Last night I attended a networking event in SF that was sponsored by the Craigslist Foundation. Their goal is to catalyze the community by educating and promoting resources so they can “help people help.” Since it was primarily SF non-profits, though, I didn’t stay long. I would love to see if the foundation might hold a similar event in San Jose/South Bay. Philanthropy is quite alive in the valley. Oh, I also met (briefly) Craig Newmark, and he is as modest as he is reputed to be. In any case, I may explore the possibilities of the foundation to see if it might benefit my agency or my own philanthropic dreams.
Category Archives: Regional
Not a Good Day
What do you get when you combine drinking 32 ounces of coffee a day and almost no water for about 10 days?
A lot of discomfort due to a urinary tract infection. Thank goodness for doctors and prescription antibiotics. It started Tuesday and I suffered until this morning. It’s still painful but less so. I’m usually very conscientious about consuming enough water but work has been so busy the last two weeks and I’ve been tired, and you know the story.
Drink water!!
But my pain does not compare — at all — with the news below. I would not have wanted to be on those trains, nor a relative or friend of the victims. My heart goes out to them as well as those who died.
Second person killed by commuter train today
By Kimra McPherson, Mercury NewsA Caltrain commuter train has struck and killed a second person today, halting service in the Redwood City area around noon.
No other information was immediately available on the Redwood City death, but an alert on the Caltrain Web site said buses would take passengers around the scene.
Service had been stopped earlier this morning when a man who stepped in front of a train was killed near the downtown Mountain View station at about 7:15 a.m., Caltrain spokesman Jonah Weinberg said. One woman was hit by debris during the collision and taken to a local hospital for treatment, said Mountain View Police spokesman Jim Bennett.
Trains had been running through the Castro Street station on a single track since about 9:15 a.m. until the second fatality halted service again.
A Little Cute
The following post will take you to a short film of a very sweet interlude in a boy’s life. The video is created by the son of a friend of mine, and if you watch all two minutes you’ll be rewarded at the end. It’s cute, cute, cute! Everyone needs a little cute in his or her life. Here’s your dose.
Missing Central New York
Missing Central New York
Where I come from the
sky’s gravity weighs like
a jury bringing verdict,
earth sings arpeggios
of green,
apple trees wave blossom
scarves to woo suitors,
and Hades’ breath
strips trees of
their russet ochre shawls.
Where I come from it is
possible to walk
away from
this concrete madhouse,
to encounter a heron
startled into flight.
—
Poem #3 (or the beginning of one) for NaPoWriMo.
For Diana
For Diana
At sunset at the edge of the world
in San Francisco the fog crawls in,
a pillow for the sun.
The day drowses in diaphanous
light, a lullaby light dressed in
the caress of silk tucks in.
At dawn the sun sneaks back,
ambushes the hills with sharp,
vanquishing droplets. Clarity
wears a uniform, scrubbing cobwebbed
corners clean. The city stretches awake.
—
Poem #2 for NaPoWriMo.
Cool Ways to Re-use What You Think of As Junk
I learned today what a soda bottle looks like when it’s shipped to the company to be filled. It’s called a preform. When they fall on the manufacturing floor, they become unsanitary and cannot be used for consumables. They are recycled or shipped to a place such as RAFT, which uses them to make educational kits. They look like test tubes with screw tops and make excellent vials for storing small items (like beads) or using in basic science experiments (such as demonstrating how a seed germinates).
I also spent several hours using a paper cutter to cut the flaps off three-ring binders; these binders (some of them almost brand new) are discarded by the truckload by corporations. Rather than pile up in a landfill, RAFT has a creative use for them. The spine is put into recycling. The two flaps are then used to create a science kit called a “shake table.” Four small rubber balls are placed between the binder pieces and bound together by rubber bands on each side. Students are then asked to build a structure that sits on the platform that can withstand movement. The “shake table” when jiggled demonstrates earthquake tremors and is useful in teaching children about earth science.
I would love to see RAFT become a nationwide resource for educators. It started as one teacher’s idea to help other teachers get inexpensive supplies for hands-on teaching. Teachers typically spend $1,500 of their own money at retail stores each year to buy supplies for their students and classrooms; at RAFT they can get the same materials for $200.
One Thin Line
One Thin Line
I knelt on the damp soil, my knees
dimpling black loam made tender
by winter rain. Lacy green hemlock
waved on the dunes, red stems alluding
to a lethal power. This day it was my
foe to banish. Gloved fingers burrowed,
sought unseeing, with gentle tugs I
eased the pale taproots out. Hours
passed. Piles of conquered plants
multiplied. One lone ladybug hiked
across a tangle of stems, a cheerful
red button contrasting the gunmetal
sky. A pause. Resting, I observed
her journey, noting that she traipsed,
tumbled on her back, legs waving,
for every completed step forward.
Chill wind scoured my mind. I
looked up. A red kite strained
against a taut and quivering tether.
The soul, connected by one thin
line to the body. A gust of wind
strong enough can snap it. Where it
lands I cannot guess. Where do
snowy plover feathers end their
journey after dancing across the
ocean? Sighing, I turned my mind
back to the truth of the earth.
Unable
Unable
The cherry trees weep
tissue paper petals.
Crows shout at each other
about nothing. And here
I sit alone in my car
parked at the Boys & Girls Club,
softened by sadness
heavily hopeless
unable to look spring in the eye.
I’m Actually A Little Proud Of This
Okay, folks. You ever wonder why I moved away from Syracuse, my hometown? Here’s one reason: 123 inches of snow this season. That’s 10.5 feet, people! Syracuse wins the Golden Snowball award this year and almost every year. In March 1993, there was a blizzard which broke the records for all areas affected by it. After the 1993-1994 winter season, when we received 192.1 inches of snow (that’s 16 feet!), I decided to head to a warmer climate. I went to the opposite extreme and moved to Austin, Texas.
Thanks to my Mom for emailing the news to me. You have to be made of sturdy stuff if you live in Syracuse.
California Living
California Living
After supper I make amends,
taking my body for a walk –
four miles marched, punctuated
by the blat-blat-blat of a Harley,
the Doppler whoosh of small metal
worlds on wheels,
bathed in a sodium yellow
streetlight buzzing industrially
like nothing heard in nature
this din of light pierced by
the ersatz bird chirp of a
crosswalk signal,
gazing up, I wink at the moon
undressed, full and flirting with
voluptuous clouds, the air
infused with cloying car fumes.
I pause at a yellow rose
far from Texas, inhaling
its spicysweet gift. It’s not paradise,
this city, but it will do.
“Progress”
When we moved to our rented house in California, one reason we liked it was this tree. It’s not in our yard, but it provided shade and beauty. It had been trimmed to avoid the utility wires in the past, but most of the tree was intact. The landlord, however, didn’t like the needles falling into the gutters. They own our house and the lot which has the tree. Rather than pay for gutter cleaning, they recently butchered the tree. We now have no shade in back yard (and never had any in the front yard). See the before and after below. It really makes me sad. If we ever buy a home here (and that’s a huge if, given the prices of real estate), we want a lot with trees. That’s a top priority. Until then, I’ll just be grateful we aren’t in Texas, where a house without shade becomes an oven.
Liquid Silver
Photo taken at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco
A Little More Knitting
Another television project (I knit this while watching t.v. or movies) — a child-sized scarf for the Dulaan project.
Made with Cascade 220 (most of one skein red, one white) on size 11 needles.
Souvenir
Japanese Friendship Garden, Phoenix, AZ / 7″ x 10″ ball-point pen on sketch paper
Because of a total absence of information, when I booked my flight, I took the earliest flight because the travel agent had been told we were to arrive by noon Sunday. So I ended up arriving in Phoenix by 9:45 a.m., although the conference didn’t even start until Monday morning. And since I couldn’t check in to the hotel until 3 p.m. (believe me, I asked, as I desperately needed a little sleep), I inquired as to where I could spend a few hours waiting near the hotel. I was directed to a nearby park. A pond filled with koi mesmerized me for awhile. The balmy weather and waterfall relaxed me, and drawing this nook in the park absorbed my attention completely for a few hours. The pen was a bit primitive (being just a crummy Bic ballpoint), but it sufficed. The drawing is very busy, dense with foliage, which captured that corner of the garden well.
I found people in Phoenix quite friendly. The staff I met at the airport and hotel were eager to help. And as I sat drawing, a number of people sat on the bench next to me to watch and chat. Several people asked if I’d gone to school for art, and I wasted no time letting them know I’m self-taught. That sparked an interesting conversation with an older woman about creativity and how art is everyone’s domain, and how that understanding is lost when we are told it is only for the “talented,” or that it’s a waste of time to pursue. She looked thoughtful as I shared my perspective. Perhaps she’ll be inspired to connect with her innate creativity someday. It is never too late.
It was an amiable way to spend an afternoon. Later that evening I also enjoyed a really good visit with my sister and brother-in-law. It was fun to see them, and they very graciously treated me to dinner. Yum! Sleep was sweet that night.
A First Draft
| California Living
After supper I make amends to I am bathed in a sodium yellow Gazing up, I wink at the moon its spicysweet gift. It’s not paradise, |