Category Archives: Social

The Road to 65, Miles 168 & 169: Barriers

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Social

May 15 & 16, 2015, Prescott to Flagstaff, and back-

The past two days are combined into one post, as they featured three things in common:  The weather, which is unusual for Arizona in May; my disabled client’s move to Flagstaff and my car getting serviced, yesterday and then doing worse on the last part of my return to Prescott, this evening.

Having grown up in New England, seen forty degree temps in Boston, the first week of June, 1970, and seen snow in Colorado, on July 31, 2013, I am actually okay with snow in the high country and torrential rain here.  It did make for an interesting 1 1/2 days.

Client was not doing well in his last shelter- the manager was too much concerned with the business aspect of the operation, and put him out in the rain Friday night, until manager’s wife took him to a safe place, away from that house.  Screaming at people that “THIS IS A BUSINESSSSS!!” is hardly the way to run such.

It took most of the day today (Saturday), but we got client’s belongings packed and into my car, then I drove him to Flagstaff.  We checked out the men’s shelter (chaotic, and rather a long wait in the cold), then I was able to get him into one of my favourite motels, for the weekend.  Monday will find him in the new mentor’s office, and he will move on.

My car was serviced on Friday.  Regular maintenance and a cleaning of the upper manifold were meant to guarantee better performance.  The Nissan worked well, until the return trip showed a couple of ancillary dashboard lights on and off (not the “check engine” light, though).  The car stalled at several red lights, but I got home okay.  it being the weekend, I will return to the shop on Monday, and will leave the car until it is fixed.  Perhaps a rental car, or a bus ticket, will be needed for my journey north, next Thursday.  Time will tell.

The common denominators for me, in all this, are detachment and perseverance.  So far, I’m no worse for the wear.

The Road to 65, Mile 167: Safe/Unsafe

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May 14, 2015, Chino Valley- I spent today supervising graduating high school seniors, who chose not to join their Class Trip to Orange County, but were in school to do- nothing.  Their tests finished, their year’s work accomplished, the kids sat and quietly either socialized or played cards, while I read more about building a natural diet, in a largely ersatz economy.  There was to be a semi-instructional video shown, but it was not at the school.  The saving grace was that their parents could rest assured that they were in a safe environment.

Anyone who has raised teenagers knows the feeling, that these people who look like adults and, in the best of circumstances, carry themselves as adults, are still our babies.  I was as likely to fret over our son when he was in high school, or for that matter, when he was in college, as I was when he was younger.

Imagine then, the horror felt by the mother of a 16-year-old boy, an honour student, a self-starter who took the initiative both around home and at his part-time job, when he was killed-at a bus stop- by a wayward pickup truck trailer.  The facts are still being gathered, but there was a collision between the truck that was hauling the trailer and another vehicle.  One was turning left and the other was going straight.  It’s still not known for certain, who had the right of way.

Some things ARE certain, though: The student had the right to feel safe at his bus stop.  His mother, who is visually-impaired, had the right to reasonably expect that her son would come home after school, and help her around the house, as he had done for several years.  His sister, and cousins, had the right to expect, all other things being equal, that he would continue to make them proud, with his consistent achievements.

We never know when the “bell will toll”.  Many of us have heard this, week in and week out- at our places of worship, at  school and at the neighbourhood gathering spot.  I’ve had my own brushes with death- and so far, so good.  Having seen my youngest brother, then my wife, go through gradual declines just underscored my understanding of this concept.

I am not sure I will ever really comprehend what almost seems a capricious taking of life, however.  The life of a child, or of a teen, seems almost sacrosanct- and yet…..

The Road to 65, Mile 166: Comfort Zones

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Social

May 13, 2015, Prescott- I was wakened this morning by a job call for a middle school science classroom.  Normally, I turn down anything where I would be figuring the material out, as I went along.  Not knowing math and science cold has been a deterrent, in such posts.  This morning’s job description was mainly caretaking, while the students read and answered questions about the text, so I took the job, and will have four days, at least, this week, plus two days next week, to end the academic year.

I’ve thought alot about comfort zones, of late.  Something has removed anxieties that I used to feel about moving into territory from which I have shied away, in the past.  The academic scene is an example.  Yesterday, I worked a math class, albeit at fifth grade level.  I was at least as smart as the fifth graders.

On the trail, I used to not do handholds up rock faces.  On Sunday, I din’t give it a second thought, going up the cliff. I don’t think I will take on rock-climbing, mind you, but the moderately difficult hand over hand is no longer a barrier.

Facing myself, when I ponder what, exactly, I am doing that is of value, is a periodic challenge.  Today, I just looked in the mirror, after actually getting along with a person with whom I’ve had sharp differences in the past, and decided it’s worth every minute, of each day, to walk up to a challenge and face it.  There is nothing that says I am not at least as worthwhile, not at least as capable, of stretching the comfort zone.

The Road to 65, Mile 165: Seeds

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Slow Food Prescott, Social

May 12, 2015, Prescott-  I planted seeds of confidence in a young girl’s mind, this morning, and she guided the lot of us to revisiting a small detail, which made all the difference in a key part of the lesson.  This evening, the concept of seed banks and libraries was shared with thirty of us, who were gathered at a Slow Food chapter meeting.

I am into the sowing of seeds- of vegetables, fruit, grasses and ideas.  Sowing friendship seeds is the best such activity, and I am getting better at that.  The physical seeds will most likely wait until next Spring, but I will check the planting calendar, and see if an early July planting will work for this mountain climate. The seeds of amity can be planted anytime, and are well worth watering.  The seeds of ideas must be planted, and watered daily.

A gentleman at tonight’s meeting offered the opinion that individual seed banks are critical to preventing a USDA/Monsanto joint takeover of our food supply.  While the Feds are big on Genetically-Modified anything, I don’t see that ending well, for anyone.  Any given individual has a hundred places to hide seeds, and after all, the “success rate” of the war on drugs is not exactly earthshaking.  We who seek to grow our own food will be just fine.

This brings me to the bad seeds:  Suspicion, closed-mindedness and power-craving.  The first grows out of, and feeds, the second.  Both are a natural reaction to the the third.  The more those in authority overreach, even with the best of ill-informed intentions, the more those on the ground will push back, overreact and invite more overreach.  See the tiger, the dog, the snake chasing their tails?

Monsanto is responding to a reasonable request from the State of Vermont, to label Genetically Modified Organisms in foods sold there, by dispatching an army of attorneys, to sue, appeal and obfuscate- thus wasting millions of dollars and months of man-hours, while complaining about the cost of such labeling.  Then, there is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade Trojan horse, by which the President, and at least two of his predecessors, hope to use to force the GMO-free nations of east Asia to buckle under and get with the Monsanto program.  Go figure.

I am not against science.  The research ought to go on, move beyond monocultures and poisoning of the soil and water, and get over the idea that revenue, the building of fortunes, alone, should be the be-all and end-all of the accumulated knowledge.  We ought not eat what we can’t digest, no matter whose children are being put through college, with the generated profit.

I digress.  The seeds of knowledge, as well as those of sustenance, belong to all mankind.

The Road to 65, Mile 163: Mom

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May 10, 2015, Prescott- She is the eighth of nine children, born to a German-American shoemaker/farmer and a proper English-American country wife.  She loved and married a gregarious, gentle man, of French, Irish and Penobscot descent, and together they raised five of us. My youngest brother and I, the eldest, had our mental health challenges, his being complicated by other health issues, which took his life, when he was just shy of 30.  Our third brother, following Mom’s example of dealing with adversity, has toughed his health issues out, as I have my mental health issues, in my latest years.  Our sister rose above a life-threatening injury and has raised an exemplary family.  Our second brother has worked tirelessly, all his life, and shown the way to success, on many levels, seeking no one’s approval more than that of our mother.

She has said, time and again, that the time to pay homage to a person is while they are still alive.  My late wife used to echo those words.  In honour of both, I pay as much to my mom.  Having overcome her own health issues, which came late in life, she still drives, socializes actively and gets her exercise.  While Mom shies away from any technology more complex than a flat-screen television, she keeps current in other ways.  Always a progressive, politically, she speaks favourably of marriage equality and hopes to see Hillary in the White House. That she raised three Republicans and a political gadfly (me) doesn’t faze her a bit.  She loves golf, preferring these days to watch it on TV, and no one is more loyal to the Red Sox and the Patriots.  Her flower gardens used to be the toast of the neighbourhood.  They’ve pretty much gone away, but the lawn is still kept up- with local kids taking up the slack.  Above all, Mother’s mind is still a steel trap, and her eyes are eagle-sharp, after Lasik about five years ago.

I was raised lovingly and well, as were my siblings.  Mom set the example, in her single-minded care of my youngest brother, even in her darkest hour, following Dad’s sudden death in 1986.  ONLY because of her, and for her, did Brian hang on as long as he did, another eight years.  When I had the responsibility of caring for my slowly-dying wife, from 2003 to 2011, all Mom had done on his behalf was mine to follow.  It couldn’t have been any other way.

So, with all that she has given us, to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I  love and thank her, eternally.

The Road to 65, Mile 162: Illuminate

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Social

May 9, 2015, Granite Dells- Today was an unusually busy, productive day, for a Saturday.  The large Prescott Farmer’s Market opened today, at Yavapai College.  It’s several booths larger than last year.  I spent about forty minutes there, with a couple of friends, buying one a half-dozen poppies that were poised to open, after she admired them.

The afternoon featured a two-hour organizational meeting for Hope Fest 2015, a faith-based effort to help the homeless, the victims of domestic violence, and those in recovery from addiction.  We will have the event here on October 3.  I won a T-shirt and sat for a five-minute videotaped interview, which I haven’t done before.  My role on festival day will most likely be running errands (handling emergencies) and taking displays down, after it’s over.

I bought a new camera.  My Samsung 5X gave up the ghost, after four years and over 3,000 photographs.  My new camera is also a Samsung Digital, and is a 21X.  I have enough time to learn its features, before heading northwest.  Tomorrow may be a Sedona day, unless service calls.

The evening was spent again at Heaven On Earth, with new friends Happy and Johnny hosting a preview of the Illuminate Film Festival.  The Festival features thought-provoking films and will be in Sedona, May 27-31.  I’ll be in the Seattle area then, so tonight was a fine substitute for the actual event.  There was a fairly large crowd, about forty people, and after we enjoyed vegan hors d’oeuvres, the organizers of the Festival presented eight movie trailers, each with a rather deep theme.

We are told, in several sacred texts, and oral traditions of indigenous peoples, that in the “last days, all that is dark shall be made light”.  Illuminate does not just deal with the wretched acts of the rich and powerful, but those of the less well-to-do, also.  It addresses matters of altered states of consciousness and of expanded spiritual and cognitive awareness  The evening was time well-spent, among many inquiring minds.  If anyone reading this is interested, check:  www.illuminatefilmfestival.com.

The Road to 65, Mile 158: El Cinco

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May 5, 2015, Chino Valley-  A restaurant on the south end of town burned today.  I’m not about to speculate, as to the cause.  I just know that the few times I ate there, the meal was satisfying and the service folksy and prompt.  My work here was on the north side, and consisted of four hours with a group of fourth-graders, who had been left behind from a reading reward field trip.  They bought the story that their teacher was at a long meeting, rather than at the field trip that was attended by some of their classmates.

This is Teacher Appreciation Day, so community members supervised the kids in the lunchroom, and at recess.  We enjoyed a vegetarian Mexican lunch, provided by other community members, and cupcakes prepared by an office worker.  All was magnifico!

I checked on the status of my hapless acquaintance, who had been jailed on Friday, and was told he had been released today.  So far, he has not contacted me, and I will leave it at that.  The sheriff’s clerk said I am under no obligation to seek him out, in any event.

We did make headway, in a plan I am helping to establish, to connect a local hotel food service with a kitchen that serves meals to homeless people, four days a week.  Someone made the astute observation that the kitchen has a staff member who could pick up the food from the hotel.  I will work that detail out, tomorrow, either after, or in lieu of, going to my day job.  Another person has also stepped forward to help with this.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the routing of French soldiers in Mexico, on May 5, 1862. It is a minor holiday in Mexico, but is widely celebrated in the Southwestern U.S.  I note that it is also an excuse for people to indulge in midweek partying.  Camaraderie, though, is a good thing.

These random notes on the day may be tied together with a neat word bow:  Love is a productive struggle.  This is a message written on the bulletin board of the teacher whose classroom I covered today.

The Road to 65, Mile 157: Chasing Away the Night

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May 4, 2015, Prescott-  I made another visit to Miller Valley School today.  Being with rambunctious six- and seven-year-olds, and actually getting them to accomplish a day’s learning, is among the finest of days spent.

Kids carry their inner selves so openly, and this is a superb thing.  Those who love, can draw the pain out, and elevate their loved ones.  It’s said that the child who needs love the most is the one who presents the most unlovable persona.  This, I have taken as an article of faith since my own childhood.

By that, I don’t mean to imply that I was a difficult person, as a child.  Rather, I found that the bullies, the disquiet ones, the recluses, all had a feature that made me want to work harder to understand them, just as I, an autistic, before such a label was in use, wanted to be understood.

We all want someone to chase away our night.  The boys whom I had to list for the regular teacher to make parent contact are very bright and, in many ways, delightful people.  They don’t fit easily with others in a class setting, and a sense of darkness is a good part of their life experience. They clamour for an externally imposed discipline, and mine is a rather gentle, firm approach, directly addressing the underlying.

I felt that, at the end of the day, no one felt demeaned or diminished, but knew the security of limits.

The Road to 65, Mile 156: Failure to Thrive

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May 3, 2015, Prescott-  So much debate has taken place these days, regarding various issues:  Black youth, same-sex marriage, helping people in other countries vs. taking care of “our own”.  I believe the majority of people, on all points along the spectrum of thought, want to see the best for humanity.  Where the matter goes haywire comes when money, power, excessive fear and callous ignorance take the fore.

We are at a turning point in the affairs of mankind.  Those who seem to be causing so much of the mayhem and devastation in the civic affairs of the world are often those on the margins of society.  We have seen the violence in Baltimore, and last year in Ferguson, MO, stem largely from the PERCEPTION of those on the outskirts of the American Dream that there is no hope of any advancement on their part.  The frequent stodginess and inflexibility of those in positions of power in many communities doesn’t help.

We in Prescott have seen a lengthy, and thankfully successful fight by lower middle class people whose heads of household were killed in the firestorm of June 30, 2013, as they battled a wildfire.  The powers that be were largely against paying compensation to the survivor families, adhering to an outmoded frontier dictum that “One should know what one is getting into”, and deal independently with whatever life tosses at you.  The families have received just compensation.

The major effort, as I see it, has to lie in encouraging and preserving one’s own dignity and sense of value to a community.  I’ve worked with thousands of children, teenagers and adults, over the past five decades.  To a one, the people causing the most disruption and heartache to those around them, from my first disquiet students, in my hometown, to the recently incarcerated homeless veteran who I was encouraging to re-enter society, have been the emotionally and spiritually dispossessed.  Economics sometimes plays a secondary role, as well. With the first two bases covered, however, most economically disadvantaged people can overcome their living circumstances.

Failure to thrive comes from a chronic lack of love.  This we have seen in numerous psychological studies of people and animals, and in our daily lives, as abused people of all ages present themselves to the rest of us, as both harbingers of crisis and opportunities for service.

The Road to 65, Mile 155: Oasis Within An Oasis

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Posted by on in Hiking and Nature, Personal goals, Social

May 2, 2015, Granite Dells-  I spent the day immersing myself in better health practices.  Around 10:30, I set out to this dazzling blend of rock, water and greenery, to pay a call on a natural healer and anthropologist, who calls herself Happy Oasis.  She lives with her husband, John, in a delightful two or three acres of land, known as Heaven on Earth.  Happy has been all over the planet, in the course of her twenty-five year career, yet she has chosen, and fought hard for, this sublime paradise.

Thanks to her efforts, there are trails aplenty where there could have been condos too many.  So, Happy and her associate, Jack, took thirty of us on a walk of discovery- to meet the wild plants which can be foraged for sustenance, in the ecosystem of the Dells. It rained a bit, as if to bless our jaunt.

Here are some scenes of this unique experience.

The home of our hosts is a work in progress, after a fire took out its predecessor.  They are nothing, if not multi-talented.

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Here is a slippery elm, with its full supply of salad greens.SAM_4879

I don’t remember what the next several plants are, but they are safe and taste very nice.

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Here is a mustard plant.SAM_4885

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THIS, however, is loco weed.  It is highly hallucinogenic, if ingested.

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Happy, in front, showed us about a dozen plants that can sustain a person, in the wilds of Granite Dells.SAM_4896

This flowering plant is often called prairie rose.  It tastes fine, flowers and all.SAM_4897

Here are some of my classmates, as we enjoyed the fruits of nature’s labours.

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It was one of the loveliest of days, so far this year.  In late afternoon and evening, I visited with a friend and  essential oils colleague, encouraging her in teaching a class on our oils. The day left me with the knowledge that there is more good in our future than not.