Breaking Bloggers Block

Several months ago I began a blog. For the first month after starting it I wrote and posted numerous articles. After beginning a lengthy article which has never been completed and posted I came to a writer’s block, or as I am calling it a “Blogger’s Block,” and have gone a little more than 60 days without posting anything new to.

Today I was determined to break the block and have posted a new article. In the future I will attempt to post more frequently even if it means some will be smaller articles or oly images with a short comment.

To former readers who are back, Thank You for returning. To new readers Welcome Aboard. I hope you continue to find something that interests you here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Text and image copyright 2010 Dave Michael.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission of the author.

4:27 a.m. – View From My Pillow

The street light outside and the clock radio provided faint illumination as I lay awake. It had been a long day.

 Earlier I sat in my comfortable chair to watch the evening news. I don’t remember how much I saw . Around 2 a.m. I eased into that realm where I began to know what was happening around me but was yet unable to move. Minutes, maybe hours later, I really don’t know, I began to struggle against gravity and finally pried my body loose and slowly came to my feet. I found the remote, turned the television off, then the light and not unlike one who had too much to drink staggered back to my bedroom.

By the time I arrived I was more fully awake, and rather than going straight to bed I first paused to see what new comments and images may have been posted online. The bedroom television was on. When heading for the living room earIier I must have thought I would be only a moment. Paying little attention to it, I left the TV on, finding comfort in its droning sound as I worked the mouse and scanned the screen.

I quickly became lost in pictures and words left by unseen and mostly unknown friends as they shared their experiences from around the world. Sitting there vicariously feeling the experiences of others I gradually became more aware of what was happening on the television beside me.

A local channel was airing an old made-for-television movie about a young woman soon to turn 30. She had returned to her childhood home feeling lost and unaccomplished. There she found both her former boyfriend and a list of 7 things she wanted to do before she turned 30 she had made as a teenager. It was a sappy chick-flick but it caught my attention. Eventually I shut the computer down and crawled into bed leaving the TV on until the movie ended.

My ADD had now kicked into high gear, and with the TV finally off I lay in the dark, contemplating all the stimuli of the day with little success in my attempt to digest and organize the many thoughts floating around and banging off the inner walls of my brain. At more than twice the age of the woman in the movie I questioned my life accomplishments or lack thereof. I thought of past girlfriends, lovers and wives. Yes, wives, I have had more than two, a record of which I am neither proud nor able to change.

There was Vicki, Carol and Judy and . . . ? There was one I could remember in detail except for her name. The first girl, no woman, I had known in more than a Clintonian way. She had been a major part of my life, and yet I was unable to remember her name. I could remember her father’s name. Why was he more memorable than she?

I lay sleepless in the dark contemplating my past and all the “what ifs?” What did it matter? The past can’t be changed. Thoughts of my life and bits of the movie continued to appear and disappear and mingle in my growing state of semi-consciousness.

A line from the movie kept returning to my mind, “If I didn’t hate you right now, I’d probably like you,” although I believe it irrelevant to the rest of my thoughts.

I just remembered her name.

 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Comments Appreciated Click Here

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Text and image copyright 2010 Dave Michael.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission of the author.

RIP Humanity?

Saving The Earth Or Saving Ourselves?

I used to worry that man would destroy the earth. Then I began to think about other species that outlived their welcome on the planet. It finally struck me, we won’t destroy earth. We may make it uninhabitable and cause our own extinction. We may take other living organisms with us, but the earth and probably some life forms will survive. The planet will reinvent itself and become beautiful once again without us.

By being green we are not really saving the earth. We are fighting for our own survival. Perhaps whomever or whatever follows us will find ways to use the resources available without threatening their own being.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

An after thought inspired by a conversation with my friend Greg:  Without pesticides cock roaches will evolve. With larger bodies and equally larger brains they will rule the earth. They’ll feed for milleniums on the garbage we leave behind.

Visit Greg Click Here

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Comments are appreciated.  Click here and add your oppinion.

Text and image copyright 2010 Dave Michael.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission of the author.

I have ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, Also Known As ADHD

I wrote this article in 2004 , about a year after I was first diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD).  It was originally published online by Attention Deficit Disorder Resources of Tacoma, WA.  If you have ADD or ADHD, suspect you might have it, or know someone who does you may find this interesting, perhaps humorous and hopefully informative. 

I am not a trained professional in the treatment of ADD, and the information in this article is not intended as advice for how to deal with it.  It is merely an explanation of my personal observations as one who has ADD.  I personally believe there are many undiagnosed adults dealing with this issue with no knowledge or support.  The most important part of treatment is simply being aware you have ADD and knowing how it affects you.  There are medications to help, but even with them knowledge is an important part of the equation.  With knowledge medication may not even be necessary.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I have ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, sometimes known as ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I prefer to use ADD because I don’t have the hyperactive part. In fact, most people would probably accuse me of being quite the opposite of hyperactive. I’ve had it all my life or, at least. as long as I can remember.

The doctors and psychologists who study these things say that those who have it are born with it. Who am I to argue with all that education? Actually, maybe I would because one of the characteristics of people with ADD is an aversion to authority figures. It’s not that we always think the authorities are wrong; we may just not want to admit that they are right.

Even though I’ve had this disorder my entire life, I’ve only known about it for a little over a year , or at least that’s how long I’ve had a name for it. I had 54 and a 1/2 years to observe its effects on me before somebody told me I had it, and it was diagnosed. I’ve known most of my life that there was something different about me, that I didn’t think and act like most people do, but I never really knew why. I had never thought about the possibility that my brain might have been made a little differently than most brains, causing me to view and react to the world in a manner unlike most human beings.

Okay—at this point I will argue a little with the ADD authorities, as do some other people I know who have these special brains. I don’t think it is necessarily a “disorder.” After all a disorder indicates something is wrong, and I’m not ready to admit there is something wrong with my brain. It’s just different, and to me, that makes it special. My brain is not the ordinary garden-variety brain. I’m offended that someone might think it defective or disordered just because it is different.

Let’s make a comparison here. There are more ways than one to measure things. Two of the common systems are the metric system and the English system. Most of the world uses the metric system. Here in the good old U.S.A., we use the English system. Does that mean our system of measurement is disordered just because it is different from the one used by most humanity? I don’t think so!

Actually, someone with ADD probably devised the English system of measurement because it is far more complex and confusing than the metric system, and one of the characteristics of those of us with ADD is the ability to find the most complicated method for completing a simple task!

I also differ with the authorities that describe ADD as an attention “deficit.” That would indicate that people with ADD don’t pay as much attention to our surroundings as the supposedly normal people. Now, I can understand how a normal person might think that to be the case when they talk to us about something for a while, and then ask us a question, only to hear a response dealing with a totally different subject, or perhaps with information that is connected in a manner they are unable to understand. They probably think we didn’t hear anything they said.

Actually, people with ADD may pay too much attention to their surroundings. One or two things are commonly going on in our minds at any given time. Most of us are actually gathering (and attempting to process) far more information about our surroundings than normal people do.   As a result, we may have so much data in our heads that it becomes difficult to sort it out.

If you were to strike up a conversation with me on a busy street corner—assuming you are a normal person—you would probably expect me to shut out everything else and pay strict attention to you. That is truly a totally unreasonable expectation to place on an ADD person. I would be listening to you, but I’d also be listening to traffic noises, chirping birds, barking dogs, as well as the conversations of people around us. But that’s not all! I’d be looking at what you are wearing, your gestures, clouds in the sky, displays in nearby store fronts, billboards, street signs, cracks in the sidewalk, grass growing out of the cracks in the sidewalk, an ant climbing through the grass, the leaf the ant is dragging, and the hole in the leaf.

You’ve just finished telling me about your Aunt Gertrude’s appendectomy, and I respond with, “I never realized an ant could carry anything that big!” You probably think I’m crazy and wonder if I really think your Aunt’s appendix was that swollen, depending on how you and I pronounce “ant” and “aunt.This example may present at least an inkling of what is happening much of the time in the heads of those of us with ADD. You see, it really isn’t an attention “deficit.” It is more like an attention “excess.” Maybe, in that respect, we are hyperactive. Even though our bodies don’t always show it, our minds are in overdrive.

Then another thing sometimes happens to those of us with ADD—we become hyper-focused. Again, this is not a lack of or shortage of attention. Hyper-focused is highly concentrated attention. When we go into a hyper-focus state, we may ignore you when you speak to us. It’s not intentional, but we may be concentrating so intently on one miniscule source of data that you could put an air horn next to our ears, blast it for three seconds, and we genuinely would be totally unaware of your presence. It’s just that some subject, some object, some project has grasped and held our attention so powerfully that we become unconscious of anything else in our surroundings until we are completely through dealing with it.

Okay, so how does ADD affect our lives and how does a normal person recognize someone with ADD? ADD wasn’t even widely recongized by psychiatrists and psychologists until the mid-to-late 1960′s, and even then, many experts thought it was something that “happened to children, and that they would “grow out” of it as adults. We now know that is not the case. Most who are born with ADD, have it throughout their life.

The person with ADD may learn to understand it and how to deal with it and lead a productive life, or the person with ADD may never recognize it or understand it. Doctors, teachers, coaches, coworkers, police, and others he/she comes into contact with may never understand it or recognize it.  That person’s life continues as an eternal struggle.

Those of us with ADD know we are different, even when we don’t know we have ADD. As a result, we may think we are lazy or stupid when we fail repeatedly to complete what seem like simple tasks. People with undiagnosed ADD often have low self-esteem and feel like there is no place they fit in. As adults, they may jump from job to job and have difficulty with relationships, resulting in unhappy or broken marriages.

Okay, now I’m starting to sound like ADD is a total bummer; but when it is acknowledged and understood, it doesn’t have to be. There is a positive side to ADD. The typical ADD person is intelligent, often well above average. ADD people are usually creative by nature, and as a result, tend to excel in fields like art and music or even engineering because they are usually great problem solvers.

That doesn’t mean they are good at correcting problems. The person with ADD may figure out how to solve a problem, but often becomes bored at the point of implementing a solution. He needs the help of a normal person to see the task completed. Surrounded by competent, normal people, the ADD person may be an excellent leader. He may be a visionary when it comes to business, but he needs someone else to keep the records, handle the filing, and manage production.

The ADD person may be very artistic and produce paintings, pots, photographs, or sculptures that are beautiful and unique, but don’t expect him to replicate the same object over and over. His mind is always seeking new horizons, new challenges. As soon as a challenge is overcome, it is no longer interesting. Routine is the nemesis of the person with ADD.

The ADD person should never be an accountant or a file clerk. In such jobs his creativity would surely wreak havoc on the workplace. He has a compelling need to deal with new challenges continually. Continuing to deal with tasks he understands and has mastered results in boredom and can lead to depression.

There is no cure for ADD. I don’t think we should even be looking for one. There are, however, medications that help keep those of us with ADD focused and productive. There are also therapists and coaches who can help us understand how our thought processes are different from those of the rest of the world so that we can better understand how to survive in a world that surrounds us with normal people.

If we aren’t dealing with a deficit of attention, and it isn’t a disorder, should we come up with another name? Perhaps we should call it HAS for hyper-attention syndrome. For the sake of communication, I’ll stick to ADD. If we let people with ADD choose the correct name, each of us would probably come up with something different. To save the hassles with normal people I’ll knuckle under to the authorities this time.

I have ADD and I’m proud of it. My brain is special.

A Postscript

This essay is one more indication of my ADD. Instead of sitting here at the computer keyboard writing this, I should have been either packing for my impending move or doing some work for my customers. Something in my head kept telling me I have to write this essay NOW!

I am 55 years old, divorced, have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Parkinson’s disease (PD); I have $16 cash in my pocket and an unknown bank balance (Negative or positive? Not sure!) The Department of Revenue is looking for me; there’s a nearly full tank of gas in my ten-year-old car with 116,000 miles on it; my phone is about to be shut off; I have three ex-wives, two sons, and a girl friend (sort of); my 90 year-old father lives alone, is losing his memory and is in better shape physically than I; there’s the possibility of a new 90 year-old step-mother; I have back problems that are keeping me from working my most lucrative part-time job, a business that has just closed; a deadline to get out of the business location/home that I have just sold in 17 days!, work to get started for my other part-time job, and work needing to be completed for customers from my recently closed business. There are phone calls that need to be made to a disability insurance company, a real estate agent and to artists who have consigned work to me; then there are customers, creditors, and who knows whom and what else I need to take care of…. Where do I start?

After a shower, I think I’ll play solitaire on my broken computer…

Have a great day!

If you are interested in learning more about ADD visit these links:

Attention Deficit Disorder Resources of Tacoma, WA

Attention Deficit Disorder Association

Adult Self-Report Scale (Screener)

Comments Appreciated Click Here

Images and text are all Copyright Dave Michael.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission of the author.

Friday Was One Of Those Days

Friday was one of those days. I woke up early (well, early for me), feeling good and ready to take on the world.  I made breakfast, pancakes, bacon and eggs. I even had orange juice. I got it yesterday after having been out for a few days. Eating breakfast from a TV tray I kicked back in my easy chair, glanced through the latest issue of Mother Earth News, and thought about all the things I needed to accomplish before the art show I would be exhibiting in the following Friday.

 The plan. for the day included shaving  my head. Since I’m mostly bald anyway, I like to finish the job Mother Nature started. I tend to put it off though, so by the time I get around to actually doing it I’ve always grown enough hair that I need to take it down with clippers before using the razor.

After finishing breakfast I stacked the dishes in the kitchen sink and thought about how nice it would be when the dishwasher I ordered the day before arrives. I detest doing dishes almost as much as I detest shaving my head. Of course I don’t procrastinate washing dishes as long as shaving my head or I wouldn’t have any plates left to eat from.

Then I headed to the bathroom, got out a big beach towel and spread it on the floor so any hair falling while I buzzed it with the clippers wouldn’t get embedded in the bathroom carpet. In a final moment of procrastination I decided to check e-mail, Facebook, Flickr and maybe play a couple rounds of Free Cell on the computer before tackling the chore at hand. Procrastination is one of my greatest skills.

Finally returning to the chore at hand I pulled the clipper from it’s stand, pushed the switch and to the buzz of a small electric motor began removing my hair. The fuzz started floating off my head like down from a plucked goose. All was good. The act of actually grooming my bald head is ever as bad as the anticipation.

I paused a couple times to brush away some hair that was sticking to the head of the clipper, and each time promptly resumed the job of mowing my scalp. Suddenly, without warning, the electric whir ceased. I checked the clipper and there appeared to be a small amount of hair stuck between the blades. I brushed it out thinking by some strange quirk the hair jammed the cutter. With that accomplished I switched the device back on, applied it to my head, and again it abruptly stopped. After trying a couple more times with the same result I concluded my clipper had just died.

Reality slowly entered my mind. Only about a third of the hair that needed to be removed before I could use the razor had been cut. I wouldn’t be able to complete the job until I got another clipper. I don’t have a spare so the only way I could replace it would be to buy a new one.　

Then the final humiliation struck me. I would have to leave the house with my partially trimmed hair and go to the store. Swallowing my pride I headed out the door, made the 10 mile drive to the nearest Walmart, and looking like a kindergartner who had been messing with the scissors purchased a new clipper so I could go home and finish the task I had started.

My day that had begun with enthusiasm and a greater than usual determination to work past my normal procrastination tendencies had been seriously derailed. I finished trimming and shaving my head, took a shower, made a sandwich for a late lunch, watched boring afternoon television while I ate, then headed to the bedroom for a long nap.

Productivity be damned!!

Comments Appreciated Click Here

 Image and text copyright 2010 Dave Michael.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission of the author.

Vietnam In The Pictures And Words Of Eric Schwartz

 

Thank You Eric!  To you and the many others like you. 

The ones who came home, and the ones who didn’t.

The Last Patrol - It was 40 years ago
this is a team picture taken at the end of sept 1970. I did not know it at the time, but it turned out to be my last patrol. When the team returned from the bush, I was called into the office and was told that I had orders to leave for okinawa in the morning, thus my viet nam tour was over.

Eric Schwartz is a Vietnam veteran, a father, a mail carrier, photographer, a gardner and a friend I’ve never met in person. We met on the Flickr  photo sharing site on the internet where we share discuss our photographs.   Many of the images he posts are of him and his friends in Vietnam while serving as marines.  One of the things that strikes me as I gaze at his pictures is how young these men were. They should have still been boys, but they were forced to grow up at a time they should have still been out playing and enjoying their youth.

The photo to the right is of Eric with his children at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. in August of 2007.

These days when not working for the U.S. Postal Service Eric spends much of his time making and posting images of his flower garden, scenes from places he visits and from daily life around his home in Oakland, Ca.  He is one of the lucky ones who returned home to a life more normal.  Some of his friends were not so fortunate. 

The words accompanying the photographs are those of Eric.  I let him speak for himself.  There is no way I could embelish what he has to say. 

* * * * * * * * * *

   

Crazed Nam Vets – 1st Recon bn reunion August 2001
top row left to right: Doc Upton, Cayenne, Ron Kline(silver star winner), Me
bottom row left to right: Larry Huffman, Crazy Jim

    

 Mad Moment - Vietnam 1970, we might have worn love beads, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t know the business end of an M-16.

 

 Doggie and Nano – Nano was KIA Nov 18, 1970
he was a quiet and calm young man
He was a true friend and
I think of him often.
photo by Larry “Lodi” Elkins 

November 18,1970 was a dark day in Marine Corps history.
A recon team from the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion call sign, “Rush Act” was 3 day overdue from extraction and was out of food and water with several Marines injured. They were located on a high peak in the Que Son mountains (AT 967407) on a difficult slope. Many attempts were made to extract them in the days prior to November 18th but were thwarted by monsoon rains and clouds. On November 18th Major Ted Tobin set out from the recon helo pad with Lt Curt Rogers flying his wing. Tobin’s aircraft carried the CO of the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion, Lt Col William G. Leftwich, his operations officer and several other extract certified Marines. While flying to the location of Team Rush Act, Tobin’s CH-46 experienced RPM surges that required it to land at LZ Baldy, several clicks south of there intended mission. At LZ Baldy it was determined that the “SPIE” rig would be transferred to Lt Curt Rogers CH-46 (Bureau# 154837). Once the transfer was complete the section departed for the pickup. LT Rogers flew over the team in bad weather but was able to spot them and began the extraction. During the extraction the weather deteriorated quickly resulting in extremely poor visibility. Lt Rogers reported he had the team and was departing the area. He was not heard from again. During the retrograde operation the following day it was clear that the CH-46 carrying Team Rush Act and all there command staff made a turn in IFR conditions and flew into the side of the mountain killing all 16 Marines.

 

 

Me And Doan – On a slow day in the Nam, Frank Doan and I take off our macho warrior masks and show ourselves as what we were beneath all of the stress of being on the front line……teenaged boys.

 

 

Hippy Me In The Nam - Flashback Viet Nam 1970   Here I am . . . I just spent a week in the weeds.  This photo was taken at 1st Recon Bm, 1st Marine Divisions rear area.  The place is called Camp Reasoner, (After medal of honor winner Lt Reasoner) LZ401, Da Nang.  Have you any clue as to how a person smells after humping the jungles of Nam?  Pretty fucking rank.  But now I am smelling fresh as a daisy.  I cleaned my rifle, stowed my gear, took a shit, a shower and a shave.  Then, I went over to the barber shop that was run by the Zips and got myself a stunning Marine Corps issue high and tight haircut.  Wow, ain’t I cool in my tiger stripe cammy shirt and my hippy dippy purple tinted peepers.  After spending a week putting my ass out on the line, doing what I loved best. . . Recon (OOH RAH!!!), I think that when the sun goes down, I owe it to myself to mosey over to a certain hootch, the one where the heavy People hang out, & have a toke or two of that fine Nam herb, and just chill with my homies, maybe they will have some fine tunes on the Sony reel to reel.  Cause you know what?  In a day or two I’ll be back out there mixing it up with Mr. Charles.  So what are they going to do shave my hair and send me to Nam???  OOH RAH and Semper Fi!! and welcome ack to the world to all of you arheads, Squids, cannoncockers, grunts, seabees, dog faces, GI you Number fucking tens, medics, corpsman, wingwipes, sailorboys, airdales, deck apes, snipes, skivvey wavers, scouts, dog handlers, shit birds, KPers, coke machine officers, m60 humpers, RTOs, donut dollies, nurses, chaplins, docs, cookies, river rats, tunnel rats, juicers, heads, rear area mother fuckers, supply clerks, ammo humpers, door gunners, crew chiefs, and all others who served in the Nam.  Wannabees take a fucking hike!!

* * * * * * * * * *

Welcome Home Eric!

 

 To see more of Eric Schwartz’ images from Vietnam and to read more of his words click here.

 

  Cosmos blooming in Eric’s garden.

To see more images by Eric Schwartz in addition those from Vietnam click here.

 

Text and images copyright Eric Schwartz and Dave Michael.  No part of ths article may be reproduced in any form without explicit permission from the copyright holder.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Mr. Hopper, I’m sorry to see you go.
Rest assured there are those left behind who will keep your rebelious spirit alive.

Please take time to view this short video:  Born To Be Wild

An Evening At Alcott Center With The Flying Asbinis Traveling Sideshow Arts-Travaganza!

This past Saturday evening I had the pleasure of being entertained by a delightful group of performance artists including a comedian, dancers, poets, a juggler and a singer songwriter at the Alcott Arts Center in Kansas City, KS. 

  

  

To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. The acts I saw were just a small portion of what was offered during The Flying Asbinis Traveling Sideshow Arts-Travaganza!, a two-day event which also included paintings in every medium, pen and ink drawings, graphic novels, photography, sculpture and hand-crafted jewelry, most for sale and all by local artists. Saturday afternoon was family oriented with face painting and other activities for the younger set while the evening performances both days included some adult oriented material and was restricted to those 18 and over.

 

Unfortunately due to poor planning and scheduling on my part I only made it for the last 3 ½ hours of activities, but if my brief exposure was any indication of what the whole event was like to have been their for the entire thing might have resulted in over stimulation of my tiny brain.

 

After quickly browsing the visual art exhibits I headed for the theatre where all the performance art was taking place. First up after my arrival was Steve Williams, a budding comic, whose routine was entertaining although probably not quite ready for an appearance on late night TV.

 

Troupe Duende, a fusion belly dance ensemble with 5 members, was the next up with a performance so amazing it alone would have been worth the 30 mile drive I made to attend. All 5 ladies stormed the stage for the first number, shimmying, shaking, and contorting in manners one would not believe a human body could achieve, while all the time keeping in rhythm with the eerie sounds of eastern melodies and staying in synch with each other.

 

 

 

After their first dance they explained the reason they refer to themselves as fusion belly dancers is there are a variety of different styles of their art and they don’t limit themselves to just one. Their performance became even more astounding when they said what they were doing was improvisational and not choreographed. When they stepped onto the stage they didn’t know exactly what they were going to do, but much like jazz musicians they kept themselves coordinated by giving each other signals during the performance.

Following their opening number several of the members performed equally entrancing solo and duet dances, and finished their time on the stage with another rousing group dance.

When Troupe Duende finished, a series of performance poets took the stage beginning with the Flying Asbinis a husband and wife duo, Rachel and Lance Asbury, whose words dealt with life and relationships. Then Desmond “3-3-7” Jones and Theodore “Priest” Hughes, aka Recipe, took command with a rousing message about society, government and some of the dangers of living in the 21^st century.

After these two duos stirred my mind with words that affected me so strongly adrenalin was pumping through my veins William Peck arrived with compelling words about the effects of religion on society. His delivery was loud, at times even angry. Some might find what he says offensive, but whether one agrees with his message or not, I find it hard to believe that anyone could spend more than a few minutes in his presence without thinking about their own beliefs.

Changing things to a more humorous tone, Jen Morris performed “I Like My Vagina,” an excerpt from the famous, or perhaps infamous depending on your point of view, Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

The entertainment then returned to the medium of dance as Betsy Barratt captivated the audience with a performance that can best be described with only one word, UNIQUE. She took the stage wearing a gauzy white hoop skirt, large flowers in her hair and covering her bust, and a bevy of black birds around her waist and on her head.  

As she swayed and spun to the music her slender arms and long fingers were as expressive as her face.   The birds were pulled from her costume and flung spreading across the stage.  The act ended with her kneeling front and center pulling a banner that read “He Loves You He Loves You . . .”  from her bodice.

 

 

Next Val Baul stepped onto the stage, and as all the lights were dimmed she juggled lighted balls. Her act was light-hearted and entertaining though perhaps a bit overshadowed by some of the performances before her.

As the theatre was re-lighted two more poets, Tony Plocido and Jason Ryberg took turns on the stage.   As with their predecessors their words were sometimes humorous and sometimes serious, but always with drama and meaning.

 

Singer-songwriter Aaron Fuhr closed the evening’s acts.  With a sound somewhat reminiscent of  Bob Dylan he shared a set of songs dedicated to his new daughter who was born just 2 days before. Though suffering from the lack of sleep typically brought on by new fatherhood and fighting guitar strings that seemed inclined to disintegrate as he accompanied melodies made both with his voice and a harmonica, he turned in a more than respectable performance and definitely kept the crowd entertained.

In summary, when I arrived at the Alcott Center expecting to see a group of good though perhaps not great entertainers I was taken slightly aback by the price of admission. By the time the second act concluded their performance I had no doubt in my mind it was $15 well spent. It was also heartening to know all the performers shared their talents for the love of the art, and the entire cost of admission was donated to operation of the Alcott Center whose staff is dedicated to sharing art with the community.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

See more of Dave Michael’s images here.  Aardvark Foto on Flickr

Photographs and text copyright Dave Michael.  No portion of this may be reproduced in any form without consent of the author.

I’m Cheering For Holly On Celebrity Apprentice

I was surprised when I discovered one of the finalists on Celebrity Apprentice was someone I had met.

Holly Robinson Peete and her husband Rodney Peete at the Symposium on Parkinson’s Disease in Overland Park, KS, August 29, 2010 sponsored by the Kansas University Medical Center.

Celebrity Apprentice is a show that never appealed to me. I haven’t watched a single episode so I didn’t know much about what was happening on the show. That changed somewhat when I saw an ad mentioning the two finalists, and I was surprised to realize I had met one of them. No, not Bret Michaels, even though I do like rock music and his last name is almost the same as mine.

Last fall I met Holly Robinson Peete and her husband Rodney at a seminar on Parkinson’s Disease sponsored by the Kansas University Medical Center. They qualify as celebrities due to Holly’s acting career and Rodney’s time as an NFL football player. To me, though, there is a more important reason they are special.

Together they established and operate the HollyRod Foundation which helps people who are dealing with autism and Parkinson’s Disease. Both causes are of special interest to me. Autism, because I have an 8 year old buddy who is affected by it, and Parkinson’s Disease because it affects me personally.

Now, as I said before I haven’t watched the show, so I really can’t comment about how Holly’s performance stacks up against Brett Michael’s. What I do know is Holly has touched the lives of many people in a very positive way. Whether she wins or loses on Celebrity Apprentice she deserves much credit for giving her time and using her celebrity to improve the lives of others.

When Donald Trump says, “You’re Fired!” for the last time this season I’m hoping it is Holly Robinson Peete left standing in the board room as Bret Michaels walks out the door.

To learn more about the HollyRod Foundation visit 

http://www.hollyrod.org/ .

Text and Image Copyright 2010 Dave Michael

16? Random Things About Me

In a game that is played online a friend asked me to list 16 random things about myself that people might not know.

This is my response.

1.  I have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and it often makes me laugh at things non ADD people don’t understand.

2.  My two wonderful sons are 21 and 23.  In some ways they are very much like me, in other ways totally different.

3.  When I was in junior high and high school some of my friends and I made explosives just for fun.

4.  I once had a dog named Karl von Munchausen.  We called him Munch.

5.  I have a college education, but in my last job I stacked boxes for a living.

6.  I’m nearly 62 years old and have been taking pictures since getting my first camera almost 57 years ago.

7.  I once drove to Guatemala City and rode a bus back.  I studied German four years before going to Central America.   I speak “Survival Spanish.”   I can count money and order food. I can also ask directions but unfortunately seldom understand the response.

8.  I once photographed Richard Nixon while two secret service men grabbed me under the arm pits and dragged me back.

9.  I refer to myself as a Christian Agnostic, but at one time I was a Sunday School teacher.

10.  On a few occasions my parents came home and found my older sister had tied me to a chair.

11.  My first motor vehicle was a 1952 Allstate motor scooter that I got in 1964.  My first car was a 1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe. I got it in 1965.

12.  I used to play the trombone and guitar and occasionally still play the piano and pump organ.

13.  I have ridden a bicycle 100 miles in a day on more than one occasion.   At one time I was running 10 miles a day. Now some days I struggle to walk from my bed to the bathroom.

14.  I claim to be better at weddings than marriage because I have worked successfully as a wedding photographer, but have had more wives than I care to admit and am divorced from all.

15.  I would do yard work naked if I thought the neighbors wouldn’t get upset and have me arrested.

16.  I own a photograph of Edward Weston that was made by his son Joel.

17.  Sometimes I can be rebellious and not follow directions well. LOL

Text and images all Copyright 2010 Dave Michael.  No portion of  this article may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.