I Speak of Dreams

World Blog Day

I'm down at Badger's for World Blog Day with Mary and Deb, working on finding blogs new to me, written by folk unlike me, from far away.

I'm a Californian born and bred, white,  not particularly religious, heterosexual with a child, and formerly married.

Let's go on an adventure.  I'm going to hunt through other people's blog rolls.  I'm looking for personal/life/opinion blogs -- blogs like mine, but written by somebody totally different

Youth Treatment and Education Center

Through the post I wrote about the wonders of Blum's and Coffee Crunch Cake, I met Sandy Weil, who is using her family's famed bakery cookbook to do good works for kids (similar to the San Francisco Chocolate Company working for the California Autism Foundation).

From Sandy, I learned about the Youth Treatment and Education Center in San Francisco,

YTEC combines treatment with education and court supervision to support juvenile offenders ages 14-18 who have a demonstrated history of substance use. YTEC addresses youth’s academic, emotional, and behavioral needs in the least restrictive environment as an alternative to incarceration.

Providing a safe and supportive community, YTEC nurtures young people’s belief in their own abilities by offering a holistic, service-rich environment that is engaging and responsive to the needs of each individual and his or her family. YTEC began as a Juvenile Drug Court, but has evolved over time to include the following programs: YTEC Academy High School, Diversion, Vocational Training, Family Services, and Leadership Fellows. By delivering a complete range of services YTEC is able to have a significant impact on the development of a positive future for each of its participants.

Tomorrow is World Blog Day

The last day of August is a day to explore blogs new to you, preferably in cultures  other than your own.

BlogDay was initiated with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to know other bloggers, from other countries or areas of interests. In that day Bloggers will recommend about them to their Blog visitors.

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify (leave a comment, write an email)  the 5 bloggers that you are recommending on them on BlogDay 2006
3. Write a short description of the each of the blogs and place a a link to the recommended blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post on August 31st) and finally
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2006 and a link to BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

I'm going to play, are you?

A Nasty Fight in the Rodeo Industry

In rodeo, there are two major organizations, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA).  The two have been affiliated since the late 1940s.   (more from Wikipedia on PRCA and WPRA.)  There are about 6,000 members of the PRCA  and about 2,000 members of WPRA (open only to women).

The PRCA board of directors voted on August 16th to sever its partnership of 60 years, and form a competing subsidiary.

The women aren't taking it lying down.

The WPRA, one of the oldest women sports organizations, has nearly 2000 members and sanctions over 600 barrel racings across the nation. The PRCA will look to take over the WPRA members and its sanctioned rodeos by implementing and activating rules that would preclude an event from sanctioning their organization. The PRCA has also ousted them from the culminating Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas beginning in 2007.

"This is an atrocity to the sport and the women athletes of professional rodeo" said Tammy Key, a top barrel racing competitor and director of the WPRA. "Our organization has been representing the women of our sport, standardizing our competition and ensuring a professional environment for decades…and it has been doing a great job."

The WPRA plans on following all possible recourse to protect its business, its members and its relationships with the fans and the rodeo committees. It is not going to take this lightly. "From its inception, this organization has had to fight again and again to maintain its existence and autonomy; to protect its all women sanctity; and to ensure equal prize money. We believe that the committees, the sponsors and the public will not allow the maverick business practices of yester years to go unchecked’ said Jymmy Kay Davis. "So in turn we are asking for a ‘National Call to Action’ for our Women Athletes."

A Call for Healing

Update: it turns out that The Naked Tomato, TNT, is not who she says she is, and the contents of Medical Pathetical are fiction.  Moof, however, is real.  And with a big heart.  Moral of the story: if your spidey sense tingles, pay attention.  See The Gift of Fear.  More on the story at Dr. Flea.

Moof tells her story, and issues a healing call.

The healing and release you get from letting the hurt out - and others in to listen, understand, love and help - are directly proportional the difficulty in opening up to begin with. The harder it is to write … the less you want to admit openly what happened … the greater the benefit you’ll reap by doing so.

It was a call and response with  The Naked Tomato, Medical Pathetical, who wrote here of her experience.

Throughout the trial and in even greater volume after Evan’s sentencing, people blamed me for “ruining his life.” A smart boy like that, they said, couldn’t possibly be a criminal.

I have no story. I have been fortunate in that way.  But I worry about my darling daughter. 

Doctor Hebert's Katrina Memoir

This memoir is not especially dramatic. I was not involved in any rooftop rescues. I was not stranded in any hospitals. My family evacuated, and it was weeks before we saw our home again. Perhaps you could think of this testimony as an alternative to the hard-hitting on-the-ground reporting that filled the airwaves that week, and in the weeks after. This is the story of what a disaster looks like through ordinary eyes. It is like Exodus written not from Moses’ viewpoint but in the words of the last Israelite pushing his cart across the muddy bottom of the Sea of Reeds.

• Friday, August 26, 2005
• Saturday, August 27, 2005
• Sunday, August 28, 2005
• Monday, August 29, 2005
• Tuesday, August 30, 2005
• Wednesday August 31, 2005
• Thursday September 1, 2005
• Friday, September 2, 2005
• Saturday, September 3, 2005
• Closing Poem
  

If America throws New Orleans away, then America throws away my understanding of what America is. Without New Orleans, without a place to be from, I could go anywhere, and live in any country. If my home is gone, my homeland is just a land mass. That may seem a traitorous thought, but it is a fact. If your mother dies, are you going to celebrate Mother's Day with someone else's mother?

I lost my home, not to catastrophe, but to the decision of someone I loved and trusted.  What of loyalty freely given, if it is betrayed?  I have no answer.  I've knitted up a life, because the hole made in mine has a single face.  I am humbled by the courage of Michael and his hundreds of thousands of compatriots, who have no single face to make sense of betrayal.

Michael Hebert's Katrina Blog Project

Via BoingBoing:   Operation Eden: What One Year Has Done to my Poor, Proud People.

She's Baaaaaak

JumperGirl returned from a 10 day trip with her dad to Portugal and the town of Mons in Belgium.  The Mons event was "crazy fun" and she got to see a bunch of people she likes--her dad's tank buddies.  The Portugal part was mostly being at the resort, but much enjoyed.

The first day of her last year of high school is today.  Hard to believe.  This time next year it will be college! (Or a year off -- I'm a big fan of the gap year, if well-planned and executed.)

Governance Matters

Update at the bottom
I'm reading Governance as Leadership (Chait, Ryan and Taylor) .  Across the newswire comes this: Autism Asperger Resource Center to close. From the news story, it appears that the board could not balance expenses and revenues.

“Somebody fell asleep at the wheel regarding the response to this explosive population that families have been crying about for years,” said Kirsten Sneid, who is also an Autism Society of Johnson County board member. “They dumped the state responsibility onto nonprofits.”

The center plans to hire an attorney to review the financial records before it can determine whether money was mismanaged. The information should allow board members to determine whether the center has the wherewithal to restructure and reopen.

“We needed to clean the slate and start over,” Board President Jennifer Currier said Friday.

Currier said board members do not suspect wrongdoing. She would not go into detail on the resource center’s financial situation. The IRS 990 tax forms filed in 2004 show the center ended the year with a deficit exceeding $9,900.

I'm really sorry for the families affected, and I am sure the board is very downcast.  But you have to lay this outcome squarely at the feet of the board.

According to the page at Guidestar, they had a strategic plan in place to increase operations and build a reserve.  But it doesn't look like the board geared up to execute the plan.

Franchising News

Two franchise chains promise to help kids with dyslexia and ADHD.  Can they provide the services they promise?

Growth In The Educational Franchise Industry Brings New Opportunities For Parents And Children With Special Needs

Reduce Play, Reduce Knowledge

Link: Eide Neurolearning Blog.

In a King's College study of 25,000 children across state and public schools, researchers found that 11 year olds were three years behind same age children in 1976. This result runs counter to the notion of the Flynn Effect or the well-documented increase in IQ scores over time.

What's going on?

Turn off the TV, especially for the birth-24 month set.  Let them, make them, play outside.  Imaginative play -- don't buy a "princess outfit", go to someplace like Goodwill and find a spangly women's top.  Read to them.  Not modern goop but Mother Goose rhymes and Grimm's Marchen.

Make cookies from scratch.  Don't buy the frozen waffles, make them from scratch.  Let them help you cook rice (where does the water go?).