Veterans Affairs – Memphis Flyer

Fly-fishing has been around for centuries, with evidence of its existence going back to antiquity. By the time the 18th and 19th centuries rolled around, it became a pastime for wealthy white men in England and the U.S. Today, in the 21st century, the sport is still dominated by white men, but avid fly-fishers are looking to change that. The Mid-South Fly Fishers, for their part, are taking active steps to becoming more inclusive, like with their Fly-Fishing for Wellness event this Sunday.

For the event, the club will be joined by Colorado-based Melissa Ceren, “The Fly Fishing Therapist,” and MacKenna Stang, a fly-fishing influencer and women’s advocate, who will speak on the benefits of fly-fishing for better mental health and using fly-fishing to build community and well-being among women, respectively. Ceren will also lead a therapeutic exercise.

“My piece in it is that I’m a mental health therapist and fly-fishing guide,” says Ceren. “So I combined the two a lot because obviously it feels good to be in the outdoors. It’s nice, and I actually was having a conversation the other day that although fly-fishing can be relaxing, it’s not always just relaxing, like you get a knot and you lose fish and it can be really frustrating and sometimes you want to snap your rod. But all that to say is that it builds confidence in skills and resilience, which is transferable obviously outside of fishing, too.”

“There’s just so many different tactics you can use in fly-fishing,” adds Stang. “You just have to be skillful with it and it makes it more rewarding. … So, I wanted to connect with people who had the same passion for fly-fishing and learn from them and inspire other women to join the sport, and social media just kind of took off and I’m very grateful for it.”

For both women, they hope to engage fly-fishers — men and women — and those who just might be curious about fly-fishing. “This is all about inclusivity,” Stang says.

As for the Mid-South Fly Fishers, Drew Harris, the club’s vice president, says, “we really have three kind of core areas that we exist to support and it’s fellowship, education, and conservation around fly-fishing.” And with that, Harris says, comes a great sense of community. “We’ve formed these kind of relationships, friendships, and bonds around fly-fishing that have been really great and nurturing in all aspects of my life.” He has even had his two young daughters join him in fly-fishing. “I wanted to develop a community and kind of have them tag along with me so that they can grow up around it.”

And the Mid-South Fly Fishers give back to the community, too, through conservation efforts and by supporting the Veterans Affairs hospital in Memphis by teaching veterans how to fly-fish as a way to manage trauma and promote well-being. In fact, several items such as a Wrangler and Crosswater will be up for auction this Sunday, with all funds going to support the program.

Tickets for Sunday’s event can be purchased at msff.org and include a complimentary beer.

Fly-Fishing For Wellness, High Cotton Brewing Company, 598 Monroe, Sunday, February 4, 2-6 p.m., $20.

Most folks are honest; this tricks them into a belief in the bedrock honesty of others, especially those who make bold public statements. How could someone lie in a public statement? Most folks know they would not want to live with that embarrassment when the truth inevitably came out. And yet we get fooled again. And again. George Santos claimed his mother died in the 9/11 attacks. She did not. He claimed his grandparents survived the European holocaust. As we all know, his shenanigans have been extraordinary.

From Trump’s incessant and continuing lies to the fictions spun up on Fox News, we are awash in a gaslighting culture from the right that cannot seem to stop its relentless daily “flooding the zone.” But this is the chop on the surface; what about the current underneath? Where does the political left join the political right in framing profits as patriotism, bloodshed as glory, immiseration as inspiration?

Here we are in yet another crisis of our own making (well, made by the people we freely elected), the debt ceiling debacle. At the actual nut of the problem is the military budget. Why? Because it seems to be literally more sacred than the money the government takes out of your paycheck for your retirement, Social Security. Just ponder the headlines. Forbes: “Republicans Plan To Cut Social Security — Will Voters Let Them?” Time magazine: “How Biden Got Republicans To Run Away From Their History of Pushing Social Security and Medicare Cuts.” The fight is on, even as your paycheck shows the deductions made to the Social Security fund. That is your money, not Congress’ to play around with. And yet it’s a public debate now.

On the other hand, find me the politicians who are calling for cuts to the biggest budget item by far in the pool of your tax dollars that we do give Congress the right to divide as they see fit, discretionary spending. That would be the Pentagon budget, of course. There is pretty much radio silence on that topic. Where there are minor quibbles it’s usually about how much to increase it, not whether it should be cut.

Back in the day, Ronald Reagan’s head of his Office of Management and Budget, David Stockman, in an interview in The Atlantic, talked about the defense contractors and noted, “The hogs are really feeding now.” Fast forward to today and those hogs are breeding and feeding, gorging on your tax dollars, and yet the Pentagon is so reckless and eager to spend that they cannot pass an audit, year after year. So the bloated Pentagon budget, some $816 billion officially, is far more than every hostile foreign power combined, and yet in reality is much more than that, since military costs are also absorbed into other budgets, such as Veterans Affairs, Dept. of Energy, and NASA, amongst others.

Into all this comes the fatuous self-inflicted threat of a default to the U.S. full faith and credit because Republicans won’t honor past expenses they voted to make. If a dad does that he’s a deadbeat dad. If a contractor does that to a subcontractor, expect a lien. Do that to a neighbor nice enough to sell you an appliance that you never paid for and he’s going to see you in small claims court. Deadbeat Republicans never met a weapons system they wouldn’t vote for but now that the bill is here they want to dip out. Gullible Democrats also voted for those military boondoggles but at least they want to honor those debts.

Republicans are, as usual, aiming to cut programs that really serve human needs, but the budgets they seek to eliminate are so small the Pentagon would regard them as rounding errors. They want to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)? No food for poor kids! More caviar for Raytheon war profiteer executives!

It is long past time to really pare down the DoD budget. We should not have sophisticated weaponry all over the Earth, under the seas, and in space while families are living in tents in the snow on sidewalks and while healthcare is still not available to all. Can we unite for peace and prosperity?

Dr. Tom H. Hastings is coordinator of Conflict Resolution BA/BS degree programs and certificates at Portland State University, PeaceVoice senior editor, and on occasion an expert witness for the defense of civil resisters in court.