PAST SHOWS (incomplete list)

Your Voice of Reason can't always keep up with these summaries, but please enjoy what I offer below. It's best to make sure that ya'll catch the show!

June 2, 2009: Your Voice of Reason was building a sweat lodge and exploring Kripalu, so tonight, listeners were treated to a re-run of the show with Gangaji from November of 2007.

May 26, 2009: Further summary upcoming ... but Len Mackey, otherwise known as Some Elan Vital, was our special, shamanic musical guest tonight. He played belaphone and didgeridoo, told stories, and was a general delight.

May 19, 2009: Further summary upcoming ... but HOORAY! Tonight was the long-awaited, informative, inspiring and amusing conversation with our very own (local) Steve Aronstein of the Somatics Systems Institute.

May 12, 2009: Further summary upcoming ... but music was Lo-Fidelity Allstars' 'How to Operate with a Blown Mind' plus 'I Used to Fall in Love' and Bob Dylan's 'Million Miles.'

May 5, 2009: Further summary upcoming ... Music was Rocco DeLucca and the Burden's 'Dope' and Jimi Hendrix with 'Once I Had a Woman,' 'Message to Love' and Gypsy Boy.'

April 28, 2009: Further summary upcoming ... Tracks from Radiohead's In Rainbow's, plus ... ??

April 21, 2009: Further summary upcoming ... Music was Thievery Corporation, plus tracks from Radiohead's In Rainbow's, plus ... ???

April 14, 2009: Summary upcoming ...

April 7, 2009: Reminder about the upcoming VFR fundraiser event at the WWII Club in Northampton with live music on April 25 ... come party, schmooze and support the station! Great news from past guest, Els Valkenburg ... her book Understanding Multiple Chemical Sensitivity has been translated into English! We only briefly touched on environmental health news (diesel school buses/children's health plus the killing of lions in Kenya with the American-made toxic carbamate pesticide Furadan [see 60 Minutes story]), because there was just too much bliss-related content to be bothered. Reason enthusiastically read much of 'The Future of Ecstasy' from Alan Watts' Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal and defined "pretense" (one of Reason's least favorite things, not to mention the opposite of ecstatic bliss). Read a bit from Kat Duff's Alchemy of Illness, and later, words about beauty from Krishnamurti's Think on These Things. Music was St. Germain's 'Sure Thing;' Pura Fe's 'Whole World Down On Me;' U2's 'Do You Feel Loved;' and local songstress Celia's 'You Make Me High' and 'Like You.'

March 31, 2009: Noam Chomsky gave us "Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope." We read some great stuff from The Presence Process (drama/commotion hindering growth, etc.) by Michael Brown. Reason explored the concept of ecstatic contemplative movement, discussing the Saint Vitus' dance, as well as kriyas (Quakers name came from quaking during meditations; Shakers name came from shaking during practices) and the overcharged nervous system (dumping chi). Just a wee bit on muses (Erato) and the kundalini. Read a couple poems about night by Ranier Maria Rilke. April 1st, Greenopolis chat with Seventh Generation's Jeffrey Hollender about "Big Green Lies." Some Minnesota school administrators want to ban Axe body spray (hail/praise/hallelujah/amen), as it's causing disruption (as soon as I saw the headline, I KNEW it was *$@#^&* Axe). "Blue Earth" is first solar powered cell phone by Samsung. Music was Black Sabbath's 'Planet Caravan;' Joan Osborne's 'Spider Web;' Nitin Sawhney; plus Thievery Corporation's 'Treasures' and 'Shadows of Ourselves.'

March 24, 2009: Mahatma Gandhi said "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." David Pearce of the The Hedonistic Imperative says "States of sublime well-being are destined to become the genetically pre-programmed norm of mental health." Indigenous Saying: "If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." Antidote Radio's 'neurotoxicity' video on YouTube. Some people are shutting lights off for one hour on March 28th. Commentary on taser death/s and a blog's "department of stop it! you're killing everything". Scientists will share results of research on health effects of air pollution at Health Effects Institute, 2009 Annual Conference. News from Environmental Health Perspectives included the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), the power of toxic chemical synergy (multiple pesticide residues killing salmon) and lead in children's blood from dust. Also, Book Dealers Told to Get The Lead Out, Libraries Resist Ban on Potentially Toxic Books. Music was a brilliant composition (with French accented commentary from Democracy Now) by friend Yohosame, Radiohead's melancholy-lovely 'Gagging Order' and Led Zeppelin's rare-ish 'Travelling Riverside Blues' (latter two for The Aloe).

March 17, 2009: Bronner re-run, once more, for Reason is in pain, and Dr. Bronner's is good.

March 10, 2009: Further summary forthcoming. Discussion included "behavior that has been reinforced intermittently tends to take longer to extinguish," as well as some reading from Candace Pert's Molecules of Emotion and bits of The Prevalence of Nonsense. Also, empathy, mirror neurons, Dr. Perry on Oprah, neglected children, and skepticism/cynicism (we also defined "captious"). Music was Illuminator's 'Saturnine' mix and Temple of the Dog's 'Wooden Jesus.'

March 3, 2009: Further summary forthcoming. Delicious show tonight! Music was Erykah Badu's 'Didn't Cha Know, 'Time's a Wastin;' Massive Attack's 'Blue Lines;' Nina Simone, 'Funkier Than a Mosquiter's Tweeter.'

February 24, 2009: Summary forthcoming.

February 17, 2009: Further summary forthcoming, but Lundy Bancroft, local author of "Why Does He Do That", discussed abuse, healing and more ... we waited years for this!

February 10, 2009: Finally, the long-awaited Dr. Bronner re-run! Yay! Show originally aired live January 16, 2007. Reason did some finagling to fit this two-hour show into an hour and a half (editing down the music and speeding up the rest), but it should still be lovely. Reason was sick at home after being exposed to toxic substances other people justify using, despite the presence of sensitive others who have not given their consent.

February 3, 2009: Reason did her best to provide listeners with a new-ish, awesome re-run (January 16, 2007 interview with Ralph Bronner of Dr. Bronner's truly awesome and ever-lovin' castile soap company), but it didn't work! Thanks to VFR peeps for putting on re-re-re-re-re-runs (part of show with Dr. Rea plus another one of my faves), and thanks to AR's devoted, forgiving listeners. I'll try for Bronner for the next re-run.

January 27, 2009: Late for show, oops. New Lyme disease support and advocacy group meetings every other Saturday at the Lilly Library in Florence from 3:30 to 4:30pm (2/7, 2/21, 3/7, 3/21, 4/4 and 4/18 scheduled so far). Contempt prior to investigation was discussed, but today's focus was on non-violent communcation. We read from Marshall Rosenberg's book and the web site of our local Conscious Communication Institute (founded by Sandra Boston). A wee exploration of sociocracy. Bits from fantastic article, 'That Is Not What I Meant At All', about Difficult Conversations. Any conversation can be difficult, if handled poorly. Without these skills, there will be little peace or evolution, and we don't stand a chance. George Orwell said, "The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." That's called denial, my friends. How butterflies use their penises to win sperm wars. Yes, that's exactly the biologically cheeky note upon which this Antidote Radio program ended. Music was Audioslave's 'What You Are' and 'Getaway Car.'

January 20, 2009: Hopefully my listeners enjoyed a good re-run this evening.

January 13, 2009: Quote about us not being here to 'fill a bucket' but to 'light a fire' (thanks, Mr. C.). Easthampton guy stabbed ex-girlfriend and released mystery chemicals in her Northampton apartment that may have killed her cat. Lovely. Reason discussed at length, and with great rantalicious zest, the top 11 compounds in US drinking water. Good news: a New Jersey hospital's new class helps new parents make homes less toxic. Well, that's new. Music was Afro Celt Sound System w/Sinead, 'Release Me' and Audioslave's 'Shadow of the Sun.'

January 6, 2009: Please program one or more emergency contact numbers into your cell phone (under ICE [for 'In Case of Emergency'] or Emergency). Mary Green's new ECO panty is made with silk remnants. A bit on the difference between the right and left brain as inspired by Jill Bolte Taylor, author of Stroke of Insight, and "taking responsibility for the energy you bring to me" (what we bring to each other, the world, etc.). Toxic emissions of all kinds must be cleaned up. Third-hand smoke? Yes. See BBC news and New York Times ... plus the unfortunate toxic spew coming from FOX "news". Insects, including bees, are having trouble finding flowers due to pollution. News about foreign fishermen injecting formaldehyde into fish to keep it "fresh." Thank goodness for a clean, yummy salmon source, Vital Choice, who recently announced their packaging (cans, pouches, etc.) is now all free of pthalates! Music was, hmmn ... I forgot.

December 30, 2008: There's a new Austin Air filter for those with pets/pet allergies. Hospital workers are constantly exposed to disinfectants such as glutaraldehyde, which is a known sensitizer like formaldehyde. There's a forum called Workers Against Senseless Toxic Exposure (W.A.S.T.E.). Women are finally warned not to wear perfume during pregnancy. New study says what Reason's been saying: Toxic Contamination Starts at Home, and that we think of pollution as coming from a factory, but not from the products we choose for our homes (2003 tests focused on Cape Cod because of its higher than average rate of breast cancer). A study about the Association between Asthma and Allergic Symptoms in Children and Phthalates in House Dust. Here's another non-toxic way to eliminate static safely. And finally, Why Analgesic Drugs May Be Less Potent In Females Than In Males. No discussion about toxicity that does not include the concept of susceptibility can be accurate ... or safe. Played delicacies from Funkadelic's incredible album Maggot Brain.

December 23, 2008: I believe this week's show was a re-run once more.

December 16, 2008: Reason thought the VFR party was last week, but it's this week (scheduled during my show ... feel free to complain), so listeners heard a previously re-run Antidote Radio program.

December 9, 2008: Reason local announcements included a "laughter yoga" event and a resource called Ride Buzz. Louisiana was, not surprisingly, judged this year's most unhealthy state, but Massachusetts ranked well (#6 of healthiest states list after #1 Vermont, #2 Hawaii and #3 New Hampshire). If you can't afford to go all organic, onions, avocados, pineapple and bananas are among the produce with lowest levels of pesticide residue. We talked about Dinotefuran (or "Vectra"), a new furanicotinyl flea insecticide treatment for cats (agh). It may not inhibit cholinesterase or interfere with sodium channels like organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid compounds can, but they "think" it affects nicotinic acetylcholine binding in a way that differs from other neonicotinoid insecticides. Whatever, it's poison. It's not classified as a PAN "bad actor" chemical because there isn't an "official "list" endocrine disruptors! P.S. Don't use the dog version on cats, as it contains permethrin. Better yet, go to Beyond Pesticides as well as Safe Solutions, Inc., Get IPM, or Safe2Use for alternatives. Thank goodness people complained about the toxic stench of Whole Foods Market's new holiday item -- the nasty fumes from chemical-soaked ("cinnamon scented") pine cones (by Bottomley, thanks) filled the store, and my lungs. Thank goodness WFM responded and removed them. Music was Beck's awesome 'Elevator Music,' 'Strange Apparition' and 'Dark Star.'

December 2, 2008: Due to special VFR board meeting (out of Reason's control, sorry!), listeners heard a re-run of the show with Dr. Rapp from April 4, 2006.

November 25, 2008: Re-run of show from January 8, 2008.

November 18, 2008: Re-run of interview with Dr. Rea (August 15, 2006), plus one of my favorite shows (from October 18, 2005).

November 11, 2008: Carl Jung said that "The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do is to withdraw the projection of our shadow onto others." Reason read from and discussed Paul Levy's piece "George Bush is a Malignant Narcissist" ... and much more.

November 4, 2008: summary upcoming

October 28, 2008: Special live musical guest Tony D. with his bass to reminisce and invite us to a funk/disco party at the Winterland. Issues of accessibility, "ableism" and it taking a village to survive with environmental/industrially challenged/caused illnesses. Perfect example in the news of a town being extremely unsupportive of a chemically sensitive woman living in a "shed" and commentary from Peggy Munson. An article "The Worst Places For Your Health" reminds us that we track pesticides and other pollutants and allergens into our houses on shoes. Best to remove them, or at least not wear outside shoes into the bedroom. Music was live, in-house Tony D., plus KC and the Sunshine Band and Diana Ross.

October 21, 2008: summary upcoming

October 14, 2008: summary upcoming

October 7, 2008: quick summary to be updated soon: John Tucker of Purely Decadent (866-388-7853) talked with us about their amazing, agave-sweetened, cow's milk-free, lower fat/sugar/calories/cholesterol, etc. coconut milk-based non-dairy frozen dessert. Forget the rest, we talked about the chocolate one! Reason ranted about how much Splenda sucks and a bit about why according her own logic, experience AND a new study. Two guests tonight! Second one was Aimee Howard, a Casting Director for shows on Discovery Health's new channel, Planet Green, came on to discuss a new show, "Mystery: EI," and request story submissions. Open House at the new Traprock Peace Center (now 14 Miles Street, Greenfield). Music TBA.

September 30, 2008: Thanks for your donations, especially Klon, Josh and Deb! Over 5k in donations pledged by listeners! We talked about acute vs. chronic illness, Jenny McCarthy on Oprah who concurred with a tenet of AR, that vaccines NOT SAFE FOR EVERYONE, nor are chemicals, drugs, etc. Thank you and FINALLY. Reason presented news such as ScienceDaily's story on how Low Sperm Count May Be Associated With Prenatal Testosterone Excess ... but of course. Weekend event notices included: Ghost Quartet at Rendevous in Turners, Mass Production at Deja Brew in Wendell, the Grand Band Slam in Chicopee at Maximum Capacity, and Joe MoFo (Joe Jackson tribute band) at the Brass Cat in Easthampton.

September 23, 2008: Fundraising show. Thanks to Steve Curylo of Evening Classics for taking donation calls. Read some old summaries of AR and such. Music TBA.

September 16, 2008: summary upcoming

September 9, 2008: Amongst the news and relative peace, Reason discussed the erotic vs. the pornographic, chaos theory and more. Read from Lynne McTaggart's amazing book, The Intention Experiment. McTaggart's doing a dinner in NYC at FIONS this Sunday. Also, why John Stossel sucks (his "story" on raw foodism was really an entirely thoughtless/mindless attack) ... proving once again that Stossel is the furthest thing from a journalist. Music was one of Madonna's best songs 'Secret Garden,' 'Erotica,' and 'What it Feels Like for a Girl.' Too bad we didn't have time for 'Justify My Love.'

September 2, 2008: Tips included a reminder about a great, non-toxic static eliminator, an MCS travel resource/directory, and how to recycle mercury-containing light bulbs (Whole Foods in Hadley is one location). Mayhaps a bit from Sue Monk Kidd's "Dissident Daughter" and probably more on pronoia from the ever-lovin' Rob Brezsny. Howard Zinn apparently said: "We don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." Bits on intention, Tom/McKenna, etc. Our Valley Advocate's Tom Sturm wrote (in his great May 29th review of the latest Mawwal CD): << McKenna theorized worlds that were all but imperceptible without the aid of psychedelics, and had some pretty smart stuff to say about it all: "Right here and now, one quanta away, there is a raging universe of active intelligence that is transhuman and hyperdimensional. The true situation in which we are embedded is an organism, an organization of active intelligence on a galactic scale." >> YES. Ended with a little Rumi powetry ;). Music was Erykah Badu and Portishead's 'Glory Box,' I believe.

August 26, 2008: Transperformance happened tonight (how did I not know about this cool event before?). ScienceDaily reports, as does your Voice of Reason, that Alexander Technique Offers Long-term Relief For Back Pain. Also that False Memories Affect Behavior (damn straight) and ask Is It Possible To Teach Experience? European Researchers Say Yes. We enjoyed Science Daily tonight, as they also offered that New 'Catch-and-tell' Molecules Send Out Light Signals When They Catch Chemicals In Blood. Also, we discussed Acute Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Linked To Development Of Schizophrenia (<> ie, DON'T STRESS WOMEN OUT, when will people learn that woman is goddess and creator of all and must be treated as such, else we all pay the price?). Music was Led Zeppelin's 'That's The Way,' Erykah Badu 'Green Eyes,' and an attempt at Portishead's 'Glory Box.'

August 19, 2008: Alexander Technique applications (how do you have right intention or do/say/think/feel, etc. your best if you're not in alignment?). Chronic illness means sometimes there's little context for healthy people to share in our pains & joys. Ann Davies quoted as saying "The only way anyone is ever cured of desiring nonsensical things is by getting the nonsensical things and then experiencing the unpleasant but educational consequences." Other topics included holy desire, Conventional Infertility Treatments "Useless" Even As Fertility Rates Plummet for Mainstream Toxic Consumers, kindling, The Zeigarnik Effect (or how unfinished business can disturb), also here. Music TBA.

August 12, 2008: Joining us again this evening, for a special part two interview, was special guest, local Alexander Technique instructor, musician and all-around lovely person, Christine Olson. Tune in to find out what the Alexander Technique is and how it might help you (it's all about ease). Your Voice of Reason finds it to be one of the most amazing things ever ... words are simply not enough. Watch out for enzyme cleaners, as they may contain proteolytic and other enzyme forms that may cause/exacerbate asthma. Music was from Ocean's 13 soundtrack, plus St. Germain's 'Sure Thing,' Zap Mama's 'Ca Varie Varie.'

August 5, 2008: Greetings, dear listeners. Commentary, The Intention Experiment, current events and more tonight ... don't miss it! Become a member of Valley Free Radio so that we can stay on the air! But remember, the Look Park thing has been changed. VFR is still three years old, but for celebration information and ways to support the station, check out the VFR web site or call 413-584-1160. Nina Simone R&R 'Mosquiters Tweeter;' Black Snake Moan words from Son House; Kruder Dorfmeister, last 3 tracks off DJ Kicks; Me'Shell's 'Shooting Up & Getting High.'

July 29, 2008: Tonight's topic was the Alexander Technique, and Christine Olson was our fabulous guest ... so fabulous that this was only part one! Tenets of AT have a great deal in common with those of Antidote Radio and the potential for human evolution. From Wiki: "'end-gaining' is argued to increase the likelihood of selecting older, poor physical habits with the potential for injury. Experimentation and suspension of the goal in question is recommended, along with using more intentional and appropriate means." One way to stop your body/brain from automatically enacting unhelpful muscular patterns is to perform a routine task such as standing up (or speaking, sitting, etc.), but while doing so, saying to yourself that you're NOT standing up. Wiki says, "the term 'inhibition' describes a moment of conscious awareness that interrupts a habitual pattern of muscular misuse." This is a profound tool. Reason encourages listeners to try a session with a trained professional. Find your closest practitioner and more at the Alexander Technique Center of New England. Check out literature such as The Use of the Self or the expensive/hard to find title, 'Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual,' but the power of proper instruction cannot be overstated. The AT wikipedia entry also says: "The learning process also demands giving up out-dated, but sometimes "favored" ways of thinking and acting." Indeed. Music was Janis Joplin's 'Summertime,' Zap Mama's 'Ca Varie Varie,' and Jeff Buckley's 'Mojo Pin' (all for good reason).

July 22, 2008: Quote of the day was from Katharine Graham, President, Washington Post Co.: "Truth and news are not the same thing." We started off the show defining the word "retarded." Unrelatedly, Reason recently learned of the not-exactly-new Side Street Cafe (413-587-8900) at 42 Maple St. here in Florence. Despite being wholly unimpressed with Side Street's chocolate dessert, the soup and atmosphere were great, and Reason looks forward to further culinary exploration. News updates on the toxic cargo in the Phillipines; for one of the more disturbing stories, click here. We also discussed Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days, in particular, the episode about living on a Native American reservation. We touched upon Jerry Mander's In the Absence of the Sacred, inspiring Reason to comment on American's toxic inner legacy of guilt and shame and the unsustainability of this country from the get-go. America is built on psychic (and other) quicksand. Nothing can be built on wrong and expected to stand. But there's hope yet or your Voice of Reason would "allow herself to simply expire." As for drilling in Anwar? We do not need to make that mistake. Many say that Goethe said (apparently he did not, but W. H. Murray was involved), "Concerning all acts of initiative and creation ... The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues for the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforseeen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man or woman could have dreamed would come his or her way. Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." Whoever said it, it fits with how we MUST find, and are entirely capable of finding, a better way. Radiohead's first three glorious tracks off Amnesiac.

July 15, 2008: Oooh! Reason found an ice cream she can eat without too much guilt or consequence, hooray! Turtle Mountain's Purely Decadent (866-388-7853) coconut milk "ice cream" has NO SUGAR (agave, yeehaw!) and less fat, with great taste and no cholesterol, etc. Wow. This stuff is way better than soy- or rice-based frozen desserts. It's actually like ice cream. For more deliciosity, try Liz Lovely's chocolate cookie, one of the best cookies Reason's ever eaten. Wow again. The gluten-free ones are on the way. I'll keep you posted. Reminder to try DandyBlend, a coffee alternative that's actually worth drinking, AND it has dandelion root in it. Fantastic. If you want to have some coffee now, AND some reishi mushroom, try instant products by Gano Brand (or from this known affiliate). I've been asked about dentists in the past and can finally offer a few options. Most locally, and with whom I had a very positive experience, are the holistic-friendly Valley Dentists (413-584-6275), near the Donut Man in Hadley. I've also had great experiences with the Groton Dental Wellness Spa (978-449-9919). Excellent facility. I found both of these places to be great about fragrances and such. Third, there's Mark Breiner in Orange, CT (203-799-6353). I've never been, but I've heard good things. Like most toxic chemicals, DEET can cause psychiatric disturbances. See info here also. Thus, once again, for bug stuff, I shall continue to recommend Bite Away from Gaiam (877-989-6321). It works, and it doesn't stink or hurt anyone/anything. Updates on the sunken ferry in the Phillipines ... Del Monte's toxic cargo and salvage firm chosen. Lastly, some good news! Some toxic chemical levels are declining, mostly due to reduction in use (see, we can make a difference!), however, mercury from coal is on the rise. Music was ... uhm, I'll get back to you on that.

July 8, 2008: More upcoming ... but Reason read Elie Weisel's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech from the back of his book, Night. In news, it turns out that the endosulfan (toxic pesticide and persistent organic pollutant/POP) on the passenger ferry that sunk in the Phillipines was supposed to be on a cargo ship. And finally, we got to hear the cock song, at least as Reason read it (Joe Laur's "Bawdy Chickens," 2008, Ragged Ass Music).

July 1, 2008: More upcoming, but Robert Bresson said to "Make visible what, without you, might have never been seen." Reason's scented air and clothing rant (“air sculpture” my ass) plus Alexa Danner's May 13th article Scents and Sensibility. Teaser for Joe Laur's cock (rooster, people ... ROOSTER) song.

June 24, 2008: upcoming

June 17, 2008: upcoming

June 10, 2008: Chinese Proverb: "Let the person saying it can not be done not interrupt the person doing it." Friend Jim M. said "a wise friend once told me that the only difference between stress and excitement is how you breathe." And from Confucius, "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." It's getting easier to go green. The Environmental Working Group is working on the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act (for more info, EWG Public Affairs, 202-667-6982). On May 20, "landmark chemical reform" was introduced in Congress ("Legislation Would Place Burden on Industry to Prove Chemicals Are Safe" ... finally). On Monday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission was (finally) urged to recall PVC shower curtains from store shelves immediately. Mine has lived outdoors for five years and still stinks of toxic plastic. More on this PVC thing at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (Falls Church, VA 703-237-2249) and here. Other subjects tonight included: baking soda as deodorant; ticks; Clorox Greenworks (yeah, maybe); and a rant on toxic chlorine, which is a pesticide. News: bleach fire. More news: Melting Glaciers May Release DDT And Contaminate Antarctic Environment ... what we buy/use/do/transport/manufacture/think matters. Music was from Soundgarden and Tony Allen's Psycho on the Bus.

June 3, 2008: More upcoming, but OSHA says “Air travels the path of least resistance.” Reason discussed healthier deodorant options; plus Clorox owning Brita, and how ironic it is that we use Brita to filter out toxic chlorine and then dump the used (and yep, you guessed it: toxic) filters in landfills for chemicals to leach back into our waterways and then get treated by more chlorine ... sigh, let's not. Click here for an alternative.

May 27, 2008: Thanks to Tony of VFR's Parapolitics, Reason was able to do the show from home by phone this evening! Due to gas prices and other such limitations, Reason had to get creative ;).

May 20, 2008: "Trust nature ... it has been here before" (who said that?). Special guest, laute player Jim Matus of Mawwal ... the work of Rupert Sheldrake and Terrence McKenna were discussed. "By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers ... This palpable world, which we are used to treating with the boredom and disrespect with which we habitually regard places with no sacred association, is a holy place." (From Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu; thanks again, Rob Brezsny.) Plotinus: "Let the body think of the spirit as streaming, pouring, rushing and shining into it from all sides."

May 13, 2008: upcoming ... but music was Erykah Badu

May 6, 2008: upcoming

April 29, 2008: upcoming

April 22, 2008: upcoming ... but I think the innocent Alton Logan was finally released last Friday!

April 15, 2008: Innocent Alton Logan is still in jail. Please contact Attorney General Lisa Madigan (217-782-1090) and demand he be released. Two young, female community radio activists were murdered in Mexico. Reason explored Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces" on women. More from Reason on forward memory. "Intention orchestrates its own fulfillment." Basic principle in Heisenberg's and Bohr's quantum theory is that sub-atomic particles don't exist until they are observed. Then there's the quantum-eraser effect: "... behavior of the particles when the experiment begins appears to be determined entirely by things that don't even happen until the experiment is finished." Lynne McTaggart and The Intention Experiment. "(The) idea that events are not influenced by the observer does not hold in quantum physics dealing with electrons and sub-particles." Zero Point Field theory helps "medical practitioners understand the underlying scientific basis for homeopathy." Reason says someone needs to help John Stossel and his tiny little mind (or get him off the air). Music from Erykah Badu: 'Didn't Cha Know,' 'Cleva' and 'Time's a Wastin.'

April 8, 2008: Great quotes: "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt. "We need not revolt directly and forcefully against the present order because this order is inherently doomed." ~ Mike Byron. Local events this weekend: a Somatics (413-586-2555) workshop at Inspirit Common; Rob Skelton's "post-folk, punkass" band Pitchfork plays the Montague Bookmill (complete with the best maple syrup Reason's ever tasted); and Limbofest at Look Park. Reason expressed her issues with Condoleeza Rice on ticket or not. But if Rice runs with McCain, those who may be specifically voting to get a woman or person of color into office might more freely vote their true feelings. If Rice runs, they could get a woman or person of color on either ticket (in her case, both). Hopefully, people will vote on issues and character without her, but I won't hold my breath. A bit from "Lest We Forget" by Alice Walker plus Reason's thoughts about Barack Obama, choices and hope. A reading from Albert Camus' The Rebel (mostly Sir Herbert Read's foreword). Speaking of choices and hope, Camus believed that "Each of us is free to stoke the crematory fires of Buchenwald or nurse lepers in an African hospital." A story about a Muslim gas station attendant saving a NY synagogue from arson by calling 911 saying "It was a sacred place he was going to destroy." Thank you. Reason diagnosed the entire country, media, and medical field (entire world really) with a deadly case of the Semmelweis Reflex. Music was Erykah Badu ...

April 1, 2008: Rudolf Bahro said "When an old culture is dying, the new is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure." Comments from the Nightline story on Dr. Rea. Reason redeemed real octopi (octopuses) the best she could (certain toy octopi being made nearly entirely of pthalates) with news of their love lives. I'm not the only one who thinks synthetic is nasty, Roget's New Millennium Thesaurus says synthetic is a synonym for awful. Intro from Michael Brownstein's online novel Must Not Sleep, including quote from John Perkins: "The first roll of the shaman's drum in fiction, this incendiary novel asks why we're pursuing policies on a global scale almost certain to result in our destruction. Who or what is responsible for this situation? Read Must Not Sleep and find out." Reason really needs Al Gore's example of picking himself up after one of the greatest disappointments (need a better word here) anyone could ever imagine. He went from "losing" the presidency to George/a loser, to winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Now I feel bad for telling him, "you're my president" ... as if he needed some kind of consolation. My experience with yucca root, a phytoestrogen. Estrogen, estrogen mimicking, and the normalization of early puberty (age 8!?!), A Fake Group Fights for Monsanto's Right to Deceive You and the related Ben & Jerry's Fights to Keep Label. Sadly, the carcinogen 1,4 dioxane is also prevalent in baby shampoo. And who among us thought cosmetics were regulated so that lipstick isn't full of lead? Nope, it's not. Oh, and parabens suck. Further talk of gender in art and culture with the help of Heinz Insu Fenkl's excellent piece on the Starbucks mermaid/siren logo. Terence McKenna left us with: "There is a great insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort, and ignore: that Nature is a minded entity; that Nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields; that Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind." Thank you. And special thanks to Rob Brezsny, who always provides nourishing fodder. Musically tonight, Nina Simone Remixed and Remastered gave us 'Obeah Woman' and 'Go To Hell,' while the Black Snake Moan soundtrack gave us 'Lord Have Mercy on Me.'

March 25, 2008: Subatomic particles and how witnessing influences reality. Nightline's "interesting" piece last week about chemical sensitivity/environmental illness and the Texas Board of Medicine's attack on Dr. Rea. Dr. Bronner's and the OCA bring suit against poor labeling of questionable "natural" products (carcinogenic 1,4 dioxane). Safer plastics (stick with numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5). PBS Now's fantastic piece on nasty pthalates. A bit on spiritual perfume to remind people of what we're missing when we saturate/overstimulate/poison/numb and otherwise obliterate the gift of our senses. More to come ... but there was music from Animals.

March 18, 2008: Alice remarked in Wonderland, "I can't remember things before they happen." The White Queen says to her, "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards." Wow. This triggered a sparkling epiphany for your Voice of Reason about the whole intention/law of attraction thing ... FORWARD MEMORY. "Curiouser and curiouser," indeed. Thank you Lewis Carroll. Reason read a piece of writing from five years ago about being chemically sensitive and taking a walk. Dr. Sears says lung volume is number one indicator for risk of death ... the bigger your lung volume, the longer you'll live. Find more here. Last week, the AP reported Air Too Dirty to Breathe in 345 Counties. Ended show with red flags that you're dealing with a borderline (BPD) from Lynn Melville's Boomerang Love (to be continued). Music was Positive by Michael Franti/Spearhead, Shake Your Rump by the Beastie Boys, Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne, and Just Like This by Limp Biscuit.

March 11, 2008: Further summary/links forthcoming ... Helen Keller quotes, BPD month/May, ecosafe, Alton Logan, pfoa non-stick, phytotox, drugged water. Music was from Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother (If, Summer), and DK's After and Slowhand Hussein.

March 4, 2008: Further summary/links forthcoming ... an amusing pesticide rant (well, as funny as chemicals-designed-to-kill can be), getting 'hoisted with your own petard' (not unrelated to the first topic), "if you see something, say something," Michael Brownstein, Beastie Boys

February 26, 2008: Further summary/links forthcoming ... healingdick.com, mustnotsleep.com, World on Fire, Black Sabbath.

February 19, 2008: summary/links forthcoming

February 12, 2008: Summary/links forthcoming. Music was O'Death, Hard Time Killing Floor Blues, and Pearl Jam.

February 5, 2008: Summary/links forthcoming. Great live Kiss from Alive! ('She' [for John Sheldon's hot dancer] and 'Deuce').

January 29, 2008: Quote from the Salton Sea: "Excuse me. I don't mean to impose, but I am the Ocean." Tonight, Reason started by expressing her gratitude for all the people who make Antidote Radio and Valley Free Radio happen, including ongoing efforts to keep the station accessible. This Saturday, enjoy John Sheldon and Blue Streak at a new spot in Greenfield, the Winterland Country Club (76 Hope Street, 772-0111). An on-air thank you to the Route 63 Roadhouse in Millers Falls for no longer scenting their bathrooms with toxic chemical spurting machines ... yay, Roadhouse! Reason provided a few teasers about upcoming antidotalicious content: how testing by specialized labs such as Metametrix can inform treatment and prevent health problems; inspiring Sounds True audiobooks and interviews with their authors; plus what the heck is acetaldehyde and why should we care? Anecdote about dysautonomia served to demonstrate the power of validation and listening to one's body, not to mention caring for others and taking warning signs seriously. Reason wanted to clarify what she means by 'prayer.' Once personally investigated, prayer is found to be simply asking ... having the willingness and humility to ask. It is fascinating that people reject it, argue about gOd (whatever it is to you) and prayer, and deny the power of prayer without having ever honestly tried it. People argue a lot, but if we're arguing, we're not inquiring. If we're not inquiring, we're not asking. And if we're not asking, how can we get any answers? Try thinking of prayer as humbly asking. Have you ever noticed that people who self-medicate to the extreme tend to be the ones who deny that life is good? (But of course.) Discussion of fear vs. faith and a reading about Henry Thomas Hamblin, founder of the Science of Thought Review. Much of the reading of late is about applied right thinking. Speaking of spirit and unseen power and such ... what is it with television shows about the "paranormal?" All the scary music is ridiculous. All it does is distract neutral viewers from what is often neutral subject matter and reinforce negative and ridiculous assumptions about other dimensions being automatically "scary" (not to mention making the shows look stupid). It's toxic, knock it off! Reason thinks spirits are pretty similar to living people ... they can be moody, etc., and we can make them go away if we but acknowledge them kindly and speak firmly. Reason then related her own personal "ghost story" (the only one she's got) and her new belief about why it happened and how she might have handled it better. Not believing in the unseen is far more bizarre than the unseen itself. Oh, and feelings ... anger and expressing it is not always bad ... see Lewis Black for example, possibly my favorite "ranter" of all time. Delectable live music was from both Led Zeppelin (Dazed and Confused) and Aerosmith (cover of James Brown's Mother Popcorn) ... oooh, talk about love.

January 22, 2008: Reason suggested listeners vote VFR the best FM radio station according to the VALLEY ADVOCATE BEST OF 2008! Polls are now open!!! Our category is on the "Dialed In" Ballot. Tell your neighbors; tell your friends; here's the link TO VOTE. Reminder about triclosan from Just say no: "Exposure to triclosan can damage the organs and disrupt hormones. ... triclosan reacts with chlorine in tap water waste to create chloroform, a toxic chemical, that eventually can end up in waterways." Reason recently reviewed a few hand sanitizers, including Hands2Go, but Dr. Weiss of CleanWellToday reminds us that BZK (benzalkonium chloride), despite its lack of odor, is still an industrial chemical with toxic effects. I LOVE his phrases: "the cost of being wrong" and "you are the decider!" Yes! Article about about ONE state's ban of mercury in cosmetics that triggers the question, 'wait, isn't it already banned?' Uhm, no. Again we're reminded of the Environmental Working Group and their project Skin Deep. Soon, we hope to have Suki of Suki's Naturals (a new-ish local company with a very nice natural skincare and make-up line) on to discuss some issues with Skin Deep, despite EWG's honorable intentions. Plastic grocery bags will soon NOT be an option when bagging our groceries at Whole Foods Markets. Oddly yet tellingly, according to a recent poll, most of the country thinks it's a good idea to ban plastic grocery bags, but the same percentage (70-80%) says they use them. On that note, please use biodegradable garbage bags! I have a favorite, but I cannot remember the brand/name. Cool piece on numerous topics, one being the placebo effect: "Several times a day, for several days ... induce pain in someone ... control the pain with morphine until the final day ... then replace the morphine with saline solution. The saline takes the pain away: placebo effect. When Fabrizio Benedetti of the University of Turin in Italy carried out this experiment, he added a final twist by adding naloxone, a drug that blocks the effects of morphine, to the saline. The pain-relieving power of saline solution disappeared. ... naloxone result seems to show that the placebo effect is somehow biochemical." Sounds like this relates to "limbic kindling," but we'll have to ask Dr. Iris Bell about that. More humorous moments with local activist and writer Sharon Wachsler's Sick Humor Postcards. A bit about prayer. Read from Khalil Gibran's The Prophet on pleasures ... to deny our desire, nature, is to deny our very being, and we will fail. Reason finds that needs and desires are the same if we go deep enough. Teaser on Henry Thomas Hamblin of the Founder of The Science of Thought Review and a bit from Emmet Fox's Power Through Constructive Thinking. Reason again tried to make spirituality more accessible/friendly to those less familiar. She says we must claim gOd, spirituality for ourselves, as our very own, directly experienced and uncontaminated, through each of us, by each of us. Emmet Fox says to practice the Golden Rule, "whether the other fellow does so or not." And ah, music ... we heard 'All Your Love' by Aerosmith, 'If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)' by Me'Shell NdegeOcello (for a fun reason that Reason explained, and the opposite of what it sounds like), and 'Emergency on Planet Earth' by Jamiroquai.

January 15, 2008: Reason was ON FIRE tonight! Introducing the show in such a state brought up the concept of inner fire/power and what we do with it. Like many modern people, Reason was not instructed in proper ways of managing her "fire" and so spent many years fighting it, trying to put it out, smother it, etc. Turns out that's really impossible as well as destructive, and when we misdirect our fire, we get burned, and often burn others. The creative fire is an expression of our true selves that must be faced, met, honored ... and if we let go, it just might provide fuel, light and warmth. Reason read a couple stanzas from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet on being good then a bit from Emmet Fox's 'Resist Not Evil' in the Sermon on the Mount. Mark Twain said, "We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it -- and stop there -- lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more." Environmentally speaking, have you switched to energy saving bulbs? Well, if you break a curly bulb, take your kids and pets and leave the house for at least 15 minutes to minimize exposure to toxic mercury! Agh. Commentary on humanity inspired by Somaly Mam's experience and activism regarding the sex trade ... in particular, if one cannot acknowledge another's suffering and treats other human beings as animals, then who is the animal? Reason can now differentiate between projection and projective identification, both of which are generally troublesome. A projection is a perspective that we put onto another that tends to be inherently false and has more to do with something about us. Projective identification is when we falsely identify with another person's projection onto us, essentially taking it on as a belief about ourselves. A personal example would be Reason's long-time dysfunctional pattern of projecting loving goodness and kindness onto people who mainly possess the opposite characteristics (of course, they LOVE that), as well as her projective identification with their negative and false projections onto her. Such things (ie, lack of truth and clarity, not to mention denial) can serve as lifelong traps to keep us in unhealthy relationships. Reason intends to escape this deadly morass. Another example is how liars, cheaters and thieves tend to believe that everyone is a liar, cheater and thief. If we are honest, yet spend too much time inappropriately enmeshed with liars, cheaters and thieves, we may begin to believe that we too are dishonest. That is projective identification. Of course, this led into a teaser on borderline personality disorder (BPD's are masters of projection). There is even a National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEABPD) in Rye, NY! Sheryl Crow gave us 'It Don't Hurt' and 'Riverwide' and The 'Notic offered melodic 'Roots' with hints of Badu.

January 8, 2008: First new show of 2008 ... Happy New Year! As with anything else, we get out of Antidote Radio what we put in. As Michel de Montaigne said "A speech belongs half to the speaker and half to the listener." Reason could not help but start the show with a television ad for a drug for "restless leg syndrome" strangely named "Requip." The ad actually says, I quote, to "tell your doctor if you experience new or increased gambling, sexual, other intense urges." Gambling!?! They also said that side effects include dizziness, vomiting, etc. and something about how RLS isn’t "keeping me up anymore" (though the nausea alone might keep you down). What else can I say? [Note: it was fun to discover that Jon Stewart and I made fun of the same ad for the same reasons on the same night.] Tip: we can recycle batteries, cell phones, toner and compact fluorescent light bulbs at Whole Foods Market, so let's! Reason is very sad about Britney, who looks as though she's going to die. But people in 'la la' land, like some hippies on weed, seem to think that noticing when someone's in trouble is 'wishing it upon them.' Yeah, is that what you say when greenies talk about the environment, dude? Reason would really like to see hippie stoners, and all other types of stoners, get off the greenleaf crack. It's not helping. Reason read two translations of the same Rumi piece (snips: "I came to this earth so that I can find the way back to my Beloved." "Love is the mirror, it reflects only your essence, if you have the courage to look in its face." "Don't plant anything but love, you show your worth by what you seek." Yum.) Your 'Voice of' offered thoughts about humanity, emotions, primitive impulses, and how some people can act like a bull being provoked by crowds in "running of the bull" ceremonies: they lash out generally, even at those trying to help them, because they're in pain yet they have not the sentience to seek it's source. Story of a very unlikable boy shoving his thumbs into the eyes of a struggling shark he had caught while sitting astride said shark (now on deck). Reason tearily expressed her hope that this boy grows up to find his humanity. In the name of less-toxic utilitarianism, we compared hand sanitizers to help people get the hell off triclosan: Clean Well has a nice but relatively strong smell and uses thyme oil; EO Products is a good company, but their sanitizer reeks of alcohol (untolerable for me, though it's organic); Hands2Go is a foam, uses BZK, and has no smell. Pick your own. Reason introduced Real Purity for more pure personal care products (very clean). Mention of local holistic nurse, counselor and environmental health consultant, Peggy Wolff. Introduced Sharon Wachsler's Sick Humor Postcards. Final thought: have you ever noticed that people who have a problem giving love tend to claim it’s because other people aren’t lovable enough? A couple music tracks by Dzihan & Kamien, then DJ Cam's 'Juliet.'

January 1, 2008: Re-run of show with Gangaji to celebrate the start of 2008.

December 25, 2007: Christmas re-run of recent show with Gangaji.

December 18, 2007: Ayurvedic wisdom: "Without proper diet, medicine is of no use. With proper diet, there is no use for medicine." Recent air freshener poll horrified your Voice of Reason ... it suggested that 80% of the population uses air freshener and a quarter of the entire population uses them in EVERY ROOM. No wonder George got into office (toxic brains are toxic minds). Silly there was no option for "air freshener is toxic" ... there was only "I'm for open windows." But who exactly doesn't know that actual fresh air is how you "freshen" air? Oh, yeah ... apparently almost EVERYONE around us. Say a prayer, folks. Speaking of air and fresh and all that, Reason ranted about seeing a gorgeous woman on television (not in an ad) using various bottles of toxic chemicals to scent herself. Do we really think this little of ourselves? Why do we compulsively insist on changing our natural smell? She probably smelled great and sensuous before toxic waste-dumping all over herself. Now she's all toxo and her yummy scent "fingerprint" is altered and/or obliterated. Speaking of sexuality, there's yet another new healthy lube to try out on your precious parts! I haven't tried it, but it's called YesYesYes, does NOT include many terrible ingredients, and comes in a sensuously almost-phallic container. But watch out for personal care products by Alba. They're like hell in goo form ... shockingly made by Avalon Organics, whose products I like. I don't love Avalon products, but I like them and can tolerate them. Alba on the other hand is like nuclear waste with a half-life. Who are they kidding? Alba is scented with questionable toxic chemicals, so either Alba/Avalon is lying, suppliers are lying to them, or ignorance is doing a number on everyone. ALBA = BAD ... watch out. Recent article tells us something we should already know: Toxic Chemicals from Shampoo, Soap may Be Seeping into Drinking Water (in other words, DUH ... and no it's not "may be" unless you're using the toxic chemicals ON ANOTHER PLANET). Owners of a "biohotel" (Eloisa Navarro and Antonio Raya) in Spain are "strong believers of the influence buildings have on our health and behavior." Indeed ... so what's with the Eastworks building these days? Was it always like this? The fluorescent, optic nerve and nervous system decimating lights in there were like nothing I've ever experienced. I went for a very empty event and immediately walked right the hell back out and didn't recover for an hour or so. Maybe if they put life-friendly lighting in there, more people would show up. (What's worse, what we do or what we believe?) In toxo toy news, Aqua Dots Seizure Indicates Toxic Toys Still a Threat ... Reason couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of it all (whilst saying a prayer for the injured kids, including one in a COMA). Using the date rape drug to coat toys?! Drugs are chemicals and chemicals are drugs, so it's not that absurd, but awareness is low, so it widens the eyes (oh yeah, except for the kids that swallow a bead or two). Sick of toxic toys? Locally, enjoy a selection of safer stuff at A Child's Garden in Northampton (204 Main St., 413-584-2242) ... the proprietor of which, Kate Glynn, was just interviewed on Valley Free Radio. There is hope! But remember Katrina and all the lessons on formaldehyde poisoning we've been getting by the unfortunate victims of both? The saga goes on (as it most likely will forever): Toxic living in FEMA trailers? article says that "FEMA employees ... were ordered ... to stay away from trailers." Some children had to sleep outside the trailers to end non-stop vomiting. I ask how these people will ever be able to differentiate depression caused by natural and social disaster from the effects of chemical toxicity! I bet no one's told them about the many other terrible formaldehyde-induced problems to which they have to look forward. In fact, some people left trailers for modular homes, only to find formaldehyde warning stickers on all the walls! No, I do not recommend modular tox boxes ... EVER (unless you're being chased by a bear ... then you might run in, hold your breath, and run out the other side ... but you should also squeeze your eyes shut, as the eyes absorb chemicals too). The percentage of people reporting illness from the trailers is similar to the percentage of the U.S. population that reports sensitivity to chemicals in general. To check your own indoor air quality, maybe Advanced Chemical Sensors (888-338-4230) can help? Finally, bridging the gap between healthcare providers and people with certain chronic illnesses is EHCWM's latest publication, "Accessible Healthcare and Chemical Sensitivity," a 16-page booklet available currently from NEEDS. Last but not least, why not sign the impeachment hearings petition? In closing, to paraphrase Duncan Campbell from his interview with Gangaji: "Instead of going to the study and reading, seeking refuge in an ideology or a concept, or ideas of how to be, a religion of any kind ... take down a musical instrument and be willing to sing your own song." Then, dearest Soundgarden blessed us with 'Outshined,' 'Somewhere' and 'Searching for a Girl with My Good Eye Closed.'

December 11, 2007: The Voice of Reason went on with the show this evening, despite being "hopped up" on medication for severe dysmenorrhea and in quite a bit of pain (the meds don't take away the pain, they just make it just bearable enough that I'm willing to stay alive). Pollution doesn't help, people. Upon preparing for the show this week, I have never gotten more "toxic" news headline results, EVER (I do a certain search). The usual range is from four to ten. This week? FORTY-SEVEN. Holy toxo. In better news, our very own Mr. Chang of Amherst Chinese has bottled, labeled and marketed his schizandra berry juice, calling it Zana. Reason budgets for it along with rent, food and gas. Recently, his efforts were written up in Organic & Wellness News. If your friends and loved ones don't like the natural shampoo's you've been suggesting, here are a couple that are more mainstream and work very well, yet are very unsmelly (I can use both): Bliss lemon+sage supershine shampoo and Collective Wellbeing moisturizing shampoo. My favorite is still the local shampoo bar by Just Soap (and it's cheaper than the rest, with the least ingredients), but I also like (essential oil warning) Lamas Chinese Herb Stimulating Shampoo. In nonsense this week (otherwise known as poppycock), the author of this article proclaimed that one would "have to ingest over 7100 times more than the current daily dietary exposure to BPA [bisphenol A, a pthalate] before there would be the potential for an adverse toxic effect." No, no and NO. Comments like this NEVER take into account cumulative effects, synergistic effects or sensitivity. It's a bunch of nonsense, plain and simple. Use your logic. Funny, that article is from a place called MomLogic ... apparently they're wrong on a few things. Speaking of phthalates and children, check out Healthy Toys. Students won an award for creating a biosensor that sniffs out chemical danger. If they only knew. I'm my own biosensor. You could be one too! First organic certified hotel by BIO-Hotels opens in Spain. Some guy in Boston who does parties (James Mitchell) has written a slew of material in response to people being generally annoying. Some of it's a bit much, but I particularly enjoy his stuff about high TCI (Total Cost of Interaction) people. Don't you love it! Wow, as someone learning how not to be a codependent enabler, I especially dig his thing about how tolerating bad behavior is immoral ... when do we ever hear that? Not enough, I say. Please, every time I wrest myself from the clutches of a punk-ass [insert expletive here], I feel guilty for having made the devil stronger. Mitchell insists these high TCI people impart a toll on our collective psyche and asks "where is the outrage?" Indeed! He says, if we did them (punk TCI's) a favor by cutting them loose, we would make the world a better place, as eventually, they'd get the point. This evening's quote, by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking." Music was all Alice in Chains (including Bleed the Freak, for obvious reasons). This show has no archive ... the magic of this particular eve is lost in the ether forever.

December 4, 2007: The day went awry in so many ways, so a VFR volunteer (thank you, unpaid angel) played an Antidote Radio re-run from May 2006 with Ruurd from the Netherlands who came here and represented his chemically-sensitive-thus-unable-to-travel partner, Els check out her new book!). The studio recorder is in the midst of getting replaced, so Reason could not have archived the show, anyway, dear listeners. [Please note, sometimes upon re-running Antidote Radio, we re-play the same-runs, as choice is limited to whatever fits with the automation specs.]

November 27, 2007: Yay! Gangaji joined us on the air this evening, and it was a delight. She says, "We are what realizes itself." Yes, that's exactly why I had her on! She is my very own voice speaking to my self ... in the most divine way. Reason read the lyrics of "Blessed Teacher" by recent guest Joe Laur, as a perfect tribute to this evening's guest ... and must put in print, here and now, a thank you to my parents, who allowed me to find gOd myself by not religion-izing me. Among other things, Reason and Gangaji discussed paradox, illness, sexuality, religion, misidentification, support vs. control, and standing naked before gOd ...despite your host's tinge of nervousness. Upon listening to Gangaji's audio book recently, Reason had an ephiphanic moment of victorious relief when Gangaji explained simply that "enlightenment giving us nothing." Accessibility and direct experience are two important concepts linking Gangaji and the Voice of Reason ... the truth is accessible to all, and direct experience is the best way to know it. Reason consistently asks her listeners to find out for themselves, to be mindful, and warns of the dangers of collective, blind trust of perceived "authority." I like how Gangaji says, "I ask people to investigate it for themselves." Yes, thank you. I try to do the same. In Duncan Campbell's interview with Gangaji, he talks of "people who are willing to take the secondary experience rather than having their own direct experience." Exactly. He also says (I'm paraphrasing) that 'religion as an organized institution is designed to give comfort, not to confront people with their own pain or show them how to go deeply into their own self-empowerment.' This is exactly where religion and I disagree. Antidote Radio stands for empowerment of the individual to see gOd, the universe, as the individual's own self, and vice versa. And the Voice of Reason states emphatically that that, in fact, is exactly why we are here. Gangaji is scheduled to do a retreat in person next September at nearby Kripalu. You can reach The Gangaji Foundation by calling 800-267-9205 or emailing info@gangaji.org. Local cable access shows Satsang w/Gangaji in Easthampton on channel 5 Tues., Wed., Thurs. at 9pm. Not sure when she's on in Amherst and Greenfield. After the show, Reason received an email saying that the practice, the road, is not as easy as Gangaji says it is. However ... Gangaji is not speaking of a practice, but the truth itself. That listener missed the point. Quote this evening was from James Kern Feibleman: "That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not." But I will leave you with a paraphrased invitation from Gangaji: 'Stop. Be still. Stop following your story. Stop looking for something. Stop and meet what doesn't change. Until, of course, that becomes conceptualized, just another way of avoiding stopping ... and then ... stop again.' Music was, sublimely, Radiohead's 'There There,' Ray LaMontagne's 'Be Here Now,' and Zap Mama's 'Ca Varie Varie' and 'Nostalgie Amoureuse.'

November 20, 2007: Gangaji was our scheduled guest this evening, but apparently, our enjoyment of Gangaji and her message was meant to happen another time, as the studio was nothing short of a fiasco this evening. The production room bleed-through into Reason's headphones combined with pounding, singing and echoing from some kind of makeshift concert rehearsal hall upstairs to create unreasonableness that even Reason couldn't antidote. There was no way for the show to go on ... I couldn't really think, improv or anything else, let alone be magically antidotalicious and talk with one of my favorite beings. Thankfully, Gangaji was willing to reschedule. Reason made do as best she could. Special thanks to Josh of RunAbout Cycles here in Florence who called in to help keep the show moving (perfect pun unintended). Check out this cool video of his hybrid electric/human-powered cycles. Later, VFR's own Warren of A Baha'i Perspective called in as a final treat ('twas his interview bleeding through the headphones, for which he was mighty sorry, and which the ever-awesome Ed of Active Ingredients promised to fix). Played Radiohead's first four tracks from OK Computer, plus one or two from Hail to the Thief ... PURE BRILLIANCE.

November 13, 2007: Reason spiced up the fundraising (call 413-584-1160 or visit Valley Free Radio's web site to help keep VFR on the air) with some talk of sex and orgasm and related matters you just might not believe from The Technology of Orgasm (winner of the American Historical Association's Herbert Feis Prize, the AFGAGMAS Biennial Book Award, and the Science Award from the American Foundation for Gender and Genital Medicine) by Rachel Maines and learn a lot indeed (such as how medical science didn't know there was such a thing as a female orgasm, etcetera). Quote from Dane Rudhyar shared by Rob Brezsny "Only a naive and unhistorical mind can think that facts are more powerful than myths. All radical changes in human history are the results of the spread of a myth that, in a totally convincing manner, answers a crucially experienced need at a period of crisis." The hysterical nature of women, for example, is a myth indeed. In other cultural wackiness, the misuse of me/I has become such an epidemic that Reason offered an amateur grammar lesson. We can tell whether certain sentences are incorrect using simple tests. For example, if we would not say "this has been hard on I" than we would not say "this has been hard on mom and I" ... we would say "been hard on mom and me" because we would say "been hard on me" ... get it? Or, "your mom and I have been doing well" is correct because you can remove "your mom" and say "I have been doing well," that is, it's not "me has been having a hard time" ... get it? If we would say "come to the store with me," then "come to the store with your mom and I" is incorrect. Hope that helps start a revolution of correct grammar regarding me/I! Speaking of needed revolutions, repressing healthy sexual expression is unnatural and leads to pathology. Are common conservative religious beliefs helping? This web site doesn't think so: Republican values create child molesters. On a more positive note, do yourself a favor (and thus the entire universe) and check out the WaiSays web sites. Reason read from her piece The Medical Need for Orgasms in Women, plus a snippet from 'Genetic' is a Lie. Great stuff, particularly the dietary information. Live luscious! Check out cool new global media: JustMedia and JustArts (coming soon) by the also new People Media Project (their mission is not unlike that of VFR's). Oil spills are terribly toxic, they cannot be undone, and they must be prevented. Sad recent spills in San Fran and another in Russian sea ... spare me the poppycock about "potential" damage when I know the suffering that petroleum/oil causes. There's a Lake Pleasant community forum about protecting the Montague Plains aquifer on December 5th at 7pm at the National Spiritual Alliance Meetinghouse (more info from the Montague Alliance to Protect Our Aquifer at 413-367-9352). The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is holding a public teleconference call on November 20 from 2 to 4pm EST to discuss EPA's Environmental Justice Strategic Enforcement Assessment Tool (EJSEAT). Must pre-register by 11/16 by calling Julianne Pardi of ICF International at 703-934-3873 or emailing jpardi@icfi.com. More info here. Sexpirational, sextacular music for tonight was Madonna's 'Erotica,' Joan Osborne's 'Match Burn Twice,' and Macy Gray's 'Caligula' (minus the dirty swear word).

November 6, 2007: Poignant quote from Francis Bacon: "To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none." Long-time listeners know that exposures before the show sometimes cause Reason to slur her speech a bit, lose word recall capabilities, have difficulty reading, and suffer general loss of eloquence. Finally, she found a word for it: toxic or transient aphasia (similar to ataxia, which is loss of coordination). Inspired by a totally icky guy at a party recently, Reason shared her perspective on when others want something from us, it's because they have forgotten that they already have it themselves (ie, FIND YOUR OWN GLOW). Treat from Gangaji's teacher: Papaji, what is freedom? "Freedom is a trap! A man who is imprisoned in a jail needs to be free, doesn't he? He is trapped in the jail and he knows that the people outside are free. You are all in prison and you have heard about outside from your parents, priests, teachers and preachers. 'Come to us,' they say, 'and we will give you freedom. Come to me and I will give you rest.' That is the promise, but this is only another trap. Once you believe it, you are caught in the trap of wanting freedom. You should be out of both these traps - neither in bondage nor in freedom - because these are only concepts. Bondage was a concept which gave rise to the concept of freedom. Get rid of both these concepts. Then, where are you?" Thank you, Papaji! How much do our choices, culture and chemicals determine our health? Take a moment to contemplate the fact that only 5-10% of cancers are genetically pre-determined. Is there something you can change today? Dr. Oz has been talking about how to be healthier on Oprah this week and actually told people to use safer cleaning products! HALLELUJAH! Do better and ask it of others. Join the Sierra Club, Natural Center for Healthy Housing, Alliance for Healthy Homes, and Natural Resources Defense Council by adding your comments to their petition of the EPA regarding the toxicity of air freshener (type in 'air freshener,' click 'submit,' then docket #EPA-HQ-OPPT-2007-1016, then on 'Add Comments' ... then tell them what you know (personal experience and related science [helpful links below in "Hot Clicks" section]). Three local colleges make the top twenty in a new college ranking by how much each college does for our country. In the liberal arts category, our very own Amherst College is #5, Mount Holyoke College is #6 and Smith College is #16. Very cool. Not cool: finding GHB, a date rape drug, in toys. Nope, not kidding (but how the hell did it get there?). Organic mattresses are expensive, but Amish-made stuff from A Natural Home (866-239-4142) may enable those of us with less deep pockets to afford them (their toys and furniture look lovely too). Nominate a worthy American organization (by Jan. 8th) for an EPA Achievement in Environmental Justice Award (call 202-564-0736 or email hammond.lisa@epa.gov). On the other side of things ... oil drilling brings pollution and new diseases to indigenous people around the world. Reason compared it to rape: violating ecosystems and villages, while justifying it, then denying and/or making excuses for the damage, is RAPE. Music was 'Moonwaxing' by local songstress Celia, plus Fiona Apple's 'Limp,' Taj Mahal's 'Chevrolet' (courtesy a fan of the show), and Joan Osborne's 'Get Up Jack' ... all dedicated to one special person.

October 30, 2007: Reason was deeply moved by a recent Nature story, Silence of the Bees, on PBS. Did you know that most of our agriculture depends on bees? And that at the current rate, all the bees in America will be gone by 2035? In a particular region of China that depends on growing pears, pesticides killed ALL the bees, so they are forced to hand pollinate to produce pears. The method they developed is one of the most beautiful things one could ever imagine. Reason says, they did so wrong that they were forced to do so right ... A recent study found that females report having significantly more nightmares than males. When some suggest it could be related to women's comparatively higher rates of anxiety and mood disorders, I say, gee ... it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that males perpetrate the majority of VIOLENCE, upon WOMEN, now could it? Come on! The truth is so obvious we just don't see it, I guess. Men sure do get away with murder. In the news, a woman died from using hair straightening product (apparently they contain ten times the formaldehyde deemed safe). Disturbing and stupid Bounce commercial for new "Pure Essentials" fabric softener. I always think they must be kidding. This time, the "scent of aloe and white lilac!?!" Aside from this crap being neither 'pure' nor 'essential,' aloe doesn't have a freakin' smell. Be sure to complain, would you please? Inspired by Mark Morford's Come see our giant toxic stew!, Reason shared what she's learned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Most plastics don't biodegrade (they photodegrade into tiny, indigestible bits of plastic polymers), and the North Pacific subtropical gyre swirls them into a pile. It took Charles Moore over a week to cross this pile, and C.C.Ebbesmeyer estimates it's the size of Texas. To help, San Francisco banned the use of plastic grocery bags, yay; but boo, many bills failed because of opposition from the plastics industry. More boo: Japanese researchers found that the plastic absorbs toxic chemicals (DDT, PCBs, etc.) and concentrates them up to a million times. Result, "some of the most toxic pollutants known are being released into the food web." Read more here. Moore and Ebbesmeyer "hope their combined research and public-awareness campaign will spur development of agricultural plastics which won't be as toxic as petroleum-based plastics." Let us pray. Music was two of my favorite songs by Madonna: 'Secret Garden' and 'What it Feels Like for a Girl' ... plus a lively finish by Mary J. Blige with 'Let No Man Put Asunder.' Indeed.

October 23, 2007: Finally, Reason found a place to comfortably, successfully and affordably get a haircut! Anyone who is sensitive and has resorted to cutting their own hair might try Karen at Marche for Hair (99 Market St., Northampton, 413-585-0404), who is accustomed to working with sensitive people. I scheduled carefully, brought my own products, and all was well. Yay! Quick mention of megafires and global warming (re: Sixty Minutes story). Reason posited that Amadinejad is bluffing. Even he doesn't believe some of what he says (what some people do/say is for effect and to trigger specific, predictable reactions ... we would be smart not to fall into their traps). I don't think he cares whether the Holocaust occurred or not. It's our reactions to him questioning it that he's after. We are wise to be wary of manipulators, including GEORGE. Reason also posited that we cannot make the truth any more true by killing the liar. Inherently the truth is the only thing that exists. After listeners were treated to a little taste of Gangaji's audiobook The Diamond in Your Pocket, Reason discussed the art of sustainability with local guest Joe Laur, who prefers to think of it more as regenerative vitality. The heart of all his work is accelerated learning. Experience a moment with Joe with this video from the Inspired Protagonist. Joe's main web site is Seed Systems. He's part of the Sustainability Consortium and has started The Carbon Commons (wow, site by green web hosting powered by renewable wind and solar energy!) ... worthy projects with global intentions and growing impact. I love how Joe helps companies build benefit (as opposed to profit). We discussed the connection between sustainability (vitality) and spirituality ... which brings us to another of Joe's sites: God's Dog. Our lively discussion included a heads up about the Summit on the Future of the Corporation in Boston this November. Music was Mawwal's 'Pyar Ka Diya' with Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn from their new album, Black Flies (see them Saturday and help impeach Bush), plus Bad Company's 'Rock Steady' ... for companies who aren't sustainable (regeneratively vital), and because Joe Laur rocks.

October 16, 2007: Reason was a bit of a spaz this evening. Caffeine, mayhaps? Apparently, a great new restaurant called Tofu a Go Go has just moved to 265 Main Street in Greenfield (413-772-TOFU/8638; dinner on weekends, lunch daily, closed Wednesdays) and that it's so special, the staff moved here with it. Maytag tried to convince Reason that mysterious new "AFresh" product was the answer to her washer mold. Right. The iPhone has been found to be toxic (shock!). California is the first state to ban pthalates in products for kids; THANK YOU ARNOLD (and to the European Union way ahead of us on many issues). Listeners were treated to a wee grammar 'lesson,' so to speak. Music was Cree Summer's 'Fall,' Santana's 'Sabra Cadabra' and 'The Mosque' from Tya's Tribal Sutras.

October 9, 2007: Reason let listeners in on a tasty new secret, the Blue House Cafe at 147 Main Street in Haydenville (Williamsburg). One does not have to be vegetarian to enjoy the healthy, affordable nourishment they provide in a nice atmosphere that sometimes hosts live music. Closed Tuesdays, call 413-268-7441 for hours. Local events include a World Music Benefit for the Northeast Impeach Bush Coalition with music by Mawwal & Viva Quetzal on 10/27 at Memorial Hall in Shelburne. Get tickets here or at local Turn It Up locations. Free screenings of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" at the Green Field Market meeting room (Oct. 11, 21, 24), call 413-773-9567. The Fire Next Time: A Film About Community Conflict And Development and Environmental Issues can be seen at the Garden Cinema on Main St. in Greenfield (413-774-4881). No need for infants to suckle on endocrine disrupting pthalates, as companies like BornFree offer safer nipples and bottles. Mrs. Seinfeld has pretty cool new cookbook out, but the wasteful, irresponsible and toxic incorporation of disposable plastic bags is offensively ridiculous. I'm glad she's encouraging healthy and delicious eating, but promoting totally unnecessary use of ever more pthalates isn't helping anyone. At least Oprah could have mentioned alternatives to disposable baggies. "Breast cancer month" inspired Reason to suggest we prevent breast cancer at least as much as we're trying to cure it (less carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, anyone?). More here. Wee introduction to upcoming guest, Gangaji, her teacher, Papaji (try to look into his face and not smile), and his teacher, Ramana Maharshi. See wikipedia self-enquiry for more. Quote from Israel Salanter, "We spend our time worrying about our physical well being and the state of our neighbor's soul. Better we spend our time worrying about our neighbor's physical well being and the state of our own soul" (thanks Joe). Thomas Merton said "Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you are capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy." Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx speaking with Charles Turner and Michael Shuman at the annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures on 10/27/07 at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA. Register online or call 413-528-1737. California Air Resources Board says this regulation (LA Times 9/28/07) is the first of its kind in the nation. "There are reports of ozone being generated in someone's living room . . . at levels equivalent to having a Stage 1 smog alert right in your own house." Why do we do what we do? Perhaps it's the "... 'old brain' or 'reptile brain,' a part of our brain rooted in the distant past, before humans were even human. It’s a simple brain, which doesn’t even really think. It just reacts to patterns. ... Most of our primitive fear responses come from the old brain" (quote from Tears and Healing. Music was Down to the Bone's 'Fusion Food,' Ray Lamontagne's 'Be Here Now' and St. Germain's 'Sure Thing.'

October 2, 2007: Local friend and past guest Sam joined us to discuss DSL, EMF's and related issues. Technology affects us all ... some of us notice, and some of us more than others. When we assume there is something "wrong" with us vs. interpreting symptoms as important messages from our bodies, how much do we lose? Sometimes our bodies are more intelligent than we are. Sam will return later for Part II. Reason wasn't the only one talking about Ahmadinejad and passive aggression last week. The same night as our little chat, Jon Stewart said "... it seems that Iran is not an aggressor nation but a passive aggressor nation." Rock on, Jonny boy. I love you. A perfect quote for Antidote Radio, courtesy Rob Brezsny: "Do not accept anything simply because it has been said by your teacher, or because it has been written in your sacred book, or because it has been believed by many, or because it has been handed down by your ancestors. Accept and live only according to what will enable you to see truth face to face." -Buddha, as quoted in Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh. Reason talked about her mold problem, washing machines, dehumidifiers, etc. and introduced a new product that just may help (Moldzyme [more later]). Also tried an "EDV" mini-dehumidifier (silica beads absorb small amounts of moisture): Gaiam sells one EDV, but Total Vac is local and has more (see all manufacturer's products here). Latest news from Environmental Health Perspectives included Diabetes in Relation to Serum Levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Chlorinated Pesticides in Adult Native Americans. Recent article How "Fresh" Is Air Freshener? suggests the media is slooowwwwly catching up with reality, but the focus on pthalates missed much of the point. The Self Health Resource Center (source for un[or less]contaminated substances such as baking soda) is now affiliated with their inspiration, Dr. Hulda Clark. They are now part of the Dr. Clark Store (this is where I get powdered glutathione for sublingual use). Other important sources for supplies, herbs, etc. include Mountain Rose Herbs, E.L. Foust and NEEDS. Music was Rocco Delucca's 'Dope,' Blind Faith's 'Can't Find My Way Home,' and Air's track one.

September 25, 2007: Tonight, we sent good energy and well wishes to all the creepy creeps out there again. What is it with the leery-peering? Is it because aspects of our uptight, religiously stained culture have pathologized sexuality and disgraced the human body? Corporations like it because they can use body parts as sex objects more readily when they're hidden all the time. Reason surmised that if pervie tweaked creepers had a healthy place/way to express themselves, they may not be so perverse. Numbness, perversity, and/or passive aggression can indicate that we have adapted to less than optimal circumstances and/or are not in touch with our feelings. We must express ourselves creatively and productively if we want to thrive and have healthy relationships and a truly happy life. (Reason boldly asserted that most modern American humans have an opportunity to thrive that is rare in human history ... let us avail ourselves of it.) We discussed types of passive aggression and various ways of dealing with it. We even discovered "passive aggressive personality disorder" this evening. Wow ... who knew. Jenny McCarthy spoke to Oprah on 9/18 about her son getting autism after being VACCINATED and encouraged mothers to heed their instincts and their live, at-home, scientific evidence (their CHILDREN). Thank you to Jenny, and to Oprah for not censoring the message ... I was impressed. Scott Pelley interviewed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 60 Minutes Sunday and Reason found the Iranian president to be brilliant ... a brilliant, manipulative sociopath, but brilliant nonetheless. He said a few words to Bush that I might have said myself (though I'm not a sociopath, nor do I support terrorists). Pelley's interview with Ahmadinejad may be a perfect example of trying to navigate dialogue with someone's personality disorder (or in this case, evil?). Bush is arguably as pathological and manipulative, just not as brilliant and much less strangely entertaining. Check out the transcript and tell me that Bush's comments to M.A. were not an epitome of projection (whether they were true or not)!?! The second annual State of Environmental Justice in America 2008 conference is planned for March 26-29, 2008 in Washington, DC. Reason encouraged people to email topic suggestions for a panel, presentation or other activity related to the current state of environmental justice (<250 words and due by October 1, 2007 at ejinamerica2008@yahoo.com). You can subscribe to EPA emails at environmental-justice-epa@epa.gov. Played Metallica's '2 x 4' and 'Ronnie' plus 'Running Two' from the Run Lola Run soundtrack.

September 18, 2007: Let's avoid unnecessary suffering. One of this week's frightening indicators of our culture's health: the entire country is focusing on Britney Spears five extra pounds while her spirit dies. (Her horrific performance at the VMA had nothing to do with "fat.") Americans sure know how to mindlessly participate in the downfall of a troubled soul. Reason finally got her Complaint Free World reminder bracelets! What is a complaint to you? Bits from Rachel's Democracy & Health News, such as toxic chemicals (particularly hormone-mimicking pollutants such as flame retardants) being blamed for the disappearance of Arctic boys. The Voice of Reason asks whether the human race would be better off fighting the occasional fire or enduring widespread insidious hormonal imbalances. At least we know how to put out a fire. And how can anyone be hateful toward those differently gendered or sexed than ourselves, especially when our chemical choices affect babies' development in the womb? Reason better defined borderline personality disorder, describing the epidemic of people who cannot self-soothe and who trick others into being their psychic babysitter. People with BPD seem to be "neither insane nor mentally healthy" and "continue to puzzle psychiatrists." Discussion of BPD was assisted by material from sites such as BPD Central, the BPD Resource Center and from here. Reason's favorite line: "it is unlikely that someone who requires empathy building exercises will see the need to participate in them." Indeed. Check out great articles at future guest A.J. Mahari's site. Music was Nitin Sawhney, some unknown instrumental jungle (?), and 'Aqueous Transmission' by Incubus.

September 11, 2007: Started off with a special song for terrorists who think they're going to 72 virgins, later played one for presidents with knee-jerk reactivity. Reason presented the concept of alternatives to invading Iraq and discussed the World Trade Center incident and 9/11, including her dream while it was happening. Special guest Alison Johnson told us about the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation plus her excellent books and videos about Gulf War Syndrome, the Toxic Clouds of 9/11, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. One NY group is doing a lot regarding WTC toxicity/environmental impact. Sign up for new EPA air quality email alerts at AirNow (how freakin ironic). AP article on Smell-O-Vision making a "comeback" (gOd help us if we are in need of this much over-stimulation). Music was Nina Simone Remixed & Remastered 'Go to Hell,' 'Obeah Woman' and Radiohead's 'A Punchup at a Wedding.'

September 4, 2007: Three delectable quotes for you this week: "No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does." -La Rochefoucauld. ... "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ... "We fail when we get distracted by tasks we don't have the guts to quit" -Seth Godin. Web links for the alternative, non-disposable, cheaper and better for health and environment menstrual solution: Keeper and Moon cup, Diva cup, plus an interesting tidbit: from here: "The female scientists of Biosphere 2 chose The Keeper as their form of feminine hygiene while in their enclosed environment in Arizona in 1992." Cool. Reason encouraged people to check out the most excellent Henry Rollins Show on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Reason shared a bit of ranting with Mike Adams about absurdity and such. Is MassHighway spraying way-beyond-stupid chemicals (such as glyphosate) along roads in your area? Check and see. Articles and news from this month's Environmental Health Perspectives included: Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry, Ameliorating the Developmental Neurotoxicity of Chlorpyrifos (findings such as "theophylline, which prevents the breakdown of cyclic AMP, was the only agent that restored AC signaling to normal or supranormal levels but did so at further cost to cell replication" suggest preventing beats not curing), Life-Span Exposure to Low Doses of Aspartame Beginning during Prenatal Life Increases Cancer Effects in Rats (no, aspartame is not okay). EHP Online also shared good news for coffee lovers! But Reason says just because coffee might be associated with less liver cancer, does not mean it's good for us as whole bodies/beings. EHP also shared first study to assess hair relaxers as a potential contributor to cancer ("No Link between Hair Relaxers and Breast Cancer" ... but again, cautions Reason, just because something doesn't give us cancer, doesn't mean it's actually GOOD for us). Music was from dearest of the dear Pink Floyd's 'Obscured by Clouds,' 'Remember a Day,' and from Meddle, 'One of These Days.'

August 28, 2007: Yay for BusinessWeek's recent article, Healing Our Sick Offices! Reason discussed her experiences with the Neti pot (nasal irrigation that can help with allergies and sinus trouble); guaifenesin (an apparently quite benign supplement that helps loosen and expectorate mucous and that is also used to help treat fibromyalgia); plus the re-usable Diva or Keeper cup (silicone or rubber "cups" that fit around one's cervix to collect menstrual blood) ... how to use these little cups, and how they save OUR environment from disposables and us from bloody wallets, I mean, from hemorrhaging money. Take action on an important local issue: saving the aquifer. More on zombies (people who have dead energy, who seem soul-less, and who feed off more vibrant, living souls). They really do exist. I know, I have unknowingly fueled a few of them, and they get PISSED when you tear away. They don't care if they're sicko psycho suckling drains your energy, as they just move on to the next victim. Yuck. Relatedly, Reason discussed envy, covetousness and vengefulness. Great description: "Envy is unique among the seven capital sins in that it needs another person's life to feed upon -- it is the parasite of the seven. You can be slothful all alone, and even satisfy your lust by yourself, but envy requires the other -- to hate, to obsess over, to covet (from this link)." No wonder these people feel "icky," even from a distance! More readings/quotes from Gavin de Becker's Gift of Fear and Judith Orloff's Positive Energy. Bad energy is just as toxic as poisonous chemicals. But you know, in spiritual reality, people who perpetrate bad things are ultimately hurting themselves. If we are good, then our souls progress. People of poor character and ugly nature will be left in the dust, literally. The next time someone wrongs you, try saying, "hey man, it's your soul," if only to yourself ;). Reason also presented the case for forgiveness. "Be the change you want to see in the world," indeed ... otherwise, cut the complaining! Besides, all revenge does is prove how wrong someone who claims to be justified actually is (practice forgiveness by starting with my poor grammar here). Portishead music was 'Pedestal' and 'Strangers' ... also played my favorite track from the 'O Brother Where Art Thou' soundtrack. Recording cut great stuff off my ending tonight.

August 21, 2007: Uhm, 840 weekly tractor-trailer trips down Main Street in Russell will have "no adverse affect on local air quality" ... are you kidding!?! Email Secretary Bowles at briony.angus@state.ma.us and tell him you OPPOSE the Russell Biomass plant. Excerpting local activism: "An estimated 450 people die from diesel fume inhalation every year in Massachusetts ... Plant is proposed in a residential neighborhood, 1600 feet from an elementary school and 600 feet from homes. This is in a valley with frequent air inversions that trap hazardous air pollution at ground level. Hampden and Hampshire Counties have some of the worst air pollution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The American Lung Association cites Hampden as having the worst 24-hour particle pollution levels in the state. Both receive "F" ratings for ozone, and proponents state this power plant will exceed federal New Source Review standards for NOx, an ozone precursor. Russell Biomass thus poses an unacceptable risk to children, families and the environment." Thank you, activists. Say a prayer for small minds and pollution proponents, please. Unfortunately, Reason has some bad news: NYC is spraying toxic pesticides again (although the related lawsuit was WON). Profound idiocy (and idiocy begets more idiocy, to be sure). For more, visit the No Spray Coalition (or call the hotline 718-670-7110). Jehovah's Witnesses wake me up regularly, so Reason was inspired to discuss similarities between cults and dysfunctional relationships, such as the concept of "love bombing". Chemical percipience (percipient: one who perceives). The Department of Architecture at State University of NY, Buffalo, is conducting a study among people with various disabilities about Access to the Built Environment. Participate in the study and explain that we need non-toxic building materials. Visit the project web site or contact Gary Scott Danford, Project Director by emailing danford@buffalo.edu or calling 716-829-3485 x328. Mark Twain said, "I do not wish to hear about the moon from someone who has not been there." Reason says, "Learn from personal direct experience, your own or that of others." Consider "YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL! NOW WAKE UP!" and other Pronoia resources. Music was Waldeck's 'Wake Up,' Rob Zombie's re-mix 'Superbeast (How to Make a Monster)' and Santana's 'Incident at Neshabur.'

August 14, 2007: Various tidbits ... toxic toy news (or yet another reason to go back to making our own toys out of wood and yarn). "Chinese companies often have long supply chains, making it difficult to trace the exact origin of components, chemicals and food additives." A friend of Reason's called with debilitating symptoms for relief suggestions, and when asked what he did differently, he said that he got a new car (instantly realizing that was exactly when his symptoms started), so Reason reminded people about the toxicity of new car interiors and options for dealing with it (article 'Is That New Car Smell Toxic?' lead story on Yahoo home page Aug 16th ... subtitle: "new research suggests that car interiors may be a significant source of indoor air pollution"). Read a bit from Our Assumptions About What Causes Chronic Diseases Could Be Wrong. Dirtiest air in the country is reportedly in Arvin, CA ... we always hear about ozone, but worse may be hazardous pollutants BAKING in the heat, a problem rarely considered. There was more (including something about how Bhopal gas tragedy victims observing 250th anniversary of Battle of Plassey), and some luscious tunes, but I cannot remember them ...

August 7, 2007: It was Valley Free Radio and Antidote Radio's second birthday this week! We turned two, yay! Wow ... and a party upstairs. Reason encouraged donations, as we are indispensable! Go to VFR's web site to donate. (Regarding enviro health consulting, I am not a doctor, but I am an expert.) In a story on 60 Minutes, David Walker, U.S. comptroller general who also runs the Government Accountability Office said: "On (healthcare) cost we're number one in the world. We spend 50 percent more of our economy on health care than any nation on earth." We have the largest uninsured population of any major industrialized nation. We have above average infant mortality, below average life expectancy, and much higher than average medical error rates for an industrialized nation." (U.S. Heading For Financial Trouble? Comptroller Says Medicare Program Endangers Financial Stability. Another air quality article, yay: Breathe easy? Not when the office may be toxic. Environmentally (industrially) sick people cannot be in denial or they'll eventually die. Reason suggested some Rob Brezsny ("if you overthrow yourself again and again, you might earn the right to help overthrow the rest of us") and encouraged sensible comments on Super Allergy Girl's You Tube video. So far, too many morons. Reason also presented a Wife Swap anecdote too involved to get into here. How about some non-toxic static elimination? Reading from Thich Naht Hahn's "True Love" on Reconciliation. We sent blessings to those who long, pine or suffer. Our thoughts and feelings are energy, and energy is a real, true thing. We must pay attention to what we are creating. Music was Rocco Delucca's 'Gift' plus Traffic's 'Low Spark of High-heeled Boys.'

July 31, 2007: Reason totally improvised this evening (like, waay more than usual), and went on the air in part because listeners seemed to really appreciate the Just Soap shampoo bar mentioned recently. Why go non-toxic? To end suffering, of course. Listen to your body. Did I mention that I love jasmine tea? In more-reasons-not-to-trust-the-government-and-most-manufacturers news, it turns out that FEMA knew the Katrina trailers were toxic. Shocking! In the interests of good health and your children not developing nosebleeds, allergies and cancer, avoid formaldehyde. Remind me again why we accept this crap? Join Reason's hot campaign to stop supporting the petroleum industry (and start supporting healthier ones) by choosing products of all kinds that are FREE OF PETROCHEMICALS. If you didn't know that they're VERY TOXIC and in just about everything, here's your notice. Hi! Consider alternative products to be almost like hybrids (electric cars) for our skin. We might not be able to buy a hybrid vehicle right now, but we CAN buy non-petro personal care products. No excuses. To need less products in the first place (and if your water is municipally treated), try installing a shower filter to remove damaging chemicals. They are affordable and can be found at local hardware stores or Gaiam. Email me about the difference you find in your bathing/breathing/skin/life, etc.! Superluscious and superperfect Soundgarden tracks were 'Fell on Black Days,' 'The Day I Tried to Live' and 'Black Hole Sun.'

July 24, 2007: Reason was too depressed to antidote anything this evening. Sorry. Eric played a re-run from May.

July 17, 2007: Reason gave a shout out to Gaby. The Safer Travel Directory is a very useful resource for sensitive people. Toxicity of new car interiors in the news! Good news: Bio Beetle in Hawaii and LA rents chemically safer vehicles. Finally ... now the rest of the country/world needs to catch up. Valley? Reason's brother is getting more sensitive. Luckily he quit the job where he was having cognitive and other symptoms. He may have saved himself years of misery. If you consult a physician regarding chronic symptomology and they do not do a thorough exposure history, they are not doing their job. Of course, you can also take your own exposure history. Reason discussed Joe Vitale's new book about Dr. Len and taking 100% responsibility. Read more at the Zero Limits web site. Quoteable: Dr. Bernstein characterizes personality disorders as "Those strange mental illnesses that drive other people crazy." Indeed. Music from Erykah Badu was Didn't Cha Know, Kiss Me and A.D. 2000.

July 10, 2007: Re-run. Reason was way too sick to antidote anything this evening.

July 3, 2007: Summary upcoming.

June 26, 2007: Reason worked with listeners to antidote alcoholism, male sexual ignorance, as well as female insecurity and cattiness (women and girls, pahleeez!). Further summary upcoming.

June 19, 2007: Tonight, how NOT to approach an intelligent, attractive, health-oriented woman (incl. how no game is better than bad game). But before that, Reason reminded folks about seasonal alternatives to toxic products for our precious selves: effective, non-smelly bug repellent (faint odor of soybean oil); non-toxic, unstinky sunscreen (really nice products); and more natural deodorants by Tom's of Maine work better than most I've tried (but they do contain propylene glycol and even the unscented has a smell [less sensitive people will find they smell quite nice]). Also ... can't go outside without being tortured by ever-circling deerflies? Call 231-832-2323 or visit this site to get deerfly patches with free shipping (no, they don't smell ;). Below is a picture of my patch after one day. ALL these alternatives are available, work, and are well-priced. There is simply no excuse to poison ourselves or anything/one else. Find out how unnecessary toxic pesticides are by discovering alternatives (such as Integrated Pest Management) at Beyond Pesticides, as well as Safe Solutions, Inc., Get IPM, and/or Safe2Use. Reason commented on a few things from past shows (such as Whole Foods shoppers ALREADY VOTING for what they want in the bathroom by simply SHOPPING THERE ... Reason says, either find a healthy air freshener or don't use one). Construction starts this summer on near zero net energy homes in a Greenfield, MA solar village ... visit Rural Development or call 413-863-9781, x149. Our guest, Tedd Saunders of the Saunders Hotel Group and Ecological Solutions, talked about his work promoting greener businesses, particularly in the hotel industry. We learned that greening is a process that takes time, but we still hope it hurries up. I liked that Tedd testifies regularly that business can be green and really must to succeed in the future (he said some react like it's 'man bites dog,' as folks are used to hearing opposition from business-owners). Reason says, sustainable capitalism is the ONLY capitalism (self-evident, one would think). Traveling? Find a greener hotel to stay in. Show ended abruptly, so come back next week for Part II of how NOT to get action from a hot woman. Aerosmith's very apropos tunes for the evening: 'Lord of the Thighs (dude in question was SO not), 'Bone to Bone/Coney Island Whitefish Boy' (for all boneheads) and 'Train Kept a Rollin' (momentum is everything).

June 12, 2007: Thanks for visiting my Past Shows section! Reason presented her theory that when work is right it is not hard. Local representatives Kocut and Rosenberg voted yes on the Safer Alternatives bill, but we have yet to find out how yesterday's hearing in Boston went. Quote: "Foolish is the person who does nothing because he can only do a little bit" (Confucius?). Despite their more natural (though scented) hand soap, it was recently discovered (inquiry inspired by a local place with profoundly toxic "air freshened" bathrooms) that the "continuous scenting" of Whole Foods Market bathrooms is NOT natural or non-toxic. Reason does not believe it is a company's right to choose for their customers poison air over potential "poo smell" complaints (though I must admit, WFM bathroom chemicals don't seem quite as deadly as those of the average toxo lavatory). In Reason's world, toxic chemicals are not an option. Why as a culture do we choose asthma, cancer and mood disorders over the occasional smell of poo? Clean and ventilate! Speaking of which, Reason is nostalgic for the smell of people. Just people who do not reek of toxic chemicals and synthetic petroleum by-product concoctions created in labs by scary, profit-motivated, conscience-challenged, nose-numbed wackos. Dudes, why can't you just SMELL LIKE A MAN!?! Reason also clarified that her occasional expressions of joy over certain products are not "endorsements" ... she receives no money/kickbacks for such. She only raves about things she loves because she loves and believes in them. (Furthermore, even if paid a bunch, Reason would NOT rave about something nasty.) Very poignant anecdote from April's Sun magazine about a man with dementia praying for gOd not to forget about him. Introduction to Somatics (pain relief ... glorious, empowering [and local!] pain management and relief). Then, an extrapolation: mild therapeutic hypothermia (or at least some general cooling) might be helpful in cases of nerve gas exposure (by reducing brain inflammation)? Read more here. Music from Mawwal (local musicians playing the Montague Book Mill this Saturday) was 'Big Machine,' 'Tara Torna' and one other hot track.

June 5, 2007: Reason finally found a pillow and raved about it ... shredded latex with organic cotton from Pure Rest (or call 888-ecobaby). Affordable and comfortable! The company says their rubber tests benzene-free and that many latex allergic people can tolerate enclosed latex as the allergy is often specifically dermal. The smell of mothballs in Northampton has been from a site where Bay State Gas is trying to clean up old coal tar (toxic fumes contain napthalene and benzene). Keep windows shut and take walks elsewhere! Today, we took time to offer positive energy to Reason's creep (wacko stranger) and offered positive energy to listeners' creeps (wishing good things for negative people around us). Special guest Leise Jones from Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow discussed the potentially precendent-setting Safer Alternatives bill in which Massachusetts would mandate that companies use safer alternatives to certain toxic chemicals (and would help companies do so). Of course, vision-less, profit-oriented chemical-cult leaders oppose the bill with total poppycock as their argument (ha, I have to say poppycock on the air, but I can call their BULLSHIT online). Mitt Romney isn't Reason's favorite presidential hopeful, as in 2005 he voted against a toxic chemical alternative study. As close to evil as we need 'round here! But MassCOSH is doing great work ... such as on the health of cleaning workers and helping stop immigrant workers from being killed by toxic chemicals. A middle school in Paramus, NJ was shut down recently due to dangerous pesticide chemicals in the soil. Check out the Environmental Working Group's updated site on the safety of personal care products Skin Deep (though some safe/GRAS substances are listed as "untested"). Also, a bit on genetic polymorphisms ... how genes and the environment interact may explain differences in reactions to environmental (ha! industrial) agents. Reason briefly discussed the thyroid (hormones again), how we shouldn't have antibodies to our thyroid and happily reported a decrease in one of her levels (could it be a certain supplement?). Music was the first few delectable tracks of Pink Floyd's Obscured by Clouds, later came Led Zeppelin's 'Thank You' and 'Bring it On Home' (cuz I freakin' BRING IT).

May 29, 2007: Oooh ... Reason discovered that her favorite muscle pain remedy Biofreeze (try Moriarty's in Florence or the web), does wonders on itchy bug bites! And we don't have to poison ourselves or smell like citronella candles to repel bugs ... case in point: Bite Away (it works for me). A very disturbing Oprah show on depression (the Truth About Depression my ass) inspired some very important commentary from Reason about how chemicals may have caused a perfectly normal woman to put a gun in her mouth and blow out her brain stem. When will the media ask WHY!?! Even Oprah's "expert" psychiatrist said "all emotions are transmitted via chemical ... that's how the brain talks to itself ... so feelings are really chemical" AND "90% of what you feel is a direct chemical reaction from your brain." COME ON! The wife who committed suicide had apparently moved into a new house with new carpet and was likely using toxic gardening chemicals (serious irritants at the very least). WHEN ARE WE GOING TO MAKE THE CONNECTION!?! Reason also reminded us how our (stupidity and) choices of building materials make a difference in many ways, such as in the RI Station fire (polyurethane foam [FUEL] with no flame retardant was used on the walls). Commentary tonight was dense, so catch the show for the real goods. Music came again from KISS Alive! ('100,000 Years' and 'Watching You'), then Motley Crue's 'Shout at the Devil.'

May 22, 2007: Thank you, I'm sorry, I love you ... said Reason, since it's so nice to hear. Reason also asked, what are you currently resisting? and confessed to resisting spirit and the creative force at times. Ellen Barkin is Reason's smokin-hot, REAL woman of the week (she's clearly taking care of herself). Dr. Oz on Oprah actually (however minimally) mentioned antibacterial soaps (but not triclosan) and his concern for pollutants affecting our hormonal systems. Reason shared her natural recipe for hand "freshener" to carry around (see reputable essential oil companies below in Hot Clicks). Check out endocrine disruptor info. Bits from highly recommended Only Love is Real. Dr Bronner's important letter about real vs. fake soaps (Dove cannot be called soap ... is called a "beauty bar" because it has detergents. "Mild" my derriere!). Formaldehyde gas chambers (Katrina/FEMA trailers) in the news again: Are FEMA Trailers Making Residents Sick? ("CBS News has discovered internal FEMA document citing cancer as a potential job hazard for those just inspecting the trailers.") plus Formaldehyde Fumes Felt in Indiana. Did you know formaldehyde alters DNA? Stay away from particleboard, fiberboard and similar, or seal it with AFM or shop at Ikea. Toxic crap, as usual, is unnecessary. Interesting web site about toxicity of car interiors and baby car seats. Music was hot, screamalicious, old-school, live KISS off a real vinyl record album (Deuce, Parasite, etc. off Alive!).

May 15, 2007: Reason started out by encouraging listeners to thank themselves for whatever they did right today (did you challenge yourself? listen to your inner voice? did you help someone? act upon a dream?). In these critical and often non-nourishing times, we don't thank ourselves enough. Try Tiger Balm to stop bug bites from itching. Donate to this awesome wheelchair recycler to help him keep going. Quotes about gOd from a recent Sun magazine. A wee splash from People of the Lie (M. Scott Peck). Reason also read Written in Early Spring by William Wordsworth ("Have I not reason to lament what man has made of man?") then defined nihilism a bit. Reason shared some gratitude for those out there doing the right thing, living more green, and making a difference environmentally. She/I ;) talked about women's voices and worked on her own by breathing before speaking (beseeching females to use their real voices). Women/motherhood/womanliness and how marketers use such instincts against women (paradox and cognitive dissonance). Discussion of following tribe vs. instinct (Myss talks of this) and its role in our demise. Religion is to god what pornography is to sex. gOd is to religion what sex is to pornography. TAKE GOD AND SEX BACK! We must COME BACK TO OUR SENSES. How ABSURD is it to buy, use, injest, rub on, disperse, give away, or throw away toxic chemicals in any form (hello, fabric softener people)? Shocking (please) news that common chemicals are linked to breast cancer ("researchers named 216 chemicals [of which] people are highly exposed to 97, including industrial solvents, pesticides, dyes, gasoline and diesel exhaust compounds, cosmetics ingredients, hormones, pharmaceuticals, radiation, and a chemical in chlorinated drinking water. ... cancer looks like an environmental disease.") Any Jewish people out there using pesticide ought to know that such substances came from Holocaust gas chamber chemicals (and reconsider such behavior) (Bayer [part of IG Farben] invented chemical warfare ... IG Farben's Degesch manufactured Zyklon B poison gas used in the gas chambers ... organophosphates after the war were marketed by Bayer as pesticides and IG Farben was broken up into BASF, Bayer and Hoechst (now Aventis). IG Farben’s managers were convicted as war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.) Why do you think toxic chemicals are okay? Oh, and attractiveness is not a thing, it's a being. Music that moved: ZZ Top/Back from Baby's, Pearl Jam/Leaving Here, and Bob Dylan/Million Miles.

May 8, 2007: Quote from unknown source: "Stand amid eternal ways and what is yours will know your face." Reason thanked Bela restaurant again for much-needed nourishment, then began the show with a moment of reverence for what we have and for those who suffer around the world. Two delicious tips for the gluten-allergic: rice flour pancake mix by Pamela's and rice pasta by Tinkyada. It is my seventh anniversary of what I call my "crash" ... when I erroneously told myself I could handle being inside a new SUV (chemical gas chamber). I ignored the little voice that said, UH OH, and have never been the same since. Let that be your warning to watch out, and heed your instincts no matter what our toxic culture tells you. A friend just did, and it was an excruciating decision, but a necessary one (that she will now live to tell about). This brought us to survival instincts, and how we have essentially lost them. Our senses were designed to help us survive, and what we are doing to our noses, our sense of smell, is rendering it incapable of telling most of us much of anything anymore (numbing by unnecessary overstimulation and avoidable nerve-deadening chemicals). We're in trouble. Reason then spoke of how we need to take gOd back from religion. Christopher Hutchins new book God is Not Great is a perfect place to start. He and Caroline Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit) agree, most religions demonize the feminine, especially feminine sexuality. Well, I've had it. It's time to TAKE IT BACK. Take back sex from pornography and gOd from religion ... not to mention sex from religion. TAKE IT BACK. Furthermore, I am tired of how women are allowing their motherly instincts and such to be marketed nearly out of existence (and what's left of them manipulated straight to hell) by profit-driven corporate madness. Women, I call on you to STAND UP! Clarification about cognitive dissonance that it's what people do to RELIEVE inner conflict that is the issue. This month's Naked Truth Project newsletter told us to recycle our curly bulbs and further explained about Nalgene plastic drinking bottles (the bisphenol A in such plastics that leach into water was originally designed as a SYNTHETIC HORMONE). Use stainless steel bottles! Reason also stated that if someone thinks she is wrong on just about anything, it is more likely that they are wrong, they have misunderstood her, or she has not explained herself properly. Indeed ;) Sadly, Southeastern Mass is already spraying. Finally, if you have an urge to call the show, and you have done so repeatedly, try writing down your thoughts and emailing them instead. If they aren't important enough to write down, they're probably going to unjustifiably disturb Reason's on-air flow. Musical delicacies from Zap Mama's Push it to the Max (Nostalgie Amoureuse, Ca Varie Varie, and Mr. Brown).

May 1, 2007: A BIG thanks to Gaby and the Bela restaurant on Masonic St. in Northampton for helping properly (and deliciously) nourish Reason before the show. I wonder what the Ethical Corporation is ... benevolent? neutral? naughty? Reason warned the sensitive that Thorne's Marketplace has redone their floors again. Apparently (and thankfully) they used a water-based product, but the fumes are still strong enough to force some of us to wait before "Thorne-ing" again. ASSIGNMENT: for some idea of what it's like for a chemically sensitive person to use most public bathrooms (due to stupefyingly toxic air polluting devices and sprays [stop it! just clean/ventilate!]), Reason suggested listeners try to hold their breath (yes, ONE breath for the whole event) from before entering to totally exiting a bathroom (NOT EASY ... if you catch one of us running out of a lavatory with our pants undone and gasping, now you know why). Yay Oprah! She recently featured organic/reusable/washable grocery shopping bags, which you can purhase at her website (and from which she derives no profit). Lewis Black's recent joke about cognitive dissonance on The Daily Show made Reason VERY happy. Tonight's antidoting included discussion of various other things, such as: how we are just people and that I wish we could go back to smelling that way; the "I can do it" mentality and proper parenting; how wolf packs are loving and we can learn from them; Mr. Chang and faithful action; how being great is about transcending our culture and who we're told we are, etc.; Jon Stewart's repeated demonstrations of impressive humanity (Bill Moyers is back! and you can check out his interview with Jon here). How this organization helped decrease or eliminate pesticide use in California schools. To honor "air quality awareness week" (nevermind our overall well-being or what the actual air and our health/lungs tell us), we can mind our air quality at this site. Music from Jamiroquai was 'Virtual Insanity,' 'Use the Force' and an awesome Bonus Track.

April 24, 2007: On this glorious eve of strangely wrong pseudo-Spring, Reason shared her epiphany that each of our individual choices really does matter and have meaning in that each helps determine the direction of the evolution of our species. Theme was becoming more conscious of where our beliefs come from. Are we being individually mindful or participating in mob mentality? Are you sure some of what you "believe" is really yours? Regarding the VA Tech perpetrator, may we all keep in mind that silence is often passive aggression, which is AGGRESSION. May we also try to shift from focusing on the perp to asking ourselves what we can do to make the world less conducive to evil in all forms. What is our role? How can we take responsibility? What can we learn, etc.? Otherwise, suffering and loss are in vain. 60 Minutes' piece on a scary reality of black/urban/street culture: 'Stop Snitchin' ... WOW. When not "snitching" is the right thing, fine, but this is also a perfect example of toxic groupthink. Correction: turns out that Einstein may NOT have said the loss of bees would mean humans only had four years left (fine, but we still need the freakin' bees). Awesome concepts of INSTINCT over impulse and CONTEXT over content. Try using them in your life (if you don't get it, listen to the show). Little-known fact that kids with asthma tend to also have other problems (depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, and learning disabilities). Also, studies show that solvent exposure in the womb causes lower IQ linked to severe mental deficits. Worst was impact on verbal ability "but the exposed children also performed worse on tests of memory, dexterity, visual acuity and color perception" and "displayed greater hyperactivity and had more trouble paying attention." Dr. Herbert Needleman said, "We don’t know how smart our children could be if we didn’t poison them." INfreakinDEED. Reason encouraged people to take responsibility for stupidity in the future as well as stupidity in the now (do we really need less intelligence and more anxiety on the roads?) Even more reasons not to use pesticides (as if we needed any more): further proof that Parkinson's is linked to pesticide exposure. Notably, inflammation of the brain and virus exposure is a bad combination. And no, it's not okay to purposefully expose chemically sensitive people to "test" them (or for any other self-indulgent reason). If you're doing that, you're not a 'skeptic,' you're evil. Would you "test" the pain tolerance of a person by punching them? Knock it off. Reason also encouraged people to BATHE. Naturally and with non-toxic products, of course, but for joy's sake, would you please use a little Bronner's and water and cleanse thyself? Putrefying bacteria fuming off unclean bodies in enclosed spaces is simply another form of passive aggression. You too, hippies! ;) End of Pink Floyd’s first track on ‘Atom Heart Mother,’ plus ‘If’ ... then Cree Summer’s ‘Miss Moon’ (on behalf of the feminine takeover we apparently need to save the world).

April 17, 2007: Theme of the day: WE EACH MUST DO SOMETHING, plus energetic and emotional responsibility. Various goodies, such as a big lingerie sale at Mary Green (try the silk gauze), THE place for uncontaminated, fantastic fish and other delicacies (Vital Choice), self-proclaimed renegade neurologist Dr. Perlmutter's web site chock full of important news such as the latest on aspartame and how bees disappearing may be caused by cell phone radiation. Illnesses of those who helped clean up the 9/11 disaster and our unwarranted trust in percieved authority figures (federal judge Deborah Batts calls ex-chief Whitman and the EPA's appraisal of lower Manhattan as "safe" Conscience-Shocking). Reason's thoughts on society and humanity inspired by feral children. Last week, another reasonable federal judge finally signed a settlement agreement between NYC and the SprayNo Coalition: "Giuliani (claimed) that the chemicals were completely harmless. The City of NY has now admitted that these chemicals are harmful, that they persist in the environment and that much more caution will have to be used if they decide to ever spray them again." Workers won a sterility lawsuit against Amvac (Dole and Dow remain as defendants). Connection between environmental estrogens and allergies means choosing personal products carefully. No matter what either "side" says, current global (micro- and macrocosm) imbalances demand we TAKE ACTION, DON'T WAIT. A 'thank you, I'm sorry, I love you' reminder. Music was Justin Timberlake's 'What Goes Around Comes Around' plus James Morrison's 'You Give Me Something' and 'One Last Chance' (indeed, that's what we have).

April 10, 2007: Reason's menstrual cycle (the 'period,' as it's known) caused such agonizing pain that she was unable to Antidote (verb) this evening.

April 3, 2007: Reason's thoughts on what she calls "the defensive posture." New Discovery Channel series, Planet Earth, reminds us who we are and where we come from. An ex-terrorist recruiter said how they got recruits to kill innocent people: "We would take away [the perception of] their innocence ... so they were no longer innocent men, women and children ... and hence, combatants and allowed to be targeted." Check out this article on the "greening of hotels with sensitive guests in mind." Great, but we'll see. Wood floors and greener cleaners are great, but are they using more disinfectant chemicals? Bits from Philip Zimbardo's new book, the Lucifer Effect. Check out The Naked Truth Project and Reverb Rock. A bit on cosmology as well as the positivity of Intenders Circles. Reason read Diane Wilson's account of the sabotage of her fishing boat and how she survived. Don't recall what music I played (Corrine Bailey Rae's 'Butterflies' plus ?), but I can tell you that it was FREAKIN AWESOME, as usual.

March 27, 2007: Amongst and betwixt other loveliness, Reason discussed protecting ourselves from emotional vampirism with help from Dr. Judith Orloff and her new book Positive Energy. Of course, one place to start is to ourselves become the positive energy we want to see in the world. Listeners were encouraged to send positive energy to George (yes, your host is doing it too) ... and those who "take issue" with Al were encouraged to send him positive energy as well, in the spirit of ho'oponopono (Google it), not to mention wanting a better world so much that you're willing to try anything. Reason did an awesome reading of Ani Difranco's Self-evident that hopefully did the epic righteousness some justice. Music was Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Call Me the Breeze,' Pearl Jam's 'Leaving Here,' and Robert Plant's 'Shine It All Around.' Wow, do I love music ...

March 20, 2007: On skepticism: in comparison to actual human experience, "beliefs" are somewhat insignificant (except perhaps to demonstrate our character, the imperfect nature of "knowledge," and often our need for personal/cultural evolution). This evening also included Thomas Schramm of Green Machine Shop telling us about an interesting (and seemingly inevitable) new technology, Sonopathy (sound therapy not unlike homeopathy, but this is medicine you hear). It was released today! Yes, Antidote Radio listeners heard about it first! I'll try it and let you know what I think. Reason talked of Relational Dynamics (in your relations with others, are you caring, besting, dominating, nurturing, scurrying, blocking ... are you moving toward or away, up or down, etc.?) and read from Clinton McLemore's awesome relationship book. We enjoyed tunage by Audioslave (Golden Visions), an unknown track/artist, plus Boogie Oogie Oogie (yup, I played disco and it felt GOOD).

March 13, 2007: Lots of yummies, plus the Dadly email incident on global warming. More notes to come!

March 6, 2007: According to E!, Britney Spears asks for odorless carpet in hotel rooms to protect her voice. Hmmmnn ... Also, an interesting anecdote: recently, an audience member on Oprah stated that she "doesn’t believe in the supernatural, as there’s no peer reviewed literature on it ... there’s no evidence." Until I began feeling bad about laughing, I could barely stop. I honestly feel bad for people this limited or superficial. As if millions of years of human experience means nothing ... as if human consciousness just appeared out of nowhere ... as if science has anything on direct human experience! Come on. (She was a scientist. Thankfully, another audience member stood up to say there is plenty of peer-reviewed, evidenciary material and he has authored some himself.) Anyway, this relates to the Antidote Radio tenet that waiting for science and authority figures to prove things that are inherently true means you're probably not looking in the right direction and are likely unfamiliar with bliss. Then, a wee bit on chakras (who knew). More about highly sensitive people, including a bit of reading from Julie Rosenshien's book, The Highly Sensitive Kids Guide (contact Julie through her website). Another online resource is Highly Sensitive Souls. Reason came up with an approach to be applied when a person is behaving inconveniently or being annoying and we don't necessarily understand why (and the person cannot necessarily communicate their needs directly): The Sensitivity Principle. That is, sometimes when someone is behaving a certain way (a child, a friend, etc.) and they cannot explain why, it may be in some cases that they are sensitive to light, energy, food, etc., and they could use a little of our trust or compassion. Of course, Reason gave a recent personal example. Read a tad more from Peggy Munson's Stricken. Regarding final comments in previous show: on being frigid vs. choosing to put one's life energy into something other than sexuality ... there's a difference. Sexuality and spirituality are deeply connected (as if baby-makin ain’t a clue). Sex is life, creation, and spirit connection. (We ARE proof of gOd.) I say, truth is sexy and artifice is flaccid. Music by Ray LaMontagne (Be Here Now, Empty, Barfly) and Corinne Bailey Rae (Butterfly).

February 27, 2007: Tonight's delightful plethora included an update on Iris (whose toxic mold story is currently in E magazine and was recently on Georgia's WJBF TV) ... included was the addage (provided by a doctor familiar with mycotoxin poisoning) "what you're not up on, you're down on." Good one. Reason also offered a few good Einstein quotes and her own very reasonable commentary on The Secret, mainly that the people who can appreciate the law of attraction are those who are able to tolerate paradox. Discussed highly sensitive people and Indigo Children, with bits from an article by Julie Rosenshein. Had a shockingly effective massage by Elliot Tarry (917-549-8329) who was able to seemingly undo an injury to my scalenes. Elliot was well worth the money. A recent Law & Order episode (Loophole) actually mentioned cholinesterase, the similarity of organophosphate pesticides and nerve gas, and the EPA's idea to reimburse low income families who report their childrens' reactions to pesticide exposure (very controversial). Read from Peggy Munson's awesome introduction in her book Stricken. Took first caller and answered her questions about toxic flooring, recommending AFM and to check out the resources mentioned on the 10/24/06 show (see below). Ended with a quick bit about sexuality and spirituality being the same thing and wishing for my listeners to experience rightful pleasure. Music by ZZ Top ('Brown Sugar,' 'Cheap Sunglasses' and the ever-luscious 'La Grange').

February 20, 2007: No show tonight due to being pre-empted by a special marathon on homelessness.

February 13, 2007: Further notes on the way: Special Valentine edition on how to LOVE OUR MOLECULES (and more, including healthier lube and greener sex toys [less petrochems and pthalates means less reproductive toxicity and more pleasure])! Music truly delicious (however melancholy), Ray LaMontagne and Corinne Bailey Rae.

February 6, 2007: Reason just went for it tonight, with random associations not that random. Most powerfully, however, were the insights about love, consiousness and the cosmos from Masuro Emoto's magnificent work with water crystals. His books are amazing. Reason hopes to read from them on the air soon, as they triggered her recent epiphany about the effects of choosing to expose oneself to less than loving people (wow, hello!). Reason also mentioned greener computing (see the Green Machine Shop and EPEAT for more); explained that she actually DOES do this show for her health (is not paid to review products she LOVES, etc.), as well as YOURS; read from interview with Marion Woodman from the Sun; and talked about how all these people wearing (reeking of) "African oils" might be surprised to know that they are actually putting very nasty, toxic chemicals on themselves and exposing everyone around them (thanks). We have a responsibility to actually research the sources and effects of things we use everyday. Freedom isn't free, people! Ponder this quote from a web site about Jonestown: "Through clever and constant application of propaganda people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise" (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf). We are mindlessly drinking poison so as to be part of the group ... to keep up the story ... to not face reality and ourselves. Be courageous and step out of the crowd ... out of your own comfort zone! The film Exposed, about a chemically sensitive woman, can be seen on Free Speech TV on Friday February 23rd. Cheeky musical flavor was provided by the daringly relishious Joan Osborne ('Help Me,' St. Teresa,' and 'Right Hand Man').

January 30, 2007: [further notes upcoming] Among other delicious tidbits, Jeff Wilk of Radiant Electric Heat joined us to discuss safer electric heat (my favorite!) Keep warm and stay healthy!

January 23, 2007: Started off by dedicating Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' to George. (Apropos quote from Adolf Hitler as quoted by Joachim Fest: "What good fortune for those in power that people do not think!" Indeed.) The ever-awesome Goldthread Herbal Apothecary has moved to downtown Florence (call 413-587-0620). Your host described how even Windex seems preferable to Howard Naturals' "essential oil" scented cleaning products. I tried them ... don't bother. I say they're fragrances are NOT natural, or at least safe. Sorry HN. Reason discussed how we can choose to evolve instead of being stuck in the toxic, ignorant industrial age (like using nasty products your parents send you). Read a wee bit from Krishnamurti on listening, having a free mind. Took a break with Black Sabbath and played 'Planet Caravan' as a gesture of peace to all those paranoids out there. Reason suggested subscribing to Gallon Environment Letter by emailing subscriptions@gallonletter.ca (as if we don't get enough email, but still). Scott Ritter (awesome) at Traprock Peace Center (413-773-7427) on the war against Iran. However, I am offended every time I see an invitation that says nothing about invitees helping make it a less toxic (less chemically fragranced) environment for those who are sensitive. People may forget about the fragrance issue, so please help remind them. Be an advocate for those of us who need advocacy. Be an ally and say something (it's not like poison is good for you either)! Articles by A.J. Mahari on Borderline Personality Disorder are mind-blowing. Recently, Consumer Reports has launched Shop Smart ... check out Take a Whiff of This on how plenty of pthalates (plasticizing chemicals that affect thyroid hormones which regulate genital development) were found in perfumes that manufacturers claim have none (even Love perfume by Aveda and one by Aubrey Organics). I didn't know Clinique owns Aveda. When things are invisible, we must use extra care. Pthalates were also found in perfumes such as 'Happy,' 'Poison' and 'Beautiful' (no wonder we're a bunch of freakin' manics). In fact, Dior's aptly named 'Poison' has FOUR types of pthalates in it. Chemical exposures disrupt our brains/moods, but the only mood these companies are interested in is our mood to SPEND. Pthalates are zenoestrogens that feminise baby boys. Wear that perfume to attract a man and maybe your baby boy will have a smaller penis and testes (yes, that's smaller BALLS). Reason suggests perhaps we should find real attractiveness from the inside (truth is sexy ... find it) and let our children have the genitals they were MEANT to have. Furthermore, if we stop supporting the transport of toxic chemicals by buying safer products, there will be less trains and ships full of nasty chemicals that crash and leak and can be blown up by terrorists. Reason discussed how the most powerful gift we can give sometimes is simply bearing witness and read from Alice Miller's the essential role of an enlightened witness in society. At times, witnessing others, bearing witness to the truth, is all we have. Finished everything off by playing 'Hand of Doom,' but purposely interupted it with 'Fairies Wear Boots' as an act of hopeful rebellion (ie, perhaps fairies will save us from annihilation).

January 16, 2007: Wow, special two hour show with VERY special guest, Ralph Bronner, the seventy-ish years young son of the late Dr. Bronner himself! This inspiring and touching interview will be up in the archives as soon as I can get it there. Dr. Bronner's magic (yes!) soaps can be diluted for many uses, are now made with organic ingredients, AND their paper and plastic are post-consumer recycled. Now THAT's what I'm talkin' about! Not to mention, they give SEVENTY percent of their profits to good causes. Oh, if only all the world could be like this. At the very least, we can use Bronner's products ... get theeself to a health food store and replace thy toxic soaps and cleaners! ALL ONE!

January 9, 2007: Tonight's show focused on how to recognize and better deal with abusive, pathologically narcissistic personalities. Readings were from mind-blowing writing on narcissism by Sam Vaknin and about abusive men by local expert Lundy Bancroft. Other HIGHLY recommended reading: "Toxic Relationships and How to Change Them" by Clinton McLemore and "Stalking the Soul" by Marie-France Hirigoyen. Another interesting read is "Refusing to Be a Man, Essays on Sex and Justice" by John Stoltenberg. News was of higher suicide rates in areas where air quality is affected by asphalt plants, paper mills, and sewage treatment facilities. Reason also did a little "word skit" on global warming (weather/whether), inspired by a very smelly, 65 degree day in January. Music was 'Marker in the Sand,' 'Army Reserve' and 'Gone' ... moving tracks from Pearl Jam's incredible new album.

January 2, 2007: Happy New Year! Among other morsels of deliciousity, Reason read two original and very apropos fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson. First, "The Princess and the Pea" and then "The Emperor's New Suit." If you are unfamiliar with this great writer, I urge you to pick up his original volume of nearly 160 fairy tales. Yes, he wrote "The Little Mermaid," but you can forget the movie ... Disney "adapts" nearly all the exquisite brilliance out of his work. Other topics included 'home for the holidays with chemical sensitivity.' Music was ... uhm, let me get back to you on that.

December 26, 2006: Reason was away for Christmas, so tonight's show was a re-run mish-mash that included a talk on the bird flu by local homeopath, Dale Moss.

December 19, 2006: Tonight's highlight was special guest (one of my favorite people) Sam, a friend who is chemically sensitive and a total inspiration. This may also have been the night Reason updated listeners on the Toxic Truck Trial: we plan to do one more coat of Lock-Out, but the air quality inside the truck is much better since using AFM products on it.

December 12, 2006: Reason talked about better holiday gifts and the awesome, local, affordable, fair trade store, Ten Thousand Villages. Other suggestions were Gaiam and the Allergy Buyers Club. Give healthy, non-toxic gifts, or don't give anything. If you want to freshen the air instead of polluting it and can handle essential oils, try Aura Cacia's Ginger Mint Aromatherapy Mist. In response to a big, fancy Dow PR campaign ("The Human Element"), some Dow shareholders are actually (shockingly) pushing for Dow to take responsibility (finally, 22 years later) for the victims of the Bhopal chemical explosion. Check out a local Inconvenient Truth party. Someone is trying to dismantle HUD's Office of Disability Policy. Can you imagine? Disabled homeless people sure as hell need help and advocacy, which is exactly what Bennie Howard beautifully provides for people, including those with chemical sensitivity. Please fax your letter in support of keeping the office going to Secretary Jackson at 202-619-8365, or mail it to him at 451 Seventh Street S.W., Washington, DC 20410. Reason was shocked to see how North Koreans live in a fascinating report done by Diane Sawyer (the same woman who asks actresses preposterous damn questions such as 'who kisses better, Matt Damon or Brad Pitt?' [are you kidding me!?!]). North Korea is a great example of why my father believes in capitalism, but can't we find some kind of happy medium between capitalism and socialism? I'm pretty sure I read a quote from Krishnamurti and there were a few other tidbits as well. Music was from Outkast (Andre 3000's 'Favorite Things' cover, 'Take Off Your Cool,' and 'Prototype').

December 5, 2006: Tonight, we finally got an update from Iris (guest from April 11th), who was poisoned by the mold mycotoxin tricothecene and is being betrayed not only by insurance companies, but the medical community as well. Reason shared some interesting facts about the common cold (like the fact that zinc nasal sprays can cause permanent loss of smell, sometimes taste) and offered a tip about the way-cool Deluxe Swivel Super Spray faucet attachment (available from our local Ace hardware store) that saves water and aggravation at the kitchen sink. Seemingly awesome EPA/Springfield news, but I have to post the link when I find it again. Local high school in Palmer is having some indoor air quality (IAQ) problems, and Reason hopes to interview someone about it soon. Listeners were updated on the Toxic Truck Trial: one more coat of Lock-Out may be needed, but the air quality inside the truck is much better since using the AFM products on it. Reason described her clever theory about how people trust authority and the larger mindset for a feeling of security in a similar way to children who, dependent on their parents for survival, must trust them in order to feel secure (whether that trust is well-placed or not). This suggests that it takes strength, security and willingness, to be able make the psychological shift into seeing reality, whether or not the culture sees it. Too often, preferences equal beliefs. Also, why the hell was I getting EPA air quality alerts in NOVEMBER!?! Anyway, music was exquisite, old and apropos Aerosmith ('One Way Street,' 'Same Old Song and Dance,' and 'Seasons of Wither').

November 28, 2006: Sadly, Reason was forced to stay home by illness. Turns out, after years of only chronic illness, Reason caught an ordinary, albeit severe, COLD. Yes, exposures set me up for it, but apparently I am not as hyperimmune as I was. Hopefully, that's a good sign ... now watch out for those germs! Special thanks to Eric, who found and replayed my interview with Dr. Doris Rapp from April. And again, if anyone has a recording of last week's show with Jon Cloud, please let me know right away, as some unthinking person unplugged the studio recorder and didn't plug it back in. THANKS!

November 21, 2006: Mmmn, yummy tidbits from your ever-loving Voice! Chocolate. SUSTAINABLE chocolate, that is. My new favorite is the whopping NINETY percent dark by Vintage Plantations, whose delectable chocolate is part of the Rainforest Alliance's awesome Certified Sustainable Cocoa Program. (If only Hershey, Nestle and the rest of them could get with the program.) Anyway, local 22 News actually did a piece on toxic cosmetics, if you can believe it (siting this resource). The Environmental Health Coalition of Western Massachusetts (EHCWM) will have their web site up shortly, but until then, you can order brochures and booklets by emailing me (reason@antidoteradio.com) or sending an SASE for an order form to EHCWM, P.O. Box 187, Northampton, MA 01061 (donations for this non-profit welcomed). Educate yourself and spread the word with the fragrance brochure (in Spanish or English), a healthy homes brochure, and/or the really kick-ass new 16-page booklet about accessible health care for the chemically sensitive (to help bring the medical world up to speed). Reason mentioned the new portable oxygen, Oxia, which seems cool for those who can afford it. (Mayhaps I can get my hands on a sample and tell you whether it's worth it.) In keeping with recent commentary and readings on extremist religion, Reason quoted Krishnamurti "... this conditioning sets man against man, it creates antagonism, not only among the believers, but also against those of other beliefs ... they instill fear through their doctrines of reward and punishment, and through their competitive dogmas they perpetuate suspicion and antagonism." And also, "... we must think independenly of any authority, including the authority of organized religion." Thank you, Krishnamurti. I had a few choice tidbits regarding recent happenings such as Bill O'Reilly's appearance on Oprah, as well as on Fareed Zakaria's chat with the new CEO of Dow Chemical, Andrew Liveris. Fareed also did a piece on Egypt going organic (Egyptian cotton anyone?). Then, tonight's special guest was Jon Cloud, maker of Reason's beloved organic underwear, Clean Undies. Aside from making awesome undies, Jon let us in on a little-known fact that stupid (yes, stupid) agriculture (such as ammonium nitrate fertilizer and the urea breakdown chain) is really the problem when it comes to CO2 levels and global warming. We must have him on again to explain further! Music started with Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Simple Man' and ended with Britney Spears 'Toxic' (dedicated to all the spack monkeys out there, of course). Unfortunately, because someone unplugged the studio recorder and didn't plug it back in, there will be no archive of this show, and my great conversation with Jon Cloud is gone forever.

November 14, 2006: Oops, archive notes coming soon!

November 7, 2006: Reason was shocked this morning to get an air quality alert. I mean, it's NOVEMBER. Elevated fine particles? Great ... lung tissue LOVES fine particles. Subscribe to Massachusetts air quality alerts from the DEP here. Check real-time particle levels and get air quality forecasts from the EPA here. Toll-free air quality hotlines: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is 800-882-1497; EPA is 800-821-1237. They even offer suggestions to protect yourself and minimize pollution (although they neglect to mention things like perfume and air "freshener"). Reason reminded listeners of the dangers of Nutrasweet/ aspartame (consider not taking psychiatric meds til you try getting off excitotoxins that screw your brain chemicals) and antibacterial products (substances such as triclosan lower T-cell immunity, which is the opposite of protecting our health), and briefly introduced some thoughts about homophobia (mayhaps people who can't get their own hetero issues sorted out and have the twisted nerve to make an issue out of healthy, loving gay relationships should give up their religious "faith"). Music was exquisite stuff from Erykah Badu's album, Mama's Gun (Penitentiary Philosophy, Didn't Cha Know, Time's a Wastin, etc.).

October 31, 2006: Halloween, huh? I'll show you scary. How about the awesome sulfuric acid gas leak in South Hadley?! Fascinating how they never revealed the mysterious "other" chemicals or advised who should seek medical attention. I smelled the fumes in the air on Rt. 116, and discovered later that immediately after Antidote Radio aired (literally a few minutes after 9pm), the situation was escalated to an official 'State of Emergency.' These are JUST the things to make Halloween feel like child's play ;). Inspiring bit about the Yes Men from an old Mother Jones piece. Despite vocal distress, Reason offered other tidbits for listeners' curious minds ... such as the new EPA report on heavily mercury-laden fish and 30 year old dioxins in the CT River (they said not to eat the fish). See related link. Again, with all this and too many mindless religious extremists in our midst, who the hell needs Halloween? Consider not making it all worse. How toxic is your body? Reason suggested, once again, that with all the scary pollution going on, the least we can do is what we can ... like give up unnecessary toxic crap such as fabric softener and unreasonably toxic laundry detergents. Yes, it does make a difference. In response to news about rising germ levels in streams, Reason explained that, if we disturb ecosystems, then of course we will have more germs, more bacteria, more "red tides," etc. This article offers tips for prevention, like don't use toxic chemicals [can't help but insert a "duh" here] such as dangerous pesticides/herbicides and synthetic fertilizers on your lawn/garden and don't dump toxic chemicals down drains. Groundwater around Hopewell, NJ is so contaminated with the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) that private wells were found to contain 400,000 times the limit for safe drinking water, and homes were found to have what's called "vapor intrusion" of TCE 46 times the state standard for indoor air. Thanks Rockwell Industries! More here. P.S. NO LEVEL IS A SAFE LEVEL. Music was all exquisitely rocking Soundgarden: 'Fell on Black Days,' 'My Wave,' etc. Oh yeah, and ... BOO!

October 24, 2006: Among other treats (news of last week's gas leak in Bhopal, for one), tonight's guest was Jay of American Formulating and Manufacturing (AFM), makers of non-toxic sealants such as Safecoat. Jay pleasantly clarified a few things regarding "low-VOC" and "zero-VOC" paints and a lot more. It turns out that AFM founder Nester Noe was inspired in part by one of our favorite physicians, Dr. William Rea! AFM distributors include Environmental Construction Outfitters (ECO) in New York (ask for Paul), the local Pure Home Center, and E.L. Foust online. Contact Safe Building Solutions to purchase samples of AFM products. And harkening back to last week's discussion of unreasonable religiosity, Reason read from the 10/9/06 Time magazine article " When Not Seeing is Believing" by Andrew Sullivan. Music was R.L. Burnside's 'Bad Luck City,' plus, very appropriately, Pink Floyd's 'Sheep' ["what do you get for pretending the danger's not real?" (read the lyrics)] from the delectable Animals album and 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder. Indeed.

October 17, 2006: FURTHER ARCHIVE ON THE WAY: A few tidbits, plus more from the Sam Harris interview on the dangers of religious extremism in September's Sun) magazine. Plus brief mention of suffering, Gangaji, and more.

October 10, 2006: FURTHER ARCHIVE COMING: Toxic mattresses, flame retardants, pregnancy, families and attitudes. Last-minute special guest Mallory talked a bit about her struggles and how she copes. Plus, the current National Geographic's big section on chemicals and health!

October 3, 2006: The Voice of Reason is back in the saddle, I mean studio, LIVE. Subjects included the dangers of religion (Sam Harris interview in the September Sun), Volvo vehicles having less toxic interiors (study by the Ecology Center), and some tidbits from the October Environmental Health Perspectives. Reason also introduced the Antidote Radio 'Toxic Truck Trial,' and recommended pain relief from Biofreeze, as well as amazing sore throat relief via Comvita lozenges (in bulk from Pacific Resources) and a special throat spray by Energique. Mentioned some less toxic things people are selling (a house, an unscented car, and a king-size organic bed). Music was Back in the Saddle by Aerosmith, Fearless from Pink Floyd's Meddle, and an upbeat tune by Jamiroquai.

September 26, 2006: I believe Eric played a re-run of the January 17th show. Hope it was good ...

September 19, 2006: 'Transportation-free' Reason is currently not using much oil/gas, and therefore not supporting quite so much despicable Exxon/ExxonMobil. Recently saw story/update on Exxon Valdez (Sierra Club Chronicles' 'The Day the Water Died') on Link TV. Exxon, now ExxonMobil, has kept the people of Prince William Sound in litigation ever since the disaster. Evil exemplified. AT LEAST WE CAN NOT BUY EXXON/MOBIL GAS! Hope you enjoyed tonight's re-run while I find a car. Wish it could be electric ;(.

September 12, 2006: Reason is temporarily off due to transportation issues and mural painting in the studio, so tonight, the listeners were treated to an unedited (scary!) re-run from January of this year. Hope you enjoyed.

September 5, 2006: Reason was considering taking the night off due to mural painting in the studio ... but ended up with no transportation, so a double whammy stopped Antidote Radio! VFR peeps helped by playing some re-runs this evening.

August 29, 2006: MORE THOROUGH NOTES WITH LINKS UPCOMING: Various delicious (truth is good) bits included discussion of pesticide spraying (they recently doused approximately 500,000 acress in Southeastern MA with chemical poisons). Special guest Mitchell Cohen (related article) joined us to discuss the battle to stop spraying in New York.

August 22, 2006: FURTHER NOTES ON THE WAY: Among other things (like formaldehyde in FEMA trailers and current pesticide spraying in Southeastern MA), Reason reviewed the affordable ice cream ball for homemade ice cream without chemicals or sugar (I wish someone would just start making it this way so I don't have to do it myself). Music was Stereophonics' "Maybe Tomorrow" and someone else ...

August 15, 2006: FURTHER UPDATE ON THE WAY: Today's special guest was one of the finest physician's of our time, Dr. William Rea, founder of the Environmental Health Center of Dallas and author of the extraordinary four volume set "Chemical Sensitivity."

August 8, 2006: FURTHER UPDATE ON THE WAY: Inspired by her recent appearance on Valley Free Radio's Mental Health Show, Reason presented a bunch of information relevant to just that, mental health (how toxic chemicals affect the central nervous system, when pesticides cause psychosis, etc.). [Note to visitors from the Mental Health Show: related links will be posted in Past Shows section soon, but if you need immediate resources, try Dr. Rapp, Eva Edelman's book, or something by Dr. Sherry Rogers.]

August 1, 2006: Reason is back! Today we discussed smog alerts (EPA's Air Quality Index for New England), irony (such as using air conditioning to deal with smog and pesticides to kill detoxifying dandelions), and inclusion vs. exclusion, plus Austin Air's very own Bill Taylor came on and cheerfully discussed air filtration (his first radio appearance ever). Thursday 8/3, the EPA will decide whether to ban carbofuran, the most deadly pesticide to birds currently being used in the United States (more toxic than DDT). Carbofuran's maker, the FMC Corporation, is pressuring the EPA to keep this pesticide on the market. There are safer alternatives, so there are NO EXCUSES. I hope you sent comments to carbofuran@epa.gov and gshire@abcbirds.org or fax 202-564-0512. If so, thank you. Tonight's music was "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Feelin Alright" by Joe Cocker, plus "O'Death" from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.

July 25, 2006: The Voice of Reason has no idea what happened this evening, as she (I) was unexpectedly away. VFR aired some sort of re-run/mish-mash of previous Antidote Radio experiences, however. I am sorry I 'forsook' you, but I hope you enjoyed it ;)

July 18, 2006: Sumac tea, toxic "vanilla" tourniquets, attitudes (defensiveness vs. inquisitiveness), EPA perc ban and handbook on pesticides, "acceptable risk," the fibromyalgia community's "Letter to Normals," and article The Emerging Environmental Majority. Music was Led Zeppelin and St. Germain, plus Traffic's "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys."

July 11, 2006: FURTHER ARCHIVE ON THE WAY. Guest Martin Pall, PhD talked about the NO, O NOO (nitric oxide/peroxynitrite) syndrome. In honor of Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, music was "See Emily Play," "Remember a Day" and a couple sweet ones from Meddle.

July 4, 2006: Reason was distracted by technological mishaps this evening, and the AR website update was lost, causing a web update delay. But you can try non-toxic bug repellants like Bite Away and Bug Out. Quotes of the day: "Truth only reveals itself when one gives up all preconceived ideas." (Shoseki); "How reluctantly the mind consents to reality!" (Norman Douglas); and "All great truths begin as blasphemies." (George Bernard Shaw). That's for sure. While California is considering a bill that would make it the first state to test a sample of its residents for toxic chemicals (learn more here), chemical companies are "worried about a rush to judgment before all scientific evidence is in." Aside from the fact that ENOUGH evidence is in, waiting equals TOO LATE. But the American Chemistry Council is saying "... chemistry is helping you and your family stay safe." They invite you to "find out more about how American Chemistry is helping you live longer and get more out of life." Find out more, indeed ... keep listening to Antidote Radio and do your research. And watch out for good media/art: VH1 Storytellers had Pearl Jam on this week and actually broadcast Eddie Veder getting deliciously political, even saying things the Voice of Reason says! Ahh, bliss. Music was Pearl Jam's "Alive" and selections from Soundgarden's "Down on the Upside" ... oh, how I loooove Soundgarden.

June 27, 2006: A study shows that sunscreen can make the skin more permeable to pesticide. Awesome non-toxic sunscreens by Mexitan and a really cool H202 ear remedy for coughing. Trader Joe's is an excellent alternative for those who find health food stores too expensive or "hippy-ish." Seriously ... life would improve if you decreased your patronization of regular grocery stores. Reason defined sophistry/sophism, discussed the concept of euthenics, and through the power of spoken word and synonyms, explored the difference between cleaning and contaminating (something apparently lost on the makers and users of most laundry and cleaning products). Clean waterways and lickable, toxin-free skin, anyone? Introduction of the Antidote Radio pledge, and coming soon, a page where you can take it. Music was Madonna's "Frozen," plus Henry Rollins gave us "Fool" and "Liar."

June 20, 2006: As usual, the show began with Earthwatch Radio, news snips and commentary. Still recovering, Reason had special guest Peggy join her via telephone to discuss CFIDS (chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome), fibromyalgia, MCS and more. Symptoms like vertigo and long-term, low-grade fever can mark the beginning of chronic illness. We discussed the eugenic nature of our culture when faced with the needs of weaker members ("acceptable risk"). Peggy told the story of the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill and how the flock ostracized a bird of a different color, and that it was the one to show compassion for the others when they were hurt or ill. The folks from Green Nest were on the NBC Today Show this morning, but the focus seemed to be more on dust and mold than chemicals. They did feature the Austin Air Healthmate Plus air filter, however, as well as mention chemicals in cleaners and scented candles. It's a start. Another Today Show segment was about an entire family who had their stomachs removed as they were susceptible to stomach cancer because of a "gene mutation." No one mentioned mutagenic chemicals. Journalism, anyone? INVESTIGATE SOMETHING. TELL THE WHOLE STORY. Anyway, half the population does not have the genetic make-up to detoxify one-third of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceutical medications. More info and specialized genetic testing available from Genelex. No, your doctor probably hasn't a clue. Music was Garbage "As Heaven is Wide," Allman Brothers "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," and Jamiroquai "Use the Force."

June 13, 2006: In a bit of a whisper, Reason shared a few personal comments about her unfortunate loss of voice, plus ... a quote from Abraham Lincoln: "How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg." What our society says is true and what actually IS true are often very different. And unfortunately, what we don't know is devastating us. Those who think they are so "different" from chemically sensitive people should note that, when exposed to the human pesticide ZyklonB in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, some of the Jews may have died more slowly, but ... THEY ALL DIED. Great new film, Who Killed the Electric Car?, opens in NY and LA on June 28th. On June 20th, the NBC Today Show will talk about creating less toxic households with Lisa and Ron Beres of Green Nest. Someone once said, "The most important marker of a sick building is whether the people in it are sick." They can say that again. Same with societies. Extrapolate from there. Have you checked out non-leaching stainless steel water bottles yet? Due to Reason's damaged voice from chemical exposures, listeners were treated to a forty-ish minute talk from 1992, still applicable today, by Dr. Jeffrey Anderson. He spoke about environmental health and the politics of the medical industrial complex at an Environmental Health Network conference. Special thanks to the library of our very own Environmental Health Coalition of Western Massachusetts for providing the recording. Music was as appropriate and enjoyable as ever: The Black Crowes' "Remedy" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

June 6, 2006: Today's quote, from Philip K. Dick: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." AMEN. Updates, tips and reviews included: Reason's trial of ThreeLac and the candida protocol by Renewed Health; jute and latex yoga mats from Green Yoga (page also offers stainless steel water bottles for pthalate-free hydration [also sold locally at WFM and Cornucopia]); local, handmade, cold treat without sugar Alpine Ice is worth trying; if natural detergents are too expensive, or you have an "issue" with healthier products, try Arm & Hammer Liquid Laundry Detergent Perfume & Dye Free, and you will not only avoid poisoning yourself so much as with regular laundry products (NO, don't add fabric softener), but you also won't leave a toxic chemical scent trail wherever you go. Also, check out one of Reason's favorite, most affordable, and most socially responsible stores of all time, Ten Thousand Villages (there's one in Northampton). Tonight's show also featured Reason reading from Mark Morford's "Take Me Fishing With Chemicals!" and an earlier piece, As Satan Scrubbed My Toilet. News included: car seats impair newborns' breathing; PON1 and the variability of susceptibility; plus the first study of its kind on Toxic chemicals in children. Most flowers on the market are heavily fumigated ... not only bad for us, bad for the workers and their kids. Try sources like Organic Bouquet instead. Less toxic greenery is also available locally at Whole Foods Market and Annie's, both in Hadley. Note upcoming screenings of The Tomato Effect. Music from Pearl Jam and local artist Celia.

May 30, 2006: The usual rantings of Reason, plus a relevant snippet about Hitler and narcissism from Erich Fromm's The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness; a couple bits about detoxification pathway genetics; fibromyalgia is yet another condition related to chemical exposures, despite lack of literature explaining so; and news of a mother exposed to restricted pesticides having a baby born with no limbs (details here and at PESTed). If you think someone's watching out for you where chemicals are concerned, click here. Special guest and renowned Integrated Pest Management (IPM) expert Steve Tvedten ('tweeden') explained that not only are pesticides dangerous and ineffective, but they make matters worse. He has nearly 3000 alternatives to using serious poisons (for example, dishwater kills insects, aspartame kills mice, and pests get stuck to duct tape). A great deal of free, helpful, and non-toxic information is available at all his web sites, but he particularly recommends Safe Solutions, Inc. Also visit: Get IPM, Safe2Use, and The Best Control. Why would anyone use pesticide chemicals (organophosphates/nerve gas) when their original purpose, as developed by the Nazi's, was to kill PEOPLE? Related local resources: Massachusetts IPM Council and Organic Trade Association. Local opening for An Inconvenient Truth is June 30th. Music was Sheryl Crow and Soundgarden. P.S. That deerfly patch mentioned on the show? See my picture of its effectiveness below! Call 231-832-2323 or click here to get some.

May 23, 2006: Global warming film, An Inconvenient Truth, opens this week in New York and California. South Park's 'kid whisperer' show was fantastic ... so maybe their ludicrous attack on Gore, I mean climate change, was actually a lame attempt at reverse psychology? Reason explains the "boiling the frog" concept better than she did last week. Guest Professor Micheal Ash of UMass and the Political Economy Research Institute explained new report: the Toxic 100 Corporate Air Polluters. Ash also recommended OMB Watch as a great resource for news and action on the Toxics Release Inventory and many other important issues. Reason read from chapter eight of Diane Wilson's book An Unreasonable Woman about her fight against polluters. Music this evening was hard to find Jimi Hendrix.

May 16, 2006: Among other things, Reason ranted upon fakeraker John Stossel about how finding more toxic hydrocarbons (oil) is the last thing we need to do (if there ever were a man who misses the point, it's Stossel). Tonight's special guest, neurotoxicity specialist Dr. Raymond Singer, didn't make it ... so Reason had to discuss the topic of the day, neurotoxicity, with her frenetic self. Oh the excitement! Along with having to improvise more than usual, Reason was able to be a living demonstration of central nervous system hypersensitivity to coffee (decaf even) mixed with the adrenaline inherent to doing a live show. Wow! Topics included spontaneous/acquired nystagmus from new construction/carpet; assessing nervous system damage; miosis or "pinpoint" pupils (the most sensitive and specific immediate response to acute poisoning in humans); exposure , genetic polymorphisms and neuro-psychological impairment; chemically-induced psychosis; and signs of neurotoxicity. Also see this page on nerve agents. If Reason forgives Dr. Singer (who did apologize), Antidote Radio will have him on shortly. But I'm pretty sure I've heard "the dog ate my homework" somewhere before ... Music included Rage Against the Machine, Buddy Guy's "Fever," and selections from Radiohead's "Amnesiac."

May 9, 2006: Special guest Ruurd Valkenburg came all the way from the Netherlands to talk about his wife Els Valkenburg and how they live with her multiple chemical sensitivity. We heard a few contributions that Els sent to us via recorded CD (more upcoming). Here is Els' web site full of MCS resources, and this is the site for her book about Reiki healing. Special thanks to Els and Ruurd for being international participants in the antidote!

May 2, 2006: The usual commentary, tips, rants, news, and great music, plus: how genetic differences predict multiple chemical sensitivity; why South Park is no longer funny; the Semmelweis Reflex (the dismissing or rejecting out of hand any information, automatically, without thought, inspection, or experiment); gender-bending pollutants and the impact of toxic chemicals on reproductive health; bad doctors and the cult of medicine; fun with "Camp NoStink;" health effects of global warming (how I am already a casualty) and what I thought of Al Gore's new film on the topic.

*April 25, 2006: Antidote Radio will not be live tonight, so that the Voice of Reason can attend a press screening of Al Gore's film on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. But tune in to VFR and enjoy the show from October 18, 2005. Discussion will include modern implications of the concept of 'hysterical paroxysm' with readings from the book The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel Maines; humor-laden snips from Floyd Skloot's writings on cognitive impairment from Peggy Munson's book Stricken; people with central nervous system issues being mistaken for "neurotic;" and books by Dr. Sherry Rogers.

April 18, 2006: Mexitan safer suncare products; my trial of ThreeLac begins; interview with Diane Wilson, author of An Unreasonable Woman, co-founder of Code Pink, and recent hunger striker (not her first time) to protest Dow Chemical's refusal to do right by the victims of the Union Carbide methyl isocyanate release that killed thousands in Bhopal, India.

April 11, 2006: Netherland woman's web site on MCS; the EPA's Window to My Environment web site; homeopathic remedy for olfactory sensitivity; toxic telephone poles contaminate things and ruin a nice walk; toxic marketing and baby products by Johnson & Johnson; awesome Oprah show about women; social psychology of modern slavery; environmental chemicals implicated in cancer (duh); special last-minute guest from NC, Iris, talks about severe tricothecene (mold/mycotoxin) poisoning from lack of a timely diagnosis and how Immunosciences Lab helped her. Music tonight included Incubus; Nitin Sawhney; and unknown.

April 4, 2006: Author and renowned environmental pediatrician Dr. Doris Rapp on how environment affects health and behavior and what we need to do about it.

March 28, 2006: Local homeopath Dale Moss' talk on what the 1918 Spanish flu says about the modern-day bird flu.

March 21, 2006: I talk with my brothers about how environmental health issues are affecting them.

March 14, 2006: Duke University Medical Center's Dr. Mohamed Abou-Donia on the importance of plasma cholinesterase and chemical synergism.

February 28, 2006: Voice of Reason sick and sniffling from her hot date (exposure to a person); review of O'My natural lubricant; NicoHabStop is great natural help for quitting smoking (lobelia makes cigarettes taste terrible); narcissism; abuse management.

February 21, 2006: Diane Wilson released from jail; U.S. pollutes Ontario; industry is WAY ahead of consumer awareness, with aromatic packaging, plastics impregnated with fragrances, and a local scented candle company using scented catalog ink; S.C. Johnson is NOT a "family company."

January 17, 2006: Organic underwear reviews (my favorite is Clean Undies [new Many Moons website is in progress]); dogs as cancer detectors; radiant electric heat; THE best almond butter (Lagier Ranches); affordable, handloomed, organic cotton blankets; safer essential oils; mold exposure; trying to date with chronic illness; discrimination by local dentist; empathy, mirror neurons and the "self vs. other" barrier.

January 3, 2006: Nearby perfume-laden headphones made me sick during last show, not the microphone; antibacterial products decrease T helper cells and cause other problems (see CDC page); Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point; epidemic of men destroying any chance of pheromonic attraction by wearing cologne & body spray (totally unaware of how delicious most of them smell without it); Todd Haynes' film Safe; how new carpet, new paint and a new car caused enough brain dysfunction (neurotoxicity) that I was forced to quit graduate school; Anderson Laboratories tests household products on mice and finds loss of grasp reflex, seizures, death, etc. (read interview here); compounding pharmacies offer customized medications. Music was Led Zeppelin, Erykah Badu and Metallica.

HOT CLICKS

Exposed and The Tomato Effect are two hot, new, environmental health films to watch out for. Great web sites, too.