Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Correspondence: October 30, 2007
… That reminds me of my summers in Tennessee in the ’70s. Old “Bear” Hackett lived about six miles outside of town and used to walk it. He wasn’t quite right in the head. He also rolled his own cigarettes. And I seem to recall that the year James Earl Ray escaped from prison, Bear Hackett was one of the folks sitting around an old country store who said that if Ray turned up on their doorstep, they’d take him in. That was less than a decade after MLK was killed, so maybe they’ve all seen the light by now. I know Bear Hackett has seen the light. He’s dead.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Correspondence: October 22, 2007
… Have you been following the news about our water woes? The governor is trying to reduce the amount of water released from Lake Lanier, but the Corps of Engineers says it is mandated by the federal government to release water for the endangered mussels on the Florida coast. I suggest we keep the water, Tallahassee have a clam bake, and everybody wins. Screw the clams! I’m thirsty. ...
… The governor had a big prayer thing on the steps of the capitol the other day to pray for rain. First of all, don’t get me started. Second of all, I showed them! At the same time as their prayer thing, I was at home praying that God just “do what you think best.”
… The governor had a big prayer thing on the steps of the capitol the other day to pray for rain. First of all, don’t get me started. Second of all, I showed them! At the same time as their prayer thing, I was at home praying that God just “do what you think best.”
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Correspondence: October 20, 2007
Origami, is Japanese art of folding paper. Boulder is round rock.
Origami Boulder is wadded up paper! ... This site about origami
boulder very fine wadded paper artwork. I make artwork for you
and you buy it now. I am famous Internet artist. ...
To Origami Boulder Artist:
I am truly impressed by your work. I’ve dabbled in wadding paper, myself, but for me it is merely an avocation, not a true calling.
It is my intention to commission a custom origami boulder as soon as possible. I am currently remodeling my home, however, and I want to hold off until the work is finished in order to ensure that the artwork matches my new décor. Do you have a portfolio I could review in the meantime? I’m O.K. with PowerPoint if you just want to e-mail it to this address.
I am especially interested in having you produce for me a compelling holiday piece if you don’t consider that too base and commercial an undertaking. I’m considering a variation of your haiku origami boulder with a Thanksgiving theme. Something a little more traditional. Rather than a common boulder fashioned from wadded paper, I would like to see an origami replica of Plymouth Rock, and rather than a haiku on the inside, I would like to print my grandmother’s recipe for turkey and dressing.
I am considering a custom font for the recipe. Once I find a font designer and he has produced a font to my liking, I’ll e-mail it to you so we can get moving on this project. Do you require fonts for Mac or PC? Is TrueType O.K.?
There are other pieces I would like to see, but I just don’t have the space for them. A Zen rock garden consisting of several origami boulders set on a bed of confetti seems like it would be very relaxing to sit and contemplate. And, if you could somehow couple scissors or a scissor motif with an origami boulder, it would be a masterpiece. True genius! To combine the proverbial rock, paper and scissors in one piece would be a triumph. An electrifying example of your ineluctable talent.
I can, of course, tender payment through PayPal, but I am relieved to read that you accept alternate forms of remuneration. I can, in fact, pay you in postage stamps, as you indicate they are acceptable. I can also pay you in Chucky Cheese tokens if you deem them desirable. I have an abundance of them, but the kids are grown and I don’t see myself ever having the opportunity to use them myself.
Again, I adore your work and I look forward to doing business with you in the near future.
PS- I’m from Atlanta. Would you be able to make an origami representation of Stone Mountain — complete with carving — from a really big piece of paper? What would be the cost of such an endeavor?
Origami Boulder is wadded up paper! ... This site about origami
boulder very fine wadded paper artwork. I make artwork for you
and you buy it now. I am famous Internet artist. ...
To Origami Boulder Artist:
I am truly impressed by your work. I’ve dabbled in wadding paper, myself, but for me it is merely an avocation, not a true calling.
It is my intention to commission a custom origami boulder as soon as possible. I am currently remodeling my home, however, and I want to hold off until the work is finished in order to ensure that the artwork matches my new décor. Do you have a portfolio I could review in the meantime? I’m O.K. with PowerPoint if you just want to e-mail it to this address.
I am especially interested in having you produce for me a compelling holiday piece if you don’t consider that too base and commercial an undertaking. I’m considering a variation of your haiku origami boulder with a Thanksgiving theme. Something a little more traditional. Rather than a common boulder fashioned from wadded paper, I would like to see an origami replica of Plymouth Rock, and rather than a haiku on the inside, I would like to print my grandmother’s recipe for turkey and dressing.
I am considering a custom font for the recipe. Once I find a font designer and he has produced a font to my liking, I’ll e-mail it to you so we can get moving on this project. Do you require fonts for Mac or PC? Is TrueType O.K.?
There are other pieces I would like to see, but I just don’t have the space for them. A Zen rock garden consisting of several origami boulders set on a bed of confetti seems like it would be very relaxing to sit and contemplate. And, if you could somehow couple scissors or a scissor motif with an origami boulder, it would be a masterpiece. True genius! To combine the proverbial rock, paper and scissors in one piece would be a triumph. An electrifying example of your ineluctable talent.
I can, of course, tender payment through PayPal, but I am relieved to read that you accept alternate forms of remuneration. I can, in fact, pay you in postage stamps, as you indicate they are acceptable. I can also pay you in Chucky Cheese tokens if you deem them desirable. I have an abundance of them, but the kids are grown and I don’t see myself ever having the opportunity to use them myself.
Again, I adore your work and I look forward to doing business with you in the near future.
PS- I’m from Atlanta. Would you be able to make an origami representation of Stone Mountain — complete with carving — from a really big piece of paper? What would be the cost of such an endeavor?
Monday, October 15, 2007
Saffron Succotash!
A moving tribute to the protesters in Myanmar:
He broke the rules …
The monk was brave …
He’s bought himself …
A Burma grave.
And if that doesn’t grab you, try this one:
This Buddhist’s made for walking,
That’s what he’s going to do.
He’ll take his protest to the streets
Til Burma’s dem-o-cratic, too.
He broke the rules …
The monk was brave …
He’s bought himself …
A Burma grave.
And if that doesn’t grab you, try this one:
This Buddhist’s made for walking,
That’s what he’s going to do.
He’ll take his protest to the streets
Til Burma’s dem-o-cratic, too.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Paideia’s Secret Plan
Hey, my fellow alums. Have y’all been by Paideia lately? The campus has finally made it all the way to Oakdale. Beyond, if you include the 1341 Building (whatever that is). If Paideia’s Web site is to be believed, much spine-tingling progress has been made on the newly acquired property since the end of the academic year last June:
“The townhouses located at the corner of Oakdale and South Ponce de Leon were demolished to make way for the construction of our new junior high building, gym, black box theater and campus green.”
Yep. I told you that would happen. It was only a matter of time.
In the Spring of 1996, some 12 years after I graduated, the faculty adviser of The Forum contacted me and asked me to write an article for a special edition of the paper. I considered the events of that day and presented my predictions on the likely future of Paideia.
Here is that 1996 account of Paideia’s destiny. Looks like we’re moving in the right direction.
____________
Paideia’s Secret Plan
Paideia’s Campaign for the ’90s was recently declared a huge success after raising $5.8 million to buy the neighboring condominium property. This is proof positive that not only is Paideia the proud institution we have always known it to be, but also a successful corporate entity which is carving its niche in the marketplace. This is a grand achievement, and one Paideia folk — old or new — have a right to be proud of. But, what few know is that the Campaign was merely the first step in a far larger scheme dating back to the early ’70s.
I stumbled onto the plot in 1982 when, as a Forum editor, I went through Paul Bianchi’s desk looking for evidence in a Disciplinary Committee case in which I thought a fellow student had been wrongly accused. What I found was shocking and, in those days, scandalous. If the details of this scheme had been made public in the ’80s, it surely would have spelled the end of Bianchi’s regime. Paideia’s Board of Directors knew the plans had fallen to someone in my class and, in fact, the graduation of the class of 1984 was nothing less than an attempt to get rid of us lest word of the plan get out. Now that Phase One has been completed, however, the time is right to disclose the details of Paideia’s Secret Plan.
The Great Garage Sale and Paideia Place were early clandestine tests of Paideia’s fund raising power. These were followed closely by the purchase of the Mother Goose building and the SYDA Foundation property as a fledgling Paideia outflanked the condominiums and began its ten-year siege. This much you know. The rest may shock you.
Over the next ten years, Paideia will continue to accept contributions from parents, alums, foundation grants and major corporations. Paideia will also begin to explore new methods of gaining capital. According to the Plan, by 1999 Paideia will rent out the multi-purpose building for conventions, beginning with the Shriners. The school should pick up a few extra dollars by offering the services of Carol Cooper, the school crossing guard, to keep students from injury by the tiny clown cars. The school also intends to copyright all material taught by its faculty so that it might collect royalties any time an alum uses knowledge learned in any Paideia class.
By 2006, Paideia will incorporate under the new name “PaideiaCorp” and offer its wood-chip stock on the open market. Benefits to employees will increase, with faculty and staff being offered stock options and matching funds in the company’s 401(pre-K).
As time passes, age will take its toll even on the ageless Tom Pearce — still 39 and holding — and one by one the current Paideia employees will retire and, inevitably, die. As Paideia loses its faculty, the plan calls for them to be replaced by former students. All incoming students will be children or grandchildren of former students. Eventually, like some academic ouroboros, only Paideia graduates will teach Paideia students.
As PaideiaCorp’s coffers swell, it will begin to flex its monetary muscle and resume its westward march down Ponce de Leon, acquiring properties at the rate of one or two a year. Paideia should acquire the Krishna Temple on South Ponce by 2015. By 2031, Paideia will finally have a cafeteria after the purchase of the Majestic. By 2045, student housing will be located in what is now the Clermont Lodge.
The Steering Committee will have offices in City Hall East (the old Sears building). It will raise additional funds by selling textbooks at Krispy Kreme during break.
Phase II will end when the campus reaches Peachtree Street in 2071. At that time, Paul Bianchi will, along with Terrell Weitman, be preserved cryogenically and thawed only to make major decisions regarding the direction the Plan should take.
By the close of the next century, there will be tens of thousands of alums, parents, grandparents and the like all sending money to the school. This will mark the beginning of Phase III of the Plan when Paideia will make profit on donations alone and will no longer need to teach students. The students — still considered assets because of their paying grandparents — will be leased to Westminster.
By the school’s 200th anniversary, the Plan will be complete. PaideiaCorp will be a multi-million dollar corporation reaping the benefits of investments begun by us ... right now. The Plan conceived by Paul Bianchi in the early 1970s reaches far into the future. In a scant two centuries, Paideia will have grown from “The Little School That Could” to “The Great Big One That Could Whup Yo’ Ass” ... and we have seen only the beginning.
“The townhouses located at the corner of Oakdale and South Ponce de Leon were demolished to make way for the construction of our new junior high building, gym, black box theater and campus green.”
Yep. I told you that would happen. It was only a matter of time.
In the Spring of 1996, some 12 years after I graduated, the faculty adviser of The Forum contacted me and asked me to write an article for a special edition of the paper. I considered the events of that day and presented my predictions on the likely future of Paideia.
Here is that 1996 account of Paideia’s destiny. Looks like we’re moving in the right direction.
____________
Paideia’s Secret Plan
Paideia’s Campaign for the ’90s was recently declared a huge success after raising $5.8 million to buy the neighboring condominium property. This is proof positive that not only is Paideia the proud institution we have always known it to be, but also a successful corporate entity which is carving its niche in the marketplace. This is a grand achievement, and one Paideia folk — old or new — have a right to be proud of. But, what few know is that the Campaign was merely the first step in a far larger scheme dating back to the early ’70s.
I stumbled onto the plot in 1982 when, as a Forum editor, I went through Paul Bianchi’s desk looking for evidence in a Disciplinary Committee case in which I thought a fellow student had been wrongly accused. What I found was shocking and, in those days, scandalous. If the details of this scheme had been made public in the ’80s, it surely would have spelled the end of Bianchi’s regime. Paideia’s Board of Directors knew the plans had fallen to someone in my class and, in fact, the graduation of the class of 1984 was nothing less than an attempt to get rid of us lest word of the plan get out. Now that Phase One has been completed, however, the time is right to disclose the details of Paideia’s Secret Plan.
The Great Garage Sale and Paideia Place were early clandestine tests of Paideia’s fund raising power. These were followed closely by the purchase of the Mother Goose building and the SYDA Foundation property as a fledgling Paideia outflanked the condominiums and began its ten-year siege. This much you know. The rest may shock you.
Over the next ten years, Paideia will continue to accept contributions from parents, alums, foundation grants and major corporations. Paideia will also begin to explore new methods of gaining capital. According to the Plan, by 1999 Paideia will rent out the multi-purpose building for conventions, beginning with the Shriners. The school should pick up a few extra dollars by offering the services of Carol Cooper, the school crossing guard, to keep students from injury by the tiny clown cars. The school also intends to copyright all material taught by its faculty so that it might collect royalties any time an alum uses knowledge learned in any Paideia class.
By 2006, Paideia will incorporate under the new name “PaideiaCorp” and offer its wood-chip stock on the open market. Benefits to employees will increase, with faculty and staff being offered stock options and matching funds in the company’s 401(pre-K).
As time passes, age will take its toll even on the ageless Tom Pearce — still 39 and holding — and one by one the current Paideia employees will retire and, inevitably, die. As Paideia loses its faculty, the plan calls for them to be replaced by former students. All incoming students will be children or grandchildren of former students. Eventually, like some academic ouroboros, only Paideia graduates will teach Paideia students.
As PaideiaCorp’s coffers swell, it will begin to flex its monetary muscle and resume its westward march down Ponce de Leon, acquiring properties at the rate of one or two a year. Paideia should acquire the Krishna Temple on South Ponce by 2015. By 2031, Paideia will finally have a cafeteria after the purchase of the Majestic. By 2045, student housing will be located in what is now the Clermont Lodge.
The Steering Committee will have offices in City Hall East (the old Sears building). It will raise additional funds by selling textbooks at Krispy Kreme during break.
Phase II will end when the campus reaches Peachtree Street in 2071. At that time, Paul Bianchi will, along with Terrell Weitman, be preserved cryogenically and thawed only to make major decisions regarding the direction the Plan should take.
By the close of the next century, there will be tens of thousands of alums, parents, grandparents and the like all sending money to the school. This will mark the beginning of Phase III of the Plan when Paideia will make profit on donations alone and will no longer need to teach students. The students — still considered assets because of their paying grandparents — will be leased to Westminster.
By the school’s 200th anniversary, the Plan will be complete. PaideiaCorp will be a multi-million dollar corporation reaping the benefits of investments begun by us ... right now. The Plan conceived by Paul Bianchi in the early 1970s reaches far into the future. In a scant two centuries, Paideia will have grown from “The Little School That Could” to “The Great Big One That Could Whup Yo’ Ass” ... and we have seen only the beginning.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Correspondence: August 13-18, 2007
August 13, 2007
… My sister is going out of town for four days and wants me to be around for the 15-year-old (and, possibly, the 18-year-old). I guess my main task is to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble or have people over, or whatever she does at her age. I’d bring my own Jager, but I guess I shouldn’t if I’m the only adult in the house and the only one who can drive. I should be responsible. (The girl sure is cutting into my drinking time, though.)
August 14, 2007
… I’m on the job. The sister left her laptop, but I’m not digging this keyboard. She did not leave money for food, so we went and got fixin’s for sandwiches from the Shell station at the corner. My sister is a smoker and the dog seems not to be housebroken, so I got some incense, too. I’ll come with cash tomorrow, so we can at least get a bucket of chicken.
What do 15-year-old girls like to talk about? I’ve got all sorts of stories about the great grandparents she never met, but the boyfriend might not get into that. What do 15-16-year-old boys talk about, for that matter? All my friends were old when I was that age, so I learned to have intelligent conversations. Not so with this guy. And clever wordplay is definitely out. I may have to hit the wine just to dumb down a little.
August 15 , 2007
… I don’t have much time right now, but here is my report to my sister from tonight:
I am the most hated person in your house right now.
I didn’t let the girl stay overnight at “Squishy’s” house with a bunch of other kids. To the credit of the hoodlums she was hanging out with, once she realized I would not let her stay, they drove her right home. Fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.
She has now locked herself in her room. I’ve never seen her be a surly teenager. Good to see she has it in her.
I just got the phone back from her. A production of unlocking the door, opening it a crack, giving me the phone and closing and locking the door.
Little does she know, this goes on her permanent record. I add this to my niece/nephew file right away.
I can’t type much because of this stupid keyboard, so I’ll catch you up later.
For now, I’ll tell you that I did say something along the lines of, “You have to come home tonight, but tell Squishy that next week he and his friends can come hang out with me.” I’m real popular with the Marietta teens right now.
I never thought I would hear my niece say, “And I thought you were cool!”
I also never expected ever to hear myself say, “Because I’m the grown-up”; “Because I said so”; “You’ll understand some day”; “When I was your age ...” And I thought I sold my soul when I buttoned down my button downs and went to work for Coke!
She’s asleep now, bless her little heart. Unless she snuck out the window.
Hmmmm ... I seem to remember sneaking out the window every night the summer I was 13 or so. I never did evil things. Just rode my bike around the neighborhood with a pal til all hours. She’s probably just as harmless, but I’m the grown-up and I said so.
August 18, 2007
… It’s over. I left the kids on Saturday. The plan was for me to take the 15-year-old to spend the night with my mother on Saturday, but she didn’t want to go. She got my sister on the phone and asked if she could hang out with friends instead. When I spoke with my sister, she said, “I don’t care where she goes as long as the dog is fed and walked.” O.K. That’s an easy one. Put out food, walk the dog and “bye-bye.” I hope the girl was able to eat the rest of the weekend.
… My sister is going out of town for four days and wants me to be around for the 15-year-old (and, possibly, the 18-year-old). I guess my main task is to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble or have people over, or whatever she does at her age. I’d bring my own Jager, but I guess I shouldn’t if I’m the only adult in the house and the only one who can drive. I should be responsible. (The girl sure is cutting into my drinking time, though.)
August 14, 2007
… I’m on the job. The sister left her laptop, but I’m not digging this keyboard. She did not leave money for food, so we went and got fixin’s for sandwiches from the Shell station at the corner. My sister is a smoker and the dog seems not to be housebroken, so I got some incense, too. I’ll come with cash tomorrow, so we can at least get a bucket of chicken.
What do 15-year-old girls like to talk about? I’ve got all sorts of stories about the great grandparents she never met, but the boyfriend might not get into that. What do 15-16-year-old boys talk about, for that matter? All my friends were old when I was that age, so I learned to have intelligent conversations. Not so with this guy. And clever wordplay is definitely out. I may have to hit the wine just to dumb down a little.
August 15 , 2007
… I don’t have much time right now, but here is my report to my sister from tonight:
I am the most hated person in your house right now.
I didn’t let the girl stay overnight at “Squishy’s” house with a bunch of other kids. To the credit of the hoodlums she was hanging out with, once she realized I would not let her stay, they drove her right home. Fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.
She has now locked herself in her room. I’ve never seen her be a surly teenager. Good to see she has it in her.
I just got the phone back from her. A production of unlocking the door, opening it a crack, giving me the phone and closing and locking the door.
Little does she know, this goes on her permanent record. I add this to my niece/nephew file right away.
I can’t type much because of this stupid keyboard, so I’ll catch you up later.
For now, I’ll tell you that I did say something along the lines of, “You have to come home tonight, but tell Squishy that next week he and his friends can come hang out with me.” I’m real popular with the Marietta teens right now.
I never thought I would hear my niece say, “And I thought you were cool!”
I also never expected ever to hear myself say, “Because I’m the grown-up”; “Because I said so”; “You’ll understand some day”; “When I was your age ...” And I thought I sold my soul when I buttoned down my button downs and went to work for Coke!
She’s asleep now, bless her little heart. Unless she snuck out the window.
Hmmmm ... I seem to remember sneaking out the window every night the summer I was 13 or so. I never did evil things. Just rode my bike around the neighborhood with a pal til all hours. She’s probably just as harmless, but I’m the grown-up and I said so.
August 18, 2007
… It’s over. I left the kids on Saturday. The plan was for me to take the 15-year-old to spend the night with my mother on Saturday, but she didn’t want to go. She got my sister on the phone and asked if she could hang out with friends instead. When I spoke with my sister, she said, “I don’t care where she goes as long as the dog is fed and walked.” O.K. That’s an easy one. Put out food, walk the dog and “bye-bye.” I hope the girl was able to eat the rest of the weekend.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Correspondence: August 12, 2007
Ehh ... The mother is ill right now. My sister had to pick her up from church because she was puking. I came over a little later. My tasks were:
“Yoo Hoo!”
“What?”
“Can you let the cats in?”
“Yoo Hoo!”
“What?”
“Can you find me my book? It’s the one with no spine and no name between a white binder and a black binder.”
“Yoo Hoo!”
“What?”
“They said I needed Ginger Ale. And I need more cat food. I have $20 in my wallet”
“Is CVS O.K.?”
“They don’t have the cat food I want. Yeah, that’s O.K.”
So, I’m on my way to CVS.
“Yoo Hoo!”
“What?”
“Can you let the cats in?”
“Yoo Hoo!”
“What?”
“Can you find me my book? It’s the one with no spine and no name between a white binder and a black binder.”
“Yoo Hoo!”
“What?”
“They said I needed Ginger Ale. And I need more cat food. I have $20 in my wallet”
“Is CVS O.K.?”
“They don’t have the cat food I want. Yeah, that’s O.K.”
So, I’m on my way to CVS.
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