Posted by Barb Tubekis
President Chuck Norton opened our weekly 12:15 meeting
 
Thought of the Day:
David Birkenstein shared a quote from one of his favorite philosophers who is a longshoreman from the West Coast, Eric Hoffer:
"The beginning of thought is disagreement -- not with others, but with ourselves."
 
Birthdays/Anniversaries
Again no birthdays this week, but Peter Skalski reminded us of Jean Wright's 95th birthday. Feel free to send a card or call her cellphone: 847-217-1906
 
Address:
Ms. Jean Wright
Brookdale Palmer Ranch
5111 Palmer Ranch Pkwy
Sarasota, FL 34238
 
Announcements:
Barb Tubekis announced the Volunteer Center's MLK Day activities, Sunday, January 17th, the HEROS (Healing Everyday Racism in our Schools) virtual workshop on the Legacy of MLK. In addition, the VC will host its annual no-sew fleece blanket donation program for the homeless that begins at the Community House (thank you for opening your house to us) on MLK Day, Monday Jan 18th and runs through Saturday, Jan 23rd.
 
Board Elections:
Rejoice! Chuck Norton made the happy announcement that he has secured two terrific co-presidents-elect for our 2021-22 board.
They are the esteemed Bill Leske and Greg Nelson. Terms begin July 1st.
Note: Greg Nelson said he will not fight any impeachment attempts :)
 
Happy Bucks:
Robert Mardirosian pledged five Happy Bucks in honor of Bill & Greg for stepping up and agreeing to be co-presidents. Barb Tubekis added $5 to Robert's pledge for $10 donation.
 
Dig 'n Grin:
Eric Birkenstein passed the spotlight to his daughter Leslie Ann Birkenstein who shared some jokes with us, notably: "Why does a clock get more food? It goes back for seconds." :)
 
Speakers: 
The research team of Dr. Sajoy Varghese, Primary Investigator from the Lovell Federal Health Care Center and Dr. John Bair, PHd. presented: "Correlating Kynurenine Pathway & Heart Rate Variability: A Novel Method to Assess Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder With and Without Alcohol Use Disorder."  Or for the benefit of us very lay listeners: "Psycho Physiological Effects of PTSD & Alcohol Use Disorder."
 
This very thorough presentation covered this expert team's research on the devastating effects of PTSD and what they have uncovered about addictions - reward systems and anti-reward systems that alcohol can have on PTSD on a molecular level - biological intervention. PTSD widely occurs in Veterans of the Vietnam War, and along with it a high rate of suicide. They live 10 or more years less than those without PTSD and their families also experience more violence from those suffering from the addiction.  
 
Dr. Varghese presented chemical evidence and shared an important approach to their study with this quote about addiction psychiatry from Victor E. Frankel:
"Between stimulus & response is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth & our freedom." Determines whether or not you turn to alcohol to understand that gap is a large part of their research. Why? What are the known and unknown triggers? 
 
Questions and answers followed, including a discussion of potential positive impact of cannabis support. There needs to be more research to what Dr. Varghese termed is still controversial. 
Please visit the meeting recording for accurate, detailed and scientific research they presented. https://youtu.be/31QRfj2db3w