11 Alive!

Speaking of TV: Man, this station identification for WPIX channel 11 brings back memories of my childhood spent in front of a TV in Queens. Even as a kid I found the aesthetics of the '70s hateful-- Rainbows and grooviness and schmaltzy music. But if this ran now it would be considered the coolest thing on TV.

This also reminded me of "TV PIXX," a call-in videogame for which you would cry "pixx pixx pixx PIXX" over the phone and someone on the other end would press the fire button on an Intellivision game for you.

Comments

[Jeff Davis]

just as a sidenote - KTVU's (San Francisco/Oakland) "TV Pow" was a West coast precursor to "TV Pixx." I was one of many, many bored children who pow-pow-pow-pow-pow-pow'ed over the phone during the year or so ('76 is my recollection) that it aired. A bit of history from tvparty.com:

...About the same time, KTVU enlisted Pat McCormick to host another show. This would be KTVU's last live kids' show, called "TV Pow." It was a game show for kids; a giant version of Mattel Intellivision was put on the screen and kids called in to play the giant video game over the phone. The game was voice-activated by the kids going "Pow! Pow! Pow!" All too often, McCormick would have to stop the kids from overmodulating and going to fast.

[Karenda]

To whom it may concern:

I am sorry that you are having to lay people off and turn people away for medical treatment and spending so much money, time, and effort on trying to get money out of a turnip. They are both green but I am afraid that is all they have in common.

You see, I was in the emergency room for what they thought was a ruptured appendix. It sounds serious doesn’t it? Well you might be surprised to learn it isn’t. You can wait for hours on end in the emergency waiting area and throw up all over the floors from the desk to the bathroom and still not see anyone with a medical degree.

When they finally found the time to see to me, they ran al kinds of unnecessary testing unrelated to the appendix area and decided I had a tumor in my breast.
I had to go to the doctor and the hospital for two mammograms. They have been calling me and sending me certified letters religiously to get me to come back for another mammogram to follow up but since I owe money that I cannot pay, I have not gone back. I guess if I have breast cancer you can say you covered yours by continuing to harass me about the screening for follow up. However, the bill that hangs over my head keeps from getting the proper care.

Why not just pay it? Well, I do not have a job so there is no money on my part. Well why you ask? I can answer that one. I cannot hold a job. Really you say? Yes, really. I am Bipolar 2 and about five other MI(Mental Illness) diagnoses that you would care nothing about but every time I try to get a job I end up in the hospital from the stress or most recently since I have openly admitted to having Bipolar Disorder which is apparently like having Hepatitis C or the Plague, I cannot get a job therefore there is no money.
I know there are times when hospitals, doctors, etc… write off such bills because they can and they have a heart and know when the patient is beyond means of paying the bill in question. I do not ask or expect any special treatment or even to be treated like a human being. I am not rich, I am not wealthy, I am not a celebrity, I am a simple stay at home mom with a mental illness that costs more money a month in doctors, psychiatrist, therapists, and medication than I can handle so sometimes I have to skip many dosages because like everything else, they cost too much. Well, that about does it. No one cares about people with Bipolar Disorder or any other mental illness that makes the rest of you people feel uncomfortable and that we are less than human and deserve nothing. I guess that is why we are unworthy of an awareness campaign. There is a color, and a ribbon but people like me who try to speak out just get knocked down by people like you.
Congratulations that you have a degree and a job.
You must be very proud. I am quite proud of myself at the moment for writing this letter because there are so many people in the world that would be afraid of the stigma and the embarrassment of something like this getting out. I don’t care about that as you can see. No one thinks you can speak out and just be yourself. I felt that way for 33 years and guess what, I don’t need your acceptance to be me or to openly tell people I have a mental illness and I am not going to crawl into a hole and die. You can do as you must and I will continue to do the best I can. You may want to give us the heads up if you plan on jailing me for not being able to pay this bill in order for us to make arrangements for our children to be taken care of.
I know what happens to poor people that cannot pay their bill and the public is very obvious about how they feel about people with an MI speaking out. Notice there are never any celebrities running ads and campaigns for mental illness, especially Bipolar Disorder. Do what you must. It is no worse than anything I have done to myself in the past.
I have been told that I have a good sense of writing but regardless, I will save this letter and share it with people that need to know that if they get in a situation and cannot pay because of a disease mental or other wise, they should know that the professionals at the hospital will find a lawyer such as yourself to sue them for everything they don’t have in the first place.
Thank you so much for giving me more to worry about and something to stress over and obsess about.
I appreciate you taking part in aiding in the decline of my mental health. God Bless You for just doing your job.

Karenda Willson

[Karenda Willson]

The above letter was written to an attorney that sent me a bill from a hospital after I had tried to make arrangements with the second perseon they sent it to and then to another person but they only gave it a month at the hospital before sending it to a collections agency then to a private attorney. They mnust really need the money if they can afford to harrass someone as much as they have been harrassing me.