It's that time of year again when people begin to compile lists from the past year into the best of/worst of comparisons, and also the celebrity death lists. I've never been a fan of the best/worst lists, but I understand why people have a need to list their likes and dislikes. I'm always at a loss for words when someone asks me what my favorite movie or book is, because I have so many I like, and some for very different reasons. It's agonizing for me to list things in order of favorites, and mostly I never do. I read other people's lists and usually shrug my shoulders because they hardly ever agree with what my likes and dislikes are.
AFI came out with a 100 best movie lines this year, and I keep thinking about who makes these decisions, what about films of the future, why were most of the lines from recent (within 20 years) movies, and how do you make an objective decision about which lines get included and which don't? If I didn't care for a particular movie, chances are I'm not going to pick a line from it that I consider one of the "best ever" lines of cinema history. The same goes for AFI picking the best movies. Shouldn't the title be: AFI's Best Movies (So Far...).
The other thing that bugs me, is the celebrity death lists that come out. I find it incredibly depressing, and although I understand there is a fascination with it, I personally find it distasteful and tacky. When the "memorial" is presented at the Academy Awards, or the Oscars, I know why the presentation is done, but unless the audience is prepared to attend a funeral, it seems schlocky and half-hearted. Kind of like "hey, we know you're having a good time celebrating, but let's bring this down a notch and watch pictures of all your friends who are now dead." When the camera pans to the theater, most people are talking, not paying attention, on cell phones, or just plain gone from their seats. I'm also guessing that the majority of the viewing audience at home is in the kitchen for a snack, gone to the bathroom, channel-surfing, or talking on the phone.
The published death lists seem just as bad to me. A member of my family handed me a newspaper that had a death list in it, and I tried to explain why I didn't really want to read it. She took it back, but I felt like for some reason I offended her. Almost like I was disrespecting the dead, which I don't feel I was. She's never spoken of it again, and this year didn't try to give me the paper, so I'm guessing I probably did offend her and she's covering it. I guess I feel that when I first read of a person's death, and then the obituary, that is enough for me. I now know they have passed on, and I don't need to be reminded of it in some year-end list where the public just kind of reads through it and blazes through to the next section of the paper. It seems rude somehow, an "aw, that's a shame" and move on moment.
Don't misunderstand me and think that once a celebrity is dead and buried I forget about them. Quite the contrary. Every time I see an actor who has passed away, it registers in my head they are no longer with us. I think of Jim Henson every time I see a Muppet. Movies that were directed by master filmmakers and I wonder if we'll ever see talent like that again. Writers who will never write a favorite book for me and musicians who will never sing again; it all registers with me at the time of their death. I don't need some popularity list at the end of the year reminding me in some trite way the level of their popularity based on how big of a page spread they get. Or corner blurb.
So, as 2009 draws to a close, I will not watch all the shows that every network puts out addressing "the year that was" and other condensed bits of trivia that get fed to the public in these last few days. It is still a free country (for the time being anyway...) so those of you who love the death lists and best ever lists, have at it. Just don't complain to me when your favorite movie doesn't make it on someone else's idea of the best...movie...everrrrrr!
Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Right or Privilege?
I've been hearing ads on the radio and seeing ads on TV for something called Safelink phone service. It is a government sponsored plan that gives FREE OF CHARGE a cell phone, along with what goes with a cell phone (voice mail, minutes, caller ID, etc.) to eligible people. I went to the website to learn more, and the program is run in conjunction with Tracfone Wireless. There's no other phone service company to choose from, the only choice is TracFone. But that's not my big problem with this program.
At what point did it become the government's responsibility to make sure everyone has a cell phone? Or any telephone for that matter? I don't remember free phone service being offered before, even before cell phones. If you didn't have the money, you didn't have a phone. TracFone believes that having a cell phone is a RIGHT and that no matter what your income level, you have a guaranteed right to have a cell phone.
"TracFone Wireless believes that cell phone ownership is a right and an important tool for individual success in today's world. Everyone should have a cell phone without the need for a contract or a high credit rating." https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/about_us.aspx
Why? Why are my tax dollars being wasted on this program? Why are my dollars being used for something I don't see as a constitutional right? Having a cell phone is not a RIGHT. It is a privilege and a luxury, not a RIGHT. You have the RIGHT to free speech, but you don't have the RIGHT to get a cell phone in order to have free speech. The government had it's fingers in phone service for years until deregulation came along, but they never gave away free phones. Having a phone, whether a "land line" or a cell phone is nothing more than pure privilege, not right.
And why should I have to pay for someone to have a cell phone? No one pays for my cell phone. There are a lot of things we need in life, but almost all of them are not RIGHTS. They are privileges. Luxuries. Things we WORK for. I might be on board with this cell phone giveaway if, and only if, the phone only called 9-1-1 for emergencies. And, if the person didn't have an emergency, they would be charged for the call and given a ticket for making false 9-1-1 calls. But this program doesn't restrict the use of the phone. So if Chatty Kathy wants to annoy every driver on the road telling her BFF about the latest gossip, she can. At tax payer expense. Oh, the website does mention that if a person runs out of minutes, they can purchase more TracFone cards to buy more minutes. What? If they can afford the extra minutes, why can't they afford the phone in the first place? TracFones are $10 bucks at Big Lots the last time I checked, and are around the same price at Walmart too.
In a government system run amok with spending, this is the straw for me. Having phone service is not a RIGHT and anyone who thinks so is wrong. Just flat-out plain wrong. It is not the governments business to make sure people can chat with their BFF's. And what good will that phone do when they have used up all the minutes doing so and then complain they don't have any phone service for the rest of the month? What then? At some point, some sue-happy People's Flower Power group is going to sue for unlimited minutes because, after all, you can't restrict free speech if you are going to give it out to begin with. At what point, do we just turn every single aspect of our lives over to the government and like the zombies we are destine to become, let them choose every aspect of our lives from cell phones to clothing?
Will we work just for "living credits" instead of a paycheck? Hey, you worked 5 hours this week! Yeah! Good for you! You can have a gallon of milk or a cell phone. But, don't forget, for every hour you work, you also have to support the ones who won't work, so you'll get a half gallon of milk instead. Sorry about the cell phone, maybe next week.
The sense of entitlement in the country is growing at an alarming rate. I do believe we need to take care of a slice of society that truly can not work or support themselves for various reasons. Disabilities, retirement, veterans, and to help people get back on their feet; a temporary help, not permanent. Food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. But not a cell phone. Or a computer, or TV, or car, or vacations, or anything else that seems so silly, and just as silly as free cell phones.
Where is this money coming from anyway? Don't we hear about all the short falls the government is experiencing, and yet something as frivolous as a cell phone gets money from said broke government? What truly needed program was cut off so that BFF's can waste the money chatting about the game? Or the soaps? Or the neighborhood gossip? How many of the people who get the free phones will actually use them for emergencies or something productive? I do not consider gossip productive.
This is a stupid program. Plain and simple. And yes, I know there is a lot of government waste and stupid uses of money, but do we really need to condone this behavior? And, at what point can I start saying I have a right to (fill in the blank) and therefore the government should supply it to me. It's my right after all.
At what point did it become the government's responsibility to make sure everyone has a cell phone? Or any telephone for that matter? I don't remember free phone service being offered before, even before cell phones. If you didn't have the money, you didn't have a phone. TracFone believes that having a cell phone is a RIGHT and that no matter what your income level, you have a guaranteed right to have a cell phone.
"TracFone Wireless believes that cell phone ownership is a right and an important tool for individual success in today's world. Everyone should have a cell phone without the need for a contract or a high credit rating." https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/about_us.aspx
Why? Why are my tax dollars being wasted on this program? Why are my dollars being used for something I don't see as a constitutional right? Having a cell phone is not a RIGHT. It is a privilege and a luxury, not a RIGHT. You have the RIGHT to free speech, but you don't have the RIGHT to get a cell phone in order to have free speech. The government had it's fingers in phone service for years until deregulation came along, but they never gave away free phones. Having a phone, whether a "land line" or a cell phone is nothing more than pure privilege, not right.
And why should I have to pay for someone to have a cell phone? No one pays for my cell phone. There are a lot of things we need in life, but almost all of them are not RIGHTS. They are privileges. Luxuries. Things we WORK for. I might be on board with this cell phone giveaway if, and only if, the phone only called 9-1-1 for emergencies. And, if the person didn't have an emergency, they would be charged for the call and given a ticket for making false 9-1-1 calls. But this program doesn't restrict the use of the phone. So if Chatty Kathy wants to annoy every driver on the road telling her BFF about the latest gossip, she can. At tax payer expense. Oh, the website does mention that if a person runs out of minutes, they can purchase more TracFone cards to buy more minutes. What? If they can afford the extra minutes, why can't they afford the phone in the first place? TracFones are $10 bucks at Big Lots the last time I checked, and are around the same price at Walmart too.
In a government system run amok with spending, this is the straw for me. Having phone service is not a RIGHT and anyone who thinks so is wrong. Just flat-out plain wrong. It is not the governments business to make sure people can chat with their BFF's. And what good will that phone do when they have used up all the minutes doing so and then complain they don't have any phone service for the rest of the month? What then? At some point, some sue-happy People's Flower Power group is going to sue for unlimited minutes because, after all, you can't restrict free speech if you are going to give it out to begin with. At what point, do we just turn every single aspect of our lives over to the government and like the zombies we are destine to become, let them choose every aspect of our lives from cell phones to clothing?
Will we work just for "living credits" instead of a paycheck? Hey, you worked 5 hours this week! Yeah! Good for you! You can have a gallon of milk or a cell phone. But, don't forget, for every hour you work, you also have to support the ones who won't work, so you'll get a half gallon of milk instead. Sorry about the cell phone, maybe next week.
The sense of entitlement in the country is growing at an alarming rate. I do believe we need to take care of a slice of society that truly can not work or support themselves for various reasons. Disabilities, retirement, veterans, and to help people get back on their feet; a temporary help, not permanent. Food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. But not a cell phone. Or a computer, or TV, or car, or vacations, or anything else that seems so silly, and just as silly as free cell phones.
Where is this money coming from anyway? Don't we hear about all the short falls the government is experiencing, and yet something as frivolous as a cell phone gets money from said broke government? What truly needed program was cut off so that BFF's can waste the money chatting about the game? Or the soaps? Or the neighborhood gossip? How many of the people who get the free phones will actually use them for emergencies or something productive? I do not consider gossip productive.
This is a stupid program. Plain and simple. And yes, I know there is a lot of government waste and stupid uses of money, but do we really need to condone this behavior? And, at what point can I start saying I have a right to (fill in the blank) and therefore the government should supply it to me. It's my right after all.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Yet another comment on number 4
I was never a fan of Brett Favre, or the Packers, or the whole hoopla when Favre was in Green Bay. I don't care one way or the other what is going on with the Packers, but I do notice that there are a lot of people who do, that anyone who says anything negative about Favre or the Packers, at least in the 90's would be ridiculed and aggressively shouted down and usually called some form of an idiot. I think the pinnacle of my irritation with the Packers and the majority of the state of Wisconsin's adoration of anything green and gold was Superbowl Sunday in 1996 when my friend Kathie and I went to a Joann's Fabric store at Bayshore and was promptly told that they were closing because of the football game. Huh? A fabric and sewing store was even closing for the game. Now, I understand that they were fans and I respect that. I certainly have unusual hobbies that I've been made fun of or ridiculed for and I would never berate someone for being a football fan. But, I would have expected a sewing and fabric store to be one of the few stores that would have stayed open. Oh, well.
I can't help but notice however, the recent venom and hatred toward Favre after he left the Packers. I'm stunned by the level of animosity between some fans and their attitude towards Favre. As I stated, I'm not a fan, and I don't really like Favre, but it seems to me that even though he is playing for a different team, why is there so much hatred? I think the worst example of fan hypocrisy I've seen is the tee shirt stating "Judas Favre". Really? Is the maker of this tee shirt so arrogant to believe that Favre is on the same level as the person who sold out Jesus Christ? The two situations aren't even comparable, and it's offensive to me to see that level of trivialness related to Christ's Crucifixion.
And Favre did nothing to deserve that branding. He did nothing different that any other NFL player does. They all move around to different teams, and I'm not an expert here, but didn't he play for the Atlanta Falcons before coming to Green Bay? Shouldn't those rabid fans be trashing Favre for having the audacity to play for Atlanta before Green Bay. Shouldn't he have just known that it was expected he play here? Why was it expected that he would end his career here? If he wants to play, so what? If you are a Favre fan, you'll follow him no matter where he goes. If you are a Green Bay fan, so what? Are Green Bay fans so stupid to think that new players aren't always coming and going on this team? And, if you are both a Green Bay and a Favre fan, we'll you're in luck because the local news media will cover both. Forever.
So what? Why do some fans think that Favre should retire and never play for another team again? How would they like it if they were told that the first place they worked for, no matter how crappy or unlikeable, had to stay there until they retired. Think about that. You could NEVER leave your workplace. Year after year, you'd be doing the exact same thing for the exact same employer. Or, if you are like Favre, your second job. For decades you'd never be able to leave. Or get a promotion or move to a different department. Year after agonizing year. At what point do we owe "allegiance" to our workplace?
Let Favre alone. He has every right to move on to a different employer just as much as the rest of us do. Just because it's sports doesn't mean that the people who play on these teams owe ANYTHING to anybody. The only difference between a professional sports player and the average schmo (well, besides money and fame) is that they usually really enjoy their job.
And to the fans who feel betrayed and angry: Stop making Favre a god of some sort and his leaving will be easier to take. He's gone, face it and move on. I'm tired of hearing about it already.....
I can't help but notice however, the recent venom and hatred toward Favre after he left the Packers. I'm stunned by the level of animosity between some fans and their attitude towards Favre. As I stated, I'm not a fan, and I don't really like Favre, but it seems to me that even though he is playing for a different team, why is there so much hatred? I think the worst example of fan hypocrisy I've seen is the tee shirt stating "Judas Favre". Really? Is the maker of this tee shirt so arrogant to believe that Favre is on the same level as the person who sold out Jesus Christ? The two situations aren't even comparable, and it's offensive to me to see that level of trivialness related to Christ's Crucifixion.
And Favre did nothing to deserve that branding. He did nothing different that any other NFL player does. They all move around to different teams, and I'm not an expert here, but didn't he play for the Atlanta Falcons before coming to Green Bay? Shouldn't those rabid fans be trashing Favre for having the audacity to play for Atlanta before Green Bay. Shouldn't he have just known that it was expected he play here? Why was it expected that he would end his career here? If he wants to play, so what? If you are a Favre fan, you'll follow him no matter where he goes. If you are a Green Bay fan, so what? Are Green Bay fans so stupid to think that new players aren't always coming and going on this team? And, if you are both a Green Bay and a Favre fan, we'll you're in luck because the local news media will cover both. Forever.
So what? Why do some fans think that Favre should retire and never play for another team again? How would they like it if they were told that the first place they worked for, no matter how crappy or unlikeable, had to stay there until they retired. Think about that. You could NEVER leave your workplace. Year after year, you'd be doing the exact same thing for the exact same employer. Or, if you are like Favre, your second job. For decades you'd never be able to leave. Or get a promotion or move to a different department. Year after agonizing year. At what point do we owe "allegiance" to our workplace?
Let Favre alone. He has every right to move on to a different employer just as much as the rest of us do. Just because it's sports doesn't mean that the people who play on these teams owe ANYTHING to anybody. The only difference between a professional sports player and the average schmo (well, besides money and fame) is that they usually really enjoy their job.
And to the fans who feel betrayed and angry: Stop making Favre a god of some sort and his leaving will be easier to take. He's gone, face it and move on. I'm tired of hearing about it already.....
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The letter
I got the letter on Friday Oct. 16th. The one I've been dreading and knew would come since the day Columbia Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee signed the "partnership" agreement in 1995. It's time for everyone on the east side campuses (they don't call them hospitals anymore) to re-apply for their jobs. Now, the letter doesn't come right out and state that, it's put in a more employee friendly way. We actually have to state what are our job is, when we would like to work, and then our managers will place us in new positions. Now, I realize that I have completed my math requirements for college, but any 5th grader could pretty much tell you that CSM will not have enough job openings for all the employees currently working for both CSM Milw campuses. Columbia Hospital, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary this past summer will be closing in the fall of 2010. We are the ones who have lost in this merger and I really don't care what management tries to state otherwise. We bailed St. Mary's out of a financially ruinious situation, suffered the wage freeze when it happened and made CSM what it is today. Not St. Mary's. But we are the building closing.
And the trend to adopt St. Mary's way of life has been ingrained since that "partnership" agreement 14 years ago. Columbia lost it's identity, many of the employees have left, and there are few who remember Columbia Health System which competed with St. Mary's. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am making a life decison in changing my career. I've never thought of work as a career. I've never had ambition to get to management, have a high paying position, or otherwise make my work my career. Work has always been a way to pay bills and allow me to do the things I really cherish in my life. My hobbies, live without debt, be comfortable, play, and help others when they need it. Work is not the end all be all for me, and it never will be. My parents were hard working salt of the Earth people and that's pretty much where I get my work ethic from. Work is not my life. But it does take up a huge portion of it, and if that is going to be the case, I feel I should be happy where I work.
I've already told my boss that I will not go to the new hospital. Even if it does have a lake veiw. I want nothing to do with it. My office will be at a different CSM owned building, and luckily I have the type of job where I don't have to be onsite in order to complete my duties. But of late, I've been really trying to figure out if I want to stay. I've spent 20 years there, and come this January, it will be 21 years. I had hoped to make 25 years, but I'm not so sure I want to. Something about this whole new hospital deal makes me bitter that Columbia was used as nothing more than a financial springboard for St. Mary's to get a new building. And now, because the building is sold, Columbia is slowly turning into the (now closed) St. Michael Hospital and the standards are no where near what they used to be. Why fix, repair, clean, paint, upgrade, or care about a building that is being abandoned? Let the new owners take care of it. Even if they want that building. I'm guessing it will be torn down and new construction will be put up. I have solid tiger eye maple doors going to my office, a marble window ledge, 15 foot ceiling, wood trim, and plaster walls. I seriously doubt the new building will have any of those features or workers who even care enough to notice the difference.
It's going to be a blood-bath when the openings are announced. Not only will there be bitter unhappy people who didn't retain jobs, but the ones who do will be left to work short when all the non-job people quit. There will be no new hirings because who would be crazy enough to take a job just for a few months? So the ones left behind will be worked ragged until they too quit. The job lettings have happened twice now in the past year, and I expect more will come in this year. I worry about the quality of care and the reputation damage we will suffer, and I'm not sure I want to be part of that. I already get every horror story people can relate when they find out I work for a hospital. As if I alone either had some influence over their care, or can fix whatever problem they encountered. Especially when they find out that I mainly do billing. From my experience I've pretty much surmised that no one likes billing people.
In 1999, my husband and I won at auction, along with several other people, dinner with Anthony Daniels(C-3PO from Star Wars) when he was in town for Gen Con. The dinner was at the (now closed) Polaris Restaurant atop the Hyatt. He is a wonderful person in public, and I mean no disrepect to him, but at the very beginning of dinner, he went around the table trying to guess what everyone did for a living. He got to me, and had a very hard time guessing. In fact, he came back to me. After several wrong guesses he caved and asked me what I did. I stated that I did billing for the retail pharmacies for CSM. His smiled faded and he launched into a lecture about how you could die in a waiting room if you didn't have your insurance information in this country. I couldn't get a word in edgewise to defend myself because he continued to tell a story of an injury he suffered while filming something, had to go to the ER, and was insulted because the intake worker didn't recognize him and asked him for his insurance card. The person with him made a big production about who he was and apparently he got the treatment he needed. But then he also launched into how he would NEVER have been treated that way in England.
I knew, even back then and having had my current job for only a year, that was the way people were going to react to me when I told them what I do for a living. So, why then did it take me this long to make moves to leave? And why do I care so much? It paid the bills and because Columbia was one of the best hospitals in Milwaukee at the time. I also started out as a Pharmacy Technician, not in billing and enjoyed that job much more than what I do now. It's too bad they don't pay techs what I make as a billing coordinator.
So, those are my somewhat uncheery thoughts for a Sunday night. I miss Columbia and I am not looking forward to the coming year work-wise.
And the trend to adopt St. Mary's way of life has been ingrained since that "partnership" agreement 14 years ago. Columbia lost it's identity, many of the employees have left, and there are few who remember Columbia Health System which competed with St. Mary's. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am making a life decison in changing my career. I've never thought of work as a career. I've never had ambition to get to management, have a high paying position, or otherwise make my work my career. Work has always been a way to pay bills and allow me to do the things I really cherish in my life. My hobbies, live without debt, be comfortable, play, and help others when they need it. Work is not the end all be all for me, and it never will be. My parents were hard working salt of the Earth people and that's pretty much where I get my work ethic from. Work is not my life. But it does take up a huge portion of it, and if that is going to be the case, I feel I should be happy where I work.
I've already told my boss that I will not go to the new hospital. Even if it does have a lake veiw. I want nothing to do with it. My office will be at a different CSM owned building, and luckily I have the type of job where I don't have to be onsite in order to complete my duties. But of late, I've been really trying to figure out if I want to stay. I've spent 20 years there, and come this January, it will be 21 years. I had hoped to make 25 years, but I'm not so sure I want to. Something about this whole new hospital deal makes me bitter that Columbia was used as nothing more than a financial springboard for St. Mary's to get a new building. And now, because the building is sold, Columbia is slowly turning into the (now closed) St. Michael Hospital and the standards are no where near what they used to be. Why fix, repair, clean, paint, upgrade, or care about a building that is being abandoned? Let the new owners take care of it. Even if they want that building. I'm guessing it will be torn down and new construction will be put up. I have solid tiger eye maple doors going to my office, a marble window ledge, 15 foot ceiling, wood trim, and plaster walls. I seriously doubt the new building will have any of those features or workers who even care enough to notice the difference.
It's going to be a blood-bath when the openings are announced. Not only will there be bitter unhappy people who didn't retain jobs, but the ones who do will be left to work short when all the non-job people quit. There will be no new hirings because who would be crazy enough to take a job just for a few months? So the ones left behind will be worked ragged until they too quit. The job lettings have happened twice now in the past year, and I expect more will come in this year. I worry about the quality of care and the reputation damage we will suffer, and I'm not sure I want to be part of that. I already get every horror story people can relate when they find out I work for a hospital. As if I alone either had some influence over their care, or can fix whatever problem they encountered. Especially when they find out that I mainly do billing. From my experience I've pretty much surmised that no one likes billing people.
In 1999, my husband and I won at auction, along with several other people, dinner with Anthony Daniels(C-3PO from Star Wars) when he was in town for Gen Con. The dinner was at the (now closed) Polaris Restaurant atop the Hyatt. He is a wonderful person in public, and I mean no disrepect to him, but at the very beginning of dinner, he went around the table trying to guess what everyone did for a living. He got to me, and had a very hard time guessing. In fact, he came back to me. After several wrong guesses he caved and asked me what I did. I stated that I did billing for the retail pharmacies for CSM. His smiled faded and he launched into a lecture about how you could die in a waiting room if you didn't have your insurance information in this country. I couldn't get a word in edgewise to defend myself because he continued to tell a story of an injury he suffered while filming something, had to go to the ER, and was insulted because the intake worker didn't recognize him and asked him for his insurance card. The person with him made a big production about who he was and apparently he got the treatment he needed. But then he also launched into how he would NEVER have been treated that way in England.
I knew, even back then and having had my current job for only a year, that was the way people were going to react to me when I told them what I do for a living. So, why then did it take me this long to make moves to leave? And why do I care so much? It paid the bills and because Columbia was one of the best hospitals in Milwaukee at the time. I also started out as a Pharmacy Technician, not in billing and enjoyed that job much more than what I do now. It's too bad they don't pay techs what I make as a billing coordinator.
So, those are my somewhat uncheery thoughts for a Sunday night. I miss Columbia and I am not looking forward to the coming year work-wise.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
New beginings
School has started once again, and this semester I am taking a chemistry class and a creative writing class. Odd combination, huh? Chemistry is at campus and the writing class in online, which seems fitting. I've also had to shift my working hours to a split second shift time, except for a 10 hour day on Tuesdays that will start at 7am and go till 5:30pm. But that's not the point of this posting. Actually, I'm not really sure what the point of this posting is, I just felt like writing something.
We are starting out with poetry in creative writing, something I'm not good at, and have never been comfortable with reading or writing. I know a few things about myself, and one of them is that I like to deal with absolutes. Yes, I know nothing is absolute in life, and I suppose that is where poetry gets its foot in the door and takes hold. And, as with anything else, the variety of poems and poetry out there is a varied as life itself. But, they all have one thing in common. Using words in a way they, the words, may never have been intended to be used. And that's where my discomfiture comes with reading and trying to understand what's in front of me. I love writing essays. Same with actual experiences. I really enjoyed writing my papers in my ENG 102 class mainly because they drew on an actual experience that was the subject of the paper. Am I saying I have no creativity and can't come up with a story or poem? No, but it won't be anywhere near what I want to write.
Several years ago, my work needed to go through a "getting in touch" moment so that we could understand our fellow coworkers better. A nice way of saying that we were fighting so badly with one another that management had to do something about it before someone filed a complaint with HR. There were MANY reasons why we didn't get along, some valid, some not...but the main part of the kumbyeya moment was that we were divided up into the following groups based on our own understanding of ourselves. Machine gun thinkers, dreamers, list makers, and story tellers. My work had roughly 45 people in it at the time and I was the only story teller. Not "lie-like-a-rug" story teller, but someone who "collects" stories, life experiences, anecdotes, trivia, etc from other people and myself and then uses that information when it is needed.
The majority of the group were machine gun thinkers, the ones who made a decision based on clear, concise facts presented in a machine gun manner and didn't want to hear or consider the detrius of non-facts. No background stories for them. They also find the three other groups sometimes intolerable to listen to. Which, right there, explains why the dept was having the problems it had. There were a few dreamers who were the poets of the group, and the rest were list makers, which is a fairly obvious personality trait. Even though the day long event failed to make us a better department, it was something that made such an impact on me that it really did adjust the way I deal with my coworkers, and eventually any person I meet. My husband is a machine gun thinker and I can tell when I've moved past the "I'm telling him what he needs to hear" moment and into the "He'll listen and look like he's paying attention but is thinking about something else" moment. He also has the remarkable ability to repeat back to me what I've just said so in some ways he is listening, but not like I would like him to listen sometimes. But he will tell anyone that it's dead-on I'm a story teller. That I'm most comfortable with dealing with an actual event than trying to come up with something that's abstract or non-existent.
So, I guess what I need to do, is write poetry that deals with absolute experiences. It could be argued that all poetry is based on real life experiences, and I would agree with that, but the way it's written is what is difficult for me. Part of being a story teller is to have the best understanding of what I'm reading and not filling in the blanks myself or creating my own story of someone else's experience. You would think someone who wants a degree in information resources would love any written or spoken word, but for some reason I get irritated at the vagueness of poetry. Maybe that's it. The vagueness of poetry. But, really, couldn't anything be vague enough to make the reader or listener irritated?
When I was a freshman in high school, we had to read Romeo and Juliet and the screen play of West Side Story. The book actually had both printings in it, and chapter by chapter and verse by verse we got through both stories. By far West Side Story was the most popular, the easiest to discuss, and the part of English class that got the class to pay attention. I struggled through Romeo and Juliet, but flew through West Side Story. Shakespeare, arguably regarded as THE greatest writer of humankind, was no match for interest from a 9th grade English class. However, throw in some snappy songs, easily readable text, gangs, guns, and choreography and the class gets it. And, not only gets it, but was eager for more. Why?
Maybe I will be able to answer that question after this semester. Maybe after being forced to write and read poetry, I will gain a better understanding of it and will be able to add that to my collection of stories. Or maybe being forced to once again read and write it will continue the distaste I developed in 9th grade and never got over. Maybe because I know in my heart I'm not a writer, I will always be a collector of stories and not a creator of them.
We are starting out with poetry in creative writing, something I'm not good at, and have never been comfortable with reading or writing. I know a few things about myself, and one of them is that I like to deal with absolutes. Yes, I know nothing is absolute in life, and I suppose that is where poetry gets its foot in the door and takes hold. And, as with anything else, the variety of poems and poetry out there is a varied as life itself. But, they all have one thing in common. Using words in a way they, the words, may never have been intended to be used. And that's where my discomfiture comes with reading and trying to understand what's in front of me. I love writing essays. Same with actual experiences. I really enjoyed writing my papers in my ENG 102 class mainly because they drew on an actual experience that was the subject of the paper. Am I saying I have no creativity and can't come up with a story or poem? No, but it won't be anywhere near what I want to write.
Several years ago, my work needed to go through a "getting in touch" moment so that we could understand our fellow coworkers better. A nice way of saying that we were fighting so badly with one another that management had to do something about it before someone filed a complaint with HR. There were MANY reasons why we didn't get along, some valid, some not...but the main part of the kumbyeya moment was that we were divided up into the following groups based on our own understanding of ourselves. Machine gun thinkers, dreamers, list makers, and story tellers. My work had roughly 45 people in it at the time and I was the only story teller. Not "lie-like-a-rug" story teller, but someone who "collects" stories, life experiences, anecdotes, trivia, etc from other people and myself and then uses that information when it is needed.
The majority of the group were machine gun thinkers, the ones who made a decision based on clear, concise facts presented in a machine gun manner and didn't want to hear or consider the detrius of non-facts. No background stories for them. They also find the three other groups sometimes intolerable to listen to. Which, right there, explains why the dept was having the problems it had. There were a few dreamers who were the poets of the group, and the rest were list makers, which is a fairly obvious personality trait. Even though the day long event failed to make us a better department, it was something that made such an impact on me that it really did adjust the way I deal with my coworkers, and eventually any person I meet. My husband is a machine gun thinker and I can tell when I've moved past the "I'm telling him what he needs to hear" moment and into the "He'll listen and look like he's paying attention but is thinking about something else" moment. He also has the remarkable ability to repeat back to me what I've just said so in some ways he is listening, but not like I would like him to listen sometimes. But he will tell anyone that it's dead-on I'm a story teller. That I'm most comfortable with dealing with an actual event than trying to come up with something that's abstract or non-existent.
So, I guess what I need to do, is write poetry that deals with absolute experiences. It could be argued that all poetry is based on real life experiences, and I would agree with that, but the way it's written is what is difficult for me. Part of being a story teller is to have the best understanding of what I'm reading and not filling in the blanks myself or creating my own story of someone else's experience. You would think someone who wants a degree in information resources would love any written or spoken word, but for some reason I get irritated at the vagueness of poetry. Maybe that's it. The vagueness of poetry. But, really, couldn't anything be vague enough to make the reader or listener irritated?
When I was a freshman in high school, we had to read Romeo and Juliet and the screen play of West Side Story. The book actually had both printings in it, and chapter by chapter and verse by verse we got through both stories. By far West Side Story was the most popular, the easiest to discuss, and the part of English class that got the class to pay attention. I struggled through Romeo and Juliet, but flew through West Side Story. Shakespeare, arguably regarded as THE greatest writer of humankind, was no match for interest from a 9th grade English class. However, throw in some snappy songs, easily readable text, gangs, guns, and choreography and the class gets it. And, not only gets it, but was eager for more. Why?
Maybe I will be able to answer that question after this semester. Maybe after being forced to write and read poetry, I will gain a better understanding of it and will be able to add that to my collection of stories. Or maybe being forced to once again read and write it will continue the distaste I developed in 9th grade and never got over. Maybe because I know in my heart I'm not a writer, I will always be a collector of stories and not a creator of them.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Good-Bye Summer....
It was nice while it lasted. My summer class ended July 31st and for five weeks I'm free of school, and for almost two of those weeks I was also free of work. Well, my paying job anyway. I was able to take some time to go visit friends in Ohio (Hi Kathie and Steve!), and then veg around the house a bit. Scott and I didn't go to GenCon this year, but maybe next. We'll see if they have fun guests of honor and if the road construction between Wisconsin and Indianapolis is better. Chicago is a lost cause as that freeway/tollway is ALWAYS under construction, but I-65 to Indy was also torn up this year. Even though we have air conditioning in the car, I don't fancy sitting in construction traffic with the AC off, in August, in Indiana. So, we passed on it this year.
As the summer draws to a close, my husband and I have decided to pave our driveway and put in a patio behind the garage. We've had a gravel driveway since the beginning of this house, and even though it doesn't bother me that much to have it, shoveling it in winter is hard, and even more difficult with the snowthrower. I won't miss the ice that forms on the gravel as I've fallen several times, including my first night back to college where I not only fell, but ripped the skin off my palms from the rocks that were still sticking up, and was a bloody mess going to my first night of English 102 class. That's a good way to start a semester. Not realizing that I had ripped that skin off, it wasn't until I was half-way to class and with my hands burning did I realize they were more than just scratched up. Once I got into the light I saw that my hands were bloody, I was a wet mess from the snow (it was snowing pretty hard), and the front of my pants were muddy and bloody because of my hands. I'm very glad that the rest of the semester didn't go as badly.
While in Ohio, I went to an estate sale with Kathie and Steve. It was paydirt for me, as I found a set of salt and pepper shakers in the depression glass pattern I collect. Granted they were pink instead of the monax (white) color I collect, but I got them for a song. I had really only needed the tops, but when I saw what the bases were, there's no question as to whether or not I'll keep them. Last summer I found a quilt that is exceptional in its stitching and quality, and this summer the shakers. I'm not sure how I'm going to top myself next year, but it will be fun trying. Kathie is the person who got me into auctions and antiques by exclaiming one day in my kitchen "WOW, that's a Shawnee cookie jar on your fridge!!!" I had no clue what it was other than grandma's cookie jar which was always magically full of cookies whenever the grandkids were there. It was never empty. When she passed away, I was very lucky to get that cookie jar and a box of "old, white dishes" I though would be useful when I went off to college in the fall. I was 18 at the time and didn't have a clue as to what either items were worth, or would be worth in the future. I just knew that I would always think of my grandma when I looked at that cookie jar. So, when Kathie had that reaction, my interest was peaked for all things Shawnee and soon had the salt & pepper shakers and the creamer that went with the cookie jar. Then, the collecting of depression glassware started. While at the first auction Kathie took me too, there were a few plates in the same pattern that I had sitting in my basement. The crowd was not paying attention and I got them for a song too. The auctioneer actually admonished the crowd for letting someone get those plates for cheap. I didn't care what the crowd did, I was thrilled and hooked.
Over the years, I've added quite a few things to my collections of glassware and Shawnee pottery. I'm sure my grandmother would have a fit if she knew how much these items were worth. And, that I treat them more like museum pieces instead of actually using them. I do use a few platters of my depressionware, but they are pretty common ones and are also not mint. You might find a chip or two in them. And, no, the shakers will not be in use either....
My final thought is that even though I love collecting this stuff, it has occurred to both my husband and I that moving all this stuff into a new house is going to be, well, let's just say, AWFUL! It never occurred to us that we might want to collect, oh, I don't know, feathers or something light. It's going to take a long time to move, plus packing all these things will be nothing short of, short. But, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, just one more piece of glass won't hurt, will it?
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