Town hall

I got to Congressperson Baron Hill’s health care reform town hall meeting late, and ended up in the overflow outside area, that conservatives seemed to populate more heavily than outside. There were several hundred people inside, and several hundred outside. We had belatedly been told that signs weren’t allowed, but they would have been OK outside. Parking was tough, and I may have damaged my car a little bit (I was late in part because I had a flat tire replaced) parking on the grass (one of my colleagues was worried about parking too as she had a class at Indiana University Southeast, where the town hall was held, during that time.) The setting was apparently the ball room of the student union.

There was obviously opposition to health care reform, the carbon emissions cap and trade proposal, the bank bailout, and the fiscal stimulus program. Among the sources of opposition to health care reform were: older people who are afraid that Medicare – which they are generally happy with – will get raided or restricted to pay for health care for younger people; healthy working people with insurance who think anyone without good insurance – or who’s sick – is a free-loader whose illness is their own fault and they don’t want to subsidize; and – since Hill started out reading from a Louisville newspaper column that compared the high administrative costs (mainly with private insurance) in the United States unfavorably with lower administrative costs in other countries (including in – Japan – with the lowest costs) – those who felt that people who criticized the U.S. health care system were somehow unpatriotic: Why don’t you move to Japan, Baron?

For the most part, the crowd was somewhat civil, with Hill only breaking in a few times – including when people jeered at a Democrat making a favorable mention of Senator Kennedy. During and after there were some constructive suggestions – discussions about tort reform and medical savings accounts – which Hill said he’d look out. Hill said he’d voted for the bill in committee with a public option but wouldn’t commit to a public option fan that he would vote for it only with a public option. He said his main concern was to make sure people could keep their coverage even if they got sick, to make sure that uninsured people got in insurance pools, and to make the reform deficit neutral. Deficit-neutrality will have to mean cost savings and some tax increase – a concession that won him jeers. He painted himself – correctly – as someone who had moderated and improved – then voted for – both the health care reform and cap and trade proposals. And he explained how in order to help coal-using Southern Indiana utilities and rate payers he had – he didn’t use these words – essentially gutted the cap and trade proposal by lowering the costs to utilities for emitting carbon to almost nothing. He said he would continue to work to – improve/moderate/gut? Both proposals. He defended President Obama a little at one point and the stimulus proposal (said it had prevented a depression and just gotten several million dollars to Jeff Boat) – could have also mentioned the money it got to the New Albany-Floyd County school system), said he’d voted against bank bailout, and took no opportunity to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom several speakers tried to link him to.

Cincinnati area’s Duke Energy apparently backs Hill’s version of cap and trade, but at least one Southern Indiana rural electric cooperative had mailed letters to rate payers saying their bills would go up $50 a month due to cap and trade (which has only passed the House), which Hill didn’t seem to realize.

At times Hill told some good stories - about small business people who want to provide health insurance for their families but the rates keep going up - and his daughter, who only through a waiver at her new medical school (Michigan - some outside grumbled - why didn't she go to IU medical school - or I bet the waiver came because he's a Congressperson) was able to get health insurance - now that she's going off her parents - because she has a pre-exisitng condition-type health program. Some in the crowd taunted him - if this public option is so good why don't you try it first - Hill explained that he's on the health insurance of his wife (which is better than Congressperson's options0 - who's a school teacher - but because she's retiring costs will go up and if a public option becomes available he will take a look at it for himself.

Afterwards, I saw a number of the people I’ve worked with this summer: Dustin, Bethany, several people from Congressperson Hill’s office, Nancy whose e-mails we get (but no Abby or Bruce – and I don’t know if anyone I called about the event was there – I called about 100 numbers over the weekend, got plenty of disconnected and wrong numbers and left plenty of messages, and talked with about half a dozen people who said they might go and one who said he and his wife would definitely go.). I also saw former WLKY AM reporter Bill Alexander, who I also saw on TV reporting on the 10 p.m. news for the Fox affiliate.

Before leaving work to pick up my car and go late to the town hall I had – after chopping it so it fits –

How did the Democrats - in six to eight months - let the House Republican leadership, health insurance companies, coal companies, talk radio, Fox News, libertarians, and the radical right persuade most voters that the health care system and the environment are in good shape, that balacing the federal budget is the way to prevent a recession, and that if stimulus is needed tax cuts are always preferable to gov’t spending? onment are in good shape, balancing the federal budget is good way to prevent a depression, and if any stimulus is needed tax cuts are always preferable to govt spending?onment are in good shape, balancing the federal budget is good way to prevent a depression, and if any stimulus is needed tax cuts are always preferable to govt spending?

Half a dozen comments so far . . .

-- Perry

Rivalry night

Friday night was - I believe - the third Louisville Bats minor league baseball game we've been to this season. And - overall- the third Louisville Bats-Columbus Clippers game we've been to at Slugger Field. I've included some mediocre pictures here because last weekend - for a variety of reasons - I was uncharacterically without a functioning camera and I missed taking pictures of our second trip to the annual Kentucky Seminole Club picnic (and I'm not sure I've ever taken pictures at a Seminole Club event - certainly, not going back to the Central Ohio Seminole Club or the Minnesota or Sarasota-Manatee Buckeye clubs). Most years several different non-local university clubs converge for a Bats game - most folks wear shirts for their school. This year we had several dozen folks there and the club president and historian threw out the first pitch (though we missed seeing this, as I had us filling out door prize forms in line). Above I was waiting for a non-Weight Watcher item (a Philly cheese steak). Below are mediocre pictures of the hosts of the picnic (Gary and Susan) and further below just Susan (the spirit-ual leader of the club).

Below are two of my Republican contacts in the club: John, who works for a Republican metro Council person, and Sarah, his friend, who is going back home to Oklahoma in between campaigns. She worked in the Bush White House, and John confided in me at the pool party that although his formerly Republican father is very concerned about health care reform - he's not excited about it or some other issues that rile up Republicans: abortion and gun rights. John and Sarah felt Obama's popularity ratings might come back up when the economy rebounds and joblessness ebbs - which they expect will happen - if not in time for House Democrats - certainly in time for the 2012 presidential election.

Stephanie and I tried to get a little exercise by walking clear around the stadium a couple of times. At times in the past we've sat a little closer to the action. Twice Friday night we sat down just a little on top of the bench of the visiting team (the Clippers) and cheered a little more loudly. Below a Clipper player returns to the bench. We've cheered the Clippers in the past to two close games (one victory and one defeat), but Friday night this was to no avail. The Clippers ended up losing badly. The Major League Baseball Cincinnati Reds, the Bats' MLB sponsor - have since our last game - called up a bunch of the Bats to play in the majors. But the Bats are still atop their International League division, while the Clippers are fourth and last. Still, it was a little disappointing that the game wasn't close. There was still at least one home run and one double play, which were fun to watch.

On our way back to the Seminole area, we spied Stephanie's colleague Angie, who has periodically let us use her front-row seats. They talked shop for a while.

We had gotten four tickets and Vincent's friend Jessi came with us. it turns out she likes baseball- which was a good thing because they sat for a while away from us, Vincent spent a lot of time getting food, and the Seminole Club people didn't talk with her that much (you can see some of the garnet shirts in the background).

Below is Vincent in between Stephanie and Jessi, in his new orange Halloween Express uniform shirt.

I went ahead and included the mediocre picture below because you can see Vincent standing, next to Jessi, in the new shirt (which we're going to have to wash daily, since he only has one).

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Below is an OK picture from Stephanie and my second walk around the stadium, where you have a different view of the action and the stadium.

I guess every night the Bats win at home there are fireworks, and so that there would be fireworks this night was not long in doubt. Using the "Fireworks" macro on my camera still did not produce a perfect picture (you have to hold the camera awfuly still for a long time).

On our way out - just as we had seen our friends Sarah and Dean at the movies the night before - Stephanie and Vincent saw our friend Jamie.

More family news

Vincent went to work Friday in a new uniform – his own black pants and an orange Halloween Express T-shirt that they gave him – and a new task. No longer would he be unloading boxes and setting up displays. Instead, he would be doing customer service and essentially security-guarding – patrolling the store, seeing if people needed help and watching out for shoplifting. Apparently for now, he won’t be cashiering – or getting to wear any of the costumes. He also is working from 10 to 4 – and got a ride home from his colleagues. A shift of kids getting out of high school starts at 4. With those hours – and working just on weekdays – it won’t be easy for us to see Vincent at work. He was told he needed to wear a belt. Even though he’s gained a little weight lately, he may have been wearing Stephanie’s black pants, and these were droopy drawers for Vincent.

While contemplating buying – or trying to persuade our landlord to buy – a new dishwasher – perhaps with aid from a new “cash for (home appliance) clunkers” – a new dishwasher, we have been waiting for the return of the same appliance repair person who had come out earlier in the summer to try to fix our old dishwasher – on a Saturday when Stephanie could work with them. Unfortunately, we’ve spent several hundred dollars over the past four years fixing the dishwasher (plus more on the washer or dryer) and – although we’d gotten the appliance repair person to come out two or three times on one bill, this time we had to pay again. We’d figured he would tell us that this dishwasher was doomed and give us replacement advice, and then we’d have to start the complex strategy of negotiating with our landlord. Instead, the repair person found a piece of wood – originally from our turtle terrarium – apparently lodged in the dishwasher since his previous visit – and pulled it out and convinced Stephanie that the dishwasher was working fine again. Apparently our several weeks of Stephanie hand washing and drying dishes – and our several months of frustration with the dishwasher – may now be over.

An interesting footnote to the Vincent story: One of the requests with the sleep medication that Vincent is now taking – especially in the early weeks – is he can sleep walk. Because his room is on the 2nd floor and there is no door, the psychiatrist agreed with Stephanie’s suggestion that Vincent build a kind of doggie door – really, just moving the fan in his way. If he were to start sleepwalking, confronting the fan in his way would probably wake him up – so he wouldn’t try walking down the somewhat narrow and steep staircase – and wouldn’t fall down. So for the third night in a row, Saturday evening Vincent moved the fan over and we hoped for no sleepwalking.

-- Perry

Saturday at Crescent Hill

Saturday morning was a very busy morning for Crescent Hill folks. Ada (below) and Sandra (further below) were among some eight Crescent Hill church folks at Strathmoor Presbyterian Church for training for the presbytery-wide teaching English as a new language initiative (which includes a partnership between Crescent Hill and neighbors James Lees and Covenant Community churches, which share a building). Both experienced educators, Ada and Sandra shared their perspectives, Ada more with tips and Sandra more on working with people from different cultures. Ada also talked with a Central Presbyterian worshiper who asked tough questions.

While the ENL teaching went on at Strathmoor, some dozen or so Crescent Hill folks - with Levitia, Sally, Ted, Alan - and Jack? - in the lead, worked on the outside of the property. Especially targeted was the meditation garden located in a kind of courtyard that the Education Building forms. The garden had become a little messy - but not so after these folks were done. Below is temporary neighbor Jane at work.

Levitia (below) was happy that the work was wrapping up before 12 noon. Last time everyone worked until noon and then left two hours of clean-up work to her.

Sarah (below), back for just a couple of weeks from summer in Malawi, worked hard with a smile.

Tom and Alan convened with Levitia. Eventually, Tom was going to take some of the cuttings to his Oldham County property in his truck.

Also meeting at church were a couple of Crescent Hill folks who followed Ian on the photo walk down Frankfort Avenue. The walk combined the Nurture Council's ministry of summertime fellowship activiites with the Worship Council's new arts and spirituality emphasis and the Outreach Council's emphasis on connecting with the Crescent Hill/Frankfort Avenue/Clifton community. Doug, Ian, and Bruce (in the great hat) seemed to have great cameras and a great time (as did others who went, I'm told).

Presbyterians, Episopalians, and Jewish folks from around the city hae been working together with some new residents in a new Habitat for Humanity venture - a two-story house - this one on the West side just off the Shawnee expressway. Just over a week ago, Habitat activists started the house, and this Friday and Saturday Habitat activists sought to complete much of the roof. Already, strong rain had filled the first-floor floor with puddles - puddles that activists tried to sweep away this weekend.

From the back the house going up seems super tall.

Jamie had been working on the roof, but took a break for a ceremony bringing together people who had worked during the past two weeks on the house and other supporters and the homeowner to be.

The program for the late morning took place from the raised front porch with a small crowd circled facing the porch.

The homeowner to be, Ashley Bethel, spoke and introduced her family.

I believe then that some of the folks went back to work as the ENL training (with info about children's activities and hearing about experiences from a congregational ENL ministry already begun) and the clean-up at the outside workday wrapped up. Click below to watch and hear some of Ashley Bethel's remarks.

Tabernacle

I somehow left out this picture of the Camp Sychar tabernacle, which dominates the middle of the camp grounds. This is the tabernacle at the 150-year-old camp where Billy Sunday once preached, now updated with a high-tech sound system. I mentioned I don't think I've ever attedned worship here. We weren't able to unlock and see it. Mom also reminded me that Aunt Sandy has for years - in Excel - edited/constructed the newsletter, which we get. I'm not sure who maintains this Web site: http://www.campsychar.org/

-- Perry

Shifting assignments

My manager has been protecting me from new assignments, letting me finish off assignments from my old position and focus on getting my feet wet with the Presbyterian Panel, as I try to make deadlines and hopefully keep up with more of the backlog of Panel work that he wasn’t always able to keep up with when he had the job and also had lots of other projects. But Thursday/Friday the manager asked me about taking on a new project, working with a consultant and the World Mission unit – a unit I’ve worked with before – on strategic planning. The project is bigger than I had thought when I tentatively said Yes – and/but is also supposed to be done in about a month – which is a very tough deadline but also means it will be over sooner rather than later. We’ll see how it shapes up. One of the key players is on vacation for the next week (another one of them is pictured above). My manager said some nice things about me in referring the clients to me.

Stephanie is in kind of a similar boat. Her main teaching English as a New Language has apparently been trying to shift some of her responsibilities and she has started pushing Stephanie to teach not only the Scholastic standardized. Computerized Read 180 curriculum to the upper-grade students (ENL and other ) but also the lower-grade version Systems 44, which she was supposed to teach, to Stephanie. The advantage of this is that Stephanie – although she’s have to learn two new curricula/systems – would have to do very little lesson planning. I don’t really like Stephanie getting pushed around so much by her colleague, however, and the move isn’t necessarily good for the students/the school as a whole (and Stephanie is still somewhat skeptical about these new curricula and they may not last more than a couple of years at the school.

-- Perry

Pay check and uniform

Vincent’s life took a couple of more small turns Thursday as he got his first paycheck ever (not counting cash from KFC taste testing or working with his father) and he signed up for a third medication from his psychiatrist, who we visited Thursday. In addition to a mood pill and antidepressant, he’ll take a sleeping aid too. We talked briefly about Michael Jackson’s medication. Vincent reiterated his revived interest in going to school out of town (Western Kentucky), which I don’t know how we would afford now.

Friday moves into a different role at the Halloween store, as the doors open at 10 a.m. Vincent will go in a kind of uniform (black pants and an orange Halloween Express T-shirt they gave him), although he apparently won’t be cashiering.

Mom awaits word on two things: getting trained to administer the anti-osteoporosis medication she’ll eventually inject into her own abdomen every morning and possibly having to move her somewhat sprawling office into something much smaller. Mom continues to work with a fellow church member who comes to clean her house on Thursdays.

Hope the job shift and new medications work out.

P.S. I mailed off my Sallie Mae student loan income-based repayment plan application Thursday too. Duty calls for me also as both local Democratic Congresspeople are having town hall meetings on health care this coming week, and folks are trying to call health care reform supporters to ge them out to the town hall meetings, partly to counter the right.

-- Perry

Different routine

Ever since Stephanie moved to Fairmont Elementary School three years ago, Stephanie has mainly taught classes "pull out" - bringing four or five or six classes of different English as a New Language students to her class - sometimes when they'd otherwise be in English class - for focused instruction in English - with the aim of them catching up with their classmates. The ENL program already had some textbooks, materials, computer programs, and equipement, but Stephanie had them purchase plenty more. She used some textbooks but designed a lot of her own curriculum. Occasionally she practiced "inclusion" where she "pulled (herself) in" - going into classrooms with some of her students and helping out them and other students - sort of like a teachers' aide/paraprofessional. Last year afterschool she worked with both ENL and other students ("boom boom") in the afterschool Culture Club. She also tutored non-ENL students.

This year things are different. The school district in general and the ENL program in particular got money to implement Scholastic's Read 180 program, which includes curriculum computer programs, and actual scripts for teachers. Stephanie is one of a couple of designated Read 180 teachers in her school - for which she went to Nashville in July and got trained Thursday in New Albany. As soon as the curriculum arrives, she's going to be teaching a Read 180 classes, to a mix of ENL students and other students, while also teaching one conventional ENL classes and then "pulling in" (herself) into two other classes. (Sometimes there's variety in this regard - Tuesday Stephanie's colleague actually ask her to take some of the ENL and the other class (it is a 3rd/4th grade split class and Stephanie has been working with the 3rd graders) out to Stephanie's class for a time to work on math.) Because the Read 180 program is scripted - which is useful in some ways but seems stupid in other ways (limiting creativity...part of what makes teaching fun)- and because when Stephanie is "pulling in" she's not in charge or doing the planning, Stephanie will now have to do lesson planning for only two classes. This means that Stephanie has been coming home much earlier (at least until Culture Club and tutoring start again). Now, Stephanie has some classes about Read 180 and it's not clear it will be going forever. But she's being a team player and working with it and one reward is she's got less lesson planning to do.

P.S. In the middle of the Read 180 training, Stephanie learned from her principal, who was also there, that her principal's daughter Abby, with whom I've worked on health care reform issues this summer, was in a car accident Tuesday and may have suffered back or neck damage. Abby is a dancer and was starting school this week and was slated to move to a new apartment over the next week.

-- Perry

Working more days and working it out

Stephanie got a couple of pictures of Vincent working Tuesday, unbeknowst to him. Wednesday Vincent's managers asked him to come to work in black pants that might go with the orange shirt they're going to give him. That suggests that they're going to keep him on on the retail side once the store opens Friday. Thursday Vincent gets his first pay check. Wednesday also Vincent apparently misinterpreted a Facebook post by his friend Jessi, as if she were breaking up with him - which apparently wasn't true. But the tizzy Vincent went into briefly - upset about the possible breakup - has convinced us that the romance between Vincent and Jessi - which I wondered about - may be for real.

-- Perry

Killing Doctor Lucky (August 23)

Way back when we lived in Tallahassee and often haunted Lake Ella's cottage shops we encountered an alternative game to our favorite game, Clue. The premise of the game was that Clue started AFTER all the fun. Kill Doctor Lucky is essentially the prequel to Clue. In a large mansion players chase Doctor Lucky around trying to isolate him so that you can kill him. The other players have "failure" cards that can save Doctor Lucky. I bought the game for Vincent after learning about it but we had only played it a few times, since it is a long game...but not Monopoly long.



Sunday after church, Jessi, Vincent's now girlfriend, came over to hang out with Vincent. They hung out upstairs for awhile but then Perry and I were able to talk them into a game of Kill Doctor Lucky. Perry was exhausted from a long drive back from an Ohio funeral so sometimes we had to remind Perry when it was his turn since he would zone-out. Jessi seemed to enjoy the game even though we didn't have time to finish the whole game.

Vincent of course was the most maniacal and had the most murder attempts but together with the other players we were able to thwart all his attempts. Kill Doctor Lucky has some rather unusual weapons so all of Vincent's murder attempts brought laughs, especially the murder attempt for a tight hat. Vincent's evil laugh also kept us laughing.

---Stephanie

Camp Sychar

Two weeks ago, after Mildred's memorial service, Aunt Sandy took me by Camp Sychar, the church camp that she and Uncle Don and at one ponit Grandma and Grandpa had been going to for years. It was just a mile and a half northeast of downtown Mt Vernon, where the memorial service, and on the way into town from the gas station, hospital, and motel where we'd spent time in December and the nursing home where Mildred and Warren had lived. I had stopped by there once when I lived with Grandma and Grandpa when they were up there - where they went for several days or a week each summer. This is an old-fashioned camp meeting/church camp, with cute old cabins, a big sanctuary (apparently somewhat modern - we didn't get to pick inside), that runs for a week. Gradually Sandy has gotten her daughters involved - plus many of her children through Don are involved. One part of the history I knew: it was in protest against a proposed move from a rival Holiness/Methodist camp south of Columbus - Stoutsville, where Stephanie went growing up, to Sychar - that got Stephanie briefly on the Washington Avenue administrative board (like the Presbyterian session). But Sandy told me more: she and her sisters started coming to Sychar when Sandy was eight - this was a Christian oasis - and apparently Grandma also came - but not regularly until she married Grandpa. It's a very old (150 years old, in fact) church camp, and the master early 20th-century preacher Billy Sunday, has preached in the tabernacle. Sandy and Uncle Don in fact met - in between key visits by me to central Ohio - at Sychar. They now run the book store among other things. Sandy also pointed out to me the place where Sandy and Don were lifting stuff and she hurt her back/neck badly. Little cabins at Sychar cost like $10,000 - plus sweat equity - and you can pass them down to family members. I guess both of Sandy's daughters and their families have cabins there (?) - but old kids stay in big group kids-only dorms. At least on a cool early August day, the place did have a peaceful feeling - holy ground, as Sandy said. June left soon, but Don and Grandpa waited as Sandy showed me around. The camp is now across the street from a city water park, but it is less high-tech. I think that's one side of the bookstore pictured below, but Sandy showed me that later.



Below is one of the little road that leads past the cabins and other buildings.

Sandy showed me Don and Sandy's house. Lots of wood paneling thoughout most of the houses - just like up in Vincent's room in St. Matthews.

The houses have "front" doors on both sides - I believe this is one to their house (below).

We walked up the hill.

I think this is Robin's house that Stan (her soon to ex) and Don's sons helped finish (below).

Below, I took a picture through the window of the big boys' dorm room. Notice it's not a conventional dorm room in that no one has their own rooms. Some of these big dorms reminded me a ski dorm that Darra and I and some of her friends stayed in in the Adirondacks one winter night before going out cross-country skiing.

Below is another big building with some dorm space and some rooms for single adults

Sandy's daughter Lori and Robin, it turns out, are very involved in the children's ministries - kind of like Children's Fellowship (which Stephanie and I may just help out with this year) - but for two whole weeks - and Lori is also an artist as she painted the walls of rooms in this relatively new space for children (below).

Below is Sandy in the bookstore, for which she helps do the books, ordering, inventory control, marketing, etc. She gave me a Camp Sychar mug. (Next door was a buildilng with something linking it to the Oriental Missionary Society, which figured prominently in my stewardship talk last fall.) She obviously hoped I might come back, even for a while, some summer. I believe that I ate lunch (or dinner?) with Grandpa (and Grandma? - maybe 10 years ago - on the day I came up - and sat in their cabin. I don't think I went to a service or Bible study class. But I may have been there for only a couple of hours. Sychar is obviously a very important part of Sandy and Don's lives, and has an interesting history - intertwined with that of my family - and I was happy that she shared it with me - even though I didn't get on the road (for more meandering then) out of Mt. Vernon until almost 5 p.m. (after getting gas). More on the meandering later.

-- Perry