L'aura del Campo

Global blogging, Duck dinner, Rant: Ivory Tower Airheads.

SPRING: 3 Jalál (11 April)

Weather where I am: 69º.

Weather in Peterborough, Ontario: 55º.

Friends carved in soapstone.

My friends Sandy and Rita Cline live in Ontario down a country road on the way to Coon Lake. It is a quiet place of fishermen and loons. The only battles taking place on warm summer days are between the hummingbirds. A visit to their idyllic cottage would be a true vacation for me.

Sandy carves in soapstone. He's been careful to develop his own contemporary style to not be confused with the indigenous artwork of First Nations people.

To learn more:

http://sandycline.com/

Melissohori maven.

I was trying to find out more information about Melissohori, Greece where zwisis lives. Her blog comes up on top. That makes her the expert I guess ? Or just the most popular Zimbabwean in Greece , perhaps.

One place to look for blogs:

http://www.globeofblogs.com

At this site, Forever is 4th under 'Greece'; 19th under 'Mountain'; 3rd under 'Missive'. There are only 2 for Zimbabwe.

I know my blog is googled also, as are most if not all at WDC.

LATE BREAKING NEWS

My correspondant, NeNe-the-Goose, in Hilo, Hawai'i, has just reported to me that Nada ate duck last night! Now we all are concerned about Dirk, so when questioned NeNe stated that Nada had assured her that Dirk was still safely caged.

Now, there is duck and then there is Duck, so Dirk-the-Duck escaped being deep fried and marmaladed ! Guess there isn't much call for sweet-and-evil duck à la carte!

However, I was cut off mid-sentence while talking with NeNe ... Not too concerned, she is protected by law in her native land.

Sketched here and now:

Duck chase to Hawai'i


Hilo,
sands of Hilo,
through downpours of the rains,
heard faint above the crash of waves:
one quack. [163.55]

Rant about Ivory Tower airheads. Why can't they smell shit?

Spoke with David Kingsley of the Department of Applied and Behavioural Analysis at U. Kansas. There is a successful program dealing with juvenile behavioural modification that was begun here in 1967 and mentioned in Psychology Today in 1973. Achievement Place still stands at 13th and Haskell as a home for 8 youth and 2 parents in a family setting. Based on points = priviledges and an embracing concept of working with youth, it is being used as a model for Boys Town and Girls Town.

Sadly, this model is not used on the streets of this city where the main complaint has been the behaviour of adults with mental health, alcohol and addiction problems. The model of obey-or-be-punished-o-ye-sinners, so eagerly embraced by some faith groups, and put into place by Salvation Army (albeit it modified) and to a lesser extent by the Lawrence Community Shelter (more open, more inclusive, but also more chaotic), has created a crisis where the misbehaviour of some has resulted in the harassment and further marginalization of others.

That local models exist that have received National acclamation are ignored by local governments and social agencies is beyond me. This community should be at the forefront of new and working ideas that have been embraced in Manhattan, Kansas; Appleton, Wisconsin; Ames, Iowa; to name a few. Housing First, a model that is getting results in Kansas City, is greeted with a ho and a hum around here.

Please tell me that these ivory tower airheads have a clue? I'm tired of being one of the few who 'get it', even if I don't have their fancy degrees, political connections and academic laurels! I realize I'm just scum on the bottom of their shoes, but I have wits and feelings too. I guess they just can't smell shit.

SENSED

Spring! The smell of viburnum, picked and placed in my pocket; royal purple lilacs picked and placed in my pocket (the memory of less color and more scent from my youth); the crabapples, not picked, not placed in my pocket; the emptiness and fullness of my pockets.

I sketched the following a couple days ago while I was watching a young man chalk the sidewalk in front of Watson Library. He was doing a sign for a fund raiser for S.O.M.A and the local AIDS Project. SOMA is a student organization of atheists and agnostics, so there is a bit of humor in all this:

Chalker


He chalks the walk,
quietly, no talk;
he colors the words pink,
that beg the question:

Do you think
you'd like to buy a soul?

I've never thought
that there were souls for sale,
but what the hell,
this must be some odd collegiate tale,
an auction to raise some funds.
Can I presume, perhaps some fun?

He sketches lines
and scratches chalk,
he scrawls out 'souls' in pink. [163.51]