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Life & Times Transcript
10/31/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Homes can be rebuilt, but how do you rebuild an orchard? Steve Maddock>> Your trees, of course, both your nursery trees and your fruit trees, that's kind of your bank. You pour all your money into that all year long hoping that you're going to sell the tree or get enough return at the end of the year from the fruit to be able to come out ahead. Val Zavala>> And then, looking back on a lifetime of memories and learning how to share. It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Once the smoke clears, this season's fires will actually provide a boost to certain sectors of our economy, in particular homebuilding, but other sectors will not be as lucky. Avocado growers were hit particularly hard and they'll be feeling the pain for years to come. Hena Cuevas goes to northern San Diego County where there's a concentration of avocado orchards. Hena Cuevas>> Marcos Alcaraz has farmed these lands in Escondido for the past forty years. This is what Maddock Farms looks like today. The crops Alcaraz tenderly cared for are charred and blackened. Thousands of avocado trees, all destroyed by fire. The fire started sweeping through San Diego County on Monday. Evacuation orders quickly went out, but Alcaraz and the other workers here ignored the orders. For a while, they hid from the police so they could stay behind trying their best to save the farm. Marcos Alcaraz>> I stayed in the office until the last moment. The police took me out because I was spraying water on the house and the office. I live next to the office. I was trying to protect things. Hena Cuevas>> But the fire was just too strong. Neither Alcaraz nor the other workers could stop the destruction. Marcos Alcaraz>> I only lost my home, but the owners lost a lot. I think they lost the trees that were ready for sale, thirty thousand trees. They lost thirty thousand trees. Hena Cuevas>> The farm Alcaraz defended belongs to twin brothers, Dave and Steve Maddock. They're fourth generation citrus and avocado growers. Steve Maddock>> "I haven't been up here yet, but those Mexican limes are gone." Hena Cuevas>> California produces ninety percent of the nation's avocados and nearly half come from northern San Diego County. It's a three hundred million dollar industry and an estimated one-third of the crop was in the path of the fire. There are no figures yet on the total losses, but here at Maddock Farms, the brothers figure the damage at more than a million dollars, and they lost more than trees. Dave Maddock>> It's earth shelter and it's over a foot of soil over the top, so we thought we were going to be safe. But this side here, there was wood and the garage was framed wood, so these two parts ignited and went right inside and gutted the whole thing. Hena Cuevas>> Dave, who had to evacuate, came back to a burned home. He says that he was amazed at how the workers fought the flames sometimes using a simple garden hose. Dave Maddock>> Yeah, we're very fortunate. We've had one man with us for fifty-three years, another one for about forty, several more for well over thirty. We've always thought they'd lay their life on the line for us and they did. Hena Cuevas>> A big part of their business was the nursery which is where most of the trees were lost. Steve Maddock>> We provide the farmers in the area with citrus and avocado trees. A good portion, probably half of that, will be gone, so that will be a fair amount of both the citrus and avocados. You can tell right now that they're gone. Hena Cuevas>> What happened to the Maddocks is being repeated on farms throughout San Diego County with avocado growers being the hardest hit. Eric Larson>> We're coming up on an avocado grove right here that really got hit hard by the fire. It looks there are some folks in here starting to do some repair on it right now. Hena Cuevas>> Eric Larson is the Executive Director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, a nonprofit. He's going around the area assessing the damage and he's letting farmers know the Bureau can help them sort through the paperwork and claims. Eric Larson>> Most of them right now are trying to figure out how they're going to get back into business, rebuild, redo the irrigation, replant the trees, replant the plants and do what they have to do to be back in business as quick as they can. "So all those valves are out of the ground? They all melted?" >> "Yes." Eric Larson>> "So below ground is okay?" >> "Below ground is okay." Eric Larson>> "So it's just everything above ground." >> "We cut the pipe, put a coupling and then put the riser." Eric Larson>> "Put the new risers on." >> "Put the new riser and replace all the . . ." Hena Cuevas>> At this farm, more than six hundred sprinkler valves burned. They're being replaced so trees can get watered again as quickly as possible. The trees that are still alive could survive if they get water fast enough. Each tree has to be sized individually. Eric Larson>> The first thing they'll have to do is look at their groves and decide which trees can recover. Just because they're burned doesn't mean they die. They'll give those trees a few weeks to see if they start to sprout and come back, but that'll take some time. In other cases, the trees are just gone. There are nothing but twigs left where the trees were. In those cases, those growers know right off the bat that it's either replacement or go out of business. Hena Cuevas>> Even the green fruit that didn't burn is lost. That's because the branches are charred and too weak to hold the heavy fruit, so the avocados end up falling to the ground. About half of California's sixty-two thousand acres of avocados are insured, but that doesn't mean that those with insurance won't have to incur additional costs. That's because crop insurance only covers the loss of the crop itself. That is, the avocados. What it doesn't cover is the cost of replacing each one of these trees and it will take between six to ten years for one of these to mature. This is all new territory for the brothers. In their families, more than sixty years in the business, they've never had to file a claim. Steve Maddock>> Your trees, of course, both your nursery trees and your fruit trees, that's kind of your bank. You pour all your money into that all year long hoping that you're going to sell the tree or get enough return at the end of the year from the fruit to be able to come out ahead. Yeah, that's where everything is all tied up in the crop. Eric Larson>> Plus, if it's an avocado grower and they had crop insurance, they probably wouldn't be eligible for payments until 2009 because they have to wait until the crop year of 2008 is over to see what the value of the crop would have been, and then payments would be coming in the following year. So that's a very long process and doesn't provide any immediate relief. Hena Cuevas>> This fire season will join a long list of challenges faced by farmers in San Diego County. Last January, they were hit by a destructive frost which caused thirty-eight million dollars in damages. Then there's the ongoing drought, which means that, starting next year, farmers will have to cut water usage by thirty percent. Eric Larson>> In all the years I've been in agriculture, I've discovered that the farmers are amazingly resilient. They choose agriculture not just as a business, but as a lifestyle as well. They want to be out there in the field and I don't think any of them can imagine doing anything else. Hena Cuevas>> The Maddock brothers and their workers are back on the farm getting the sprinkler system up and running. They're also figuring out a way to get back into business and, despite all they've lost, they're looking forward to helping other farmers get back on their feet. Steve Maddock>> Fortunately, right along the freeway, there are still some orchard trees that are still intact. In fact, pretty much untouched, so we do have something to offer the farmers if they choose to start up again. Hena Cuevas>> Starting up again will be an uphill battle, but then as Larson says, farmers are a resilient bunch. I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Toni Guinyard>> Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have long been a concern of researchers and doctors here at LA BioMed. They want to see the development of new antibiotics, but it's not going to be easy or quick. We spoke with Dr. John Edwards, an LA BioMed researcher, about the problems and the potential solutions. Dr. Edwards, your concern about antibiotics to treat these staph infections. What we're seeing is a growing number of the infections and no drugs to treat them. Dr. John Edwards>> Well, we're very concerned about that. It's not only staphylococcus, but there are other microorganisms that are becoming resistant to the antibiotics, many of them, in fact. It's a problem we are dealing with every day in our clinical practice. Toni Guinyard>> Why are we seeing more of these cases now as opposed to five or ten years ago? Dr. John Edwards>> It's just a natural course of events for the introduction of anti-infective agents into the general population. Microbes see them and they just become resistant to them. We didn't really understand that before, but we understand it clearly now. It's just going to continue as the future develops. Toni Guinyard>> It seems like it's impossible to ignore this right now. Every news station you turn on, every newspaper you open, there's a story about MRSA. Dr. John Edwards>> Well, that's exactly what we would expect because we just feel that eventually it will become more and more frequent and peoples' awareness of the problem will be increasing all the time now. But as I mentioned, it's not just MRSA. We're going to see other resistant organisms become infective in the community setting, such as e-coli and others. Eventually, we'll be hearing about people getting serious infections from those organisms as well. Toni Guinyard>> Well, what can we do? We're just the general public. We purchase what antibiotics we're prescribed. What are we supposed to do? Dr. John Edwards>> One of the things that the general public could do that would be extremely beneficial is to interact with the lawmakers and express their concern about this development of resistance so that they will then know that we have to do something about this problem. Toni Guinyard>> Well, it just seems to make sense that, if you have the problem, the companies would be saying, "Hey, we need to develop drugs to treat these issues." Dr. John Edwards>> Well, you would think that would be the case, but what is really happening here is a societal political conundrum, if you will. The companies are now under a lot of pressure to develop drugs for problems in our aging population such as Alzheimer's. Diabetes is another example, arthritis, these chronic illnesses. If they can develop a drug that will be used by a large number of people for most of their lives, that's the sort of area they are going into. So antibiotics are very effective. They're really taken by a relatively small number of people and they work very well and aren't taken very long, so there's an economic pressure on the pharmaceutical companies to go away from antibiotics and more towards these drugs for chronic illnesses. Toni Guinyard>> What has your research uncovered? Dr. John Edwards>> We have found that there has been a precipitous decline in the number of new antibiotics that have been developed over the last several years. A graph showing that just shows a direct downhill trend so that now there are only a handful of these drugs that are proved over each five-year interval for the last several decades. Toni Guinyard>> So what are we supposed to do? If we end up contracting this, we are used to just going to the doctor, getting some kind of antibiotic and then taking it and going home. Dr. John Edwards>> Well, the doctors are going to be faced with, first of all, identifying whether or not it's a resistant organism and then, secondly, trying to select what relatively few drugs we still have available that are going to work against the infection. As time goes on, that number that is going to work is going to continue to diminish and that's why we need new antibiotics produced so badly. Toni Guinyard>> Now the research that you've done has been presented to lawmakers, but what has been the impact of that? Dr. John Edwards>> The Infectious Disease Society of America has devoted a tremendous amount of effort over the last five years to try to make lawmakers aware of the need to create incentives for the pharmaceutical companies to remain engaged in anti-infective research. What we've actually done is written to them directly and tried in every way we can to get the message about this resistance into a priority that is at a very level for the lawmakers. Toni Guinyard>> And when you say incentives, what are you referring to? Dr. John Edwards>> The kinds of ideas that have been entertained are tax breaks for pharmaceutical companies that engage in anti-infective research, and prolongation of patent life of drugs that are used for infection. Those should be adequate incentives for pharmaceutical companies to then regain the extremely high costs that exist for developing new anti-infective agents. Toni Guinyard>> And if that was given, that okay was given right now, those incentives were put on the table, how long could it possibly take until we get a new antibiotic on the market? Dr. John Edwards>> Well, I would answer the question as how long would it take for us to get enough new antibiotics on the market? It isn't just a single one. There still are antibiotics which are being approved, but not at the rate that we need. But if those types of incentives were put in place now, it will be many years before a large and satisfactory number of antibiotics will get put on the market because it takes many, many years of research. Then it has to be pre-clinical research, then patients have to be studied, then the approval process is necessary. So many people feel it's about eight to ten years, once a new drug is discovered in the laboratory, before it will get approved by the FDA and go into patients. Toni Guinyard>> I don't want to draw a conclusion, but are you targeting the pharmaceutical companies? Dr. John Edwards>> When you say targeting them, the pharmaceutical companies really are not at fault for the fact that they're not developing these new agents. This is a political societal conundrum. We have a free market society here and the pharmaceutical companies must not only address the changing needs in our population, but they also have to maintain their financial welfare so that they can continue to develop new treatments and new drugs. At the present time, the production of anti-infective agents is just not financially remunerative for them. Toni Guinyard>> Is it frustrating for you? Dr. John Edwards>> It's been very frustrating for the Infectious Disease Society people. We see the problem so clearly. We have the data. Actually creating legislation that is going to create incentives is a very difficult process and a very slow process. Toni Guinyard>> Is there anything we can do at home to protect ourselves from getting one of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria? Dr. John Edwards>> Well, just the basic principles of basic hygiene are really the major issue here. Frequent hand-washing and general cleanliness and clothes washing and so forth are the best ways at present to stay away from these kinds of resistant organisms. Toni Guinyard>> Dr. Edwards, thank you for sharing your information and thank you for spending some time with Life and Times. Dr. John Edwards>> Thank you for this interest in this subject. It will help with the solution as time goes on. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> We all know that our parents and grandparents are full of incredible stories. After all, they are members of the greatest generation. But how do you bring those stories to light and to life? Well, that's where storyteller, Barbara Clark, comes in and the results are wonderful. Toni Guinyard went to a senior center in midtown Los Angeles to see how Barbara Clark works her magic. Barbara H. Clark>> "Well, we're not going to wait. We're going to get started." Toni Guinyard>> This is a story about the stories of students. Yes, students, in a storytelling workshop. They each have something to share, a moment in time from way back when. Bernadene Coleman>> "But Momma, God rest her soul, always had a way of bringing Daddy back down to earth." Toni Guinyard>> They are learning the art of storytelling. For a full eight months, one hour a day, once every week, they meet at the Vineyard Recreation Center in Los Angeles, first learning to write and then performing their stories on stage. Nelle Baker Slaton>> "And she turned and twisted in front of the mirror again and said, 'This goes so well with my blue jeans.'" Toni Guinyard>> After months of developing, writing, telling, polishing and then retelling their stories in front of each other, it all comes down to this: their final rehearsal for their final performance with the students thinking about one thing. Bernadene Coleman>> (Laughter) Whether you can get through the story or not without making a mistake or without forgetting. I think at this age or this stage in life, that's probably in most of our thoughts. Barbara H. Clark>> "Try standing in one place, project your voice. Remember you got audience all the way at the back of the room." Toni Guinyard>> And at the center of it all is Barbara H. Clark. The retired librarian issues directions from her posts around the room. From here, she sees all -- Barbara H. Clark>> "Move closer in." Toni Guinyard>> And hears all. These are her students. The storytelling workshop is her idea. Barbara H. Clark>> To most people, when you say storyteller, they start to think about entertaining children. I don't do children (laughter). I perform for adult audiences and my stories are not fairy tales or mythology or folklore. "The title of my story is 'Five and Dime'." My stories are original personal stories, stories about my own life experiences, stories about my family background and my cultural heritage. "You see, we lived in an all-black community and the bus didn't come into our neighborhood." So they're designed for an adult audience. "Well, I knew I was colored, but I had money to spend, so what difference should it make?" They're designed to grab the audience at the very beginning, hang on to their attention and hold them through to the very ending so that they will never lose the attention. Toni Guinyard>> Clark takes storytelling seriously and expects her students to be prepared. Nelle Becker Slaton>> One woman wasn't able to do it. She said, "You go back in that room and you learn that story." Then she came back and she had to get up there. Toni Guinyard>> She's serious about it. Nelle Becker Slaton>> Oh, she's serious, but she's pleasant. Barbara H. Clark>> She stood on that stage and she told her story and she did not have an anxiety attack and, when she came off that stage, she went, "Yes!" She couldn't contain herself, she was so pleased with what she had accomplished. Nelle Becker Slaton>> I love it and I tease her all the time. I tell everybody that she's a strict teacher, but she's nice about it. Barbara H. Clark>> "I want you all here at twelve o'clock sharp. You can come five minutes before, but don't come five minutes after." Toni Guinyard>> One week later, before a packed house, it's time for the storytelling concert, as it's called, to begin. Barbara H. Clark>> "Welcome, all of you, to 'Tell Me a Story'. This is our seventh concert." Toni Guinyard>> One by one, the students take center stage. >> "We went weaving in and out and around the May Pole, wrapping the May Pole. When it was completely wrapped and our streamers secured, Mrs. Watson said, 'Boys and girls, you were perfect. You may go to your parents now.' Momma gave me the biggest, tightest hug. 'Oh, I am so proud of you.' Oh, Momma, I love you." Toni Guinyard>> The stories take the audience from childhood to youth. >> "We decided to go to a movie. Now going to a movie in 1951 was the coolest. It was like being engaged." Toni Guinyard>> And from youth to the realities of adulthood. Barbara Murray>> "They had talked about adoption for a long time." Toni Guinyard>> The storytellers' words celebrate life and even find the humor in talking about death. Edna>> "One of her instructions was, 'Now, don't you have that funeral on the weekend because, on the weekends, they charge you double for closing the mortuary.'" (laughter) Toni Guinyard>> What do you feel when you're up on stage? Barbara Murray>> Initially, I feel a case of jitters. But after you hear the laughter and see a couple of smiles and you realize that people are relating to what you're saying and they're listening, it feels great. >> "Six months after I was born, the whole world went into a great depression. Now I'm not taking the blame for that (laughter). I know I was not to blame. It's not my fault." Toni Guinyard>> Somewhere along the line, the transformation from student to storyteller takes place. Marilyn>> "I thought of chemistry sentences and, in my head, I heard those jingles, those songs I had made up. I had quite a few. 'Oh, H20 is water, got to pass this test 'cause I oughta.' (laughter). I write it down and went to the other one, SO4. 'SO4 is sulfur, it stinks like rotten eggs, just like the hair grease Momma puts on my head' and I'd write it, write it, write it. I did this for it must have been about five minutes into the test. I felt this hand on my shoulder and I looked up and it was Professor Burns. He said, 'Marilyn, are you all right?'" Barbara H. Clark>> The thrill is, I think, pretty obvious because everybody wants to think that there was something about their lives that was important, particularly people who have lived most of their lives. That is, you look back and you realize at a certain age that most of your life is behind you and you think there must be some value to that. Toni Guinyard>> On this day, value is measured by applause or a nod or a smile, but the story doesn't end here. Barbara H. Clark>> I would like to see storytelling take its rightful place in the theater world and have people recognize it as a legitimate -- not only just a legitimate art form, but a needed art form and a wanted art form and an art form that really does attract an audience if they're aware of its existence. "And I remembered her words from the bus. 'It might be a little harder and take a little longer, but you can have whatever you're willing to work for.' I remembered her lessons from that day until now. But I also remembered the real world lessons I learned at that Five and Dime." Toni Guinyard>> I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> And later this month is the Los Angeles Storytelling Festival. It's Saturday, November 10. You can get details at their website at lastorytellingfestival.com. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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