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gdmli · 5 years

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A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

This blog will break convention by straying back to observations and reflections from throughout our time together as well as those from today’s class at Camp Dodge.

Also, much of the commentary in this and future posts will be through the lenses provided by my unique position (At Risk Coordinator) in one of Iowa’s neediest schools. ************************************************************************************************

At class orientation, some of us were given the question, What is one thing you enjoy about Des Moines? A few additional things have come to mind which deserve a shout out such as...

...our system of public libraries. Not only do we have a fabulous Central Library, but the East Side, Forest Avenue, Franklin Avenue, North Side, and South Side libraries give every neighborhood convenient accessibility. There is also programming available for every age. My favorites include the AVID series of lectures by prominent authors as well as the many events and activities for children which we frequent with our grandkids.

...the Downtown Farmers Market. Recently City View asked readers which was their favorite-the State Fair or Farmers Market. For me, it’s not even close! The Farmers Market provides small, often organic producers a venue to present and sell their wares to thousands of consumers each week. I make a point of visiting the large number of the small businesses which are operated by recent arrivals to our country. The food is always fresh and competitively priced. Recently I purchased a bounty of carrots, cucumbers, garlic, kale, Swiss chard, tomatoes for $15. Incredible!

...my favorite non-profit agency. 8th and College Connections utilizes space inside the Trinity Las Americas United Methodist Church and provides radical hospitality as well as language and civics instruction to newly arrived people to this country. As a volunteer teacher beginning my third year I come home after every class session with my heart warmed. These adult learners are grateful and ultra-motivated to learn the essentials for successful living in the US. If you are intrigued, let me know and I can tell you more. ************************************************************************************************

May I also begin a dialogue on the one thing we would like to see improved?

I think we need to clean up our act.

Let me first point out that living in the neat as a pin town of Pella for 22 years has left me just a tad psychotic about cleanliness. Despite this, it does bother me seeing trash lying around our city which could otherwise have been disposed of more appropriately. Both the areas where I live (just off SW 23rd) and work (East Side) seem to suffer from this malady.

My remedy has been to become a one-man clean up crew. Every day at work and once a week around my neighborhood I’m out picking up trash. My goals are to help beautify these areas as well as lead by example to motivate others to pick up after themselves and others.

Please join me in this crusade. **********************************************************************************************

The gentleman who led our cemetery tour, Archie Cook, is a real gem you all need to know a bit better. Rather than kicking back in retirement, he takes on the very challenging assignment of substitute teacher for the DMPS. He gets around to a lot of schools, but is very frequently at East High. In fact, he graces our building so frequently he is almost part of the staff. Teachers and students all know him which goes a long ways towards establishing a positive learning environment. Our building can be pretty rough some times, but I’ve never seen Archie get his feathers ruffled. He’s always positive, always leads the classroom with compassion, and students always have a good day when Mr. Cook is subbing. This is a rare skill and our students are the beneficiaries.

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One of the speakers at the Opening Retreat made mention of Des Moines’ talent shortage. This phenomenon is frequently sited by business leaders as an impediment to future growth (see here:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2019/09/06/ grassley-ernst-immigration-employment-visas-iowa-business-leaders/2217840001/ ).

While I have no doubt as to the efficacy of liberalizing the H-1B process, it is also true we are neglecting a very large and potentially powerful pool of talented workers. The best part is these future stars are already right here under our noses. This untapped reservoir of talent are the thousands of young people who attend East, Hoover, Lincoln, North, and Roosevelt.

If you need further convincing, let me know and you can spend a day walking the halls of East High and you will see this too. If you prefer metrics, check this out as it paints a bleak picture of the situation in the city schools. https://www.iaschoolperformance.gov/ ECP/Home/Index. Either way you will see we are not doing our best for these youngsters.

Here are some additional thoughts on the topic of developing our homegrown talent. This is a blog post courtesy from Mr. Knox of Urban Dreams who spoke to us at Principal Financial Group: https://www.makedmgreater.com/grow-a-diverse-future/

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The day devoted to social capital was and continues to be very thought-provoking for me. One source of inequity which has been on my mind recently is the lack of effective support for our English Language Learners (ELL). A critical piece to the educational process are the services provided by a cadre known as the Bilingual Family Liaisons (BFL). These people provide for open communications between school and home as well as support at school for students who arrive speaking little or no English.

The BFL with whom I work at East is one of the most effective educators I’ve ever met. She is extremely humble and would be very upset at me if I used her name, but she is an interpreter, teacher, coach, counselor, nurse, social worker and mom to countless students.

Therein lies the problem. Her workload is ridiculous. She not only supports hundreds of students and families at East, but serves additional clients at our feeder schools (that is to say elementary and middle schools whose students end up going to East for High School). I recently asked her how large her caseload was and she couldn’t even begin to provide a ballpark estimate.

Yes, resources are tight. That however is because of misplaced values by society and the policy-makers who represent us. In order to effectively influence the future of our nation we need to invest in our neediest students. ***************************************************************************************************

Over the weekend of September 13, I had a couple of “ah ha” moments related to the topic of social capital which I wrote about in my other blog. You can read it here: https://leadershipstars.blogspot.com/2019/09/friday-night-football-and-saturday.html

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We are surrounded by military history, frequently without even being aware.

For instance, in order to get to class today I drove on two roads authorized by the National Interstate and Defense and Highway Acts, signed into law by (President) General Dwight Eisenhower on June 29, 1956. It is the largest public works project in the history of the world. My favorite stretch of this highway is the ten or so miles just east of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. If you’ve ever driven this stretch of road you know what I’m talking about. **************************************************************************************************

The vision for our “interstate highway system” came in part from the mind of a junior officer (Dwight Eisenhower) taking a troop transport across dusty back road for deployment in World War I, in contrast to what the Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Allied Forces (SCAEF) saw from the Autobahn which the Germans had engineered prior to World War II. No doubt one of Ike’s ah-ha moments! ************************************************************************************************

The part of my drive from the East Mixmaster to Merle Hay Road was along I-80/35, built ostensibly for military purposes, is a portion of road which connects the George Washington Bridge in NY/NJ to the Bay Bridge which spans the Bay from Oakland to San Francisco. Have we ever thought about what a miracle that is? ***********************************************************************************************

And speaking of Merle Hay Road...Private Merle Hay of Carroll County was the first Iowan to die in the “War to End All Wars.” He lies in the West Lawn Cemetery in Glidden, Iowa.

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Camp Dodge derives its name from Grenville Dodge who was one of the chief members of General Grant’s staff in the Western Theater of Operations of the War Between the States. Mr. Dodge was born in Massachusetts and is buried in Council Bluffs. He became an executive with the Union Pacific Railroad and no doubt was a close associate of many of those Archie talked to us about during our Opening Retreat. ************************************************************************************************

The prominent signage in Camp Dodge made it clear that using one’s cell phone while driving is frowned upon. Wish the same could be said on all of out public roadways. **************************************************************************************************

As a certified history nerd, I wish a full hour or so or our class would have been set aside for the Gold Star Museum. My goal is to go back in the very near future. I have ancestors who died at the Battles of Pea Ridge and Shiloh (like nearly all native Iowans). I want to go back and do further research. ************************************************************************************************

I am too old and fat to have fully benefited from today’s exercises. I am in awe of those who have made this a way of life and those classmate who fully participated today. ************************************************************************************************

Those classmate who overcame fear and kicked ass on the Wall and in the other tests of courage, my hat is off to you. Also, the closing exercise in which everyone shared out from their experiences was the most inspirational part of the day for me. Bragging on each other with meaningful feedback is a great motivator.

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I’m a big believer in Servant Leadership. On that note, I was really impressed to see the Lt. Col. making coffee at lunch today. *****************************************************************************************************

Thank you to him, his staff, and the GDMLI Institute for making today possible.

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bimblingcat · 7 years

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Slinky knocked my alarm clock of the side this morning. The bit that covers the battery fell off and, again, he set to chewing it under the bed. I’ve no idea what the time was but it must have been before 6 am. I crawl out of bed at 6.15 am, feed him and he promptly wolfs down his breakfast. I grab a coffee and watch some YouTube videos. There was one on Antifa fighting Trump supporters in Berkeley California…it all looked very silly. Grown ups dressing like superheroes chasing one another up and down the street. Slinky mustn’t have thought much of it either as he promptly threw up on the kitchen floor.

To Boscastle…kind of

Andy looked to be in a good mood when I took his coffee in for him this morning. I think he’s catching up with some girl in Tavistock today; umm….yes…that would do it.

I’m on Horatio by just after eight and running over in my mind what it is that I’ve left behind. I was in an odd mood riding up to Moretonhampstead; Led Zepplin was in my head and I was bobbing along to a song and squealing out the lead guitar part as I weaved around the bends. The roads were beautifully empty; thank you motorcycle gods for favouring me this day.

I join the A30 and stick behind a black Volvo. I’m not in the mood for having my head buffered about at 90mph today so I trundle at a gentle 65 mph behind this car that must think I’m a traffic officer with my camera on top of my yellow striped helmet.

I must have taken a wrong turn at Launceston, came off the A30 too soon? I picked up the road for Holworthy and many miles later I’m riding into Bude. Well…Bude is kind of near Boscastle…isn’t it? I stop off in a Newsagent and the cashier looks like she’s under pressure so defers said directional question to an elderly lady admiring a photo of Prince William and his fluff (I can’t remember her name…she’s a royal; I don’t do royals). Luckily this woman’s internal sat nav is better than the cashiers and I get directions that I soon forget and end up on a coastal road heading in ‘ish’ direction of Boscastle. Finally, I see a sign and all is well. The coastal road was nice though the grey cloud lent it a romantic air.

I ride through Boscastle with the idea of keeping the video bit for my blog page. Not sure what the thought is behind that but you know…when I’m in my rest home maybe it’ll trigger some good memories….Jesus…that’s fucked up Kat, Carpe fucking deum baby…carpe fucking deum.

I’ve stopped off at the Toby Jug Cafe for tea and a bacon sandwich that I really shouldn’t eat but I have serious nibbles and that trumps my concern over a repeat heart attack right now. The bap was lovely and the tea was hot and tasted of tea: job done.

There’s little spots of blue in the cloud cover and a gradual increase in the number of tourists appearing so probably a good point to start pokeing my camera around before it gets too busy. Things to do, places to go…etc…etc

Down with the boats and the Germans

I went across the road from cafe and down a narrow lane of old cottages that all look lovely and so quaint and so…ummm…nice but not really interesting – just very…cottage-ey. There was an intersting old blacksmiths building at the end of the lane with a rocking chair outside so I shot the place up a couple of times, turned round and walked toward the stream that rolls down toward the little harbour. I can see why tourists come here; it just throws a feather bower round its neck in the sunshine and becomes the queen of quaint.

I kept to the right side as I walked down toward the harbour and balanced pecariously on a narrow concrete breaker wall. There were bits of green slime and pools of water and an overweight forty-eight-year-old woman realising that she’s not as fit as she use to be, balancing on top of it. I took some shots by balancing the camera on the rocks. I think I took some of the rocks as well. On the way back a man and a young girl with a dog came ambling in the opposite direction and since I was the older fart with the camera they both jumped off. I’m glad they did as I found it surprisingly difficult to push myself up off a large rock. These legs need some toughening up.

I cross over the bridge and head down to the little harbour with a single boat squatting on its side. There was a lot of Germans around. Old Germans…Germans with cameras. Spy’s I tell you! Merkel’s got a U-boat off the coast and smuggling in guns for the Cornish nationalists in an attempt to destabilise the government and….yeah I’ll stick to the photography.

There’s a couple of nature paths around the headland and I was not tempted by any of them. I got as far as being able to see the sea and saw how crumbly the rocks were and how steep the hills. Bugger that for a game of soldiers. And…I’m not much of a nature photographer. Landscapes don’t do it for me – I’d rather just look at it than photograph it. And with that belligerent mardy arsed attitude I turned about and started heading back to the town/village/hamlet…cafe. I found some nice drops of water rolling down a rock side and shuved my lens at them. I may have something prettified come out of those. And then there was another bridge with an old water wheel and hippy shop, some flowers and….and…where’s all the rust, the litter, the haggered faces the dark under belly? It’s generally….nice. I mean really nice. It’s quiet, there’s no arcades, not much in the way of grockle shops…just nice.

I’m going to take a walk up toward the other end of the town, village, commune, place…and see if there’s some belly button fluff in this land of niceness.

It’s all nice

Just as I finish off my tea and go to get my camera out of my bag, a bike goes past with a hole in the top box through which is poking a wee doggy. And I miss it…damn.

I saunter up the hill and through the car park to find some obligatory water fall shots. Going further up I don’t find much at all. I thought there would be something here – a bit of ramshackle shed a beaten up car but no…it’s all nice.

It’s getting past two now so I head back to the bike and head out of Boscastle thinking that I should be able to pick up the shorter route to Launceston. As I go through Bude I realise I’ve not found it. Still, it’s a beautiful afternoon and I’m up for ride around. I take the route back to Launceston and then pick up the road to Tavistock, Two Bridges and Mortonhampstead. By the time I get to Morton by bum is feeling numb so I stop for a coke and some beers for later. I get chatting to a woman outside the Coop who tells me they’ve been stopping bikers for speeding on the moor. One was clocked at 114mph. I may have been doing over 40mph but nothing near to that. Naughty boys.

I sit and have my coke and let the blood return to my but cheeks. It’s been a lovely ride. Lots of bikers to nod to and great weather for burbling about in. I’ve not been on the route to Tavistock for a while so that brought back some memories.

Home and Slinky rolls about on the path to greet me back. I’ve got over five hundred photos to sort through and maybe some of the video too. Andy is snorring away in the front room so I’ll leave him to it.

Not sure where to head to tomorrow. I’ve got Sunday and Monday then back to working for Andy on Tuesday. How about Minehead tomorrow? I don’t think I’ve ever been there either – I’ll have to check out how their bacon rolls compare.

To Boscastle… Slinky knocked my alarm clock of the side this morning. The bit that covers the battery fell off and, again, he set to chewing it under the bed.

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