COVID-19: Preserving your Mental Health: What are they saying in the Province of Quebec

The Quebec Magazine L’actualité in its December 2020 edition had a lengthy article entitled “Comment aller Mieux” (How do get by better) and it had comments from 20 experts to help readers improve their mental health and live through the next few pandemic months in the most serenely way possible. I have attempted to translate the most interesting provisions from French into English.

This gloomy epidemic sometimes called a phase of disillusionment is all quite normal explains Melissa Généreux who is an expert in public health and preventative medicine at the University of Sherbrooke. She added with a major pandemic at play people muster all their resources to manage the situation and the production of adrenaline reaches its height. It is impossible to sustain this and in the long run it will cause damage.

As Jean-Michel Longneaux of The University of Namur in Belgium says the pandemic has ruined the pillars of Western civilization. Panic has set in because people are unsure of what to do. Experts are squabbling about the best strategy is  to remain isolated, social distance, wear a mask and what treatments? We don’t know what foot to dance on and it is painful to see that science can be incorrect and does not always speak with absolute truth.

Before the pandemic many economies were on a roll but day after day it is bankruptcy and unemployment with countries creating deficits the size of elephants. It is like everything has been taken away suddenly and people fear they have lost control of their life.  Confidence in the future is low and personal anguish high. Many people have lost their footing and have fallen into depression because reality is very hard to swallow. Longneaux says, “The old world is dead and the new world is rising in insecurity suddenly creating monsters. The monsters have now been unleashed.”

Melissa Généreux completed some research of 6,260 Quebecers recently and found that some handled the pandemic better than others particularly those who could maintain consistency. If a person can in a period of crisis realize what is happening and can realize what is aggravating their suffering then re-evaluate their values and objectives can lead a satisfactory life in these new constrained conditions. Généreux discovered that those who had a sense of consistency were 4 times less likely to be depressed and 5 times less likely to contemplate suicide. Being objectively stressed plays a major role in mental health.

Généreux was also interested in the source of information on the pandemic that can leave one swimming in false information that can help bring on depression.

Jean-Michel Longneaux comments that some people hold on to the notion that they are all powerful and that they can control their destiny and then later find their life in flames their whole existence threatened this may cause drastic anguish and suffering to the point of driving some to suicide.

Next: Women in the pandemic

Poetry Corner: “The Hunters”

The hunters

Gentleman they say
kill in the office or fields everyday
the gold mine owners want Peruvian Maxima Acuna dead
the hell with the waster water from the production of gold full of heavy metals and lead
it really matter what the senior management teams say
to show them you are the boss of their way
is it really this way
for them animal and man is eaten off the same tray
but they are proud self proclaimed hunters and crawling parasites
sucking the blood of the innocents
but virginity is made to be given away
as innocence is in its dying day
the façade of peaceful co-exitance will fade away
the the angry will rip the leader lamprey off their backs
and hurl them
under
the wheels of
angry tricycles

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Optical Illusion Oasis”

Optical Illusion Oasis

People sitting under the great Canadian fright
drinking heavily in the village of neon light
pretensions of affairs being outta sight
really nothing more than a herd of uptight

Such a pathetic sight
strongest on a Friday night
people with nothing to do
except play acting cool fools
floundering in the human cesspool

Death should be superior
so come join me today or tomorrow
for you are already dead
what can you do in life
I tell you
you are needless and superfluous
like pieces of gum
the black suited monsters
crush without pity on their way to paper colonies
refusing the cries of the trampled

Come join me in the land of the insane
where every day does not end up a futile game
soulless butchered minds craving dead maggots
that’s what we are
no schools of respectability
only dens of perverse sadistic crazed nobility
souls of the living cry to join us
so if you haven’t guessed it I am Lucifer but which hell is better
yours or mine
you’ll find out in due course of time

Robert K. Stephen


Poetry Corner: :Ode to Donald Trump”

Ode to Donald Trump

It really wasn’t a surprise when the “stolen” election ousted you as leader of the flock
your Republican senators stabbed you in the back and that was quite a shock
your incitement and COVID mishandling made you fall so low
where did your friends the Proud Boys go?
it’s clear 51% of the American population hates you now
making you as popular as a turburclean cow
but not all is doomed as you sit in your cell
as in 23 Hitler didn’t do so well
your type and their supporters still abound
not even democracy can chase them from the grounds
but in the end Benito, Adolf and Idi couldn’t stand the frost
so Trump it’s time to get lost

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “the Visit”

The Visit

a Mercedes drives up
a sleek well dressed man emerges from within
he treads into the facility feeling so fine with his charitable actions
and his shiny Hugo Boss shoes
he visits once a year

at reception he is told his father is not yet Prepared
and would he kindly wait a minute
he sits and gapes at the urinated soaked residents
slumped in drugged stupors
some strapped in chairs like dangerous animals
that dear old Dad was in much better shape
but sonny boy had been so busy at the clothing plant
he had again forgotten about dear pops

A nurse gestures as it is time to see him
into dad’s room they venture
to guiltily stare at the living vegetable
with the killing cognitive failure creeping
astonished at dear old dad’s decline he laughs
couldn’t they pull out his tubes or something?
after all he’s shelling out $2,400 a month
and his little Ronnie wants a Corvette
dad senses his concerned son
and beckons him over
and whispers in his ear “you selfish bastard”
and promptly expires

The Mercedes pulls away
stopping at his travel agency
for the trip to Paris
the family had always wanted
but could never afford
because of that expense that no longer need be incurred

Virus # 26:Chapter 44 “the luck of the Irish”

Chapter 44 “the luck of the Irish!”

As a physician I am a man of science but being a practitioner of yoga and mindfulness, I do have somewhat of a spiritual side of me that is willing to accept non scientifically phenomena. Like when I was doing my cardiology residency the head of the cardiology department once told us in our group meeting that there was something in Irish whisky that sparked arrythmias of the heart. He thought it was the Irish water. And indeed several of my patients complained that Irish whisky sparked arrythmia!

So as Virus # 26 made its rounds it did not hit Ireland as bad as it did the rest of Europe. Based on some incomplete studies coupled with anecdotal evidence it was thought that daily consumption of three shots of Irish whisky saved the souls of many of the Irish.

Perhaps it was something in the water. How could it be that Virus # 26 that caused wild and deadly arrhythmias of the heart could be beaten back by a drink that caused arrythmia!  Unfortunately despite the proliferation of illegal stills and increased capacity of the legal distilleries there was barely enough to keep the remaining survivors in Ireland alive. I tried to mimic this by giving some of my infected patients arrhythmia inducing pharmaceuticals. It failed.

There really is not much humour about Virus # 26 but at times pot smoking and drinking Irish whisky being more effective than Big Pharma’s vaccines! Party on dudes to avoid your death. My grandmother was in the Temperance movement in Toronto and I can remember my non-Temperance mother singing songs like “Lips that Touch Liquor Will Never Touch Mine”. Harold and Kumar and Cheech n Chong survive Virus # 26 was a screenplay I should have written than this piece of literature!

NEW AMERICAN COVID Mutation: “The Kansas Killer”

Little Birdie Global News Service: Toronto: February 1, 2023: It was reported today by the Global Union of Virus Control in Bucharest, Romania that an American COVID mutation virus suspected to have originated in Kansas has been detected in Tirana , Albania. It is thought the carrier had attended a great American barbeque cook-off contest in Kansas recently.

Suspected ribs have been detained and are under medical investigation

Thankfully the virus has been referred to by scientists as a “soft one” unlike other mutations of COVID like the Brit Bug, The Malaysian Marauder, The Canuck Muck, The South African Slayer and the Pakistani Pillager.

Symptoms are being compared to those one would expect with the seasonal influenza. The “cure” is called MAGA which is a mixture of emulsified Mary Brown fried chicken, apricot nectar, chopped green grapes and a small amount of arsenic. Further details on how to prepare the cure will shortly be released by the Global Union of Virus Control in the upcoming weeks. The Global Union advises against travel to the United States at this time and avoidance of consumption of pork ribs produced at the Pence Piggery Meat Packing Plant in Tennessee.

The Indelible Charm of the Greeks! “’Vicky’s Diner”

We have a complicated cross-cultural situation to deal with here. Vicky Limberis is a Greek immigrant to New York City who worked in a variety of diners before eventually opening up “Vicky’s Diner” way up from midtown New York. She had worked in diners then owned one that burnt down and started Vicky’s Diner to a great commercial success.

I said we may have a cross-cultural situation because New York City has a maniacal dining out culture. Restaurants (pre-COVID) when I have been there which is some 40 plus times are the way of life for many New Yorkers and they are busy at all hours with endless choices from gourmet to deli takeout. I mean no one seems to cook at home. It might be because of peanut sized kitchens where cooking can be technically difficult or some mad desire to socialize as so many in New York are not from New York so they need to be included in a social group like a family they left back home. As I see it a home cooked meal in Manhattan is take-out from Whole Foods at Columbus Circle.

So diners have done well in New York City and many are run by Greeks who for decades have been heavily involved in the restaurant business in North America. As for diners there are still many in New York run by Greeks but there are many now run by Latinos. In Toronto diners are a rarity. Even at the Danforth where there are many eateries with Greek names there may be a Greek owner but the staff are often Sri Lankan. It is if the Greeks have moved on from restaurants to higher echelon and educated positions.  What was once heavily controlled Greek restaurant business is shifting to new ethnic groups. Such is the ebb and flow of immigration.

I can only think of a handful of diners in Toronto that are in a way not diners but an attempt to recreate a diner.

“Vicky’s Diner” represents a fascinating look at a diner from a patron/owner/customer perspective. Is this a last gasp at Greek hospitality? Although on a last visit to New York City I noticed there are a few traditional Greek owned and managed diners the Mexicans, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans have seemed to take over ownership of diners and unfortunately, they have a uniform obsession for too many onions in their omelettes. Thanks to COVID-19 Vicky’s Diner closed in September 2020.

You can see the trailer here https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-norton-ext_onb&hsimp=yhs-ext_onb&hspart=norton&p=vick%27ys+diner+film#id=1&vid=a6bcffcc1a6e7cc81ad84b0b6982ce7a&action=click

You can catch this documentary here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqZMVF1rpYI or go to the Hellenic Film Society of USA to catch up with the link to the film  https://hellenicfilmusa.org/

Greek Middle Class Struggles in “Family Member”

In 2015 Greek Cyprus Sophia (Yioala Klitoa) and her husband Yorgos (Christopher Greco) are owners of a mini-mart and the mega marts and the Greek financial crisis are giving hard times to the family making ends meet. They need an extension from the bank for loan repayments, their daughter “urgently” needs a 50 Euro pair of jeans and their son claims he is the only boy without a mobile phone in his class and to top things off their hydro bill is through the roof. The pension cheque from the government for Sophia’s dad, who lives with the family, really helps them in their quest to hold creditors at bay. Unfortunately Sophia’s father dies but wanting his pension cheques to continue they keep his death a secret and bury him themselves telling everyone he is the countryside visiting friends.

This scam works well for a couple of months and then a government inspector wants to meet the deceased father. Well it just so happens Yorgos catches a senior shoplifting a can of sardines from the store. A bright light goes off in his head and that is to use this Mr. Theodorous, as a stand in for deceased Papu (Grandfather). Mr. T agrees to do this so in he moves with the family. He lived alone with minimal contact with a daughter in the United Kingdom so he seems to enjoy his new family.

Mr. T wows the government inspector. So the scam seems safe to continue. Mr. T returns to his lonely home and dies shortly after giving Sophia a wrapped package asking her to open it after his death.

Well Mr. T not only saved the family’s bacon by impersonating Papu but also in a much bigger way.

While there are some comedic if not farcical moments in the film it highlights the blows struck by the Greek financial crisis with taxes being increased, trimming civil service jobs and social spending and reductions in state pensions. Not giving Papu a proper Greek Orthodox funeral and instead burying him in the middle of the night with a proper religious ceremony is an act of quiet desperation. The film is fictious but an accurate chronicle of a family being caught up in a financial crisis they had no part in creating.

You can see the film here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVYhv4KYp3I or go to the  Hellenic Film Society USA and see it on a link there  https://hellenicfilmusa.org/

This 2015 film is free. It is in Greek with English subtitles and is directed by Marinos Kartikkis.

The Battle of the Portuguese Sagrados

Several years ago after attending Port Wine Day in Porto, Portugal I had a fantastic lunch with the owner of Quinta do Sagrado José Marie Calem in an outdoor restaurant overlooking the Douro River. It was a warm September day and we really dug into some incredible seafood in the old section of Porto. Afterwards I was invited to his house for a private tasting of Sagrado wines which were superlative some of them field blends meaning all different grapes are growing in the same field so you get a blended wine not really knowing the percentage of any varietal. Unfortunately the wines I was fortunate to taste have not made it to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO).

What we do receive is a wine simply called Sagrado. I bought several of the 2013’s thinking they were very good wines but they needed ageing. So I picked up in a recent LCBO Vintages release a 2016 vintage and decided to compare it to the 2013.

The 2013 has a murky colour that might indicate it is on the decline while the 2016 has a clear garnet colour.

The 2013 has a nose predominately of lush blackberry and is full of ripe raspberries. The 2016 has a lighter aroma of blackberry, red cherries and hazelnut wafer cookies.

On the palate the 2013 is smooth with not much tannin left in it but enough to continue improving over the next three years. The flavours are light if not delicate with cassis, red cherries with a moderately long finish. I breathe a sigh of relief as its murkiness does not indicate an overaged wine at least in this case and it is free of any malodorous quality. Red wine with fish is often a no no but having had the cod dish Bachalau in Portugal it has always been served to me with red wine and is works well. If you wanted with meat a Douro duck casserole would be a good match. I think the 2013 was $12.95.

The 2016 is actually less tannic that the 2013 which is a bit strange as older wines tend to have their tannins softened by age. The fruit in the 2016 on the palate is very tight fisted and cloistered and, in my view, needs 3-5 years to develop. Quite frankly there is not much character on the palate! This was the same with the 2013 when I purchased it.

These Sagrados share a common characteristic that ageing is required. The 2013 is near its peak and its murky colour is a bit of a concern but has not affected its quality. Both were crushed by foot in shallow granite lagares. This manual process is a fading tradition in the Douro as mechanization has been introduced to Portugal that eliminates the need for foot treading. Both were fermented using indigenous yeast. Both are made from Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão and Tinta Amarela. The 2013 label mentions 6 months ageing in French oak but the 2016 label does not mention ageing in oak. Both have been rated 91 by the Wine Enthusiast. Both have a 13.5% alcohol percentage.

Closing thoughts this Sagrado label almost speaks of a bygone era where wines were bottled to age which is an antithesis to so may wines of today where consumers want immediate accessibility. The 2013 is reaching its prime and the 2016 you may find lacking in character unless you want to lay it down for a few years. It is selling for $16.95.

It is somewhat unfair to rate the 2016 as it is clearly not a cart home from the store and pop it open therefore not what we might call a supermarket wine. These are lush and in you face wines. The Sagrados are wines from another era.

The 2013 and 2016 are not competing in some 1970 “Battle of the Bands” However if you pressed me for a rating I would give the 2013 a 93 and the 2016 an 89. Age for wines can be a blessing and sometimes a curse for human beings!