a story of mine in the Allston-Brighton Tab

as shown here

Allston, Mass. -

Fighting off recommendations from Attorney General Martha Coakley to become primarily a teaching facility, the new management of Caritas Christi Health Care System said that St. Elizabeth’s Hospital will not only maintain most of its services, but expand upon them.

Dr. Ralph de la Torre, the new president and CEO of the not-for-profit hospital chain, confirmed that St. Elizabeth’s work as a tertiary care community hospital will continue and they will also maintain their status as a teaching facility. This coincides with the information St. Elizabeth’s President Chris O’Connor told the TAB in March.

The William F. Connell Emergency Dept. and Urgent Care Facility is still scheduled for a June 2009 opening.

“The final piece of steel was put in place,” said de la Torre of the building’s recent structural completion. Now they will be working on the inside, putting up the walls of what will be a state-of-the art emergency room, he said.

According to de la Torre, they are no longer the practicing referral hub for the Caritas System, meaning that patients will not first be sent to St. Elizabeth’s to later be referred elsewhere.

“The hospitals are about the communities we’re in,” said de la Torre. “We’re not just in the community; we’re a part of the community.” And as Good Samaritan is about Brockton and Carney is about Dorchester, St. Elizabeth’s is about the communities of Allston-Brighton and Brookline, he said.

Emily LaGrassa, director of communications to the AG said, “We do not feel that having some tertiary services is incompatible with being a community teaching hospital. [CCHCS] needs to identify which services are responsive to the community.”

LaGrassa said that those at the office of the AG feel that de la Torre really understands how to find that balance, and they look forward to working with him.

A reshaping of the Caritas System management is the largest appeasement of the AG’s recommendations to date, resulting in a largely layperson Board of Governors, almost entirely independent from the Archdiocese of Boston.

As stated in the AG’s executive summary on a report compiled by Health Strategies & Solutions, Inc. in March, “CCHCS needs strong, dynamic leadership whose accountability and reporting obligation is only to the CCHCS Board of Governors. It is critical that the current executive recruitment process be successful and that the new leadership be effective, visionary, and stable for the foreseeable future.”

Though the archdiocese still appoints three members to the board, health care and business professionals represent the new face of Caritas.

“Our management team is more streamlined,” said de la Torre. “We’ve hired out gaps to fill.”

The gaps already filled include Brian Carty, chief marketing officer; Joseph Maher, executive vice president for governmental affairs and general counsel; and Timothy Crowley, MD, senior vice president of physicians and network development.

Crowly, former medical director at Mount Auburn Health Care, will attempt to address the AG’s concerns about the Caritas Physician Network by improving productivity and financial performance.

Carty, former CEO of the Burlington-based Wheelhouse Corporation, has been competing in advertising and internet marketing for years, working with clients such as Verizon Wireless and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Joseph Maher has been taken on because of his healthcare and governmental law experience, said de la Torre. He had overseen the merger between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Faulkner Hospital, as well as many other hospital mergers in the region. Though de la Torre, a renowned cardiac surgeon, has many ties to his former Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he said no mergers are in consideration in Caritas System’s near future.

“I asked him [Maher], does that mean every hospital you work for ends up merging? And he said, ‘No, it just happens to have worked out that way,’” said de la Torre of a conversation he and Maher had had upon his coming to Caritas.

At Beth Israel-Deaconess, de la Torre was founder, president and chief executive of its Cardiovascular Institute and the Cardiovascular Management Associates, a multi-site hospital, physician and testing facility network.

De la Torre hopes to expand the offerings at all of the community hospitals, and provide the highest quality health care achievable, he said.

the rise and fall of the roman empire; aka, another day in online poker

I've spent a lot of time over the past 4 years playing online poker. I mostly play small stakes tournaments, sit n gos and satellites. Last week i won 2 multi-table tournaments on Full Tilt, their combined entry was under $6 and my profit was $310. Ding, ship it, $200 check in the mail heading toward MrCogito.

You'll notice that there would be a remaining balance. 310-200 leaves a little leftover. That surplus is what I like to call my insanity bankroll. You see, the insanity bankroll allows me to slowly hate myself in the privacy of my own bedroom, or on the couch in front of Escape From New York. The best part? I get to hate myself over and over again, all for $5 or less! Truly, one of the economic marvels of our modern times. Boredom flirting with slight rage resulting in minor depression, headaches, muscle cramps, sweating, and skin irritation. A visit to Lewis Carroll's medicine cabinet might be helpful in times like these.

But let me share with you an episode from today:

After resuming play from our first hour's break, I find myself 2nd of 99 remaining players (307 to start in a $5 KO NL Holdem tournament) with 11,175 in chips at 11:33 am EST. In the next 17 minutes I would no longer be in the tournament. Below are the details which coincide with my certain, yet fleeting, lunacy.

Blinds, 50/100. BB (big blind) is in seat 5. In seat 8 with no action yet in the pot, I raise to 300 with AdQd (suited Ace Queen of diamonds). Seat 3 ships it all-in for 2,005. Two hands previous I played AA for a reraise and hit a set on a rainbow flop and played it craftily to extract about half of this player's chips. Now, he shoves on my opening bet. I give him credit for a decent pair, 9s or 10s and decide to call the 1705 more. He has pocket queens and i brick, all low cards hit the board.

I'm left with 9,170 in chips. In about 6 hands i manage to lose about 3k in chips playing back at short stacks.

11:45 Blinds, 60/120. I'm the small blind with KhQs.
The player under the gun (UTG) calls the 120 and everyone else folds around to me. I raise it up to 500. The BB folds and the limper calls. Two of us to the flop.


*** FLOP *** [6c Jd Tc]
MrCogito bets 800
jcadd64 calls 800
*** TURN *** [6c Jd Tc] [Jh]
MrCogito checks
jcadd64 bets 1,200
MrCogito has 15 seconds left to act

(I'm nearly certain this player has a jack. Probably KJ. At this point, it's 1200 to win nearly a 4k pot where I have an open ended straight. Also, the player could still just be on a flush draw and betting at my weak check on the 2nd jack.)

MrCogito calls 1,200
*** RIVER *** [6c Jd Tc Jh] [Ad]
MrCogito checks

(I make my straight and I'm not entirely comfortable)

jcadd64 bets 120

(uuuuber suspicious)

MrCogito calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jcadd64 shows [Jc Ah] a full house, Jacks full of Aces
MrCogito shows [Qs Kh] a straight, Ace high
jcadd64 wins the pot (5,360) with a full house, Jacks full of

So I took the risk to draw at my straight on a flush draw and 2 paired board. I connected, and after that, somehow did not lose my entire stack. Pat myself on the back, deep breath.

11:46, next hand, I am on the button with 3,220 in chips. I call a raise to 300 with JsTc and we go 3 way to the flop.

*** FLOP *** [Qs Ts 2d]
juniorzalaz has 15 seconds left to act
juniorzalaz checks
midwinter checks
MrCogito checks
*** TURN *** [Qs Ts 2d] [2h]
juniorzalaz checks
midwinter checks
MrCogito checks
*** RIVER *** [Qs Ts 2d 2h] [9s]
juniorzalaz has 15 seconds left to act
juniorzalaz bets 360
midwinter folds
MrCogito calls 360
*** SHOW DOWN ***
juniorzalaz shows [Ks Jd] a straight, King high

I didn't want to get out of line with 2nd pair because my chips were running low, so i decided to check my way into calling a small bet on the river where the other players caught a straight. My fault, indeed, but not a monster loss. chances are, he's calling on the open-ended flop anyway.

I say to myself. "I should probably sit out. This is not going right."

I do not sit out. 4 hands later or so:

11:49, blinds 80/160, button is seat 2. I have 2,560 in chips.

I have AcTd and call a small early position min-raise of 320 and so does the BB. 3 way to the flop.

*** FLOP *** [Jh Ah Th]
Ihaa checks
midwinter checks

Terrible, terrible, flop. KQ has a straight. A made flush is possible but unlikely, AK/AQ could have a straight flush draw, or even a worse ace (more probable) has a pair and a flush draw. Both are either scared or setting a trap. I can't aforrd to peel off another card, 2 pair is probably in the lead and I need to make them think about folding their draws. Assuming the worst, i have full-boat outs.


MrCogito bets 2,240, and is all in
Ihaa folds
midwinter calls 2,115, and is all in
MrCogito shows [Td Ac]
midwinter shows [Ad Js]
Uncalled bet of 125 returned to MrCogito
*** TURN *** [Jh Ah Th] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Ah Th 9s] [8d]
MrCogito shows two pair, Aces and Tens
midwinter shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
midwinter wins the pot (5,270) with two pair, Aces and Jacks

No one had hearts, cold deck 2pr over 2pr on a 3-flush board. I have 125 chips left.

I fold the next hand.

11:50. The BB is larger than my stack, so I call with Ah4H. Someone min raises to 320, and the small and BB fold.

Heads up.

Ah4h against 9d9c. I'm in bad shape.

*** FLOP *** [8h Qh Ad]

Sweet! i flopped top pair and the flush draw! I might more than triple up!

*** TURN *** [8h Qh Ad] [9s]

No friggin way. really? a set? ok, come on heart. heart. heart.

*** RIVER *** [8h Qh Ad 9s] [Ks]
jcadd64 wins the side pot (70)
jcadd64 shows three of a kind, Nines
MrCogito shows a pair of Aces
jcadd64 wins the main pot (455) with three of a kind, Nines

Nothing. Just a shift of extremes. Far behind, vastly ahead, out.

However much I want to blame this incident on the website, I cannot. The game can be absurd, and that is why it is fun and challenging. Just being correct is not enough to win. Last night, at a live tourney a similar injustice happened.

Blnds were 75/150 and I shipped it in from early position with QJ off suit. The two players following me called and the blinds folded.

flop was J A J, rainbow

sweet! trips! i'll be up to 1825 and can play again.


check, check.

Turn, J A J 5

all-in, fold

we turn our cards face up. Dude has pocket 5's and just hit the miracle 2 outter to make a boat. I can still win with a queen or an ace.

River blanks.

I'm feeling pretty defeated. But worst of all, it's all mental. The money isn't large enough to create this rage or depression, but the degree of absurdity is. But by knowing the degree of how this absurdity can affect me negatively, I also know that it can also affect me positively (i.e. when I suckout on someone). Unfortunately, in my case, the degree of negative absurdity has so outweighed the degree of positive absurdity, that when moments of positive regularity occur, they seem trivial and meaningless. Such as a day in the life of anybody. Today is meaningless, but yesterday and tomorrow shall be measures of my value.

Mozart Park Mural

Roberto Chao





Stefanie Baez,17 (HSTF) and Roberto Chao painting in Mozart Park in Jamaica Plain



Carlos Escarfullery (green) and Ezequiel Lugo (white) begin painting a Jamaican Fisherman. They use a picture from a library book as a guide, which can be seen on the sketch to their right.



Nick Whittingham,14, wakes up at 7:30 each morning and rides with his mom "in the HOV lane" from Providence, RI to Jamiaca Plain, MA to work on the mural while his mom is at work in Back Bay. He likes it better than summer camp



Nick Whittingham (blue) and Abraham Venezuela (white) paint. Venezuela attends the Boston Arts Academy and owns his own record label.



Hyde Square Task Force Peace Dove. Found all over JP.

Roberto Chao, Mozart Mural, HSTF

Roberto Chao sits on a green park bench in Mozart Park eating a homemade sandwich, his hands blotchy with white and blue paint. The wind brings a cool flicking mist from the south as children run through water sprinklers in the summer afternoon heat. Behind the bench is a large toolbox, locks dangling and unclasped. Protected overnight in this newly renovated park are not the shovels, hammers and nails of its construction, but the tools with which to tell the community’s past; the tools of an artist.

Chao is leading the process of creating his 43rd community mural. His handiwork can be seen on the columns of the nearby Jackson Square train station, the Hernandez School jigsaw puzzle, and in massive installments all over Boston. But as Michelangelo did not paint the entire Sistine Chapel himself, neither does every brush stroke of these murals belong to Chao. He creates community art, for, and by, the community.

The MBTA has funded the repainting of this mural, which was originally painted in 1988. Youths employed by the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) and volunteers work with Chao from 9AM until 2PM Monday-Friday painting in the park.

Ashley Cotton, Programming Coordinator of the Community Development Artists at HSTF (and was a youth member for four years) said that the inception of the project was in January. Since then, there have been two community meetings where the content of the mural was discussed. “All members of the community are encouraged to add to the mural,” said Cotton. Even those who cannot draw can help fill in the lines sketched out by the artists “People have the opportunity to work alongside and have guidance from artists,” she said.

On July 10th there will be an event called Festival Night in Mozart Park, part of the Summer Nights Out program. From 6-8PM there will be mural painting, face painting, ice cream, a magician, and much more.


The History

Roberto Chao teaches art during the winter in the Somerville school systems, and uses his summers to paint murals. His goal is to empower the kids and let them enjoy themselves. “I wish when I was this age I had this opportunity,” said Chao watching the children meandering back into the park from their lunch break.

Chao was born in Uruguay and left in the 1970’s when he said a military junta closed down the art school. He then traveled through Europe and finished up his Bachelor’s work in Puerto Rico. In 1982 he received his Master’s degree in mural painting from the University of Mexico, a city where he stayed for 9 years. There he learned of the Mexican Muralista Art Movement, headed by Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and Jose Orozco. Street art is very prevalent in Mexico, said Chao. He even recalls certain colors like Mexican Pink and Mexican Blue (Frida Kahlo’s Blue House) as being distinct from all others.

In mexico he also became acquainted with Native American culture, what he calls “the original people”. Different cultures and histories are very prevalent in his artwork.

“In many of my murals I take ideas from poets,” said Chao citing Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan journalist and author as an influence (The Open Veins of Latin America and Memory of Fire both being rich in detail of American and Latin American Culture).

Mozart Park Mural #2

Youths working for the Hyde Square Task Force paint alongside accomplished muralist Roberto Chao in the newly renovated Mozart Park.

Boston Common Kite Fisherman w/dog

Massachusetts State House NBA Champs Celtics

INK & STEEL

WHO NEEDS WALL-E WHEN WE CAN HAVE ROBOTS BY SKUNK?


The South End's Space 242 had yet another end-of-the-month bash celebrating the artwork of Ansis Purins and the sculptures of Skunk. I've been to the past 4 or 5 of these events, and they are getting bigger every time. Space 242 shares its walls with the offices of The Weekly Dig. On the last Friday of every month they open a new exhibition showcasing local artists and also have screenings and shorts from the Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF). They also have open bar and some nibbles of tasty delights from local eateries.

This week Harpoon hosted with UFO hefeweizen and raspberry ufo as well as a nice dark Hofbräu Dunkel lager. Usually there is a liquor sponsor as well, but I didn't get past the beer this go.

There were a handful of smelly ditchkid bikers, and a few sexy ladies who might have been ditchkids as well, but as always everyone was really nice and approachable. Skunk is the leader of SCUL, the Subversive Choppers Urban Legion, and his high standing bike, complete with powered disco mirror-ball flagpole, was among his many amazing welded sculptures.







Skunk operating on one of his bots that supposedly does something cool when you put quarters in it. I think it just eats them, personally.


ANSIS PURINS:

freepress

don't let bush cut funding for public broadcasting

There might be less blood

Less than 2 years after Saddam Hussein's death, and decades of being blocked out of his country's oil empire, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP are negotiating no-bid contracts with Iraq's Oil Ministry to once again begin servicing their fields.

While Iraqi law is pending in Parliament, these companies, who have been advising the Ministry for "free", will not be given drilling contracts, but will aid in technology and management of this poorly run operation. Their cooperation will likely lead to first dibs on contracts a few years down the road, where new fields are assumed to be immensely profitable.

Iraq's current oil output of about 2.5 million barrels a day is expected to increase to 3 million in the short term, and perhaps 6 million when new territories are tapped.

As printed by Andrew Kramer of the NYTimes:
There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

So, now that Saddam Hussein is dead, The U.S. can "advise" Iraq's Oil Ministry to boost productivity by welcoming back Western oil companies to create a certain surplus in their GDP that they can only spend on outsourced reconstruction plans to boost the global economy, hopefully strengthen the U.S. dollar once again, and bring our gas prices down maybe a dollar by 2010, which is still more than we were spending before the war on terror.

Awesome.

2008 world seres of poker

Eugene Todd Bro is not always this angry.

I get frustrated losing to idiots for $20-$100. I can't imagine a month long donkey competition with thousands at stake. ETB, best of luck bro.

Literally recycled

Found in Cyanic Blue recycling bin on Moraine st. in Jamaica Plain, MA.