Herban Sprawl

22 November 2009

Several years ago, my friend the accountant, Godfadda, told me I didn’t have to hang onto financial stuff for as long as I did. I made a mental note to get into the storage area and do a purge, and I sort of did it. By that time, the whole identity theft scare had come into sharp focus, and I got wary of dumping canceled checks and such into the trash. So it all got dumped into a bag, then a box, and…well, you get the idea.

Big Kitty and I bought a shredder when they came out for home use and I started on the first bag. I wore out the shredder. Big Kitty grumbled. We bought another one that did cross cuts. It was great. I burned it up, too. And none of this was for that stuff that was still waiting for disposal, mind you. This was for the daily poundage of credit card, AARP, insurance and other “Important Do Not Shred With the Junk Mail” stuff.

Then last year I bought a fire pit on sale at Target. It was an end of season bargain and it was nifty. I had made up my mind to burn the stuff because then burning it up wouldn’t bear the previous bad connotation! But first I have to admit I tried burning the stuff in the Weber Smokey Joe. Not a good idea. I experimented with the fire pit and I knew I was on to something great. I just never got around to building a bonfire.

But recent cleaning frenzy events led me to one of those looks from The House Goddess. “You gonna get rid of this? Ain’t this the stuff you threatenin’ to burn? You gonna burn it or what?” Today was not a windy day, so I went out with a firelog and got the business set up. I also grabbed a fire shovel (hand made by my dad, the Village Smithy), the shopping bag of detritus and started in. The fire log was going along nicely and my timing was perfect. I spent a considerable amount of time out there, stirring from the bottom to the top, folding in more paper and keeping the whole thing smoking along. I’m sure the neighbors were wondering if there was a new pope in the offing.

As I stuffed paper in, I saw my history wafting up into the atmosphere. There were canceled checks from stores that no longer exist, but stores that clothed us, fed us and provided everything from wine glasses to pictures for the walls. There were receipts for things that had long gone on to the Goodwill or the trash bin. And there were receipts for some really wonderful presents that we gave the kids, the sib, her spouse, and Dad. A lot of memories went up in smoke, and that’s as it should be.

The process of clearing, ridding, cleansing… it opens up the spaces and it moves us on. Tossing the things that no longer apply to us is our way of growing and leaving behind what doesn’t work or doesn’t fit who we are. In some regards, this could be a frightening prospect, but I’m not feeling that right now. I am thinking ahead to when the kids stand before me and decree, “Auntie, it’s time for the home.” I don’t want them to have to deal with all my junk. I don’t mind them having to deal with good stuff that they can sell on eBay, but I object to all the other crap that I can accumulate so easily.

Besides, this house is small and it’s cramped because there is just too much stuff in it. There is no point in wanting a bigger house just so we can move junk that should never in a million years need to be toted anywhere by Mike the Mover. No, indeed.

My hair smells smoky, so I’m thinking about a bubble bath before bed, but I’m feeling awfully pleased to have that sack emptied. The House Goddess will be so happy, and one of her ‘atta girl’ grins is enough to keep me at this miserable task until it’s truly all under control.

19 November 2009

This one’s for you, Mom. I’m cleaning my room, as directed.

There are some people who cannot stand the slightest amount of disorder. I am not one of those. However, I do get to the point when I cannot stand the build-up of papers and project materials and go into what used to be a reliable monthly cleaning frenzy. (So nicknamed by my long-suffering spouse.) Hormones not being what they used to be, I get the cleaning urge less often and as a result the mess is even worse and engenders a lot of resentment.

We have had a spate of inclement weather so I have sequestered myself in the basement, first tackling the storeroom and now my office. To be fair, my office is a multi-purpose room. It functions as an art studio, writer’s study, cat bedroom and could be a spare guest sleeping area, if necessary. Cramming all the attendant flotsam and jetsam into this small space is challenging to begin with, and arranging it so that it functions well is monumental.

Yesterday I put away a lot of art-related things, which also meant I needed to invent some new storage. The shelves dedicated to art stuff are already overloaded, so there will need to be some additional weeding. The good news is that I have this fabulous label machine that Big Kitty gave me for Christmas last year, and I have been one labeling fool. I have only to look at the label to see where things are stashed.

Then I got into some things that I brought down from my former headquarters, which is now Big Kitty’s territory. The recycled paper box filled quickly and what was left is in piles, awaiting file folders. That, too, was easy. The place honestly looks worse than it did when I started, but that’s because I have disrupted formerly organized areas in order to reorganize.

Today I tackled my desk. I have a bone to pick with computer desk designers. We still need drawers! No matter what anyone thinks, we still have need of a place to stash the stapler, hole puncher, staple claws and paper clips. We also need a place to put the legal pads, sticky notes and rubber bands. I found a plastic drawer thing that fits into the space under the slider where I put my laptop. What a great find that was!

The problem to be solved was the matter of two printers. I use my laser printer for most things, and the color scanner/printer only when I need to. I’m kind of cheap when it comes to printer ink, but at least I use it enough that the inks don’t dry out. Anyway, neither one was in the optimum location for a kinda short old broad. Today I took the entire business apart and did a massive rearrangement. It was while I was under the hood, so to speak, that I found a feline watering hole.

My level of profanity proficiency reached a new high. I knew I had been smelling something and hadn’t been able to locate it. However, undaunted, I finished the printer task, cleaned surfaces and then retrieved the Oreck and the spray on carpet cleaner. The stench of carpet cleaner is bad, so that offered a good time to take a lunch break. When it dries and gets vacuumed, then I can douse the area with enzyme stuff. It creates a timing set-back in that I had wanted to put things back today, but that’s okay. Finding that spot was important. Dealing with it was even more critical. Little pischers!

I learned, by posting the progress of this event on my Facebook status, that I’m not the only one who hoards stuff. Being cheered on by fellow hoarders in private messages where they confide their own peccadilloes in this area has been heartwarming. I have been referring to this horrid room as my awfiss, and today I realized it was the cats’ awpiss. The punsters among them will be amused.

Those of us who engage in artsy craftsy tasks tend to collect a lot of things for doing what it is that we do. I’ve been into using recycled items for storage, such as the very large Hershey cocoa containers for the Major Sharpies. Binder clips are in a recycled clear plastic jar, and colored paper clips are in recycled Republic of Tea tins. Besides the stacking trays from Target that are great for rubber stamps, and the oddball sizes of Rubbermaid totes, there are other ways to store things. Old oatmeal cartons hold ribbon spools very, very nicely. You can put all the Halloween ribbons in one, Christmas in another and so on. It becomes a challenge to find the best way to keep something organized, and that in turn is good for one’s creativity.

Years ago I bought Big Kitty a rack for audio tapes. He never used it. Eventually, I got sick of them being all over the place and filled the thing. Then one day, I realized stamp pads are about the same size as a cassette case. The tapes got packed into a box and the rack now holds most of my stamp pads. The trouble is, I do not have the wall space it needs to mount it. So, it is on the floor and that isn’t satisfactory.

Cleaning like this is cathartic in many ways. It forces us to discard that which no longer applies. Even a packrat like me has to face facts and get rid of supplies that have become obsolete. People who sew collect lots of fabric and thread. Now you want to talk about a space eater! One of my college classmates laments his wife’s collection of sewing machines! I can relate. We have a lot of old computer equipment.

The issue boils down to being willing to get mad enough to clean it all out and try to consolidate. It also means getting creative with ways to store the small stuff so it can be used up. There is nothing worse than finding a marker in a good color that has gone dry because it was buried in a box of unrelated stuff. I’m sure other people have similar woes.

Maybe it’s an exercise in futility, but last year when I attempted this task, I made a lot of progress. This year I am not having to sort through years and years worth of clippings, but rather the junk that has just piled up in the past year. Rearranging the printers will make my work easier. None of this is so difficult, but making ourselves take it all the way to the finish line is the hard part. I’m already liking what I see and cannot wait to get it to the point where others can come down here and not need a hard hat and steel toed boots!

12 November 2009

I seldom get into the battles being waged by friends unless I think I can be of genuine help. I know I’m not going to be doing that, but this one is definitely worth mentioning.

BGF has noted the broken handicapped entrance at the Roanoke City Courthouse. BGF is mostly pretty dense about stuff, but when it comes to ADA standards in public buildings, he’s on his toes. He has a vested interest in accessibility because his eldest gets around via a motorized wheelchair. After a pretty long period of time, he decided to get pushy and contacted the folks he felt were responsible for keeping up with such necessities. He got a terse reply that said they indeed took these things seriously and would be getting to the bottom of it asap.

The Star City is, like many other public entities, in a budget crisis. They are sloppy about maintenance when they do have money, so imagine what it’s like now. The courthouse, in particular, is looking mighty shabby what with the carpet squares they put down with duct tape to deal with the parquet flooring that isn’t holding up to the foot traffic. BFG took a swipe at the exiting city manager about all this, which is understandable. She is one fine lightning rod.

But it goes beyond the city manager because council is supposed to be keeping up with these things. Where I used to live, one crossed the alderman’s palms with silver and things got taken care of lickety-split. The Star City doesn’t work that way, which is probably why it doesn’t work.

Let’s take the current situation in our neighborhoods: fall leaves. The daily paper has had articles about this issue in which a city employee is telling residents to mulch mow the leaves and a resident has written in to say that idea is ridiculous in the heavily forested neighborhoods. She is right in the sense that many yards in this town are far too steep for mowing, but the leaves still need to be cleaned up so the ground covers can grow. The city has cut from the budget the annual swipe through town with the big leaf vacuum. If we had dry weather, it wouldn’t be a problem, but right now we are in the middle of a monsoon.

Yesterday I needed to put in some provisions for upcoming meals. I went to the Food Lion near Tanglewood Mall, and to get there, I threaded my way through a winding, hilly neighborhood that is notable each fall for the prodigious amounts of leaves that patiently await the once a year vacuum. It was pouring rain, and all those leaves, which had not been raked to the curb because no one wanted to be ticketed, were wet and matted. In a neighborhood that has a hard time growing grass because of the shade, all those leaves had to be causing no small amount of heartburn among the residents. Indeed, the road itself was treacherous because wet leaves on pavement cause slick spots. It’s a little scary. I made a mental note to stay off that road for the time being.

The city has long had some skewed priorities when it comes to its money. For example, the council is ready to spend a lot of money on a public golf course, but what we really need are sidewalks along busy thoroughfares, and increased bus routes to encourage use of public transportation. We need major swimming pool renovations in some of our neighborhoods and we need a new public library that is accessible and set up for technology advances that are yet to come.

Our residents in thickly forested neighborhoods are to be commended for their tree canopies which contribute to the overall health and well-being of the city. The least the city can do is run the vacuum in those particular areas.

Fixing the broken handicapped doorway at the courthouse is the tip of the iceberg. I know there are budgetary considerations, but a golf course?

11 November 2009

Happy Veteran’s Day to Uncles Cookie and Earl, and especially Big Kitty

I neglected to wax brilliant about one important detail in that four page dissent submitted by the volleyball coach….

All that business about alleged conflict of interest on the part of the independent 3rd fact finding panelist is poppycock. Here is why.

A fact-finding panel consists of a representative of each side in the disagreement. Those two are to select an independent third person, who is then the chair of the panel and presides over the hearing. In the event the two sides are unable to agree on a third person (and they never do), they request a list of candidates from the local circuit court judge. Judges maintain a list of people who are skilled in mediation just for these purposes. The two representatives then jointly select someone from the judge’s list and the proceedings then begin when the chair agrees to be on the panel and sets the hearing schedule.

Susan Willis’s panelist, the volleyball coach, and the administration’s panelist selected that panelist. That panelist was not forced on anyone, contrary to what that 4 page list of fake problems said. The panelist had no need to recuse himself.

If anything, he was the best person for the job because if the school administration had been out of line, he would have been looking for ways to ding them. He would have been listening real hard for evidence of coercion.

I was heartened to hear City Councilwoman Anita Price offer her hope that Susan Willis would put this behind her, and allow the whole business to be laid to rest. I know that took guts because the black community isn’t going to be happy that she didn’t stand up for the sistah, but as the former REA president, Anita Price knows the real story about Susan Willis. And that’s the story no one else will ever hear on the record.

I hope the good teachers and kids at Fleming were able to start today with the weight lifted from their shoulders, and I hope the community isn’t stupid enough to buy the junk that was in those four pages. If Susan Willis wants us to believe her, she’s going to have to release the WHOLE report, not just her representative’s piece. I’ve written one of those myself (and the teacher’s attorney didn’t have to rewrite it, I should add) and I know what her job was. I’ve sat in that seat. Let’s see the whole report, Susan… Come on… show me what you’ve got… Come on… I dare you….

10 November 2009

After a very long, probably boring, grievance hearing, the news is out. The fact-finding panel ruled against Susan Willis. The school board then voted, unfortunately along color lines, to fire her. They did the right thing.

Last week, Ms. Willis didn’t give a reporter for the Times a straight answer. She said she’d been vindicated, but she did not say the panel found in her favor. As was proper, the school board was mum. The newspaper editors then opined that if she had prevailed, she should quit playing coy and say so. I read that and thought, “Oho, she lost.”

So, she allowed the dissenting panelist’s four page disagreement to be published. I read that thing. She was sure trying to lay a lot of the mess at the superintendent’s feet, but much of it was stuff that could easily be refuted, or was obfuscation.

For example, her panelist noted that Dr. Bishop didn’t conduct Ms. Willis’ evaluations. The general public might not know this, but Dr. Bishop is free to assign someone else that task. Back in the day, someone from the personnel office observed my principal when she observed me, and then observed the follow-up conference.

There were other items like that, and they were clearly intended to provoke and turn public opinion against the superintendent. My guess is that the lawyers wrote it. It went point by point, and I have a hard time believing the volleyball coach had the time or inclination to write that thing. You can tell lawyer writing, especially when they try hard not to sound like lawyers. It’s pretty pathetic in that regard.

But it clearly was intended to set the stage for the inevitable lawsuit. I’m still trying to figure out where she is getting the money for a team of Richmond lawyers and a p.r. firm, not to mention her Armani suits. (Of course, those could be knock-offs… or she could have shopped at Loehmann’s.)

For now, though, the teachers at Fleming have to be breathing a sigh of relief that she won’t be back. To be sure, there were some who got along with her, but the talent drain from that building during her short time there was pretty hard to ignore. She was an equal opportunity bully, so teachers left.

It remains to be seen what the fall out will be. It’s never a good thing when an African American administrator goes down in flames, and it’s especially bad when that fall from grace is carried out in the papers. The two A-A school board members didn’t vote to fire her, and an A-A city council member has voiced support for her. Another A-A council member is an employee of the school board. If I’m her, I keep my mouth shut and simply acknowledge that due process was followed, the chips fell as they did and it’s time to move on. As a past president of the education association, she had to be aware of the turmoil in that building, so it’s fair to assume she has mixed feelings. Race is still a big factor in this town, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the race card will be played in her next gambit.

Now then, where is the Department of Education in this whole ordeal and why haven’t they pulled her certificate? If they did, there would be no grounds for a lawsuit, and certainly, anyone who cheats on the SOLs deserves their worst punishment. They really do need to make an example of her.

This is Virginia, the state that blinked blue but didn’t have the sense to stay blue. With our luck, the DOE will hire her to investigate other allegations of SOL cheating. After all, she could be considered an expert in her field!