Paul Folino, Orange County tech executive and philanthropist, dies at 75

• October 16, 2023

Paul F. Folino, a longtime tech executive and philanthropist in Orange County, died after battling cancer. He was 75.

Raised in poverty in Seattle, Folino would go on to make a fortune in computer networking technology, working for Xerox in the 1970s and eventually as chief executive of Emulex Corp. in Costa Mesa.

Emulex, notably, fought off a hostile takeover by tech giant Broadcom in 2009, and was bought six years later for $609 million by Avago Technologies – the same company that acquired Broadcom for $37 billion.

Folino spun his own fortune into contributions to local causes. He gave and raised money for a broad range of causes including Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Repertory, the Mind Institute, Project Tomorrow, Chapman University and Cal State Fullerton.

Considered a rainmaker for his ability to land seven-figure donations, Folino and his wife in 2009 were honored with the Spirit of Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Daranne Folino told the Register that Folino “grew up with nothing.”

“He truly believes he’s been extremely fortunate and blessed and wants to give back,” she said at the time.

Giving back meant helping Cal State Fullerton expand its College of Business and Economics – even if Folinio never attended the school.

Professor Anil Puri, who was dean of the university’s business school from 1998 through 2016, recalled Folino responding to requests in the early 2000s for help with the school’s fundraising. Puri noted that while Folino was not a Fullerton graduate, the CEO had discovered he had many employees and people in his personal circle who had gotten business degrees from Fullerton.

Puri said that Folino not only contributed, but he became an active advocate for the entire university within the Orange County community. The school honored the donor by renaming the street next to the new business school building “Folino Drive”.

Folino’s donation, Puri says, “was not his biggest contribution, his biggest help was bringing other people on board.”

One of Folino’s tactics was to enlist the help of celebrities.

For example, actor Kevin Costner, a CSUF alumnus, made a fundraising video and hosted dinners at his homes in Santa Barbara and Hollywood.

Or when Chapman University needed money to build out its film school, Folino persuaded Arnold Schwarzenegger to throw pre-release screenings of his movies “Collateral Damage” and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”

Education meant a lot to Folino. His Folino’s parents never finished high school. His two brothers didn’t go to college.

Folino got to go to Central Washington University on a basketball scholarship. He majored in psychology, sociology and political science. He then earned a master’s in business administration in organizational behavior at Seattle University in 1970.

After graduation, he went to Xerox Corp., where he volunteered to join the copier company’s early foray into computer networking. He left Xerox in 1984 to build and sell two tech companies before joining Emulex in 1993.

When he arrived, Emulex was worth $19 million on Wall Street and had no money in the bank. When it was sold 22 years later, its value had grown 30-fold.

Folino also served as chairman of another local tech company, Landtronix, as well as heading the board of directors at Commercial Bank of California and NCAL Bancorp.

Much of Folino’s giving focused on forwarding the lives of children.

He told the Register in 2006 that he would take prospective contributors to the 13th floor of the Performing Arts Center where they could look down on all the buses delivering thousands of youngsters to see a live show.

“When I start really glowing inside is when I see these kids,” Folino said. “The next Paul Folino is going to come out of that group because I know that’s where I come from.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Ron Paul: Israel must heed lessons of America’s response to Sept. 11 attacks

• October 16, 2023

Those who called Hamas’s attack on Israel “Israel’s 9/11” were more accurate than they realized.

Just as the US reacted to 9/11 by fulfilling Osama bin Laden’s wish that the US would get bogged down in no-win wars, Israel’s reaction to the Hamas attack fulfills Hamas’s likely goal of radicalizing more Palestinians. The result of Hamas’s attack will be to strengthen the most extreme elements on both sides of the conflict.

Given the strong support for Israel among both major political parties it is not surprising that, following the attacks, many politicians rushed to microphones to proclaim their support for US assistance for Israel. President Biden announced the US would send military aid to Israel, while Congress is drafting legislation providing about two billion dollars in “emergency” military assistance to Israel. Even most of the growing number of representatives who oppose military aid to Ukraine will support spending “whatever it takes” to defend Israel. This is why the Biden administration and some in Congress want to combine aid for Israel and Ukraine into one legislative package.

Spending billions more to support military action in the Middle East and Ukraine will benefit the military-industrial complex. However, it will harm most Americans by accelerating the growth of the government’s over $33 trillion debt. As the debt increases, the Federal Reserve will push interest rates lower and monetize the debt. This will lead to increased price inflation, combined with economic stagnation and high unemployment — in other words, stagflation.

Concerns over the government’s debt and the Federal Reserve’s enabling of that debt with easy money and low interest rates will lead to more challenges to the dollar’s world reserve currency status. Increased resentment over US hyper-interventionist foreign policy will also lead to changes to the dollar’s reserve currency status. Saudi Arabia could even stop using dollars for its international oil trade. The end of the petrodollar would be the final nail in the coffin of the dollar’s world reserve currency status.

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The end of the dollar’s world reserve currency status would mean the US government could no longer run an empire abroad and an authoritarian welfare state at home.

The question is not will the American empire end but when and how. It should end deliberately, with Congress starting the process of restoring limited constitutional government by ending all foreign aid and bringing our troops home.

When Israel was criticized for bombing an Iraqi nuclear plant it feared would be used to produce weapons, I defended Israel’s right as a sovereign state to act in what it saw as its national security interest. I still hold that view. I believe Israel would benefit if the US ends all foreign aid, since much of it goes to Israel’s enemies.

Foreign aid also gives the US an excuse to engage in other forms of meddling.

Ending US interventionist foreign policy would allow the Israelis and Palestinians to find a way to a just and lasting peace.

Dr. Ron Paul is a former member of the House of Representatives. This article was written for and published by the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

​ Orange County Register 

Mariah Carey adds a second Christmas show at the Hollywood Bowl

• October 16, 2023

After announcing the initial run of dates for the Merry Christmas One and All holiday tour earlier this month, R&B and pop diva Mariah Carey is extending her Christmas stay at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for a second evening on Nov. 19.

According to Live Nation, the first show set for Nov. 17 at the venue sold out in minutes, causing an overwhelming amount of requests from fans to add a second date.

Fans can now expect several presales for the second show, with American Express members gaining early access to tickets starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17 at americanexpress.com; the Live Nation presale begins at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 at livenation.com; Ticketmaster presale starts at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 at ticketmaster.com.  Tickets for the general public will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 20 at livenation.com.

“LA, let’s double the fun!!” Carey wrote on Instagram while sharing the news of the new Los Angeles date. The self-proclaimed queen of Christmas will also stop at Yaamava’ Resort and Casino in Highland on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The tour will feature Carey singing her hits “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and many other holiday standards.

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​ Orange County Register 

Humanitarian aid is stuck at Gaza-Egypt border as Israeli siege strains hospitals, water supply

• October 16, 2023

By NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMYA KULLAB and JOSEPH KRAUSS

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Truckloads of aid idled at Egypt’s border with Gaza, barred from entry, as residents and humanitarian groups pleaded Monday for water, food and fuel for dying generators, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel after last week’s rampage by Hamas was near total collapse.

Hospitals were on the verge of losing electricity, threatening the lives of thousands of patients, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes searched for bread. Israel maintained punishing airstrikes across Gaza as a ground invasion loomed, while Hamas militants kept up a barrage of rocket attacks — and tensions mounted near the Israel-Lebanon border.

More than a week after Israel cut off entry of any supplies, all eyes were on the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt. Mediators were trying to reach a cease-fire that would let in aid and let out trapped foreigners. Israeli airstrikes forced the crossing to shut down last week, and local media reported Israel struck the crossing again Monday.

Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, where the military has exchanged fire repeatedly with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s defense minister, and President Joe Biden weighed whether to visit Israel after an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking to the Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah, “Don’t test us in the north. Don’t make the mistake of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be far heavier,” referring to Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah, which operates out of Lebanon.

Soon after he spoke, the Knesset floor was evacuated as rockets headed toward Jerusalem. Sirens in Tel Aviv warning of incoming rockets prompted U.S. and Israeli officials to take shelter in a bunker, officials said.

This has become the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for both sides. At least 2,778 have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, the vast majority civilians massacred in Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault. The Israeli military said Monday that at least 199 hostages were taken into Gaza, more than previously estimated. Hamas said Monday it was holding 200 to 250 hostages, including foreigners whom it said it would free when it was feasible.

The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, in charge of monitoring militant groups, took responsibility for failing to avert Hamas’ surprise attack. As agency head, “the responsibility for that is on me,” Ronen Bar said.

“There will be time for investigation — now is a time for war,” he wrote in a letter to Shin Bet workers and their families.

The combination of airstrikes, dwindling supplies and Israel’s mass evacuation order for the north of the Gaza Strip has thrown the tiny territory’s 2.3 million people into upheaval and increasing desperation. More than 1 million have fled their homes, and 60% of them are now in the approximately 14-kilometer-long (8 mile) area south of the evacuation zone, according to the U.N.

The Israeli military says it is trying to clear away civilians for their safety ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in Gaza’s north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels and rocket launchers. Much of Hamas’ military infrastructure is in residential areas.

Those fleeing northern Gaza still faced airstrikes in the south. Before dawn Monday, a strike in the town of Rafah collapsed a building sheltering three families who had evacuated from Gaza City. At least 12 people were killed and nine others remained buried under rubble, survivors from the families said. The strike reduced the house to a vast crater blanketed with wreckage.

Hospitals are expected to run out of generator fuel in the next 24 hours, meaning life-saving equipment like incubators and ventilators will stop functioning, the U.N. said. Thousands of patients’ lives were at risk, the U.N. said.

People grew increasingly desperate in their search for food and water. With taps dry, many have resorted to drinking dirty or sewage-filled water, risking the spread of disease.

More than 400,000 displaced people in the south crowded into schools and other facilities of the U.N. agency for Palestinians, UNRWA. But the agency can’t provide them any supplies. UNRWA said it has only 1 liter of water a day for each of its staff members trapped in the territory.

“Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, calling for a lifting of the siege. “We need this now.”

The few operating bakeries had long snaking lines of people. Ahmad Salah in the city of Deir al-Balah said he waited 10 hours to get a kilo (2 pounds) of bread to feed 20-30 family members.

In northern Gaza, unknown numbers remained, either unwilling or unable to leave.

UNRWA said 170,000 people were sheltering at its schools in the north when the order to leave came. But it couldn’t evacuate them and doesn’t know if they remained. More than 40,000 have crowded in the grounds of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital and surrounding streets, hoping it will be safe from bombardment.

Hamas urged people to ignore the evacuation order. The Israeli military on Sunday released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south.

Doctors and many hospital staff have refused to evacuate, saying it would mean death for critically ill patients and newborns on ventilators.

The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said many of its personnel decided to stay in the north to treat wounded. They had run out of painkillers, and staff reported “wounded screaming in pain,” it said.

Israel has said the siege won’t be lifted until Hamas releases all the captives. The country’s water ministry said water had been restored at one “specific point” in Gaza, outside the southern town of Khan Younis, but aid workers in Gaza said they had not yet seen evidence the water was back.

On the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, crowds of Palestinians with dual citizenship waited anxiously, sitting on suitcases or crouched on the floor, some comforting crying infants.

“They are supposed to be a developed country, talking about human rights all the time,” Shurouq Alkhazendar, whose two kids are American citizens, said of the United States. “You should protect your citizens first, not leave them all alone suffering and being humiliated in front of the crossing.”

After increasing cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah in the north, the Israeli military ordered residents to evacuate 28 communities within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of the Lebanese border.

“Israel is ready to operate on two fronts, and even more,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman.

Hezbollah released video showing snipers shooting out cameras on several Israeli army posts along the border, apparently to prevent Israel from monitoring movements on the Lebanese side.

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The U.S. government began evacuating some 2,500 American citizens by ship from the Israeli port city of Haifa to Cyprus. Commercial airlines have largely stopped flying into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Blinken returned to Israel for a second time in less than a week after a six-country tour through Arab nations aimed at preventing the fighting from igniting a broader conflict.

Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region and the call-up of some 360,000 reservists, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle Hamas. Israel said it has already struck dozens of military targets, including command centers and rocket launchers, and also killed Hamas commanders.

Kullab reported from Baghdad. Krauss reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Julia Frankel and Amy Teibel in Jerusalem, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Harbor Hoot brings stand-up paddle fun to the Dana Point Harbor

• October 16, 2023

The annual Harbor Hoot this weekend brought hundreds of stand-up paddlers to the Dana Point Harbor – the event celebrates the sport and teaches about safety while navigating the sea.

The gathering on Saturday, Oct. 14, marked the Harbor Hoot’s fifth year and offered three events – a 3K Channel Scoot, the Harbor Hustle Sprint and a Baby Beach Bolt Team Relay.

Stand-up paddle competition launched in Dana Point with the Battle of the Paddle at nearby Doheny State Beach back in 2010 when the sport started gaining popularity. The competition turned into the largest event in the world, which then turned into the Pacific Paddle Games.

But when that event fizzled about five years ago, local stand-up paddle athletes and newbie racers had few options for competition. Enter Harbor Hoot.

Harbor Hoot has grown since it launched five years ago, said Anthony Vela, event founder and organizer, who also runs the Performance Paddling training club in the harbor.

Last year had about 185 participants and this year signs ups were capped at 200.

Organizers also promoted the safety aspect of the sport, such as not paddling in the middle of the harbor channels during busy summer days, which can cause trouble with boaters.

“People are recreating in the harbor all the time, so now it’s a matter of having them doing it safely and be conscious when they are out there,” Vela said. “That’s the main mission – everyone having fun and being safe.”

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The 3K Channel Scoot is like a walk on the water, allowing participants a chance to test their speed and agility against fellow paddlers. The Harbor Hustle is a challenging course that “showcases the harbor’s beauty while providing a dynamic and competitive experience,” event organizers describe.

The team relay adds an element of camaraderie and teamwork to the day’s festivities.

Vela likens the event to the popular Turkey Trot in the Harbor, where serious racers show up, but so do leisurely strollers just looking to get outside and enjoy the scenery.

Danny Ching, Candice Appleby and Dave Boehne are among the serious athletes who have shown up through the years to keep their competitive chops sharp.

“It’s a great mix of new people, but a lot of the long-time paddling legends attend and participate as well,” Vela said.

And being out on the water – especially with the warm weather that’s been lingering – isn’t a bad way to spend the day, he said.

​ Orange County Register 

100th Anniversary: The founding of Disney Brothers Studio

• October 16, 2023

We look at the first few years of the Disney Brothers Studio, which later became the Walt Disney Co., plus a few things you may not know about some of the greatest filmmakers in history.

The company that now owns Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel and massive theme parks almost failed from the start.

On Oct. 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood when Walt Disney was 21. The Disney brothers were born in Chicago and then moved to Kansas City at a young age. Walt Disney drew cartoons for various publications and became interested in cel animation while working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company.

Starting with bankruptcy

Walt Disney’s first business venture with animation was called Laugh-O-Gram Studio, where some of the greats in the field worked. After a series of shaky deals with distributors, the business went bankrupt in 1923. Walt Disney sued and won, but the compensation was too little to save the company.

Moving west

Walt Disney moved to Los Angeles, where Roy Disney was recovering from tuberculosis, rather than New York, where animation was big business. Walt Disney created a live-action and animated short produced by Laugh-O-Gram called “Alice’s Wonderland.” The brothers founded their company and persuaded both Virginia Davis, who played Alice, and their collaborator, Ub Iwerks, to join them in Hollywood where they had a contract to make six more films of the franchise.

The “Alice’s Wonderland” series was a success, but Walt Disney wanted to focus more on pure animation instead of mixing it with live action. He developed a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and after losing control of the character, he began work on his most famous creation.

His wife named him Mickey

To replace Oswald, Walt Disney and Iwerks developed Mortimer Mouse, but Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian, thought it too pompous and suggested Mickey instead. Iwerks revised Walt Disney’s provisional sketches to make the character easier to animate.

Mickey had appeared in a few short films, but became a worldwide sensation in 1928 with the release of “Steamboat Willie.” The eight-minute animated film was the first to have synchronized sound. It was an enormous success and led to more Mickey cartoons and the “Silly Symphony” series.

A nervous breakdown

In 1931, Walt Disney and his brother felt they were not receiving their rightful share of profits from their distributor. Walt Disney struggled to keep his team together and fought for a greater share of the profits to no avail, which led to a breakdown. He and his wife took an extended vacation to recover.

Folly or fantastic?

In 1933, Walt Disney produced “The Three Little Pigs,” a film credited as the most successful short animation of all time. This made Walt Disney believe they could do a feature-length film, and in 1934 work on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” commenced.

The masterpiece was created by more than 750 Disney artists who worked on the film from 1934 to 1937. The production included 25 background artists, 65 special effects animators and 158 inkers and painters and countless production staff.

The project, which some dubbed “Disney’s Folly,” went 400% over budget, but the final product was a smash hit when it debuted on Dec. 21, 1937.

“Snow White” was the first American feature-length animated film and the first Technicolor feature. It cost an estimated $1.5 million during the depths of the Depression but earned $8 million in its first release, which is more than $174 million today.

Other Disney facts

Both brothers met their wives in Missouri. Walt Disney married Lillian, and Roy Disney married Edna. They were married until death.

Walt Disney tried to enter the Army in World War I but was denied because he was too young. He lied about his age to become an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. The war was about over when he got to Europe.

In 1947, Walt Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee where he claimed several people were communist agitators.

The feature films of Walt Disney

1. 1937: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (G)2. 1940: “Pinocchio” (G)3. 1940: “Fantasia” (G)4. 1941: “The Reluctant Dragon”5. 1941: “Dumbo” (G)6. 1942: “Bambi” (G)7. 1943: “Saludos Amigos”8. 1943: “Victory Through Air Power”9. 1945: “The Three Caballeros” (G)10. 1946: “Make Mine Music”11. 1946: “Song of the South” (G)12. 1947: “Fun and Fancy Free”13. 1948: “Melody Time”14. 1949: “So Dear to My Heart” (G)15. 1949: “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (G)16. 1950: “Cinderella” (G)17. 1950: “Treasure Island” (PG)18. 1951: “Alice in Wonderland” (G)19. 1952: “The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men” (PG)20. 1953: “Peter Pan” (G)21. 1953: “The Sword and the Rose” (PG)22. 1953: “The Living Desert”23. 1954: “Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue”24. 1954: “The Vanishing Prairie”25. 1954: “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (G)26. 1955: “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier” (PG)27. 1955: “Lady and the Tramp” (G)28. 1955: “The African Lion”29. 1955: “The Littlest Outlaw”30. 1956: “The Great Locomotive Chase”31. 1956: “Davy Crockett and the River Pirates”32. 1956: “Secrets of Life”33. 1956: “Westward Ho the Wagons!”34. 1957: “Johnny Tremain”35. 1957: “Perri” (G)36. 1957: “Old Yeller” (G)37. 1958: “The Light in the Forest”38. 1958: “White Wilderness”39. 1958: “Tonka”40. 1959: “Sleeping Beauty” (G)41. 1959: “The Shaggy Dog” (G)42. 1959: “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” (G)43. 1959: “Third Man on the Mountain” (G)44. 1960: “Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus” (G)45. 1960: “Kidnapped”46. 1960: “Pollyanna” (G)47. 1960: “The Sign of Zorro”48. 1960: “Jungle Cat”49. 1960: “Ten Who Dared”50. 1960: “Swiss Family Robinson” (G)51. 1961: “101 Dalmatians” (G)52. 1961: “The Absent-Minded Professor” (G)53. 1961: “The Parent Trap”54. 1961: “Nikki, Wild Dog of the North” (G)55. 1961: “Greyfriars Bobby”56. 1961: “Babes in Toyland”57. 1962: “Moon Pilot”58. 1962: “Bon Voyage”59. 1962: “Big Red”60. 1962: “Almost Angels”61. 1962: “The Legend of Lobo” (G)62. 1962: “In Search of the Castaways” (G)63. 1963: “Son of Flubber” (G)64. 1963: “Miracle of the White Stallions”65. 1963: “Savage Sam”66. 1963: “Summer Magic”67. 1963: “The Incredible Journey” (G)68. 1963: “The Sword in the Stone” (G)69. 1963: “The Three Lives of Thomasina” (PG)70. 1964: “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” (G)71. 1964: “A Tiger Walks”72. 1964: “The Moon-Spinners” (PG)73. 1964: “Mary Poppins” (G)74. 1964: “Emil and the Detectives”75. 1965: “Those Calloways” (PG)76. 1965: “The Monkey’s Uncle”77. 1965: “That Darn Cat!” (G)78. 1966: “The Ugly Dachshund”79. 1966: “Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.” (G)80. 1966: “The Fighting Prince of Donegal”81. 1966: “Follow Me, Boys!” (G)82. 1967: “Monkeys, Go Home!”83. 1967: “The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin”84. 1967: “The Happiest Millionaire” (G)85. 1967: “The Gnome-Mobile” (G)86. 1967: “The Jungle Book” (G)

Top-grossing Walt Disney animated features domestic gross adjusted for inflation:

1. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937)Walt Disney’s first feature-length animated film still reigns as the top-grossing animated film, adjusted for inflation at $1,021,330,000.

2. “101 Dalmatians” (1961)The original 101 Dalmatians, released in 1961, has an adjusted gross of $936,225,101. It was made into a live adaptation starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil and followed by “Cruella” in 2022, starring Emma Stone.

3. “Fantasia” (1940)When first released, it was ahead of its time but has proven to be financially viable, with an adjusted gross of $778,117,595.

4. “The Jungle Book” (1967)It was the last film that Walt Disney worked on. Its adjusted gross totals $690,380,663. Its live-action/computer-animated remake in 2016 earned more, totaling $966,550,600.

5. “Sleeping Beauty” (1959)Not sleepy at the box office with $680,974,120 adjusted gross.

Source: Allears.net (2020)

Sources: The Associated Press, Walt Disney Company, Allears.com, Silentfilm.org, Library of Congress, movies.disney.com, History.com

Images from Walt Disney Company except the Roy, Walt and Mickey line art by KURT SNIBBE, SCNG

​ Orange County Register 

Bipolar disorder is little researched, but doctors at Johns Hopkins aim to change that

• October 16, 2023

Angela Roberts | Baltimore Sun

Two months before Charita Cole Brown was supposed to graduate from college — and about two years after she experienced her first manic episode and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder — her doctors told her parents they should prepare for the likelihood that she may one day not be able to care for herself.

It was March 1982 and Cole Brown had just experienced a psychotic break eerily similar to what her grandmother had experienced years earlier. Despite her doctors’ prediction that she would never lead a “normal” life, however, within a few years, a counselor had helped Cole Brown find a combination of medication and other wellness strategies that worked for her.

She graduated from college, went to graduate school at Towson University, fell in love and raised two daughters to be “some of the kindest women you will ever meet.” Later, during her parents’ final years, she cared for them both.

“Bipolar is not an easy illness. I don’t have any enemies, I don’t think, but if I had an enemy, I would not wish this on them as a punishment,” said Cole Brown, who lives in Park Heights and published a memoir in 2018 called “Defying the Verdict: My Bipolar Life.”

But, she added, “you can live well.”

Charita Cole Brown, of Park Heights, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was 21-years-old and suffered a psychotic break at 22. She is interested in participating in a Johns Hopkins longitudinal study on bipolar disorder.

More than 40 years after Cole Brown’s diagnosis, bipolar disorder — a serious mental illness characterized by dramatic shifts in mood, energy, activity and cognition — remains under-researched, even compared to other mood disorders. While an estimated 2.6% of Americans who are 18 or older have bipolar disorder, people with the condition, especially those who are Black or African American, are often misdiagnosed.

Researchers and clinicians at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, however, hope that will soon change. They’re recruiting people with the diagnosis for a longitudinal study, in which researchers will follow participants for at least five years with the aim of better understanding the disease and how to treat it.

Hopkins is one of six research institutions around the country that were recruited for the project by BD², a Washington, D.C.-based organization launched last year to bring more resources to studying bipolar disorder. Three family philanthropies joined the Milken Institute to fund the organization, together contributing $150 million to accelerate breakthroughs in treating and understanding the disease.

The institutions leading the five-year study — including the Mayo Clinic, University of Michigan and University of California, Los Angeles — plan to recruit 4,000 people with bipolar 1, a type of the disorder characterized by more severe elevated mood episodes than bipolar 2.

Researchers later hope to expand their focus to bipolar 2 as they attract more funding, said Cara Altimus, managing director of BD². While the organization has enough funding to support the project for five years, researchers hope to follow patients for even longer to get a better sense of how their symptoms and the trajectory of their disorder changes as they age.

Projects of this breadth and scope are rare, even for more frequently studied health problems. Longitudinal studies are expensive and require extensive buy-in from scientists, patients and funders — a trifecta that’s hard to nail down. But, Altimus said, they’re incredibly valuable.

“So much of our science is happening in snapshots — in three month intervals, in one year intervals,” she said. “But we all know that our past, medications we’ve taken, life experience very much impact the way that health progresses overtime. And you can’t capture that unless you’re looking over a much longer time period.”

Researchers will collect hordes of data from participants, including annual brain scans and blood samples, as well as information from their smartphones, like when they first and last use the device each day. The results of this process, known as “deep phenotyping,” will be uploaded into a repository shared with all six research sites and will be used to understand differences between disorder subtypes and trajectories.

Hopkins researchers plan to recruit about 300 people for the study and connect with community organizations to ensure they attract a diverse group.

The effort will be led by Dr. Fernando Goes, who is also the director of the school’s year-old Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Mood Disorders.

There are no eligibility requirements for the study beyond being diagnosed with bipolar 1 and being willing to commit to a long-term project, Goes said. However, he added, participants ideally would be patients in the Hopkins medical system. That way, the study’s findings could be translated easily to improving the patient’s care — even before the project is over.

While that could be accomplished with people who are patients outside of the health care system, Goes said, “the easiest is within our health care system, so that the investigators and the clinicians are either the same people, or they rub shoulders with each other in the hallways.”

Preparations for the study lasted even longer than the study itself is expected to last.

It took 80 months — nearly seven years — of planning and an additional nine months of selecting the sites and preparing them, Altimus said. During the lead-up, researchers surveyed nearly 6,500 people with bipolar disorder, depression or both to ask them what they’d like to be studied.

They listed priorities such as metabolism, sleep, cognition and social engagement, Altimus said — areas that were a departure from the simplistic model researchers often use to examine bipolar disorder, which divides the disease into periods of depression and mania.

“What we often miss is that people with bipolar also experience changes in energy and changes in cognition and changes in ability to engage in life,” Altimus said. “That’s why this study is so important.”

“What we’re really hoping to do is move beyond our understanding of bipolar as just kind of the outward expression of mania and depression and bring this into a space of really understanding the whole person, as bipolar affects them,” she went on, “and how that affects their ability to get out of bed in the morning or their ability to have energy over time or how that affects sleep and wake cycles, or the ability to engage socially or not, or think clearly or not.”

Kerry Graves, executive director of NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore — a mental health organization that aims to bolster public understanding of mental illnesses — spoke excitedly about the fledgling bipolar study. While it’s expensive to study mental health conditions, it’s also expensive to care for someone with a mental health condition, Graves said.

“Mental health conditions, in general, are some of the most treatable conditions out there,” Graves said “If we can get the correct treatment strategies through research, the changes that would make are really, really dramatic.”

It’s been more than 25 years since Cole Brown, the memoir author, was last hospitalized because of her bipolar disorder. Her recovery has survived the death of her husband and parents, as well as her older sister, whom she described as the “glue” of her family.

She gets enough sleep. She takes her medications. She meditates on scripture. She prays. She doesn’t drink alcohol. And above all else, she holds onto hope.

“My life is proof that you can live differently than what people thought,” she said. “It’s also what you think for yourself. What do you have in your heart? What do you believe about who you can become? What are you willing to do to stay well?”

Those interested in participating in the study can email [email protected].

©2023 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

The family who left the U.S. to live in their ancestral Italian cave

• October 16, 2023

There’s an island off the coast of Rome where locals have been living in cozy grottoes since the dawn of time.

The shores and fishermen village of Ponza – the largest island of the Pontine archipelago, which sits offshore between Rome and Naples – are dotted with cave dwellings cut into the ragged sea cliffs, offering stunning views.

These homes, fresh in summer and warm in winter, require neither heating or air conditioning. They’re the island’s gem, and now popular with vacationers.

Since the 19th century, locals have been emigrating abroad, mainly to the US in search of a new life. However, they’ve held on to their traditions – which includes their traditional housing style.

One family to emigrate were the Avellinos. Luigi Avellino was the first of his family to leave Ponza at the beginning of the 20th century, initially going back and forth between the island and New York, before settling in the US permanently.

Attilio Avellino – one of his nine children, and born on Ponza – joined his father in the Big Apple in 1946.

But now, after decades in the US, their descendants are back on the island – living inside their old casa grotta (cave home), which they’ve renovated to a modern standard.

Homes sculpted from the rock

Brigida Avellino, 70 – Attilio’s daughter – lives with her daughter Loredana Romano, 44, in one of Ponza’s most beautiful cave homes. It has thick, rough whitewashed walls, and a terrace with views of the uninhabited island of Palmarola. Couches, chairs, benches, stairs, beds, tables and cupboards are all cut out from the cave.

“These grottoes are part of our DNA and heritage – each time a new baby was born the parents would dig another room inside the cliff, expanding the cave home,” Romano tells CNN Travel.

The younger generations moved to Ponza in 1980 when Attilio Avellino had a heart attack in New York. His doctor there recommended fresh air, no smog and a peaceful place to live – so the family returned to his birthplace.

Avellino has fond memories of her childhood in the US. While Ponza offers a slower-paced lifestyle, she misses the Big Apple’s hectic world.

“I have learned that you can take a girl away from the big city, but you can’t take the big city away from her. It sticks, even if I’ve been back in Ponza for decades now,” she says.

Avellino moved to New York alongside her mother in 1955 when she was two years old. Her father and grandfather were already living and working there, alongside her uncles and aunts.

“I worked in a steel factory for 22 years. I loved the chaos, the traffic, the buzz, the noise and all those people rushing to work at all times of the day,” says Avellino now.

Her father and grandfather did all sorts of jobs when they landed in the US, from running a fishery to working on container ships, cooking Italian cuisine and building skyscrapers.

“Call me crazy, but I really miss New York’s beat. I used to go around the whole time on weekends, take the trains, go to the movies with my friends, to restaurants, to the hairdresser, and just walk, walk walk. I still dream of that city energy,” says Avellino. On Ponza, she says, there are no hairdressers in winter.

Despite her age and growing health issues, she says she’d love to go back to experiencing the thrill of the frenetic, pro-active New York City lifestyle that allowed her to meet many people.

“NYC gave me the chance to have so many experiences and job opportunities. It was an exciting life,” says Avellino.

“I miss everything of the Big Apple: the workaholics, the traffic and the constant noise. The buzz of the steel factory and the supermarket’s quick beat, where I also worked. I was always on the run. Ponza is beautiful, the panorama is stunning but there’s nobody here.”

During summer, the island’s population rises to over 20,000 people, with hordes of beachgoers cramming Ponza’s paradise-like beaches. But in winter there are barely 1,000 residents in Le Forna district, where Avellino and Romano live. It is the most offbeat neighborhood, far from the touristy spots, where Ponza’s oldest families still live.

Culture clashes

Ponza goes from being ‘dead’ in winter to packed in summer.(Image Professionals GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo via CNN)

Ponza natives live off farming and fishing, but mainly seasonal tourism. The island comes to life from June to October, with the remainder of the year being quite “dead and sleepy,” as Romano calls it.

Avellino, who says she feels more American than Ponzese, says that she’s happy she got an American education and passport, which she keeps in her bedside closet.

In fact, she says, it was a blow for her when she eventually had to return to Ponza after her father had a heart attack. On Ponza, she met her future husband, Silverio – a native Ponzese – and gave birth to Loredana, who kept ties with relatives back in the US.

She went back and forth between the US and Ponza between the ages of 20 and 30, working as a waitress at one of her aunt’s restaurants in Florida. Today, she’s now proud to be living in the cave home which her great-grandfather dug from the cliff with his own bare hands.

She’s now on a mission to recover her ancestral origins.

“I inherited this cave, which I recently lavishly restyled. My great-grandpa built it just before leaving for the US for work. He wasn’t really an economic migrant, nor was he poor, he just wanted to change life and look for new opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic,” says Romano.

The 860-square-foot cave dwelling is located in Ponza’s most scenic spot, overlooking two natural sea pools sheltered by white granite cliffs. It has direct access to the tropical-like waters.

The living room features an old well used in the past as a cistern to collect rainwater, which Romano still exploits when there’s little running water during summer.

This year, she redid the cave’s façade, and planted a small garden and vegetable plot of eggplants and zucchini, with which she makes local recipes.

Unlike her mother, Romano – who works in Ponza’s tourism sector – doesn’t feel nostalgic of the US lifestyle.

“In Florida I lived in the Italian neighborhood. Americans are extremely kind – they always say hello – but when you live in a metropolis with tons of people and you don’t know many, you really find yourself alone and more isolated than on an island,” she says.

Americans, in her view, live only to work. They don’t have time to go to the grocery to buy fresh food or to spend quality time with friends and relatives. They don’t cook but prefer to eat out, she says.

Ponza, on the other hand, is a small island which makes Romano feel safer. Neighbors watch out for one another, and partake in sorrows and joys.

“Here, when there is good news, like a wedding or birth, the entire neighborhood parties, we’re a big family. When there’s a funeral, we’re all sad.”

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

​ Orange County Register