the US vs John Lennon

Just an interesting movie about an interesting time. Enough to awaken me slightly from this sweet Florida nap. I found the movie interesting in that I was alive and aware of those times. I found the movie interesting in that I am now middle aged and the glasses I look through have changed many times over. It also makes the Nixon administration look like amateurs compared to the current times. It brought back many memories.
Florida is in bloom along with the constant sun, warmth and strawberries. I realize I will have at least 2 springs this year. !! I have shifted my mindset to not dwell on much but slow, rhymthic thoughts. Breathe in, Breathe out...
GO GATORS!

welcome to gatorland

Whatever driving does for my soul is rekindling the dormant from the winter. We rocked for about 12 hours through 4 states to get here. We revisited old musical friends and past memories from our travels. We are also planning for our summer trip. The journey really was the fun part and Atlanta always satisfies my like of big city driving.
Today the Gators play for a berth in the final 4 so all of Gainesville will come to a halt.
As always its fun to be here along with most of the college kids down here on spring break. In my heart, I have never stopped being one of them!!
GO GATORS!

vernal equinox & tennis nets

I watched as the Parks Dept swept the Frontier Tennis Courts and rolled out the nets. It looked slightly ceremonial. Happy to celebrate the first day of spring!
The day after tomorrow I head for Dixie. I can already feel the sun and the hospitality. I don't believe I have driven this route for about 20 years and at least 27 years since my cousin and I have made the drive. YIKES thats a lot of years ago. I'm thinking the music won't be cassettes but that's all that might be different.
Hopeful first day of spring...

peace rally

It provided an opportunity for me to take some good photos of the people. "Shooting" people is not something I typically do and my last two outings involved just that. And they came out pretty good. Between these photos and some I have received, I have been in photo heaven. Then as I am signing on this blog I notice it has some sort of arrangement with Picasa for posting photos...Hmmm....Probably not, with all the boundary issues.
I did have an opportunity to talk to someone much more knowledgeable than I about copyright and obtaining permissions for usage etc. It has the potential to create much murkiness so best not contribute too much. But on the flip side is the YouTube "Awards" that I just read about. Where to land?...

herein lies the rub?

The American Psychological Association has opined about the internet and the postings of professional psychologists. Admittedly, they are in a dilemma about how much is too much and what violates the ethical code of conduct. Admittedly, so am I. While there are no known websites with contrary things pertaining to me, I need to be more vigilant that I don't create that environment myself. The article stated "Attending to these questions has ethical significance as well, because disclosing information that has a reasonable likelihood of becoming available to clients can facilitate, or signifiantly hinder, our ability to exercise beneficence in a professional relationship."
It also goes to the very definition of myself. Psychologist first, all else second? Perhaps that drives my need to be heard . Perhaps that denies me an element of personhood or enhances it like nothing else. My experience has been the latter.
In a very recent discussion with a colleague about how we define ourselves and this available technology I found myself leaning to the reinforcement first and formost about being a psychologist. That enhances my personhood and what else would enhance my being a psychologist. I believe that to be why my reaction to Dr. Phil is so viceral. He appears to have taken the "Jerry Springer" route with his show (correct me if I am wrong) and that is so sad to watch. Skills used with question. Like using it for advertising or "opinion swaying".
So where now? "We are inevitably most ethical when we are most psychologically minded. Thoughtful reflection on how information we choose to make available over the internet may affect others, and why we choose to disclose particular information in this venue, has deep roots in the ethics of our profession."
In other words, note to self, "shut up and think".

friends don't let friends ride rice burners...

they may have been the first bikes I heard at Frontier Park but they are bikes nonetheless. I heard them everywhere. Some folks are hot for robins as the harbinger of spring but I love my bike sounds. Try to guess what they are by how they sound. Symphonic.
Spring fever in action! I love to watch as coats, shoes come off.
I think the title of the blog was once a bumper sticker on a 1974 Plymouth Valiant I once owned in the late 1970's.
Lots of days I pay attention to the first song I hear and see how the day goes. Today's was "Solsbury Hill" with the most powerful words for me being the 2nd verse: "To keep in silence I resigned, my friends would think I was a nut, turning water into wine, open doors would soon be shut. So I went from day to day, tho' my life was in a rut, Till I thought of what I'd say, which connections I should cut. I was feeling part of the scenery, I walked right out of the machinery, my heart going Boom Boom Boom, "Hey" he said "grab your things I've come to take you home." and the last verse is slightly different with "Hey" I said " you an keep my things, they've come to take me home."
through the years its meaning has changed for me but it always feeds me what I need. I remember the days of setting equalizers to "Red Rain" because it cresendos so intensly. I hope to never lose the power that music has always played in my life.

The hypothetical

...an assumption or conclusion made for the sake of argument. An interpretation of a practical situation or condition taken as the grounds for action.
Somehow along time ago I was designated this conduit of information, the keeper of secrets, the weaver of stories. I keep secrets in a good way and expose ugly when I can. The key is knowing how and when to do it. That's where the hypothetical comes in handy.
Because of my insatiable need to experience people's lives the way they live them, I often encounter struggling people in struggling situations. Here's an interesting hypothetical as a result of one such relationship. "hypothethically" I know people who risk life and limb to come to this country to earn a liveable wage that is typically sent home for use by the families. There are exceptions to all the rules and some of the young ones do succumb to the easier money but most just work. Well, my hypothetial friend's story needs to be told because he can't tell it and I feel the drive to do just that.
After a 1/2 dozen years of working jobs few American workers will tolerate due to health conerns ( High density painting and working with other toxic materials) my hypothetical friend has a hypothetical employer who is being hypothetically subcontracted by the US military to paint US military installations, hypothetically in this case Fort "Knox". So inside the hypothetical military installation they go. At least 6 are here in this country illegally, without papers and they spend at least 12 hours (min day work) painting the inside of this hypothetical
military barracks. My hypothetical friend thought better of the next days assignment and went back to another job site.
I know this isn't woodward and bernstein stuff but I feel compelled to put it out there for people to read. For people to see that its just one story in a whole host of stories that needs to be told for people who have no voice for themselves. Isn't that why we keep watch.? Some of us are just better able to be heard or better able to take action. As long as I feel the calling of the conduit, I'll write.
Followup on the military and the enlistment of the illegal immigrants with the knowledge and cooperation of the Pentagon. Its a fascinating story...

the tragically happy

Just after the whiny post the other day about missing the tragically hip because of my dedication to work blah, blah, blah...find out they are coming to the warner on May 18th. It is always a live show worth checking out. Plus its doublful that they will charge anywhere near the 90$ starting price of Police Tickets. I have to say that that price pushes my limits and I must pass just on the grounds I won't pay that much. Where does it stop. Unless Sting is donating a significant portion to some worthy cause other than a Police reunion...
Well 1/2 time is over. Go Gators.

the tragically hip

I find myself at a stage in my life where I didn't think I would still have to choose between school and recess but I do. At least now I can laugh about it.
I'm studying EMDR, eye movement therapy for trauma and memory processing and I'm generally impressed with the results. Of course, I'm trying to get "all the papers" I need and wouldn't you know it..."the tragically hip" are playing the house of blues in cleveland the same weekend I'm in Detroit learning Part II of EMDR. I know what I gotta do but I also know what I wanna do. Damn Devil on my shoulder. Thank God I am already enrolled, can't back out now.
But Detroit IS just a couple of hours from Cleveland ! :)