Our house was one of 250,00 in the state of Ohio with no power after the tail end of Ike whipped through here on Sunday.  Wow!  What an experience and what an inconvenience!   We got our electric on last night around 9 o'clock.  What a blessing!   Today, baths and showers for the first time in a WEEK!   Clean clothes too, the washer hasn't stopped all morning!   We don't appreciate all the things we do with electric until we lose it.  In the midst of all the grumbling that we had no computers, no stoves, no refrigerators and no phones, we realized we were truly blessed!   No heavy rains came with that wind, like our brothers and sisters in the south suffered.  We lost a lot of food, true, but we thankfully had all our belongings intact and our lives were not forfeit to the whims of nature.  And, thank the god and goddess, it wasn't raining or snowing and we were not cold.  

I don't know about other neighborhoods, but our little community made me proud.  We checked on the older folks and made sure they had medication and food and help if their children were not nearby.   We cooked over open fires and on grills and wandered around the neighborhood, visiting with people we never have time to stop and chat with on work days.  Yep, we lost a bit of our paycheck, but we gained time to reforge bonds with neighbors.  AND, the family time was awesome!   Every night, we lit a bonfire when it got dark and we all sat in the back yard and TALKED!  What an amazing and wonderful time!   We read books by candle light and it gave us an appreciation of pioneer days.  Every day, I thanked the Lady and the Lord that we had enough to eat and that we had each other and that we had good neighbors.  No looting, no fighting, just the blessed dark and moonlight.   We gained an understanding and empathy for folks who suffer great losses with tornado flood and hurricaine.  

I'm not ready to permanently live "Little House on the Prairie" style, but I would not trade this experience for anything. 

Last week there was a Celtic festival here in Dayton.  I had a chance meeting with two of the members of a band who played there.  They are from Ireland and I loved their sound!  Plus, they were very nice men, friendly and och, that Irish brogue.  Their music is lively and fun and I hope some other people will check them out at www.slide.ie

I got the papers in the mail Friday last that the hearing for my enemployent is next Thursday.  I"ve been unable to get anyone to calle me from Legal Aid to call me back so it looks like I am on my own.   I"m not sure how this works or what to expect.  I do know that the assistant manager where I used to work plans on speaking the truth about what happened and saying that I was wrongfully terminated.   She was told today by the manger, that if she did that, he would be looking for a new assistant.  So now I feel like a bum because all this is oging to cause her to lose her job too, but I am so VERY ANGRY that he would be able to do this to yet another person.  Oh, he is smart.  He won't come right out and fire her for that reason.  He will wait, just like he did with me and then make something disappear that will turn up after she has been fired because it is not really missing at all. She is a true friend, though.  She said it didn't matter.  The truth was what mattered.  He lied about me and treated me badly and if he can do it to me, then he will just keep doing it.  He did the same thing to another woman before I got fired and she is going to go to the hearing also.  It's a damned shame that these big companies get away with this crap.  You can bet your patooties that THEY will have a lawyer there.  Problem is, I think, that these freebie lawyers are so busy trying to help out all these people who are losing their homes and are in so much financial trouble that they are overloaded with cases.  So I am on my own and am not sure where next to turn.  It's a good bet that I was fired because of my age.  In another month, I would have been eligible for insurance and I"m pretty sure that is why they got rid of me.   I gave up a job making two more dollars an hour so I could work there and have insurance and they jerked me around for months, cutting my hours so I would have just one hour under enough to get unsurance.  I am a good worker, show up every day and find plenty to keep me busy when things are slow and make suggestions that help business.  And this is what I get for it.  SCREWED! 

I'm going to try to stay hopeful that I can think of some way to clear my name and make them admit that they fired me for stealing something that wasn't even stolen. 

Lord and Lady, help me.

I am so upset today.   Classes in the ARISE program were supposed to begin this evening.  ARISE (Artistic Resources In Social Empowerment) is a progam for underpriveleged youth which offers them exposure to the visual arts.  We offer two 8 week sessions per year and each child who participates gets four weeks of classes in their twochoice:  pottery, painting, drawing, drama, cartooning, jewelry making, paper crafting, lapidary and video making through a local tv station.   This is the one job in my life that I was so proud to be a part of.   We all felt that we could make a difference in the lives of children who too often see only crime as a way of making money, children who receive no encouragement for natural talents, children who really truly  need the opportunity to explore other options in life. 

Many of us saw children who had severe behavior problems become empowered by abilities they were not aware that they had.  We helped kids explore avenues never offered by schools.

Grants were not forthcoming this year and we were forced to charge tuition.  Needless to say, in these days of economic concern, no parents of kids from broken homes could afford to take the classes.  No children from the projects could take them.  Only four kids signed up from other economic strata so all classes were cancelled. 

SHAME, shame, shame on our government that spends millions a day in another country waging war and has no money for these poor kids.    Shame shame shame on local govenment that is concerned with development of downtown businesses and can spend 8 million making new parking lots but no money for our children. We are paying the piper for big business men who make our decisions.   And remember the story of the Pied Piper?   What happened to the children?   They were lost...............

When we lose our youth, we lose our future. 

I have to admit, I am procrastinating.  What a surprise!  I have to go look for a job today and have a bunch of excuses.  It is cold outside.  My back hurts.  I'm hungry and want to wait until after lunch.  Maybe the car won't start.  It's cold outside.  It's warm inside.  ARGHHH.   I'd rather stay on Covenspace and yak with my friends.  I'd rather get poked by a sharp stick.  I"d rather be a cat, curled up on the bed, eyelids blinking, contentment.  My feet will get cold.   ALL RIGHT........I'M GOING NOW.! 

No, wait a minute, the pone is ringing.   LOL.........not for me, okay I"M GOING!