718 946-2481