Study Hall

The Blue House is in full swing as a study hall again.

Melody just screened a documentary about the Stonewall Riots in New York.  I caught most of it. Satya was in the basement providing an audience for the solo musician, working to blast through 11 minutes of continuous keyboard with no errors.  She made very few.

Satya watched a few minutes of Stonewall then took off, continuing the journey home.  Alex's mom (ASSK) is much in the news today.  The captain called me about that from his boat.  Patrick sent me a link.

The musician and Melody have now gone off into Joseph Campbell territory (more DVDs) while I've returned to the back office to continue with my own studies.

Tara had a good experience at Earlham and will be sealing the enrollment.  She has state championships coming up this weekend, me a judge (though not in her events).

SMAD (Sunday Morning Adult Discussion) was led by Mendel this First Day.  He discussed Lookism, putting a negative spin on the term (he's a skilled public speaker).  The term was originally coined by fat people fighting back.

As one of the fatter guys in the room, I spun a positive counter, pointing out how early Quaker focus on plain dress, no cosmetics, no titles, was precisely a look and feel, sending a message through dress and so on.  To communicate by appearance, costume, dress, is efficient, not necessarily empty vanity.

I cycled between Meeting and the Blue House quite a few times, twice forgetting my camera.  I wanted to have pictures of Bob Smith, a long time family friend and pillar of Multnomah Meeting, in my Photostream.  I have this practice of taking pictures of pictures at memorial services, been doing it for years.  Birthdays too of course.

Some of my conversations were on PHYSLRNR today, another listserv archiving at the University of Buffalo.  I say "another" because that institution pulled the plug on our GEODESIC after all those years, meaning some of my old hyperlinks are now just dead ends.  Such is life in the Wild West of the Internet.

Will I need to get a Kindle after all?  I'm tempted, knowing there's something on Python decorators I might read.

Probably some of my best writings today had to do with influences, though thanks to a crossed wire (as we say in neuroscience) I had Conway confused with Coxeter in one post.  I managed to patch that up, and still be happy enough with the posting.

I'm suggesting we all do more to map ourselves against a backdrop.  Construct your model of history and then fit yourself into it.  Make this a front burner project.  You have a role, and not just if you're a president.

Friday night I rode the bike to 23rd and Alberta and back to celebrate a birthday. After meeting on Sunday I rode 20 miles on EmoKid.  Tonight I bicycled to Food Not Bombs (hi Tre).  These are gestures suggesting I'm hoping to get in better shape for the spring and summer.  This is an established pattern with me.

The more programmed ordeals that would result in stronger skill building will have to wait a little more.

The "off your duff" curriculum is still unrolling (scrolling) and is in the early stages.  "Girl scout math" (as I call it in shorthand) features these Tarzania types I specialize in recruiting, doing all these "tom boy" activities.  They're civilians in my scripts, perhaps training to become doctors without borders.

Kids drawing programs (sketching themes):  tail fins for airplanes for organizations you think might need them (including new ones you invent); the museum / memorial grounds at Gitmo (use Google Earth to get some views) in light of plans to close it.

Stonewall was a Mafia bar in Greenwich Village NYC (one of several) that permitted people to be openly affectionate (slow dancing OK) with members of the same sex.  The police were always raiding the place.  Even cross-dressing was a crime.  During several days of uprisings, several corners were turned.

Talking heads included former Mayor Koch and NYPD as well as bar goers from that time.