My radio show - if I had one - Thanksgiving 2017 musings...

I promised to post this today.   my show.... What would I call it?   The funny name club show?  Sassy seniors with long hair?  Snak-l-frok !

But it is not like that - my name means light and if I had a show it would be to bring light into a dark place - many dark places.  Confront dilemmas and mysteries and get them solved.

My housekeeper said "you really get things done" - and there is that feeling of a doing a thing for the world - but I want to focus on things my Normal Rockwell Childhood brought to table for action - then tabled and never done.   

I think "Occupant Safety & Escape Technology" for planes and tall buildings would lead my campaigns - for years death from their failure has NOT been necessary, but no one is making them do it.  In fact, I'd put it away, then forgot it - parents' orders.  Then on NINELEVEN, I literally had to grab the counter to NOT fall down, when the memory found me and stunned me.   NO ONE needed to die that day.  NO ONE.   If the escape tech had been done on time, two things, in fact would have happened:  if attacked occupants could safely leave the plane or building FAST - super fast.  But with such tech in place, terrorists may  have skipped it for an idea, since there would be so few victims.

On my show, I could invite the dozens of contacts whose job it was to make and use the Technology but who could not or would not.  I would talk with them to see what it would take to win the breakthrough.

This is a priority topic: lives depend on it and I am still a good redcrosslady.   But I do  have a  list of topics I would share from my own experience and observation - I will add them here or linked.

We have so much for which to give Thanks!   BECAUSE we got things done, leaping to meet opportunities and win through obstacles -  and no other reason!

INK and Hartford's 28th Annual Open Studio

Wish me luck!  - I am part of the art for   The 28th Open Studio Hartford events  that wind up this weekend - my fifth year with this “Art meets Disneyworld” wonder!

Come to the closing show this Saturday - details at the link above.

But about the INK -  media coverage was not what it should be - so the sales were less that we had a right to expect for all our hard work and investment.    A steady stream of  really charming visitors arrived in spite of a cold snap in the weather, but much  less than would have been there with DECENT coverage. 

Open Studio Hartford is VERY popular and very worth it!    300+ artists at a dozen locations all over downtown Hartford is a BIG BIG BIG deal  ... and YET...  there were zero tv spots to let folks know we were here!  I was there and TV and other media were NOT - NOT ONE CAM to video the event at startup to bring visitors!  Not one reporter panning the room with questions and attention - attention we EARNED.

And so, much of the Public  missed  the fun and extras - and that hurt the event folk at every level - after all that work in organization, prep and really beautiful setups at every art venue, with free and reduced parking, and free shuttles through the locations !  

An old hand at artstuff, I PROMISED to Act and find ways to see that  OSH  is  respected in the media,  responsibly.   There is still time for them to redeem themselves this year and promise better for the future!   

This weekend, we are still having grand fun with Ekphrasis and the Saturday event After Party !   The event opening/closing party is getting famous as an All-American event with folk from jeans to evening formalwear in attendance - free admission and often 500+ attendees during the evening. See the link for details - art , food, wine/un-wine , music, performance!  Please come !   Family-friendly.

But the "ink" - When biz leaves Hartford,  it is most certainly in part because Hartford is  just plain lazy supporting it dynamically.   Nothing comes from nothing and support is NOT that difficult to generate.   Let's do better!   The work shared represented honors in schools and conscientious self-starting work for years - years!   Can you imagine how we felt, after placing faith in the famous event , and setup to share really fine things - only to be left chatting among ourselves? 

I am going to get real action on this topic  - the show Admin was grand - but not the INK.    I love Connecticut  so, and Hartford specially -  and am media-active lifelong - I can help   ^_^         What about YOU?     28th Open Studio Hartford !   Pass it on!  

Accidental Activist

 An election year note: Accidental Activist or not, that's how it was.  I found myself doing much more than I ever thought I would - in brave ways - and am fine for it - and maybe finer than some for having done what I could, for seeing it as a human responsibility and acting on that consciousness. My Godmother made the room collapse in laughter the day she said I was a "female Forrest Gump" in that I just happened to be on the spot when some interesting things took place and I was compelled to help.  Great - but they left out the Apple Stock for me and emptied me, financially, in the Recession instead. Hmmmmm...

 It is clear that many say, with reason, that we have we lost sight of it all and been "do nothing"!       My team may be aging, and many think it is right to do nothing.  Sometimes it IS right to do nothing and let others lead.

But most of the time, we can do a thing - the right thing.

• All I had to do was nothing, and my late husband would have lost his health , college and his life twenty years sooner than he did.
• All I had to do was nothing, and our son would have died before he was quite one day old.  
• All I had to do was nothing, and our daughter would not have been born.  
• All I had to do was nothing,  and in civic response work,  and others would not be here, or failed the need to get going on a fine new path.
• All I had to do was nothing, and assorted groups and clubs for books , children and sports and design home and cuisine and health would not have happened at all.  
• All I had to do was nothing and I might have been killed.
• All I had to do was nothing, recently,  and there would have been no  SilverSneakers supports from our HMO , when mobility IS life always and truly, as we age.

Making this list helped me to act today.  Send me YOUR list - smile , because you may not have realized that you acted - and helped.

For my children:  it's not your fault - you didn't do it:   when I opted for all the good things, I was surrounded by good people, good schools , SAFE schools - 'dope' was a name for a buddy acting dumb - and there was plenty of prosperity to support me in the grand new things opening up in those days.   I skipped and sang down the street in safety and peace. When I was challenged, help was there, never an issue and soon happy days restored and the good things.

My poor children!  They knew the good things in early days and even much better.  But just as they reached adulthood, personal worldclass issues:  they have had to deal with every form of poverty , setbacks in the entire economy and violence - not only far away in a war- but on their streets and in their classrooms every day.  

And then, as if we were not dopey enough, they want to legalize narcotics?  Suicide for an entire nation is possible.   

Worse: our very happiness and prosperity and success CAUSED some of the issues we howl thru today from true abscence of malice and innocence.  Growing up in times of prosperity and love and freedom and plenty, our grownup children feel rudely awakened that things are not simply "automatically super"  -  and this happens every several generations, till things degenerate so badly that"wailing cries shake the very heavens" .  And then , compared to the suffering , taking up the tasks to recover the good days,  seems fairly easy.

There was a "Do Nothing Congress" , during Harry Truman's Administration, and others were called so, before and since .  And they were right.  They are saying so now.  But why blame congress, when it is we - the people they represent - who need to ACT. Our leaders are not feeling our support and our support is their life blood.

On the sunny side of serious recession, and there is plenty to cope with - Brexit, Terrorism and more - no safe place beyond our home and some do not even enjoy that much.   And all these issues won thru to us when we were financially impaired, and so, guilty of caving in to the pressures and going silent.

At the moment, all the other national leaders get to taunt us about our Failures.   

• Failure to use our amazing resources as we should
• Failure to get our money in order.
• Failure to law and order in order - to legislate at the federal level,  to disarm in the populated areas , arm our police with cams for evidence , and kevlar to save their lives and nonguns, so as not to KILL someone every time there is a "moment".   Shame to those who say it is not do-able. It MUST be do-able.  
• Failure to get public safety in order: for example, thousands die each year because no one will take up true updates to Occupant Safety and Escape Technology, for tall buildings and planes.  Architecture and Aeronautics are seriously remiss - they have cost lives in their failure act on this one issue. As is media for helping them suppress even commentary and calls for action.
• Failure to better define the Presidency and the rules for candidacy and election proceedings to reflext the times and needs. Right now, we idly watch how they can break every good rule and win, anyway.   

Yikes!

But, GOOD NEWS:  Americans are reeallly bad about Failure of any kind.

We think ourselves a winning entity.  Winning through does not just happen.  All we have to do is NOTHING. 

We have been oppressed by national misfortunes but that is over and we can restore the good. 

Act.

Saving Connecticut's Old State House - Petition to Sign, Please

Connecticut's Old State House with a golden statue of JUSTICE atop - needs some herself!

UPDATE August 2016

"The oldest State House in America is now closed to the public amid Connecticut’s budget problems. In addition, millions of dollars worth of artwork could be removed from the building."  Google - WNPR link

Please click and sign the petition to save this wonderful site from closure.

https://www.change.org/p/state-of-connecticut-do-not-close-connecticut-s-old-state-house?recruiter=2948991&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

July 28, 2016 - Sign the linked petition here BECAUSE: 
 today's paper tells that the artifacts are being removed from the  recently closed down site to protect them better at the Atheneum and the Connecticut Historical Society. Sad news but good news for their safety. This move is said to be temporary as new leadership hopes to do a  LOT better job of keeping the key historic site self-supporting.   LIARS - that building should be done like Sturbridge Village, since it's unique funnctionality in Colonial Days absolutely Dazzles but NO  ONE has been promoting it AT ALL. I think they mean to kill  her.

IN JUNE 2016,  while closing down my computer for the night, the breaking news alert notification kept me on a new job till late.  Whyyyyy just at Independence Day , would my beloved homestate close this icon site, which has only recently been renovated ?  The golden statue of JUSTICE, symbolically, is barely visible in this official photo, though her new gold paints normally gleam proudly in the sun and brighten a rainy day.  Funding and cutbacks were cited as the reason, but not very convincing. The Petition lists ways to fix.

Please click and sign the petition to save this wonderful site from closure.

https://www.change.org/p/state-of-connecticut-do-not-close-connecticut-s-old-state-house?recruiter=2948991&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

This site WAS Connecticut's capitol, till the larger one was built a century or so later.   It stood and served all life in the area and in early America.   And with not much else around, one block from the Connecticut River, the Old State House was the nearest to  the river life line in those days.     Rules were made and important history to all of America - not just Connecticut- happened there and the building is used daily today.  Not profitably enough, but that's easy to fix.

  This video will tell you more - click here for it.
 

Personally, I developed just a silly love for "OSH" as she is called -  when I first visited Hartford back to my home state, after 20 years in the big world, it was like seeing a lot of it for the first time, and often seeing old sites with new eyes. And especially OSH.

Suddenly I saw her in a personified light:  My paternal Grandmother was alive again, a tiny dolly , surrounded by her many tall children and grandchildren!   The anachronism she presents, in the landscape, making her just that more wonderful, sitting pat, on that spot, among companions two centuries newer.    She is my Grammy and I simply felt too personally upset by the news to NOT act.

Old State House is a genial Happy Cat on a carpet before a fire, much-loved by her  companions.  

What on EARTH would make anyone think it is okay to change that?  We need her in this world.   And why hurt this historic site AT Independence Day, America's Historically Proud Birthday! 

The petition has some signatures already and I have done only modest promotion. More to come. Comment here or on the petition.   Those with power to change the closure will be getting updates - it is part of the petition's machinery.  Make it count!

elle