KOMIVESIAN CONVERSATION

a new family of F-WORDS

2011-12-06T11:06:00.001-06:00

Midst the discussion of problems and potentials for “fracking” oil and gas out of deep oil shale deposits there is an opportunity.

We are going to fight about this process and care about the fight. On a lighter-higher note, however, we can use the notoriety of this drilling technique to market a linguistic methadone.

“ Frack! Did you hear that fracking Belgium finally has a fracking government ?! ”

One can be either for or against (or who-gives-a-frack about) the fracking fracking process and still enjoy the new f-words.
.
If you know anything about this new-tech, you will see that the image and metaphorical substitutions are every bit as strong as the phonetic.

_________________________________________________________________

Note: Lacking such robustness, poor “Jiminy Cricket” failed in his/its linguistic cleansing effort.

My Notes on How to Think About College Admissions and Cost

2011-10-25T00:12:00.019-05:00

Intended for parent and student, but

addressed tothe high school student
especially the student who is likely to apply for financial aid

drafted2004-2011, Bob Komives

___CLICK___

New Humanism, The Second Age of Enlightenment

2011-03-08T14:06:00.003-06:00

I wrote this to friends recently:

I wonder, if we were to manage to reduce measurably the negative outcomes of our age, if the age of turnaround might come to be called, "The Second Age of Enlightenment." That would give more credit to the way we learned to think than to the consequent way we learned to live. I'm an it-is-a-lifestyle-problem guy myself, but I am uncomfortable with how much anti-intellectualism seems to have permeated all sides of the debate (if debate is possible between anti-intellectuals).

March 7 2011: David Brooks delves more deeply.
I encourage you to read it: [Click}
What I had started to conceive of as "the Second Age of Enlightenment." Brooks' would call "The New Humanism"--better I believe. He certainly describes it well, though I would add that a level-headed respect for science over pseudoscience will be part of it. After all, it is science (as Brooks explains) that is opening the pathways to the new humanism. No matter what we call the age envisioned, we should hasten out from our redoubts to welcome its arrival.

Bubbly Water Towers In A Pond

2011-03-06T01:22:00.023-06:00

If you click on the topic "phenomena" in the right column, most of the posts and comments you will see are about tilting icicles--from a few winters ago. Now, from odd habits of ice hanging down I share a report of the odd world of ice that bubbles up. Friends Marge and Dick have a small pond in their back yard. Marge just sent photos and their thoughts on the how-and-why of bubbly ice towers that have formed on the pond this winter.

First her photos, then her words, then a couple more photos.

March 5. from Marge Boehner

During the winter, a "bubbler" sits on the bottom of our pond and helps to aerate it when it freezes over. Since we began using the bubbler, fish in the pond have not died over the winter. This year, for the first time, formations have been forming above the bubbler. They seem to consist of foamy water that bubbles up and continually freezes during the night, building odd shapes that then melt away during the day. The first two pictures are fairly typical, but we often see multiple and taller formations. The third picture shows the tallest formation that we have seen. We don't know the cause, but suspect that the foamy nature of the water may be due to decaying matter in the pond. Though it is cleaned out each fall, this year we think more leaves than usual fell into the pond after it had been cleaned.

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

March 6. from Marge Boehner

Here are pictures of today's creation; I just saw it "spit" a bit of foam into the water about a foot away.

Thoughts and Theories?

We Enter an Acey-deucey

2011-02-02T15:36:00.006-06:00

.
.
.
.
.
Let us stop arguing about global warming,
.

look around us,
.

look to science,
.

watch the weather,
.
and agree that we enter an

Age of Climate Instability and Deep Seas

You may choose to call it an Acey-deucey.

Zoli

2010-11-13T14:02:00.010-06:00

My father's cousin, Zoli Marton, has died in Budapest. The circumstances of our meeting were impactful and memorable. In honor of Zoli and the gift of those circumstances, I post this long-long narrative poem.
.

Instructions To A Stranger

November 1

At the train station, leaving the city,
buy two long-stem roses.

Get to the graveyard about noon.
Look first for the grave of your grandfather's family.
You found it last year,
when you arrived,
found two graves,
and left -speaking to nobody.
Search for 15 minutes
(watched by curious eyes).
Search, but fail to find.
Then walk to the grave that you know you can find,
the grave of your grandmother's family.
In a crack next to the headstone
leave one rose.
Write a message on your business card;
attach it to the rose.
" Messe élünk
közel érzünk."
(We live afar;
we feel close.)
From the headstone write down
names, dates of birth, dates of death.
Write them in the notebook
where you carefully copied someone else's research:
your connections
to the residents of both graves,
your possible connections
to unknown, unnamed people
who might reside in town today.
(So many had gone to America.)
Your notebook has what you have copied
but cannot remember.
Hold the notebook and second rose in your left hand
as you walk again to find the other grave.
By now you are much noticed in the graveyard.
It is alive with people tending to graves
-praying over them.
You cannot help but stand out.
Your walking in lost circles
adds to whatever else makes you different.
First one man, then another, tries to help you.
They do not know the grave.
Two women ask if they can help.
After some discussion
(patient with your poor speech)
they cannot.
Walk on.
Walk around.
Now, stop.
Look down
to your left hand.
It holds the rose
-only the rose.
Not only have you lost the grave,
but you have lost your notebook,
and, with it,
all the facts
that connect you to this graveyard
-to this town.
Feel the weight of your heart.
Yet, pause.
Left with no ulterior motive,
look up;
accept, for a moment,
the aesthetic and emotional beauty
of this scene that surrounds you.
You must walk again past those who tried to help.
Feel as incompetent as you are conspicuous.
Confess your loss to them
in words they may or may not understand.
Stop, alone,
to gather your thought.
Feel a tug at your sleeve.
Look down
to your left.
A woman stands there.
She says,
" You are looking for the Péterné grave?
I can help you.
Follow me."
She walks to where the grave should have been.
How did you miss it?
At the Péterné grave
the woman excuses herself.
She goes to work on one of her family graves.
Make polite introductions to three other women
working at the grave just to the north.
Kneel down
to find the ground freshly tilled,
new flowers planted,
votive candles interspersed.
Stick the rose into the earth
-again, with your card
-again with your message.
The women at the grave to the north speak to you.
They say they know your family.
Go to number 24
on the road to the north.
Talk to Anna.
At least, you think that is what they said.
Why not go?
You have no other plans.

Stop briefly at the town church.
(Your grandparents must have been baptized here.)
As you cross the Ikva River bridge
and turn to walk the road to the north,
notice the house numbers.
They go up one side and down the other
-as if to say,
" Town will grow no further in this direction!"
Ring the bell at number 24.
The house has no front door.
Through a slot in the iron gate
see a solid woman step onto the side porch
-fifteen feet beyond.
Hear her solid voice ask what you want.
Try to say,
" I am from America,
people in the graveyard say we may be relatives."
She opens the gate and invites you in.
Sit at her kitchen table to talk.
Without your notebook
you cannot figure out how you might be family,
but you both feel that you must be.
She knows things that you had forgotten
about your grandfather and great uncles in America.
Anna is probably of your father's generation.
Talk, as she bakes cookies and other sweet things.
You understand little of what she says.
Strain to connect bits and pieces
to keep up the pretense of conversation.
She says you should talk with Zoli,
but you are not sure why.
He comes from Budapest tomorrow.
When László appears,
(Anna's husband)
snap a picture.
After ninety minutes,
leave pleased and exhausted.
Leave with their smiles and well-wishes
-a stranger leaving a welcoming home.

From Anna's home
walk back across the Ikva,
past the church,
back to the graveyard.
Try again;
fail again to find your notebook.
Revisit your family graves.
Then,
pause on a walled embankment.
Pause for twenty minutes of reverent silence.
Appreciate the scene before you.
Lighted candles,
they subordinate in beauty to the flowers
as dusk begins;
they dominate the beauty
as night descends.
People become shadows,
kneeling,
standing,
walking among graves.
How did you earn the privilege to be here?
What fortune
that life leads you to this place
for these moments!
Your loss of a notebook,
your loss of facts
seems fair trade
for silent participation in this evening.

You are sleepy,
sure that you walked ten miles today
by the time you get back to your room
in the pensión of the neighboring village.
You neglected to buy food.
pensión,
go to bed early-
satisfied that you have spent well
the best day you may ever spend
in the town of your grandparents.

November 2

Morning is cool and overcast
-a good day for a walk.

Walk north.
Trucks come by in the opposite direction
taking sugar beets to the plant near the pensión.
A farmer drives his team into a field,
two beautiful horses,
a load of manure.
After three miles of farm land
see new houses,
the old village,
and finally the Eszterházy palace.
Follow the palace's curved wall to the top of the curve.
See the main gate
and, beyond,
the oval entry yard and grand stairway.
A group of people head into a door near the stairway.
This has to be a tour group,
so hurry forward to join it.
Notice, as you pay for your ticket;
this is a group of very senior citizens.
Some have difficulty walking.
One young woman is along to manage the group.
Tie cloth slippers over your shoes
and shuffle off with your group when a guide appears.
The guide cracks little jokes that make them laugh,
but you do not understand.
A sheet of English-language notes
helps you understand what you see:
old furniture,
ceramic stoves,
paintings,
lifestyle.
Franz Joseph Haydn did much of his work here.
Think that you hear the guide tell a story
about the Nazis who took away a fortune of gold
by removing gilding from walls and ornament.
After the tour,
near the gate,
the young woman stands outside the restrooms
weighted down by purses given to her safekeeping.
Trade smiles with her.
Almost stop to attempt a chat,
but go on.

Turn west out of the palace
-away from whence you came.
Then turn south
on the road to your grandparent's town.
When you get to the railroad line,
do not continue past Anna's house;
walk west to the depot
-one stop away from your pensión.
You arrived here last year
and want to walk again from the depot into town.
Last year that walk took you into the heart of a festival
-into the crowd at the mass behind the chapel.
Today at the chapel,
see just one woman raking leaves.
A new pensión-restaurant has opened across the street.
Go in to ask about the prices.
It is almost noon.
Tired and hungry,
be tempted to stay and eat,
but go on.

Want to eat at the little cafe up the road.
You ate a warm sandwich there last year.
Walk in.
It is open, but empty
-no customer, no attendant.
Want to sit down and wait,
but go on.

Walk past the chapel and new pensión
toward the center of town.
Cross the Ikva
toward the church and the turn to the graveyard.
But, notice a house along the way.
See the coffee and pastry shop in its basement.
Remember that you have walked by before
-this year and last.
Amico is the name on the sign.
Go slowly on by
-along the railing to the stairway down.
Feel a little sorry for yourself
after this morning's long walk.
Say to yourself,
" I should eat some good food,
but, after this much exercise,
coffee and sweets won't hurt me."
The window to the Amico has curtains.
You cannot see
to tell if it is open, or full, or empty,
or what the people inside are like.
You seldom go down into such places;
there is no graceful way to exit
when you find yourself where you do not want to be.
Nevertheless,
stop.
Walk some steps back.
Go down the stairs.
Open the door.
There are only two tables,
each with a young man drinking coffee.
The place looks pleasant.
Pleasant smiles come from women behind the counter
-mother and daughter.
Out loud, remark,
" There is no free table!"
But go on in.
You are committed
-also tired and hungry.
Order a dobos torta (layered cake) and a coffee.
The two men have moved now to one table.
Thank them kindly and sit at the other.
The older woman leaves into the back room.
The younger woman quickly serves the torta and coffee.
Start to enjoy your treat
when a man appears behind the counter.
He asks,
" Do you have something to ask me?"
Quite puzzled, say,
" No, I am just here to enjoy a torta and coffee."
He then says,
" Well, I have something to ask you.
Is this yours?"
He holds up your lost notebook.
Sit dumbfounded.
He asks if someone sent you to them
and is surprised when you manage to say, no.
At a loss for words and ideas, just say,
" I don't believe this!
I am so fortunate."
He says,
" It is a small world."
" I don't believe this!
I am so fortunate."
" It is a small world."
" I don't believe this!
I am so fortunate."
They found the notebook
while you were still in the graveyard.
They debated;
should they approach you as likely owner?
Now they joke;
the women had been right.
His eighty-year-old widowed mother-in-law appears.
She sits down,
tries to help,
but does not remember your family.
Meanwhile, the man,
his name is Pál,
has called an acquaintance, Gyula.
" He expects you in twenty minutes.
You must go see him."
Finish your cake and coffee.

Still dumbfounded,
set off to Gyula's house.
Notice immediately
that you took a picture of this house
last year when you walked by.
Over another cup of coffee
meet two lively people,
now friends,
but, as best you can tell,
unrelated.
He has your last name.
Like you, his father is Péter.
Perhaps his great grandfather is Jozsef or Andras,
son of your ancestors, Péter and Agnes,
but, perhaps more likely, no.
What a pleasant hour!

Things are going so well,
feel strangely at home as you leave Gyula's.
Why not go look for old maps at the town hall?
It sits across from the church.
You won't find any maps,
but find there, by chance,
someone to open an office
to sell you the recently published town history.
He is patient with your stumbling language
and with your vague requests,
though he was obviously in a hurry
when he stopped to help you in the hallway.
Say goodbye,
but feel indebted.
Turn back to ask his name.
He takes your new book and points.
Of course,
today you should expect it;
he is the author.

Completely satisfied with your day,
head toward the store across the Ikva.
This evening you want some food and drink.
Passing the library,
feeling ever more at home,
stop for a haltingly pleasant chat with the librarian.
She happens to be reading her copy of the town history,
impressed that you just spoke with the author.
At the ABC store, buy:
Villanyi merlot,
oranges,
kolbász sausage,
and crackers.
Back across the Ikva,
past the Amico, the church, and graveyard,
your good-day's walk,
(far longer than yesterday's)
ends at the pensión.

The woman at the desk hands you a message.
Anna has called.
The people from Budapest have arrived.
Feel tired, ready to call it a day.
But it would be discourteous to not call back.
Besides,
the woman at the desk shoves the phone at you.
As best you can (coached by the desk clerk),
explain your good day to Anna.
Tell her that you are too tired.
You cannot walk back to her house.
" But, thanks very much for everything."
She offers Zoli's phone number.
Hand the phone and your journal to the desk clerk
when she sees you struggle to understand.
When you get the phone back,
begin a final goodbye
-looking at the new name in your journal.
Little bells tingle in your head;
this name is quite different from your own,
yet seems familiar.
Feel neither
the energy to change your mind,
nor the will to open your notebook.
" Goodbye."

In your room,
take off your shoes,
open the wine and crackers,
cut the sausage,
sit back to enjoy the end of a good day.
Open your new book.
See what you can understand of the town history
-too lazy to open your dictionary.
Feel pleased with the little you understand
and the more you can guess.
Drink half the bottle of merlot.
Eat most of the salty sausage
and most of the salty crackers.
Take a nap.
It is 4:45.

A little before 6:00,
still sleepy,
open your eyes.
Wake to a strong thirst
and to a feeling that you must peek at your notebook.
Drink three glasses of water
and call Anna.
Say that after a short nap you feel more energetic. " Could I come over now?"
" Certainly."

After a fast walk through the darkness
along now-familiar roads,
by 6:35 be back at Anna's gate.
She takes you to her kitchen
where they are eating cold-cuts
and the goodies that Anna baked yesterday.
Anna introduces you to Zoli.
As you shake hands, you must ask,
" Were you born October 24, 1923?"
" Yes," he replies.
Respond as quickly as you smile:
" I am very pleased to meet you.
You are my father's cousin."

They pore over your notebook,
understanding little more than names and dates.
Zoli remembers a visit by your aunt
twenty years ago.
Anna brings her diagram of her own family.
She knows she and Zoli must be related
but is not sure how.
Find the connection
-between her diagram and your notebook.
All the while,
drink glass after glass of water.
Ask one question that you forgot to ask yesterday.
Who takes such good care of the family grave?
It is Anna.
Zoli and his wife make this trip every year
around All Saints Day,
spend a few days with Anna,
and help decorate the grave.
They praise Anna.
She did not know how she is related,
yet she tends your family grave.
Wish also to give praise,
but say only,
" Thank you!"
More than ever,
your minimal skill in their language
seems a dull pebble
in a river of emotion and experience.
Anna sends you off with a package of her cookies.
Zoli drives you to the pensión.
After a firm hand-to-hand, hand-to-shoulder handshake
your day is over.

November 3

As you wait in a cool morning's sun for the 7:10 train,

write instructions to a stranger,

a stranger who must come on the first of November,

who must, after a two-day walk, go on.

2010-04-01T12:25:00.009-05:00

Tony Jackson
of the
Financial Times
wants a
New Model
of Economics.
.Published: March 29 2010.
.worth the trouble if FT makes you register (for free) to see it.

and
(you guessed it)

I call (long since) for a new model as well.

A Look Back :: page 1 of the first Plum Local

2010-03-30T12:35:00.005-05:00

.... click on image to enlarge it ....

Waking, Ignorant Speculation on Health Care's final 2010 Vote

2010-03-23T14:05:00.080-05:00

Pre-Script (March 26):

Since I wrote of my speculation (below), revisions to the new health-care-reform law await the president's signature to become part of this new law-of-the-land. The question I raise in my speculation can now be amplified by two more questions:

Did the Republicans blunder in the Senate when they voted "No" on revisions which remove from the health-care-reform law "favors" that citizens across the political spectrum found objectionable?

If they did blunder, then they blundered again when, by parliamentary maneuver, they forced their House colleagues to vote "No" a second time on these revisions. If they were once correct in their assumption that opposing health-care legislation gave them political advantage:

Did they blow to the four winds whatever advantage they might have claimed by trying to defeat improvements rather than attempt to take credit for causing them?

=======================================

My March 22-23 Speculation

After watching late into Sunday night the House of Representatives pass the Senate's health-care-reform bill (to send to the President) and then pass the House's own proposed changes (to be sent back to the Senate), I awoke yesterday morning to a speculation. Perhaps there are pundits out there already voicing the same thoughts. I suppose I could posit my speculation as an argument, but I doubt my own I.Q. with regard to the mentality of the body politic as well as for the tactics of politics. Instead I share the speculation in form of question.

Ignoring for the span of this post and my morning wake-up the possibility that Senate debate on reconciliation of the health-care bill will bog down with proposed amendments and points of order,
I speculate on a straight vote for the package as it comes from the House. I describe the speculation most easily by stating it as a question.

Do not Senate Republicans have more reason to vote for reconciliation than Democrats?

As I write, the once-Senate bill has become law-of-the-land. The Senate will not vote on whether there will be health-care reform, only on its revision. If reconciliation fails to pass in the Senate, health-care reform remains in place in the form intended by a 60-percent majority of the Senate and ratified by a majority of the House. This is in perfect conformance with the constitution and the traditions of the Senate.

Thus, a "No" vote will appear to reaffirm the new law which includes the "Cornhusker this," the "Gatorade that," the "Bismark this," the "Vermont that," and perhaps other "bad" things that Republicans have condemned and House Democrats hope to remove.

Each senator who votes "No" will abandon credibility in coming months and elections when attempting to criticize these items which are among the easiest for voters to understand.

To vote "Yes" is to seize this last opportunity to remove such items from the law before it is implemented.

If this quandary takes hold among up-for-election Republican and Democratic Senators I wonder if House Republicans will ask themselves whether, on Sunday night, they should have followed their resounding "No!" to the Senate bill with a thunderingly reluctant "Yes" on the changes proposed for reconciliation.

Might Senate Democrats be savoring the the thought of a solid "No" on reconciliation from the Republicans as House Democrats quietly savor the reality of Sunday's doubly solid "No-No"?

Post-Script (March 26):

... now a triply solid "No, No, No."

Dialogue in a bar.

2010-01-25T15:28:00.009-06:00

Agnes and Petrus

A One-Beer Story

for readers’ theater

Cast of Readers

NARRATOR :: Bartender

AHGNESH :: A woman whose true name is Sally and whose false name should be written "Agnes" but is pronounced AHGnesh. She has no real accent, but her too-mannerly speech does sound a bit foreign in this environment.

PETRUS :: A guy who is really Steve

:: :: :: :: :: ::

NARRATOR

OK, one more beer coming up. New to the neighborhood? That is my name on the door. This is indeed my bar. Yes, I do most of the bartending, and the sweeping up, the plumbing and most everything else. No, I don’t know that odd couple over in the corner, but I do get my share of entertainment from the folks who come in. Since you just ordered another beer, and I haven’t yet inflicted one of my stories on you, let me tell you a one-beer story. A love story, no less.

I believe it was 2005, about this time of year. It was a slow night. In fact, the place was empty. I was thinking of closing early. Then, in come a couple of young women—late 20s early 30s. They sat down here at the bar. You’d think one of them just got a raise ’cause she was in a good mood and doing all the talking. She takes the stool right in front of me. Her friend sits two stools away—the one you’re on. There’s nothing so odd about that. I guess some folks want to save me the work of having to wait tables when the bar is near empty. But they want to turn and talk privately as if I’m not here. So they leave a vacant stool between them to talk across.

AHGNESH

(barely audible small talk)--

NARRATOR/bartender

--Good evening, ladies.

AHGNESH

Hello, two’s a good number today. Please, draft us a couple of pints from whatever you got there coming from below the blue handle second from the left. Yes, that one.

NARRATOR

I serve them their beers, and in come two guys about the same age as the ladies. They’ve been in before, and I know I’ve got only one beer they like. One of the guys looks like he had a bad day. I don’t say a thing, but I’ve got their pints waiting on the bar for them. I swear I wasn’t trying to play cupid or nothing, but when they sit down at their beers, there they are: the dejected guy facing his buddy, and he is almost back to back with this talkative, attractive young lady.

PETRUS

(Loud laugh)

NARRATOR

Well it didn’t take but two sips of beer for the guys to be in just as good a mood as the ladies. But, as far as I could see, they were oblivious to the fact that a couple of possible eligibles were sitting at the bar with them. That is until the guy appears a little embarrassed by his loud laugh and leans toward his buddy to say something. Then the fun starts. As he leans forward—you try it. What happens? Your right elbow goes backward, right? Well, he gave that lady behind him a pretty good poke in the back. But, he’s the one who grimaces. I think he was embarrassed, because he smiles and then finishes whatever point he was making with his friend. The young lady, however, turns around. You know the way you might do if you think somebody you know snuck up and tapped you on the back. Of course, all she sees is the guy’s back, so she gives me a puzzled look and turns back to her conversation with her friend. Of course, I knew what was going to happen next. It finally dawned on the guy with the elbow that the person behind him might be more interesting than his friend. So, now he turns and taps her on the back --right where he had hit her. He starts to apologize before she’s half turned around.

PETRUS

Did I just hit you with my elbow?

AHGNESH

Yes. But that’s OK, the bruise will be gone in six months?

PETRUS

Perhaps we should call an ambulance.

AHGNESH

Or the police.

PETRUS

Or I can report it to my insurance agent.

AHGNESH

Good idea, less hassle.

PETRUS

Who should I say I injured.

AHGNESH

Whom should you say you injured? Me.

PETRUS

I’ll have to give him a name—I have to tell him whom suffered.

AHGNESH

When you tell him who suffered, tell him it was Ahgnesh.

PETRUS

Ah! My grandmother’s name. But you are much sweeter than my grandmother.

AHGNESH

Truly? Your grandmother? She said her name as I say my name? Hungarian?

PETRUS

Not exactly. She never said her name. At least I don’t think I ever heard her say it. I didn’t understand a thing she said—in English or Hungarian. But, my dad said her name was like yours, “AGnesh,” I mean “AHGnesh.” And, she was, in fact, Hungarian. It’s also a fact that you are much sweeter than she was.

AHGNESH

That is not a pretty thing to say about your sweet father’s sweet mother—even if you say it to be nice to me.

PETRUS

No, I mean it. I mean I mean that you do seem sweet. I am sure my mom would agree. She hated my grandmother. Excuse me, my “sweet mother” would agree. You always say that in Hungarian; don’t you? That’s how my dad—my sweet father— always says it—in English. He drives my mom crazy. He says, “My sweet mother … something … ,” and mom jumps in: “Sweet mother, hell! At best she’s a sourpuss and a pain in the you-know-what!” [laughs] She has nothing good to say about her mother-in-law. … Wait. Let’s start over. My name is Steve. I hate the name “Agnes,” but I love the name “AHGnesh.” Aunt AHGnesh is my favorite Aunt.

AHGNESH

Hello, Steve. … Istvan [pronounced EESHtvahn]. I hate the name Istvan. He was my first boyfriend.

PETRUS

Actually, only people who know me call me Steve. With women from Hungary I usually go by “Petrus.” It’s the name I almost took for confirmation.

AHGNESH

“Petrus,” that is a very nice name, Steve—especially if you are an ancient Roman. I am very pleased to meet you, Petrus. My name is AHGnesh. The name “Agnes,” neither do I like it. [she laughs and tries to improve her phrasing] I do not like the name either … neither? I do not like it even if it is the name nice people want to call me and the sweet mother of your sweet father. And Petrus, thank you for the nice compliment.

PETRUS

Compliment?

AHGNESH

You do not remember? You said I was sweet.

PETRUS

Yes, Yuh, I did, and you are sweet. Nobody has ever been so nice to me while she says, “Go to hell!”

AHGNESH

Petrus, I could not tell you to go to hell—at least not until I know you better.

PETRUS

See what I mean! That’s so sweet of you. How long?

AHGNESH

How long?

PETRUS

How long before you know me well enough to tell me to go to hell?

AHGNESH

Not long, Steve. Perhaps five minutes.

PETRUS

AHGnesh! Give me a chance here. I’ve hardly said anything.

AHGNESH

You are correct, Petrus. You have talked now… How many minutes have we talked? You seem interested in my breasts, but show to me no interest in my Harvard degree, my swimming medals, my escape from the Nazis, nor my work as an attorney.

PETRUS

OK, OK. I think I understand. Wait here while I go around the block.

NARRATOR

(muffled cough) By this time I was laughing so hard to myself I had to cough to cover it up. So, this Steve-Petrus guy revolves clockwise slowly on his stool, gives this “what do I do now?” look to his friend who just smiles. The friend is enjoying it as much as I am. What they don’t see is that sweet Ahgnesh’s friend has this huge grin and elbows Ahgnesh almost right off her stool. But, by the time Petrus completes his 180 degree turn on his stool, she’s ready for him. So, they start this pantomime in which Petrus starts counting on his fingers, while she smiles and shakes her head, “no.” When he gets to number five, however, his eyes light up with confidence.

PETRUS

Yes, I understand. You are pefectly correct. For the second time in our brief life together, I apologize. ... Is that a good start?

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

Now, please tell me. How did you escape the Nazis?

AHGNESH

It was quite simple, Petrus. I hid in my sweet mother’s womb until the Nazi’s had been gone for thirty years.

NARRATOR

Now our poor Petrus is rolling his eyes in utter humiliation, that is until:

AGHNESH

By the way, Steve. I like you.

NARRATOR

Now, should Petrus be pleased, humiliated, or just confused? Well, he takes two more spins on his stool while he tries to figure it out. When he’s done he manages to get a sympathetic smile from sweet Ahgnesh.

PETRUS

Let’s just see what we know here for sure, Ahgnesh. What we know for certain here, Ahgnesh, is that: you did not go to Harvard, I am stupid, you might be sweet, and you like me. Correct?

AHGNESH

Yes, correct ... Except I am sweet.

PETRUS

Now you admit it.

AHGNESH

Steve, I just do not want you to take back such a pretty compliment—even if it does not reflect well on your grandmother. I am afraid you are in a fix. Fix? You are in a difficult situation, Petrus. Either you decide in your heart that I am absolutely, positively sweet, or I must cancel our wedding.

PETRUS

[pause] Yes, Yes! I’ll drink to that, sweet AHGnesh.

NARRATOR

Did I forget to tell you that while all this was going on, the two silent friends made eye contact, toasted each other, downed their beers and finished by downing the pints of Ahgnesh and Petrus? Well, anyway, when our couple turns to toast their wedding their glasses are empty. Of course, I join their friends in feigning ignorance when they look to us for an explanation. Ahgnesh, now, hands me her empty glass, takes her drink coaster and writes something on it.

PETRUS

Well, would you drink to that: to my proclamation of your sweetness, and to our wedding, if we had something to drink?

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

You have lived in this country a long time, haven’t you.

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

Do you have a last name?

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

That’s very good. Do you have an email address?

AHGNESH

Yes.

NARRATOR

Now, you can guess what Ahgnesh wrote on the coaster; she hands it to Petrus.

PETRUS

That’s very very good! Now, would you like to know more about me and my career as a sponge diver?

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

Good. I’ll send you my resume. Don’t you think we should exchange resumes before we get married?

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

That’s it, then. A resume exchange. Then, next Tuesday we do coffee

at Java Java?

5pm?

to work out the details.

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

You are sweet. Did I already say that?

AHGNESH

Yes.

PETRUS

Can we seal this contract with a kiss?

NARRATOR

Ahgnesh sees that I am eager to hear her answer, so she looks to me for an opinion. I play dumb, of course, and shrug my shoulders. Then she turns to her friend who smiles and shakes her head with a definite, “no.”

PETRUS

On the cheek!

AHGNESH

Yes ... that would be sweet.

NARRATOR

Well, by this time the friends of our love birds are antsy to leave. They’ve already paid for the drinks. So, as Petrus gives his dear Ahgnesh a peck on the cheek he is being pulled to the door by his buddy. He salutes Ahgnesh with the coaster on the way out the door.

PETRUS

Goodbye, sweet Ahgnesh.

NARRATOR

Now here’s the good part. Ahgnesh’s friend goes to the door, stands with her hands on her hips, shaking her head and smiling as Ahgnesh gropes in her pocket for her portable phone.

AHGNESH

Yes. Yes. [her voice takes on a more contemporary quality as she continues]
Yah! Yeh! Definitely! We’ll leave. But first, I gotta call my mom. I gotta apologize to my sweet, sweet mom. I gotta admit I finally believe her. When I wanted to go to Paris for a year during college? You know. Well, she refused. I told her she was thinking about her pocketbook instead of me. She forced me to take a cheaper alternative. “Sally,” she said. She must have said it twenty-five times. “Sally, you’ll get much more out of a semester in Budapest than a year in Paris.”

NARRATOR

A semester in Budapest. Better than Paris. Ahgnesh, Petrus, Petrus, Ahgnesh, Steve, Sally, an elbow in the back. I swear on my sweet grandmother’s grave, it’s a true story. And it gets better. But that’s for another night. Have a safe walk home. I hope to see you again.

END

No Photo :: But so far no tilt.

2010-01-11T19:58:00.002-06:00

I missed my chance to get a photo, but so far this year my front-stoop icicles have shown no tendency to tilt inward. The disappeared today in the 50-degree weather before I got around to taking the camera outside. I'm sure I'll have more opportunities. To review the past conversation on this click "icicles".
Bob Komives

Optimistic Notes on Fort Collins

2009-10-13T14:56:00.037-05:00

by Bob Komives,

originally posted in May of 2008

with responseby Dan Gould, June 2008

___CLICK___

Oppoöbfu...

2009-08-02T14:53:00.022-05:00

Word of the Year: 1885, 2009

<<>>

oppoöbfusitionscation

<<>>

\AH\poh\AHB\fuh\ZI\shun\SKAY\shun\, noun:

<<>>

1. Political tactic in which beneficial public policy is opposed with high-sounding misinformation and illogic.

<<>>

2. Any bluff or bluster that presents nonsense disguised as reasoned argument.

<<>>

origin: Coined in 1885 by anonymous reporter for the New York Herald to describe the campaign of those who opposed erection of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor by claiming scientific certainty that government approval of women who raise an arm in public would both attract malarial mosquitoes and destroy the then-flourishing modesty-publishing industry. The term regained popularity in 2009 to describe the campaign in opposition to establishment of universal health care in the United States.

3 Useful and Free Photo-file-show Utilities

2009-04-07T19:29:00.007-05:00

I wish I knew of all three of these fine-and-free programs before I started to process several hundred snapshots from two cameras after our recent vacation in Spain. In the end, however, each has proven useful and will be in my kit bag for the foreseeable future. . . . .

Bulk Rename Utility:

http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Download.php

It is a versatile renaming utility that let's you rename and number files in large numbers, in many ways, and over several steps--handy for photos. Read the info file that comes with it so as not to be intimidated by all the options. It will also insert itself in Windows so that when you right click on a folder the utility comes up as an option. (This is actually a bug in the current version. It should work as well at the file level as it did in earlier versions and presumably will in future versions.)

. . . .

NameEXIF:

http://www.digicamsoft.com/softnamexif.html

Since Bulk Rename Utility as of now loads only limited EXIF data from the files that came from your camera, this little gem is a great first step. It will convert the date/hour/minute data in those files into file names--before you go to work on them with Bulk Rename Utility.

. . . .

ArtSee:

http://www.xworks.ca/artsee/

This is just another photo and slide show viewer, but it does not have to be installed in order to run. You can put it right in a folder with photos to tailor the slide show for those photos. More importantly, if you wish to share the photos with others on a CD, DVD, thumb drive, ..., you can conveniently include a standard means to view them.

9pm, March 5

2009-03-05T14:09:00.008-06:00

We have snow here. It is cold and windy. But no better place for this weather can there be. Albarracin Spain: a medieval wonder. Out the window, along the narrow streets, in the 12th century. - Unlike Teruel & Cuenca, our last two stops, there is no modern town surrounding. We've seen much beauty this trip (Alhambra, Mesquita, ..., ...,) but 3 jaw-drop wonders: Sagrada Familia in Barcelona by Gaudi, Ciudad de Artes y Sciencias in Valencia by Calatrava, & this, Albarracin. - Yesterday we had lunch next to hot-wood stove, behind a split heavy-wood door, along what seemed an abandoned street, in another medieval village (population 36) higher in the mountains. . We were on a necessary detour. We planned to get here by that as return route from Cuenca today, but turned back as snow which was melting below deepend & continued to fall as we approached the passes. . As we sip from the wine bottle we didn't empty last night we wonder whether we will brave the cold winds out of the dark ages to return to the tavern where we had lunch for a snack and drink before snuggling in.

Paradox of Thrift :: Where's Our Story?

2009-01-28T13:04:00.017-06:00

Among the topics at our Tuesday Night Symposium (“symposium” means “drinking together”) of January 27 th was the “paradox of thrift.” How is it that in this time of down-spiraling economy we are bad citizens of the world and country if we be prudently thrifty with our personal resources? I’ll link you to Wikipedia and Paul Krugman to explain why-indeed-it-is and why-we-are. Yes, we are victims of this spiral, victims of those whose avarice, incompetence, and malpractice started the downward spin. Yet, when we respond rationally, protect ourselves, shorten our reach, practice thrift, we accelerate the spin. Our refusal to be as profligate as we were a few months and a few years ago is, collectively, a bad thing. This is true despite our apparent wisdom and virtue. That truth is hard for most of us to believe, no matter our political bent.

Perhaps our fundamental problem is that these negative economic spirals may depend on historic finance; they were of minor importance or non-existent in pre-history. That would explain why we don’t seem to have a countervailing instinct nor myth nor ethic to prepare us to be spenders when self-preservation and traditional virtue would prescribe thrift. We are rich in stories of the ills of profligacy and the virtue of thrift. Surely we must have many stories that urge us to fight the paradox of thrift, but I can only think of one—told as a parable by Jesus of Nazareth. He sided with the father who browbeats the son who puts his money safely under a rock rather than spend it (OK, invest) as did his brother. (In truth, I remember another story. It's the scene from the movie, Animal House, when Delta house has sunk beyond apparent potential for redemption; the beleaguered brothers look at each other and say in unison, "road trip!" Because I believe that only a mere handful of us find this story a call to virtuous action, it remains off the list.)

Are there human and other species examples which tell us how a defense against the paradox of thrift might look or feel? I think so. I’ll cite one example and hope for contributions from others.

I believe scientists call it “reciprocal altruism”. We might often describe it as the “hero instinct.” People knowingly-but-instinctively risk their own well-being in order to help others. It’s not hard to find examples. There’s the guy who jumped under a moving subway train to save a stranger . We call them heroes. We hold them in high esteem. While we generally disdain suicide, we are reverent toward heroic suicide. Also, we love stories of people who irrationally spend their riches or their meager resources to help others.

Beyond my stretch to include the parable uttered two thousand years ago, I don't recall stories that might cause us to revere people who spend profligately on themselves in order to help the larger economy in crisis. Apparently we need such stories. Outlandish? Well, why is it more outlandish to spend most of my savings to go private-goody-shopping in pursuit of common welfare than it is to spend the last breath of my life flinging myself over a grenade to save the lives of a few buddies? Clearly the goody-shopping sounds, to my ear, more outlandish. The reason, however, may be more temporal than eternal. The need for the grenade morality goes back perhaps a million years before there were grenades, whereas the need for my shopping spree has been rare, off-again more than on-again for only a few thousand years—too little time and consistency to embed an outland-ish ethic into instincts and inland-ish stories that drive our culture.

Thanks, NPR, for bringing us (Jan 30, 2009) the story of how Finland is trying to write a new morality tale urging spending over saving: Government officials signed on, and now the evil piggy bank is on posters. Finns see pro-spending commercials on TV.

=============

However, can this pitch top grandma's traditional lecture on the piggy bank--save, save, save? It can be found in the breeze everywhere, but NPR refers us especially to feedthepig.org.

=============

Egyesült Hangok : USA Komives in Hungary, 1998

2009-01-25T12:48:00.029-06:00

This picture is taken from the nametags we used in 1998 when the five children of Pete and Leona Komives went with several of their loved ones to Hungary to meet our Lörincz and Kőmìves relatives in Fertőszentmiklós. We also visited Sopron, Fertőd, Pannonhalma, and Győr as a group. .......... Look below the picture. There you can click to start a video which has images from the visit.

... for a music video of the background song, Egyesült Hangok, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LUJu-P5IE You will hear the same beautiful music and also see the ensemble of popular Hungarian artists who gathered to sing it.

Hammer

2008-10-16T11:15:00.005-05:00

Are you familiar with hammers of this type? What I know is that they were used by inspectors on the Northern Pacific Railway at Northtown Yards in Minneapolis into the 1960s. It was made by the blacksmith at Northtown. This hammer was my father's. I should somewhere have a smaller version that my father had the blacksmith make for me when I was a little kid. The genius of the hammer: the inspector could use the claw to remove the tack from a card on the side of a boxcar, place a new card, then, (using the hammer upside down with the tack secure in the claw) replace the tack without ever touching it. I saw this done the summer of 1961 when I worked on the section crew at Northtown. Was this tool a standard around the railroad world or restricted to one or a few places and railroads?

Inward Tilting Icicles :: Part V :: French Curl

2008-09-24T13:44:00.006-05:00

The following photo came through as the last photo in a French PowerPoint presentation of prize photography: Sur_le_vif.pps or Sur_le_vif.ppt. (If anybody finds it on a web site let me know) Not only is it beautiful, but it challenges our wisdom of last winter. Is this merely the result of gradual slipping? Is it differential freeze and melt? Postscript: Peter the spelunker notes: Stalactites can do this also in caves. Since they grow from the inside out, a blockage of the water channel or wind directions change can lead to those formations.

Optimist Notes on Fort Collins

2008-08-21T13:39:00.010-05:00

Economic Strengths Lead Fiscal Strengths and Quality Lifestyles Trump Lifestyle Centers

by Bob Komives,

originally posted in May of 2008

(with response by Dan Gould, June 2008)

Economic Strengths Lead Fiscal Strengths Quality Lifestyles Trump Lifestyle Centers

History and pre-history show that no community can rest on its laurels. I say this to myself as I write a few thoughts behind my optimism for Fort Collins. I hear and read that the city has been out-flanked by commercial and residential development elsewhere in the region, that the city is in fiscal distress. My general responses to these comments are that spillover into other communities was inevitable, and Fort Collins is better set for the 21st Century than its neighbors. Fort Collins is best placed for quality of life and economy in the region for the decades ahead. I do not say continued success is guaranteed, but I do say that, despite doubts which come to my ears and eyes from both the pro-commerce and pro-quality factions of the community, I am optimistic -- very optimistic. My purpose in writing these notes is to get sporadic thoughts onto paper where they will less disrupt my gardening. My notes are provincial, local, so I supply a map in case a reader from outside the province needs a glimpse of provincial geography. Readers will find that some small items get too many words, some large items get too little thought, some important issues and places get nothing. I supply no data nor summary that could turn these notes into cogent argument. These limitations are compatible with my purpose; I hope they are tolerable to yours.

I. Fort Collins Has a Solid Tax Base.

Fort Collins has a core and several centers which support the breadth of the community: solid university and good schools, thriving downtown, developed high tech space and human capacity, growing county functions, and also commercial space that -- if struggling -- has infrastructure and locations to serve city-wide demand for quality of life.

I see Fort Collins and our neighbor Loveland as mutually supportive rivals. Loveland has a fringe phenomenon, Centerra at the "corner" of Interstate 25 and Highway 34-a large, tax-bountiful commercial and mixed-use development. Loveland deserves to capture more of the region's sales that have been siphoning to Fort Collins. Its challenge now is to convert the money entering its coffers toward investment (private and public) in the rest of the city, especially its historic core. In that sense it is behind Fort Collins. As Loveland catches up and the cities argue as to which is better, life will be better in both cities. A healthy Loveland is good for Fort Collins.

When we skim the fad and jargon off sustainable development and quality of life there remains a significant shift, just beginning, in how people wish to live and work.

The center of gravity along the spectrum of lifestyle choices shifts toward what we are generally calling quality of life -- a good term. Along the northern Front Range Fort Collins is the community best set up for this shift.

Some argue that the city, with its emphasis on building the cost of infrastructure and urban design into growth, has made development more costly than elsewhere in the region. If that is true, while results have not been perfect by anybody's standards, Fort Collins has less catching up to do than its neighbors and may claim to be on target or ahead with regard to many 21st century community needs. That is a great place to be today; it will be a great place to be when the struggling national economy takes off again and simultaneously the quality-of-life trend emerges as an every-day, parallel, dynamic phenomenon.

The nation of late has found several ways to recognize Fort Collins as a great place to live and work. Who can say if we deserve less or more accolade? Certainly it is not all fad and myth.

By some measures it must be true that people find here a quality of life that is better than what is readily available in many of the nation's cities.

If, as a consequence, families and businesses pay a quality-of-life premium here (a point to be argued) this is strength, not weakness. The quality reputation is somewhat self-reinforcing. People and businesses who believe they are in a special place are likely to expect more of themselves in the time, thoughtfulness, effort and money they must contribute to their neighbors and repay to their community. Such quality-of-life premium is also the place margin in local sales, and place margin is taxable.

Shops deliver supportive goods and services. In a closed economy their sales track well a community's wealth fluctuations. Thus, a general sales tax is a fairly good way to generate public income; it proportions taxes across the wealth spectrum of the citizens. In a web-global economy -- open to the region and the world with travel, delivery, and communication -- general sales work poorly as primary medium for taxation.

If Fort Collins has fiscal problems because of our dependence on sales tax during a time when shops are blooming to the southeast of the city this situation may prove beneficial. This mild kick-in-the-butt can again induce Fort Collins to show leadership among cities. Fort Collins can lead in finding the local fiscal answer to the web-global marketplace.

What a locality has most of is its locus. Fort Collins has neither less nor more locus, neither more nor less place than its regional neighbors, but many believe it has better place.

A version of the prisoners' dilemma points out that my investment in a deteriorating house, neighborhood, or city becomes irrational when there is doubt that others will invest. Their neglect causes general property devaluation that more than offsets the value of my improvements. Alternately, when others are investing and values are holding I don't have to be brilliant to make money with my investment. A better place tends to move upward of its own inertia, a bad place tends to spiral downward absent outside intervention.

In a web-global world, localities will best pay the cost of excellent maintenance and improvements if they tax the specific advantages of place rather than the generalities of sales.

The better a community the more advantage-of-place (place margin) there is to tax. I don't pretend to know how it will sort out, but increased dependence on property tax would seem to be an obvious revision in local fiscal planning. The old reasons for this dependence have returned in a new form. Some sales, however, are also place specific. These sales do not readily transfer out into the web-global market nor to another community: an excellent meal in popular local setting, live entertainment, arts, exercise, sport, well-located lodging, status activity, convenience activity, aesthetic activity, nostalgia activity. The art in taxing these is to keep the tax level to a point where provider and consumer continue to feel the product is not readily transferable and that quality is enhanced by resultant public investment. This is the place margin in local sales; Fort Collins will find it has an excellent place-margin tax base.

. .

II. Our Region Has Two Main Streets and One Alley.

This is indeed a time for regional cooperation among the northern Front Range towns and counties. Recently we failed in an attempt to form a regional transportation authority. Arguments have flown back and forth as to what the authority would do and why it failed. As to who caused the failure, Fort Collins, of course -- if you want only to bring the most popular shoe out of closet and make it fit. But, what is our region and how does it tie together?

What I haven't heard or seen mentioned in my admittedly cursory monitoring of this process is what I see as the fundamental flaw that will make us glad for the failure. The proposed region makes no sense. How can Fort Collins pretend to be fully invested in regional transportation planning unless neighbors Ault and Wellington, as well as little Pierce and Nunn are at the table and into the coffers? If I may anthropomorphize present and future opportunities and problems, they do not give a damn for whatever excuses explain why Ault, Wellington, Pierce and Nunn are not members. Until these communities are invited in or hauled in, Fort Collins is a handicapped participant and Regional Transportation Authority is a misnomer. There may be similar issues in defining other fringes of the region; I don't know.

A side note: I believe the failed regional transportation authority was also flawed because it tried to combine highway and transit in one organization. I see that as bad civics. Authorities can be efficient organizations to handle specific functions, however, the debate over how to split resources between transit and highway should be kept out in the open rather than behind the remote doors of an authority. We would be better served by a Transit Authority and a Highway Authority that are mandated in their charters to cooperate on joint projects. This arrangement will be more understandable and more accessible to the voting public.

I-25 is such a massive piece of infrastructure in the region and it attracts so much development attention that one may think of it as the spine of the region. I did until recently. However, the northern Front Range region makes more sense, in history and future, when we see I-25 is the alley backing up two main streets. The main streets are: Union-Pacific-Highway-85 on the east, and Colorado-Southern (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Highway-287 serving the west. The east-west connections to and across the alley between UP85 and CS287 are important, but they do not define the region. While they sound too much like isotopes, I am going to nickname our main streets UP85 and CS287.

...

......

...

It is Greeley and main street UP85 that make this point most clearly to me. The once-vital communities along that UP85 corridor are, by Colorado standards, depressed. These communities are neighbors in geography and history. Greeley is the northern hub. Its University of Northern Colorado is growing in importance and is becoming a nice parallel to Colorado State University of Fort Collins. When main street UP85 catches the wealth engine of the northern Front Range, Greeley will benefit far more than the distant Centerra node along the alley at the corners of I-25 and Highway 34. Greeley will out compete Centerra for the regional benefits from a rising UP85. It is too well placed not to. A healthy Greeley is good for Fort Collins.

Rebirth of main street UP85 may happen slowly of its own inertia, but current depression along the corridor is a matter of statewide concern. The communities along UP85 will demand, deserve and receive helpful attention from the state. Federal interest will rise also as the battle between parties to represent the 4th congressional district gets more even with each election. Our delegation in Washington will increase pressure on federal agencies to help Greeley and the northern reach of main street UP85.

To dip again into current jargon, it is through Greeley along main street UP85 that a sustainable-quality-of-life revival can happen. Centerra has had to start with bare earth at the interchange between Interstate 25 and Highway 34. Centerra is making a valiant attempt, but its planners and promoters cannot create 21st century quality of life at a loading zone along a mid-20th century alley.

The early 20th century main streets will do so quite nicely--Fort Collins in the lead. Centerra serves main street CS287 better than UP85. Yet, as main street CS287 blossoms from Fort Collins, through Loveland, Campion, Berthoud and Longmont, Centerra will be outflanked on the west as well. Traditional and developing commercial areas (some off main street) in Fort Collins are proximate to housing. That is the key relationship in quality-of-life development and evolution. Why drive by these shopping opportunities to shop along the I-25 alley? For most people on most occasions it will not make sense to do so. It makes even less sense for people who prefer transit. For those who walk and bicycle on errands it becomes ridiculous. I believe Centerra and its I-25-Highway-34 alley node are well-enough designed to survive inevitable downturns. The I-25 alley should evolve and remain vital to the region. However, our main streets will be more vital and more important.

III. Add It Up; Fort Collins Has More and Better Space for 21st Century Development.

Over the past couple of decades residential and commercial development jumped out of Fort Collins as our best bare-ground developable space filled up. Alas, we have sprawled and used up much of our logical room for expansive development. We have also put in place some inefficient tracts with too few amenities and tracts of too-large houses. Some of these will age well, others will suffer, decline, and eventually require suburban renewal. However, again, Fort Collins will likely face fewer such problems than its neighbors and perhaps be more able to focus attention on finding solutions. I am concerned about this legacy of sprawl, however in these notes I am more interested in the mixtures of land use that will define quality-of-life development in the decades ahead.

As counter point to sprawl we have managed to reinforce and to put in place some intimate neighborhoods that include higher densities with better access to shopping, school and work than were typical in the late 20th century. These neighborhoods should evolve well in the decades ahead. When it comes to our potential to mix housing, schools, commerce, recreation and jobs into neighborhoods that efficiently enhance city life style and city budget Fort Collins is rich in opportunity. The result can be called growth; we are not going to eliminate the growth debate. Yet, I believe Fort Collins is primed for the kinds of change that can soften the debate between pro-commerce and pro-quality-of-life factions.

Our quality priming can be ascribed to many actions, but there are two that stand out to me -- two decisions this community has made that will be beyond debate for their prescience and which will return dividends for generations to come. One is the rerouting of the Dry Creek flood way on the north of the City. The other is the Mason Street transit, recreational, and commercial corridor.

The Dry Creek project recently came on line. Only hints of the Mason Street Corridor are visible today. Together these projects make several square miles of prime pre-developed land and infrastructure ripe for redevelopment. The size and quality of these prime areas will be difficult for other towns in the region to match-either with bare ground or redevelopment potential. Redevelopment is, of course, development. It can be less expensive than bare ground development, and, most importantly, it can be easier to fashion into the type of sustainable quality-of-life that will prosper in coming decades.

Downtown Fort Collins is a good model. I believe downtown will remain our gem because the areas primed for redevelopment converge on downtown, enhancing it as focus of the city.

While nobody I have talked to seems to remember Dry Creek being wet, let alone having a flood, it drains a huge basin from the north and has tremendous flash flood potential. The city has diverted this potential into the Cache la Poudre River west of the center of town. In this part of the country floods in one drainage often, if not usually, leave neighboring drainages with little more water than normal. This capriciousness in our weather and the fact that the Cache la Poudre River has a far greater capacity than Dry Creek mean that this diversion is not a matter of flooding-Poudre-to-keep-Paul-dry. The result of the diversion is to free North College, the old airport, the heart of East Mulberry Street, and areas between from the practical problems and disincentives for investment that burden a flood zone.

The city and active business owners have been preparing under-utilized North College for redevelopment. This is the head of our CS287 main street. Now, out of the flood plain, it is set to mature and prosper. The "North Bank" will be an exciting place to live, shop, and work-a great complement to Old Town on the South Bank. I suspect the change will be more evolution than revolution, improving chances that the North Bank retain some its socio-economic and use diversity. If so, it will be a special place indeed.

As the once-floodplain moves eastward it frees the historic residential neighborhood of Alta Vista from the threat of floods. Then it passes through the once-airport and the existing light industrial area. Here is a large piece of land ripe for intensive mixed-use development. The once-floodplain then crosses East Mulberry Street before joining the river near Timberline road. Current underdevelopment along East Mulberry is obvious as it runs three miles from the city's historic core to Interstate 25; it begs for change.

Annexation by the city, removal of flood plain designation, and pending redevelopment of the once-airport make the East Mulberry corridor attractive for investment and rich in urban design opportunity. I tend to forget that the Cache la Poudre River is part of the corridor for a long stretch. The recreational, and open-space investments made by the city along this eastern reach of the river will become integral to mixed-use quality-of-life redevelopment of East Mulberry. The river will be rediscovered again and again, and we will marvel at the city's foresight.

Somewhat magically, as the river becomes prominent the Mulberry corridor will change in image and function from an old, isolated commercial strip to become an obvious entry and annex to downtown.

The Mason Street Corridor Project may prove to be the poster child for northern Front Range main-street renaissance. The corridor was born in the creative thinking of my friend Dan Gould. While the concept was temporarily shot down by opponents who portrayed it as a good-for-nothing transit project, the community has come to see Dan's original vision of a multi-use economic rebirth along the historic north-south spine of Fort Collins. The results will include housing, shopping, business and recreation. All will be served by an efficient transit system, a bicycle corridor, and pedestrian amenities. Existing 20th century developments along its way will benefit, as will recent private investment that did not wait for corridor improvements. Incentives to renew and diversify land uses on a 21st century model will increase rapidly when public improvements to the corridor are in place. Impacts will broaden to College Avenue and into the neighborhood of the Foothills Mall (not just the mall itself). The success of this corridor from downtown to Harmony Avenue will push the corridor's extension into Loveland--a benefit to both cities. This north-south success will lead to transit enhancement and increased diversity and amenity along perpendicular (east-west) corridors.

Of course, we could blow the opportunities opened by the Dry Creek and Mason Corridor improvements. We could do mundane, isolated, unsustainable, politically divisive developments that detract from the old city core and from the river. But why expect such? Rather, let's expect and insist that public investment and private investment will be brilliant and sensitive as the areas merit?

========================================= ========================================= ========================================= =========================================

OPTIMIZING OPTIMISM - THE NEXT STEPS -

Response: Dan Gould

RE: Optimistic Notes on Fort Collins.

. .

The "2 Main Streets and an Alley"

This concept provides a strong basis for laying out a vision for a North Front Range Colorado Regional Plan. The notion of Main Street has been kidnapped, held hostage and defiled by the I-25 development marketers. Main Street needs to be liberated and restored to its original status as the organizing force for land use and transportation development. This natural process need to continue and be updated for 21st century needs. The Main streets (and Mainstreet Corridors) can accommodate mass transit, bicyclists, pedestrians and automobiles and still remain in compact, efficient development forms at a human scale. Compact development patterns can promote both high quality of life characteristics and efficient use of energy and natural resources.

Interstate Highway System development has been an organizing force with many negative land-use outcomes. Such patterns lack human-scale qualities and are hostile to many basic human activities like strolling, conversation and congregating in community places. Bicycling and walking are precluded. Sprawling, wasteful land-use patterns result. Future energy and natural resource conservation needs will not be met with the Interstate Highway style development pattern.

How to Brand Main Street - A Hard Job.

The terms CS287 and UP85 capture the essence of the 2 organizing spines of the North Front Range Region. These terms, encompassing the names of each highway-railroad couplet, are accurate - but they lack soul. I'm not sure how to better capture the spirit and significance of our regional Main Streets, but here's a list of them by their present names. Each of these Main Streets are in close proximity to the corresponding CS or UP rail line and are either part of, or close to, the corresponding state highway.

For CS287 we have: Cleveland Avenue (Wellington), College Avenue (Fort Collins), Cleveland Avenue (Loveland), Mountain Avenue (Berthoud), Main Street (Longmont).

For UP85 we have: First Street (Pierce), First Avenue (Ault), Oak Avenue (Eaton), Elm Street (Lucerne), Eighth Avenue (Greeley), State Street (Evans), First Street (LaSalle), Ash and Railroad St. (Gilcrest), Grand Avenue (Platteville), North Denver Avenue (Fort Lupton), Main Street (Brighton).

These names conjure up a vision of a good place - a place where people can stroll or chat or shop.

I'm not sure how to capture the city/town nature of these corridors in a name.

The Interstate Service Alley - An Essential 21st Century Facility for Freight Transportation

Rail will be the preferred interstate and regional freight transportation mode of the future. Intermodal capability and fuel efficiency will be the key advantages. Trains can move a ton of freight 423 miles on a single gallon of fuel (CSX webpage). Rail can eventually be adapted to electric power supplied from non-fossil fuel sources. Short-haul trucks could run on biofuels and will be used to move freight from to and from rail facilities.

Redeveloping I-25 into a modern freight alley corridor will achieve many advantages. One of the most important is the relocation of thru-freight train operations from the CS287 and UP85 urban zones to the Alley Zone. This will allow the development of passenger commuter rail in the urban zones and foster appropriate transit-oriented development. Major efficiencies of freight and passenger rail operations and maintenance can be gained from this switch.

I-25 interchange and roadway capacity needs for trucking can be optimized. These will likely to involve serving intermodal short hauls between the Main Street urban zones and the Service Alley.

Aviation Intermodal freight opportunities exist with present Interstate Highway connections to Denver International Airport and Fort Collins Loveland Municipal Airport.

Land-use of the I-25 Alleyway should emphasize distribution logistics infrastructure, including associated activities like vehicle dealers and maintenance facilities. The Ports to Plains Corridor, under the auspices of departments of transportation of 4 states (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado), is intended to provide a transportation corridor between Mexico, the USA and Canada (see summary in the following Appendix). Extension of the Ports to Plains Corridor north from Denver along the North Front Range I-25 Alley would be advantageous.

. .

A Regional Planning Process - Beyond RTA Gridlock -

I agree that transit and highway planning and funding should be considered separately. It would make more sense to settle on a 21st Century Vision of the Region in terms of land-use and transportation together. Then invent the tools needed to meet the various needs.

It's notable that there seems to be a move to start a Regional Planning Process. See accompanying article in the appendix from the Reporter Herald describing a visioning process call "Embrace Colorado".

The regional planning process should focus on the end-point of economic viability/sustainability. Even though land-use and transportation policy decisions underpin the planning outcomes, more citizen interest groups are likely to support the process if it is framed in economic viability/sustainability terms. An important part of the public process will be agreement on likely future scenarios for energy sources, carbon dioxide regulation, and agricultural trade patterns that will affect our economic viability/sustainability future.

. .

Appendix

compiled by Dan Gould.

1. http://www.portstoplainscorridor.com/

The Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) designated the Ports to Plains Corridor as one of 43 "High Priority Corridors" in the United States. The corridor begins at the Texas/Mexico border in Laredo and stretches through the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado to Denver. As with other "High Priority Corridors," the Ports to Plains Corridor is important because of its direct connection with the Mexico border and potential to attract and serve existing and future travel demands associated with NAFTA/international trade.

. .

2. Regional planning - "Embrace Colorado"http://www.reporterherald.com/news_story.asp?id=16888 Publish Date: 5/20/2008

Nonprofit Embrace Colorado seeks public input to mold future by Cara O'Brien, The Reporter-Herald

It's time for the region's residents to take the future into their own hands, according to one Northern Colorado organization. And the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization is kicking off a new nonprofit to mold the future of the area.

"It's getting everybody to work together,"

said John Daggett, planning manager for the organization.

"It's to maintain and protect, but also to create, a really, really special place."

The organization is launching Embrace Colorado, a nonprofit that, over the next 18 to 24 months, will work with the residents of Northern Colorado to craft a vision and then figure out how to make the vision real. The North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization is holding local meetings around the area to showcase results from the recent regional summit, as well as discuss Embrace Colorado.

Daggett said the idea for Embrace Colorado came from the failed Regional Transportation Authority efforts, as well as the regional summit discussions from Gov. Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar.

"We have lots of things in common, and yet it's often our differences that keep us from succeeding,"

Daggett said.

"Embrace Colorado is designed to help facilitate cooperation and collaboration between citizens in Northern Colorado on a variety of issues."

Over the next 18 to 24 months the organization, which does not yet have any funding, will hold around 250 public meetings.

The public will be surveyed on its values, and people will be asked to map out the future of the region as they would like to see it.

At the end of the process, the public will be asked to vote on a short list of scenarios for the future, choosing one to focus on.

That scenario could include everything from the desire to make Northern Colorado a leader in the clean energy industry, to the desire for more trails or better roads.

"What it is about is learning to cooperate with one another and having a common vision about what we're headed towards and what we're trying to accomplish,"

Daggett said.

He said Embrace Colorado will also compile data on trends in the region, projecting out to 2050.

Then the organization will analyze what the data mean. For example, what will it mean for the housing supply in the region if current trends in homebuilding continue?

And what will the aging workforce mean for the future of employment in the region?

"You can go to the future and you can understand what it will be like based on some decisions that are being made today,"

Daggett said. And despite the daunting nature of this task, Daggett said he believes it can be done. He said it has been done. Similar organizations in Sacramento, Calif., Orlando, Fla., and Austin, Texas, have had success.

"The real payoff is being able to have a future that most of us want. And figuring out ways to get there,"

Daggett said.

"That may mean funding things or it may mean thinking about stuff ... or it may mean influencing the development community or our elected officials to help us realize that vision."

And while whatever decisions are made will need governmental buy-in, Daggett wants Embrace Colorado to be about as many people as possible, and not just elected officials.

"The goal at the end is that you can get a lot of things done,"

he said,

"because you've involved a lot of people."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Zodiac Games

2008-04-04T12:27:00.012-05:00

Zodiac Games

. . .

Decades-Harbored Fantasy

Revived this Olympics Year

Jotted Into Notebook

and cross-posted with Komivesian Graphics

Inward Tilting Icicles :: Part IV :: Mass and Science

2008-01-22T16:29:00.003-06:00

(a) See Gary Thomas' comment to Part III, noting serious academic research on bent icicles.

(b) Here is a contribution from Alan Gould, Dan Gould's brother. The shifting snow (and ice) mass theory. Some on-the-street verbal comments from friends have tilted in the same direction.

I have not been neglecting the icicle challenge. When I first saw the photos I thought "Hah, that's nothing. Take a gander at the attached photo that shows icicles that have twisted completely upside-down!" It was sent to me as a science puzzle---how did that happen? The photo is normal orientation with "down" towards the ground. Turns out the explanation that best fits is that the icicles formed on branches and as they formed the increased weight made the branch bend more and more until the icicle formed the weird J shape with part of it looking like it's totally upside-down. I wonder if the slanted icicles are not some similar effect, where they started forming on the edge of the piled up snow and when the weight of the icicle got to a certain point, perhaps combined with changing snow condition/temperature, caused the snow mass to shift and tilt the icicle as seen in the photo. Well there you have it.

My definitive analysis.
What do you think?
----Alan Gould

Inward Tilting Icicles :: Part III :: Trestle Shed Icicle

2007-12-31T15:11:00.002-06:00

from: Dan Gould, Dec. 30.07, Fort Collins: Hi - Take a look at the photos. They were taken from the south side of the shed under the RR trestle on the Poudre Trail near the Highway 287 bridge. .

#1a indicates the location of #2 & 3.

. . . .

#2 is a close up taken from the east side.

. . .

#3 is a close up taken from the west side.

Ok - It must have to do with the amount of heating of the shed roof which is affected by the distance from the trestle. The amount of heating of the shed roof affects the flow of drops which determines if the ice grows on the cold side of the icicle. But which way the trestle affects shed heating and which way water drip drop rate affects icicle deviation - I need help on................... Thank you for the entertainment, Dan .. .. .. Note: Dan's photos do show that this is a highly selective phenomenon.

Inward Tilting Icicles :: Part II

2007-12-17T15:31:00.003-06:00

Photo taken Monday Morning, December 17 about 9a.m.

Left photo taken Monday Morning, December 17 about 9a.m.; right photo about 12:30.

New facts, be they relevant or irrelevant.

Ambient went above freezing yesterday for several hours and is there again today.

The western tilting icicles came off before first inspection on the 16^th. (The orginal photo is from the 15^th.)

Note the short nearly vertical and round icicle at the front edge in today’s pictures. It formed yesterday.

Not visible in the picture: 2 tiny (about 3 inches “as we speak”) icicles are forming at the back of the pack,” and they are taking the characteristic inward slant of their big brothers.

The inward slanters have a definite fin shape—elongated east-to-west, or in the direction of slant. I would say the fin is more exaggerated today than yesterday, but I can’t prove it.

The distant photo for comparison with the 15th was taken about 9a.m. The left image in the closeup was also taken at that time. The right image was taken about 12:30. You can see in the distant pic the increase in inward slant from Friday to Sunday. There was also been a notable increase between 9 and 12:30 today, but I’m not sure my photos are convincing. You’ll have to believe me that the paddle of the wind chime is actually resting on the icicle in the later picture. Now, two hours later, the icicle has further invaded the chimes’ space.

Now for the conjectures and hypotheses that have come in by email and word. I’ll report in italic type what I have heard and add "quotes" to paste-ins from emails.

Honesty:

“I don't know.” (several responses)

Measured Skepticism:

“Optical illusion.”

“Your camera needs a regrinding of the lens.”

“Have you considered that the house is not plumb and the tilt is just an optical illusion? Would require that the door and porch be a trapezoid .. buy why not? ;-)”

Engineering:

The roof—the flat metal flashing at the edge is distorting under the edge. “The little roof actually pivots occasionally at the peak. The pivoting is caused by tremors, fickle breezes not affecting gutter icicles…” [Terribly boring, but quite reasonable. While this cannot be easily disproved, visual inspection yesterday revealed no obvious flex. Some flex is noted today but seems trivial even when allowing for the multiplier effect of the longer icicle relative to the overhang. The vertical icicle at the front seems to support this flex-explanation, but the the two little ones now forming on a slant behind seem to blow this explanation out of the 'ice.']

Tongue in Science and tongue in cheek:

Water coming over an edge tends, with surface tension to want to go inward after passing the edge and before dripping—so the icicle builds on its back side. “Melted water seeks the "inside" of the icicle when refreezing.” “surface tension aberration” [I like these simple explanations, but why don’t they apply to all icicles?]

“…this angle is caused by a combination of 1) surface tension between the flowing water molecules (they are charged) and the roof surface, and 2) the upward flow of air under the porch roof. Because of the loss of heat from your front door, the air is rising under this roof and this flow of air pulls the ice formation inward.”

“Melt water from the snow on the portico flows thru the snow, hits the roof, drains down the slope of the roof, reaches the icicle and flows down the inward side more often, freezing and building up that side preferentially.”

“The inside of the icicles are shaded from solar energy, so drops freeze there but not on the unshaded outside”

“Hmmmm dark door, warmer air, convection inward and upward as icicle freezes ?”

“… Wind swirling around the porch. Since the house faces south, a strong north wind would come down the roof, split on the gable over the porch and swirl on either side.”

“… Iron in the water. The presence of strong magnetic currents in the house, such as speakers or computer equipment could be pulling iron molecules inward.”

“ Each icicle is exerting gravitational pull on the other, thereby bringing them together.”

Head in ether:

“… or paranormal forces. I like paranormal forces.”

Postscript:

About 6pm the postman arrived at the front door to deliver mail. He did that and also knocked down the tilted icicle. Here are the final photos: taken about 3pm this afternoon. Visibly more slanted. I hope you can see in the closeup the two little-and-slanted icicles forming at the rear. I must say, with the extent of the melting today, I expected it to soon choose its own moment of death.

Photos taken about 3pm December 17, 2007. . . .......... .......... ........... .................. ....... ......... .......... ........... ............. ......... ...........

Notice it was self-correcting toward vertical at the bottom.

Inward Tilting Icicles :: Part I; How?

2007-12-15T13:55:00.002-06:00

You can see in the picture below the inward tilt of the icicles off the little roof over my front door. Nearby icicles hanging off the main roof are perfectly vertical. What's the physics of this phenomenon. I promise, if I knew I would say so. I have some theories, but I don't trust them. Can you explain it? Facts: the door faces south, and ambient temperatures have remained below freezing for a few days, so the melting is solar.

Tend to your Sewer & Water, lest ...

2006-05-18T12:53:00.002-05:00

...

It pains me to read . . .

2006-02-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

It pains me to read today in the NEW YORK TIMES that the trailer project in which I was frustratingly engaged during September in Louisiana is still a frustrating mess for many. A few excerpts, and a link: February 9, 2006 Storm Victims Face Big Delay to Get Trailers By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and ERIC LIPTON SLIDELL, La., Feb. 6 — Nearly six months after two hurricanes ripped apart communities across the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands of residents remain without trailers promised by the federal government for use as temporary shelter while they rebuild. Of the 135,000 requests for trailers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has received from families, slightly more than half have been filled. The delays have left families holed up with relatives or stranded out of state, stalled local economies and infuriated state and local officials, who criticize how the program has been managed. Further, officials and residents complain about problems with quality, like poor plumbing and electrical shorts, with the trailers they have received. "The trailer problem is an individual human tragedy," said Reinhard J. Dearing, the chief administrative officer of Slidell, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. . . . On Monday, frustrated by the delays, four members of the St. Bernard Parish Council performed what they called a symbolic act, taking three trailers from a local stockpile of about 275 and delivering them to residents. . . . "If this happened with any other business, you would find another purveyor," said Councilman Mark Madary, who represents a parish where 6,000 families are waiting for trailers and about 2,000 have received them. The problems in administering the $4 billion trailer program mirror those of other major recovery efforts undertaken since the hurricanes crippled the region, and appear to be a result of failures at all levels of government. . . . http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/national/nationalspecial/09trailers.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print

Let Us Agree!

2005-12-02T00:52:00.002-06:00

Let us agree. Torture is un-Lincoln; torture is un-Jesus; torture is un-Muhammad; un-Buddha, not-Ghandhi, not-Eisenhower, nor-Einstein, nor-Lee; im-moral, un-ethical, not-you, nor-me; not for 25 December, nor 11 September, nor 22 November. Let us not sit nor stand nor listen before torture-silent-torture-tolerant pulpits. Not you, not ever, not me.

Cot-tage Health

2005-10-21T20:11:00.000-05:00

Canvas Cot: Can You Be Good For My Health? A funny thing happened to me on the way back from Katrina. No, I discovered it after I got back, and it apparently happened while I was away. I have made it to yoga class twice, and I did not suffer and groan and fall on my face as I usually do after long absences. In truth, I believe I am subtly more supple than I was in August. When I consider the fact that I was less active, got less exercise than usual, the phenomenon is especially intriguing. Having carefully studied the variables, I have to conclude that thirty days of sleeping on uncomfortable “army” cots is good for my health. To those who shared this experience, have you noticed anything in yourself to reinforce or refute my conclusion? If you see Ms. Pam (whose email address I do not know, and who can make comparisons with three years of sleeping on a hard platform in the Philippines) please relay the question. To those who have not had the experience: go down to the surplus or camping store, get a cot, do your own thirty-day experiment, and give me a detailed report.

30 days with Crisis Corps

2005-10-18T21:54:00.000-05:00

Katrina and I Tuesday, October, 11 2005

=====================

I returned Saturday, October 9th from Louisiana. I am glad I went; glad to be home. I made no significant contribution, nor did I have much direct contact with victims of the hurricane, but, through daily contact with other folks in the field I experienced success and frustrations, saw both the competence and incompetence of FEMA, and decided to add a hyphen in “bureau-cracy.” Technically, this was a “Crisis Corps” assignment –for people who have done their two years of Peace Corps. But since, nobody has ever heard of the Crisis Corps, we were “Peace Corps.” I picked up a cotton hat at K-mart before leaving, turned it inside out, wrote “Peace Corps” on the band and wore it most of my waking hours. That was partly to identify myself with Peace Corps, often to keep sun out of my eyes, but mostly to control my hair which I didn’t have a chance to cut before going and which went crazy in the heat and humidity.

Phase One, Training.

I arrived in Orlando about 5pm on the 9th. That made me a part of the group of 14 former Peace Corps volunteers called “9-10,” because we registered with FEMA on the 10th. Had I arrived a few hours earlier I would have been a 9-9, and gone with them to Mississippi. After finger printing and ID-tagging on the 10th we did two days of training on the 11th and 12th. We were part of a 100 person training class -- the others mostly from Homeland Security agencies such as Customs and Immigration. It had been a 3-day course, but they cut it down with pressure from above and below. We were trained to handle FEMA Individual Assistance in the field --tying into the FEMA computer system. One funny moment for me was when they handed us three pages of acronyms we had to know to speak the language. Our instructors couldn’t understand why some of us laughed. Other than a hot-humid walk into the neighborhood and around a lake behind the motel I didn’t see much of Orlando. This was the beginning of 30 days in which my love of being a pedestrian was frustrated by places that don’t seem to know such a species exists. At our hotel, there was a pool and a free happy hour, so we had plenty of evening time to get to know each other, the groups ahead of us and those coming behind us.

Phase Two, Wait, Hurry up and wait.

We got our assignment to Baton Rouge about 5pm on the 12th, but travel arrangements were impossible for most of us until the 14th. So many people were trying to leave Orlando, and so many more were trying to get near the Katrina impact area. At the Baton Rouge airport, to our surprise, there were rental cars. As we left in a van rented by one Peace Corps volunteer we saw the auto-haul trucks that the rental agencies were using to bring in hundreds of cars. Baton Rouge has about doubled in population from Evacuees and helpers so traffic jams were the norm most hours, most days. When we reported to the JFO (FEMA headquarters, the Joint Field Office, which is in a large, defunct shopping center near downtown Baton Rouge), we were ushered to two long rows of tables where we joined others who had come to know the tables well waiting for job assignments. We were greeted by Debbie who showed obvious frustration with being assigned the task to find work for the hoards arriving. For those of us trained in Individual Assistance the problem was that we should work in DRCs (disaster recovery centers), but they require buildings, leases, utilities, phones. There weren’t many open. Nevertheless, we began the rhythm of 12-hour days seven days a week. We went across the river to the tent city in Port Allen where I would live most of the time. The location was about 2 city blocks large next to a lock on a shipping channel. The sleeping tents and mess tents are huge, floored in plywood --think circus with no acrobats. They are air-conditioned with octopus-like portable units using 18-inch diameter tubes similar to the flexible plastic vents one can get for a dryer. The food is great, and the opportunity to commune with a broad range of folks and watch their comings and goings was good. We had to leave our tent city for three days during hurricane Rita and felt like we were coming home when we returned.

Phase Three, Slow down and wait.

On our second day of waiting for assignment we volunteered for a new effort –get the thousands of sheltered people out of shelters into the thousands of travel trailers that were headed for Louisiana. This was the 15th. Until a few days before I came home, this project had few trailers to fill –none for the first week. Our initial group of ten or so grew to about 20 as several firefighters were added. Needless to say, frustrations grew. The next day about 10 of us went to a shelter at Nichols State University in Thibodaux, about 35 miles west of New Orleans. We practiced filling out the simple form needed to register people for possible moves to trailers. There were about 1000 people sheltered on campus in 2 gymnasiums and Catholic center, but we were in the infirmary that had about 100 patients in what is supposed to be the nursing school. Thousands more people came through Nichols State during evacuation. Most were fed and put on busses to Houston or as far as Michigan. The staff and leadership at the shelter was impressive --a combination of local public health people and visiting disaster medical teams. In the psych. area I interviewed a Cuban man who knew little other than that he had arrived on a boat two years earlier. Another was just getting his memory back after rescuing himself, his dog, and helping in the rescue of others. Most poignant was my talk with a 54 year old woman who looked 70. She was worried that her mother might be looking for her. The mother had had an abdominal operation in Charity hospital a day or two before Katrina. I knew as I spoke to her that more than thirty bodies had been found at this hospital. Because of their infirmities, most of the people we met needed a move to a medical facility, not a trailer. But, I am glad for my brief contact with reality.

Phase Four: One day in the ruins.

The next day, in another make-work activity, three of us went to look at sites on our list of trailer sites we might be serving. The sites we saw were destined for institutional or industrial employees and would not be part of our program, but the journey took us through some of the worst of the damaged areas. In East New Orleans the water had not only risen but had come with great velocity, walls burst out, cars strewn. This was the first day that residents were being allowed back into some neighborhoods, but we saw nobody but ourselves. Later in the day we got to the French Quarter which felt like a ghost town, except for the military. In between we made it north across Lake Pontchartrain to the town of Slidell. We were in search of a good map, and had heard the Wal-Mart was open in the neighboring town. Slidell, ravaged by wind and surging water was worse than anything I could have imagined: shanties and million-dollar homes, splintered and strewn across the landscape. I saw boats on house tops and in trees. Debris was plowed off the roads like snow –everything looking like a badly designed set from a disaster movie. When we got to the Wal-Mart, business was so brisk that that there was an “in” door and “out” door. We made another stop at a pharmacy and saw no signs of price gouging.We did see hundreds of signs put up by storm chasing contractors wanting to be hired to fix people’s homes, and saw cars of individuals and groups who had shown up with tools and good-will to lend a free hand to anybody who needed it. They had signs like: “Minnesota here to Help.” I took no pictures, not wanting to be a tourist, and decided I didn’t need to go back unless my job took me there. It didn’t.

Phase Five: Jumping ship to planning 101

People in our group (some Peace Corps volunteers, a great contingent of immigration people from Vermont, D.C., and elsewhere) began to look for alternative activities until the trailer project materialized. They would show up each day and find nothing to do, go out to and volunteer for the shelter at the convention center, or an animal shelter, or man the telephones for the group trying to connect folks with missing family members or their identified remains. I tended to be off doing some small task or following a false-trailer alarm when these ventures materialized so I missed them. Consequently, I was one of the first of many to jump ship. On the 21st I offered my planning services to folks “on the 4th floor” who were trying to get something better than trailer slums out of the FEMA effort. I started work with them the next day --regretting the loss of opportunity to give direct service but seeking to make a contribution. From that day until my departure on October 8th, I helped Jorge, a planner consultant from Florida, work on schemes that would accommodate temporary trailers as transitional housing for evacuees but which (by installing utilities in a useful pattern) could evolve to permanent neighborhoods in the host communities. It was an exercise in neo-traditional planning. I was among good and intelligent people. It was my first-ever experience in a giant office space equipped with cubicles. The 4th floor houses groups ranging from our little project to the Disaster Mortuary team. There are several contractors present who are part of the housing effort. However, nobody seemed to have a clear idea of how the housing program worked or was supposed to work. This is the reason why there must be a hyphen in “bureau-cracy.” It began to be my fun-and-frustration game to ask people “who does this?” or “how does this happen?” Usually the answer was, “I don’t know.” The problem with our project is that FEMA by law is not supposed to install permanent improvements. The federal programs that do fund such tend to be slow. This tiny little exercise in planning 101 had everybody excited, but I left not knowing how we were actually going to pull it off. I developed a friendship with Jorge and could possibly go back as part of the long-term planning team but will observe from a distance for a few months before giving that serious consideration.

Phase Six: After thirty days.

I was eager to come home but found it somewhat hard to say goodbye to those who left before me and those who remained. I met and worked with fine people whom I am unlikely to see again. Most of the Peace Corp volunteers wound up in challenging assignments. Many did what we were trained to do and dealt with the hopes and frustrations of evacuees daily. Some worked under excellent FEMA leadership, others no. A few extended their service. I shared in their emotions, satisfactions, and frustrations -- as well as in the stories of others who came in and out of my little tent city.Now our attention goes to disasters in Pakistan and Central America. Marney and I wonder if Crisis Corps might take us back to Guatemala where we began in 1967.

Thanks for listening.