Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
You were there like a blowtorch burning
(You were there with a fire, for years, burning)
I was a key that could use a little turning
(I was late catching on to your pounding heart's churning)
...still more Soul Asylum~~~Runaway Train; with a slant.
Over some time now I've been observing, mostly through FACEBOOK Comments and remarks of that nature, the mentioning by a couple of women, the virtues of sensitivity, compassion, and romance. And recently, on one of the Walls, there has appeared the reference to the movie, LAKE HOUSE~~~and romance. As a SUB-TITLE, the U-Tube caption reads as follows:...they are dancing, hug each other in a very Romantic moment. Interestingly, this has created a bit of a captive audience. A female friend replies..."I want that kind of romance...and it wouldn't hurt if he was the one doling it out." While the commentary so far has come from women, whether it is a man, or a woman, the statements evoke the mind to respond; to see its own version of how the romance should be played out. This may surprise you, but as humanity, man can be sensitive enough to have a romantic side, too. A [this] man may even have his own version of how romance would manifest itself in his Lake House.
Let us even forget, for the moment, that this just might be an issue between a husband and a wife. Instead, it is a man~~~and a woman.
Sitting along the rail of the deck of The lake House, Louie is deep in thought. Looking out over the rail, onto the serene crystal gloss-finish of the surface of the lake, Angel can readily recognize that Louie is world's-away in thought. She, as well, sees the thoughts as weighted ones. And Angel knows this, having been with Louie for some years now, because through all the trials & tribulations of their shared experiences, her heart still feels a pulse for this man.
Angel walks up to Louie and sits along-side him. She comes in close, because she wants to let him know that he is not alone; he has his heart and his soul right along-side him. Once seated, Angel angles her chair, takes Louie's hands, and looks him in the eyes. It is a gripping elongated moment, a moment that in the grasp of love, seemed forever. Through each others eyes, they had just walked into the abyss of each others souls. It was this sanctuary of tranquility that Angel came forward with what was on her mind. Louie, I know you are hurting. I see how this illness has weighed heavy on your mind. And how it has taken an obvious toll on you physically. I can see that with you having lost this very bountiful job, you are worried sick. Louie, you must know that you are not carrying this weight
by yourself anymore. I will help. I don't know how, yet, but you need to know that I will do whatever I can for you. I am here for you. Whatever resources I can generate, I would love to help you carry some of this burden. Look, if I have to take on another cleaning job, I will. Whatever you need, I'm there for you. I love you, and this is my pledge to you. This is my pledge to us. I need you; I need you strong. Don't despair, don't lose hope.
Louie, incredibly touched and moved by the unexpected assurances, had is eyes welling with tears. For Louie, this was mentally going to be a slow-dance. He was going to have to come to terms that he didn't Have to be the sole-provider anymore; that the lifestyle expenses were going to be a shared experience. The slow-dance was Louie's way of having Angel know he could and would come to terms with that arrangement.
Louie then looked into Angel's eyes, and said...thank you. Knowing that I am not carrying this alone, with the reduced income level into the household, gives me some peace-of-mind of knowing that there is an additional source of income to count on. And more importantly, Angel, is that you came to me and initiated the overture. You made a genuine offering of yourself to me, unsolicited. It wasn't solicited; it wasn't pleaded for, whereby I would be made to feel that I was the incapable one having to seek a hand-out to meet my obligations. It became our obligations, and Angel, I am so grateful for your help. Know that if and when circumstances should improve, I will reclaim covering what I always felt was my end-of-the-bargain to be responsible for. Know that I Love You Angel, because you are truly The Love of My Life.
That is the Lake House moment I see played out in my head having to do with love, support, reaching-out, and being there for the Love-of-Your-Life.
In the real world---none of that took place. Instead, what message does come across very very often, in ALL parts of the relationship is...you are on your own.
As I struggle up the side-door stairs, coming into the house from the Belle Center, it is our Tootsie, the little lovable dachshund, that comes to the door to greet me. From the living room, glued to the armoire furniture-fixture and the desk-top computer doing U-Tube and FACEBOOK, is my wife, calling out...who's there; how was work?? Like I'm going to converse, from three rooms away. I just reply...it was good.
Or how about this one. We are actually having a family sit-down-at-the-kitchen-table-supper, and rather than having an engaging conversation with the husband throughout the supper, the intent instead is to get through supper so that she can retreat back to the computer, U-Tube, and FACEBOOK. And there I am, at the supper-table still eating, with loyal Tootsie underfoot; alone again naturally.
I don't even know if she is being coached into this behavior, or if she is choosing this course-of-action on her own, as pay-back. The term pay-back, is referencing all of the vile and indiscretionary acts I have done against her in our married life.
Of course, now one wonders, OMG, what did this vile, indespicable, cockroach of humanity do that the wife still harbors such resentment. And in conversations, she makes it a point to remind me of those acts that, because they cannot be forgotten, they cannot be forgiven.
Sensitive, compassionate, and romantic. It has to be with another person, because on good days, we just co-exist.
For one hour on Sunday, I actually do feel loved. I actually get a kiss from her. She'll dress up and if I'm really lucky, she'll be wearing one of her Rings. Sometimes it will even be the Reaffirmation Ring that I got for her, for Christmas 2006.
That was SUPPOSED to be my, on my knees, statement to tell her that I was rededicating the 1973 Lou back to her. The young, innocent, if-you-even-think-of-leaving-me-I'd-be-crushed, Lou.
Her response to the ring, which was very expensive I might add, flabbergasted me. I was so crestfallen, I honestly felt like the young suitor; rejected. More out of sympathy for me not having to embarrassingly return the ring she, with hesitation, put it on. The pregnant-pauses, the obvious reservations about the ring and the statement it was supposed to make, left as lasting an impression on me as apparently what I have done in the past~~~has left, as impressions, on her.
The reaction to that gift, became the watershed moment for me and our marriage. It took the winds right out of my sails. That gesture was supposed to be the evidence that would give testimony to a marriage that was getting back on track and, was supposed to be made-in-heaven.
A void; a kind of emptiness just ended up becoming~~~whom I am. The irony is that even though I thought I was going to be crushed, I wasn't. Disappointed; hugely. Crushed; no.
No man can LIVE alone, though.
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Men, Just Act Like You Care...The Gatekeeper
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
Call you up in the middle of the night...
(Passing Through a Towne, in the middle of my life)
Like a firefly without a light...
(True Reunions, faces in a book, classmates, and the like)
Soul Asylum~~~Runaway Train; with a slant.
Hey Men: Just act like...
...You Care About Us
No matter how the man feels; how impacted-to-the-core he may be, the woman is the gatekeeper; she has the key to open~~~and shut, at-will. I'm not sure that the woman understands this. How a man that craves the affections of a woman, must wait for the woman to decide the verdict; the willingness to embrace and open the gate, or turn away and shut everything down.
An open letter to men: We love you, we really do. We know you're different than we are, and we like it that way.
It's true we often ask you to act more like we do. But if we're honest, we know and you know that our differences make things more interesting and exciting.
No matter how the man feels; how impacted-to-the-core he may be, the woman is the gatekeeper; she has the key to open~~~and shut, at-will. I'm not sure that the woman understands this. How a man that craves the affections of a woman, must wait for the woman to decide the verdict; the willingness to embrace and open the gate, or turn away and shut everything down.
People often assume that we're more complicated than you are. Our whirling, swirling thoughts and emotions probably feel like an ever-changing cocktail of both nuance and volatility. But there's one thing almost all of us want from you, and it's the exact same thing you want from us. We want you to be happy.
When you're not happy, we feel unappreciated and unloved. It's true: Just as our mood affects you, your moods affect us. But what makes us feel loved is different than what makes you feel loved.
On the one hand,there is a man that realizes that he has committed transgressions. These transgressions are of the bedroom variety where adventure and erotica might have been taken to the point where the woman found the excesses hurtful. Being a sensitive man, he has always been regretful of these actions. This man admits that he finds this erotica enjoyable. But admittedly, it is not for everybody. In recognizing this, this man commits the rest of his life to redressing those transgressions. He commits to this course of action because he firmly believes in staying married to his 'true-love' all the days of his life. He believes in staying married till death due us part; for better or for worse.
If you don't care what makes women happy or you're sick of trying to figure out female emotions, you can quit reading now. But if you're like most men, you've probably spent the better part of your life frustrated by females, and if you knew there was one simple thing that would make your woman happy, you would do it.
Well, there is. I've been listening to women talk and reading their letters for more than a decade, and when you cut through all the clutter, a single theme has emerged. Women want men to care. We don't want you to merely be willing to engage in the activities that are important to us, we want you to want to, especially when it comes to the kids. We don't just want you to watch your children; we want you to want to watch them.
Sadly though, throughout this life-long discourse he begrudgingly realizes that because it is not forgotten, it, in effect, cannot be forgiven. There is also this metaphysical mind-set that is beginning to take place. Until recently, this man deeply, deeply felt that if he had lost his wife, the Love-of-His Life, he would be Crushed. Then a metaphysical transformation took place. And the Love-of-His-Life was...
We don't want you to begrudgingly take the family to the fair; we want you to be delighted. We don't want you to complain about going shopping for a washing machine; we want you to take it in stride as part of running the family.
It may seem like telling us how inconvenienced you are or how much effort you had to putin would make us appreciate you even more for participating. But it doesn't. We don't expect you to be enthusiastic about playing Scrabble with Aunt Verna, but when you grumble about how hard it is to get home from work in time to tuck your children in, we interpret it to mean that you don¿t really want to do it in the first place, and that hurts.
In the time period where the recognition that these actions of years ago are still not forgiven and forgotten, something else, slowly-but-surely, becomes realized.
This man encounters another gatekeeper. And since this gatekeeper had to return...
'to greet the roses...left behind', this man is left...standing in the midnight air.
You may think we're angry when we nag you to spend more time with your family, but we're actually sad. After talking with literally thousands of women, especially mothers, I can tell you every time a woman has to badger a man to become more engaged, a little piece of her heart breaks. When a man complains or seems to begrudge his own participation, the woman feels unloved.
To us, reluctance to engage equals I don't care.
I know I'm just presenting one side of this, but that's kind of the point. I'll leave to a man to explain the other side.
A heart so weighted, so burdened.
One Love Lost. Another forbidden to be claimed. --{-=@
Here's the bottom line: Women want men to be happy, and we desperately want participating in your family to be the thing that puts a big old smile on your face.
Lisa Earle McLeod(Buffalo News Columnist)
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Call you up in the middle of the night...
(Passing Through a Towne, in the middle of my life)
Like a firefly without a light...
(True Reunions, faces in a book, classmates, and the like)
Soul Asylum~~~Runaway Train; with a slant.
Hey Men: Just act like...
...You Care About Us
No matter how the man feels; how impacted-to-the-core he may be, the woman is the gatekeeper; she has the key to open~~~and shut, at-will. I'm not sure that the woman understands this. How a man that craves the affections of a woman, must wait for the woman to decide the verdict; the willingness to embrace and open the gate, or turn away and shut everything down.
An open letter to men: We love you, we really do. We know you're different than we are, and we like it that way.
It's true we often ask you to act more like we do. But if we're honest, we know and you know that our differences make things more interesting and exciting.
No matter how the man feels; how impacted-to-the-core he may be, the woman is the gatekeeper; she has the key to open~~~and shut, at-will. I'm not sure that the woman understands this. How a man that craves the affections of a woman, must wait for the woman to decide the verdict; the willingness to embrace and open the gate, or turn away and shut everything down.
People often assume that we're more complicated than you are. Our whirling, swirling thoughts and emotions probably feel like an ever-changing cocktail of both nuance and volatility. But there's one thing almost all of us want from you, and it's the exact same thing you want from us. We want you to be happy.
When you're not happy, we feel unappreciated and unloved. It's true: Just as our mood affects you, your moods affect us. But what makes us feel loved is different than what makes you feel loved.
On the one hand,there is a man that realizes that he has committed transgressions. These transgressions are of the bedroom variety where adventure and erotica might have been taken to the point where the woman found the excesses hurtful. Being a sensitive man, he has always been regretful of these actions. This man admits that he finds this erotica enjoyable. But admittedly, it is not for everybody. In recognizing this, this man commits the rest of his life to redressing those transgressions. He commits to this course of action because he firmly believes in staying married to his 'true-love' all the days of his life. He believes in staying married till death due us part; for better or for worse.
If you don't care what makes women happy or you're sick of trying to figure out female emotions, you can quit reading now. But if you're like most men, you've probably spent the better part of your life frustrated by females, and if you knew there was one simple thing that would make your woman happy, you would do it.
Well, there is. I've been listening to women talk and reading their letters for more than a decade, and when you cut through all the clutter, a single theme has emerged. Women want men to care. We don't want you to merely be willing to engage in the activities that are important to us, we want you to want to, especially when it comes to the kids. We don't just want you to watch your children; we want you to want to watch them.
Sadly though, throughout this life-long discourse he begrudgingly realizes that because it is not forgotten, it, in effect, cannot be forgiven. There is also this metaphysical mind-set that is beginning to take place. Until recently, this man deeply, deeply felt that if he had lost his wife, the Love-of-His Life, he would be Crushed. Then a metaphysical transformation took place. And the Love-of-His-Life was...
We don't want you to begrudgingly take the family to the fair; we want you to be delighted. We don't want you to complain about going shopping for a washing machine; we want you to take it in stride as part of running the family.
It may seem like telling us how inconvenienced you are or how much effort you had to putin would make us appreciate you even more for participating. But it doesn't. We don't expect you to be enthusiastic about playing Scrabble with Aunt Verna, but when you grumble about how hard it is to get home from work in time to tuck your children in, we interpret it to mean that you don¿t really want to do it in the first place, and that hurts.
In the time period where the recognition that these actions of years ago are still not forgiven and forgotten, something else, slowly-but-surely, becomes realized.
This man encounters another gatekeeper. And since this gatekeeper had to return...
'to greet the roses...left behind', this man is left...standing in the midnight air.
You may think we're angry when we nag you to spend more time with your family, but we're actually sad. After talking with literally thousands of women, especially mothers, I can tell you every time a woman has to badger a man to become more engaged, a little piece of her heart breaks. When a man complains or seems to begrudge his own participation, the woman feels unloved.
To us, reluctance to engage equals I don't care.
I know I'm just presenting one side of this, but that's kind of the point. I'll leave to a man to explain the other side.
A heart so weighted, so burdened.
One Love Lost. Another forbidden to be claimed. --{-=@
Here's the bottom line: Women want men to be happy, and we desperately want participating in your family to be the thing that puts a big old smile on your face.
Lisa Earle McLeod(Buffalo News Columnist)
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Lafayette High School Closing
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
I hear the ticking of the clock
I'm lying here the room's pitch dark
I wonder where you are tonight
No answer on the telephone
And the night goes by so very slow
Oh I hope that it won't end though
Alone HEART
The closing of Lafayette High School could present itself~~~as a blessing in disguise. The next Lofts project for Frizlen!?!? This might be the next-shot-in-the-arm for this middle West Side neighborhood. Filtering out the 'soft' element to allow another Annunciation-Lofts type success story to take root!!!! This part of Lafayette Avenue would have property-values escalate significantly. The Resurrection, and the Life!!!!
Re: Lafayette High School Closing
Updated: July 08, 2010, 4:34 PM
By Mary B. Pasciak
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Persistent, pervasive problems at Lafayette High School will result in its closing next June, Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams said Wednesday.
Students currently enrolled at Lafayette will be able to complete the 2010-11 school year there, but no freshmen will be admitted in September, Williams told the Board of Education.
After the Class of 2011 graduates next June, the remaining sophomores and juniors at Lafayette will be reassigned to other high schools in Buffalo. The school’s principal and teachers will be reassigned.
When the Lafayette building reopens in September 2011, it will be in its infancy as a different school, serving seventh through 12th grades, Williams said. For the 2011-12 school year, it will serve only seventh and eighth grades, he said. Then, each year, another grade will be added until the school extends through 12th grade.
Williams said the district plans to begin looking at Lafayette and nearby International School 45 “more as a campus.”
Identified as one of the “persistently lowest-achieving” schools in the state, Lafayette has one of the lowest graduation rates in Buffalo, with only half its students getting a diploma.
A team of educational experts recently evaluated the school and found a great deal of tension in the building between the staff and administrators, as well as strained relationships between adults and students, Williams said.
The team recommended a wholesale change in the school’s staff and administrators. And the superintendent says he is on board. “Sometimes change is needed, and I think change is needed in Lafayette across the board,” Williams said.
International School 45, which currently serves prekindergarten through eighth grade, is currently overcrowded, he said. Its seventh and eighth grades will be moved to Lafayette in 2011, leaving the International School serving students through sixth grade.
The International School also has been identified by the state as among the persistently lowest-achieving. So have five others in Buffalo: Martin Luther King Multicultural Institute, Riverside Institute of Technology, and Bennett, Burgard and South Park high schools.
That designation meant the state required Buffalo to assemble a team of experts — a “joint intervention team” — to visit those schools, review data, observe classrooms and interview administrators, teachers, students and parents. That team then submitted its findings to the state Education Department, along with recommendations on how to turn each school around.
Each school could be eligible for as much as $2 million a year for three years to implement its improvement plan. The state will determine how much money each school will get.
A teachers union survey at Lafayette in November found that teachers see Principal Fatima Morrell as a bully who intimidates and demeans her staff. A second teacher survey this spring yielded similar results.
As part of the restructuring, Morrell will be assigned to another building. The teachers and the staff also will be reassigned. They will have the opportunity to reapply for the new school in the building, Williams said.
And Angelo Coniglio of www.remembertheafl.com FAME, offers the following perspective:
Supporters must act to preserve decades of history.
Buffalo News, Jul 19, 2010 | by Angelo F. Coniglio
The recent mismanagement, and now the announced closing, of Lafayette High School strikes to the core of the alumni of the venerable "Old Plant." Lafayette is the longest-tenured Buffalo high school still in its original building, and is on the National Historic Register.
Its Alumni Association, like no other public school's, has long supported Lafayette, with funding of capital projects such as tree planting, reconstruction of the building's iconic tower and carillon and restoration of its historic Steinway piano. Students at Lafayette have benefited from the association's awards of sports, drill teams and cheerleading uniforms; teaching aids; and thousands of dollars in scholarships.
The alumni wonder: What will become of the projects sponsored by the association, as well as the century's-worth of trophies and awards housed by the school? What will happen to the gymnasium lovingly painted on his own time by a physical education teacher, himself an alumnus of the school?
What will be the fate of the walls of fame, and the plaques that honor noted alumni such as Judge Joseph Mattina, Dr. Pasquale Greco, Fran Stryker, the creator of "The Lone Ranger," famed '40s singing group the Modernaires and Pulitzer-Prize-winning Buffalo News political cartoonist Bruce Shanks? What will become of the original oak paneling that has been preserved and often reused, as it was in creating the modern new library rooms? Where will past and future alumni research its history, if its archives of student newsletters, yearbooks, documents and photographs are no longer preserved?
This is a school whose alumni annually celebrate their ties with a lake cruise by alumni from various years, as well as with numerous reunions for individual class years. The school recently had 1,700 attendees at its 100th anniversary, from seven countries, 35 states and graduating years spanning from 1931 through 2002. That event raised more than $30,000 for the school. To whom will future reunions award their proceeds?
I propose that whatever the final use of Lafayette High School, one or more of the building's rooms be specifically set aside as halls of fame and archive rooms, to house and protect the memorabilia and memory of a school that has been an icon of the neighborhood, and the font of learning for so many of Buffalo's citizens.
These rooms should be managed, maintained and controlled not by the city of Buffalo, nor the Board of Education, both of which have failed to sustain this civic treasure, but by the board of the Lafayette High School Alumni Association.
Angelo F. Coniglio, class of 1954, is past vice president of the Lafayette High School Alumni Association. He lives in Amherst.
--{-=@
Hickok
Someday the Romance & The Music~~~Will Combine
I hear the ticking of the clock
I'm lying here the room's pitch dark
I wonder where you are tonight
No answer on the telephone
And the night goes by so very slow
Oh I hope that it won't end though
Alone HEART
The closing of Lafayette High School could present itself~~~as a blessing in disguise. The next Lofts project for Frizlen!?!? This might be the next-shot-in-the-arm for this middle West Side neighborhood. Filtering out the 'soft' element to allow another Annunciation-Lofts type success story to take root!!!! This part of Lafayette Avenue would have property-values escalate significantly. The Resurrection, and the Life!!!!
Re: Lafayette High School Closing
Updated: July 08, 2010, 4:34 PM
By Mary B. Pasciak
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Persistent, pervasive problems at Lafayette High School will result in its closing next June, Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams said Wednesday.
Students currently enrolled at Lafayette will be able to complete the 2010-11 school year there, but no freshmen will be admitted in September, Williams told the Board of Education.
After the Class of 2011 graduates next June, the remaining sophomores and juniors at Lafayette will be reassigned to other high schools in Buffalo. The school’s principal and teachers will be reassigned.
When the Lafayette building reopens in September 2011, it will be in its infancy as a different school, serving seventh through 12th grades, Williams said. For the 2011-12 school year, it will serve only seventh and eighth grades, he said. Then, each year, another grade will be added until the school extends through 12th grade.
Williams said the district plans to begin looking at Lafayette and nearby International School 45 “more as a campus.”
Identified as one of the “persistently lowest-achieving” schools in the state, Lafayette has one of the lowest graduation rates in Buffalo, with only half its students getting a diploma.
A team of educational experts recently evaluated the school and found a great deal of tension in the building between the staff and administrators, as well as strained relationships between adults and students, Williams said.
The team recommended a wholesale change in the school’s staff and administrators. And the superintendent says he is on board. “Sometimes change is needed, and I think change is needed in Lafayette across the board,” Williams said.
International School 45, which currently serves prekindergarten through eighth grade, is currently overcrowded, he said. Its seventh and eighth grades will be moved to Lafayette in 2011, leaving the International School serving students through sixth grade.
The International School also has been identified by the state as among the persistently lowest-achieving. So have five others in Buffalo: Martin Luther King Multicultural Institute, Riverside Institute of Technology, and Bennett, Burgard and South Park high schools.
That designation meant the state required Buffalo to assemble a team of experts — a “joint intervention team” — to visit those schools, review data, observe classrooms and interview administrators, teachers, students and parents. That team then submitted its findings to the state Education Department, along with recommendations on how to turn each school around.
Each school could be eligible for as much as $2 million a year for three years to implement its improvement plan. The state will determine how much money each school will get.
A teachers union survey at Lafayette in November found that teachers see Principal Fatima Morrell as a bully who intimidates and demeans her staff. A second teacher survey this spring yielded similar results.
As part of the restructuring, Morrell will be assigned to another building. The teachers and the staff also will be reassigned. They will have the opportunity to reapply for the new school in the building, Williams said.
And Angelo Coniglio of www.remembertheafl.com FAME, offers the following perspective:
Supporters must act to preserve decades of history.
Buffalo News, Jul 19, 2010 | by Angelo F. Coniglio
The recent mismanagement, and now the announced closing, of Lafayette High School strikes to the core of the alumni of the venerable "Old Plant." Lafayette is the longest-tenured Buffalo high school still in its original building, and is on the National Historic Register.
Its Alumni Association, like no other public school's, has long supported Lafayette, with funding of capital projects such as tree planting, reconstruction of the building's iconic tower and carillon and restoration of its historic Steinway piano. Students at Lafayette have benefited from the association's awards of sports, drill teams and cheerleading uniforms; teaching aids; and thousands of dollars in scholarships.
The alumni wonder: What will become of the projects sponsored by the association, as well as the century's-worth of trophies and awards housed by the school? What will happen to the gymnasium lovingly painted on his own time by a physical education teacher, himself an alumnus of the school?
What will be the fate of the walls of fame, and the plaques that honor noted alumni such as Judge Joseph Mattina, Dr. Pasquale Greco, Fran Stryker, the creator of "The Lone Ranger," famed '40s singing group the Modernaires and Pulitzer-Prize-winning Buffalo News political cartoonist Bruce Shanks? What will become of the original oak paneling that has been preserved and often reused, as it was in creating the modern new library rooms? Where will past and future alumni research its history, if its archives of student newsletters, yearbooks, documents and photographs are no longer preserved?
This is a school whose alumni annually celebrate their ties with a lake cruise by alumni from various years, as well as with numerous reunions for individual class years. The school recently had 1,700 attendees at its 100th anniversary, from seven countries, 35 states and graduating years spanning from 1931 through 2002. That event raised more than $30,000 for the school. To whom will future reunions award their proceeds?
I propose that whatever the final use of Lafayette High School, one or more of the building's rooms be specifically set aside as halls of fame and archive rooms, to house and protect the memorabilia and memory of a school that has been an icon of the neighborhood, and the font of learning for so many of Buffalo's citizens.
These rooms should be managed, maintained and controlled not by the city of Buffalo, nor the Board of Education, both of which have failed to sustain this civic treasure, but by the board of the Lafayette High School Alumni Association.
Angelo F. Coniglio, class of 1954, is past vice president of the Lafayette High School Alumni Association. He lives in Amherst.
--{-=@
Hickok
Someday the Romance & The Music~~~Will Combine
Monday, July 19, 2010
An Appeal to Albany
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
Oooh, wild horses I wanna be like you
Throwing caution to the wind, I'll run free too
Wish I Could Recklessly Love Like I'm Longing To
I wanna run with the wild horses
Run with the wild horses, oh
I wanna run too Natasha Bedingfield; Wild Horses
Susan K. Stern
Commission Chair
Mark J. Walter
Executive Director
It is with profound professional and personal disappointment that I have come to learn that NY State will no longer fund Buffalo AmeriCorps programs which serve those who desperately need them. Indeed, we AmeriCorps Buffalo members who currently serve our multi-nationality Lower West Side community, reach-out with many different programs to bring hope, and life in a positive light, to so many of the underprivileged and disadvantaged. Thanks to AmeriCorps Buffalo, we have the skills, training, references, resources and support to make this mission statement, a reality.
As a member of The Portal Program, of The Belle Center, of Americorps Buffalo; the below is a humble summation of the objectives and responsibilities that has me proudly serving as an Americorps Buffalo volunteer.
And I proudly serve professionally, even as I MUST do so with a tremendous personal set-back. You see, I do all of my professional responsibilities even though I deal with a very challenging disability, Familial Spastic Paraplegia. By struggling with two canes in hand, and a scooter in tow, and a power-lift in my van to transport my scooter, I make myself available to the potential liaisons, in-the-field, that will ultimately provide the on-the-job training opportunities and the entry-level apprenticeship programs that will help to facilitate the objectives of the Portal Program whom our 17-24 year-old young adults are enrolled in, and can be verified, benefiting from.
On your New York Volunteers HOMEPAGE, you BANNER: Home National Service Volunteer Organizations and Disability Inclusion. It is with a profound sense of disappointment to have to realize that the virtues that are espoused~~~are all spectacle, and no substance.
Subject: Re: Summary of Responsibility & Objectives
Ms. Beverly Newkirk, and Mr. Luis Acosta; I am enclosing a summary of my responsibilities because of what you are involved with, in terms of training at THE Asbury Shalom Zone. It appears to be a hands-on type of training/vocational application that we, at the Belle Center, would appreciate getting a chance to learn more about. I will be following up this correspondence to see if we can schedule a meeting. Your involvement with trade/vocational training was brought to my attention by Michael Brundidge. I sincerely appreciate your time and attention on this matter.
This is a summary of my responsibility and objectives for the Portal Program @
The Belle Center.
As the Operations Specialist for the Portal Program at THE BELLE CENTER, it is
my responsibility to develop windows-of-opportunity to get young adults, 17-24
years of age, ready for the "work world." And of course, the emphasis of the
Portal Program is to try to steer these young adults into some kind of
purposeful college direction. But not everybody is college material. We
however, do not want these young adults to fall through the cracks. These are
young adults whom by-and-large, have little or no skill-sets; little or no tools
in their tool belts. With these individuals, among other choices, we are
attempting to encourage looking at the Military as a career option. Included in
this career option would be the USMC, ARMY, NAVY, USAF, and USCG. We are
additionally trying to develop partnerships, working relationships, and
joint-ventures, with the private sector building-trades companies, Trade
Organizations, and Organized Labor. The intent here is to provide occupational
training workshops, on-the-job training internships, and entry-level
apprenticeship programs for The Portal Program clients. The one institution
in all of this that has consistently stepped forward to offer legitimate training strategies to get
the young adults 'work-world' ready---has been THE LABOR UNIONS, and some of
the NON-PROFITS. These training and advocacy 'engines' continue to recognize
that a well-trained, skilled employee has a better resume, and therefore more to
offer an employer. This makes the young adult more employable and gets him the
respect that allows him to receive a living-wage---and sustainability.
As a way of showcasing these relationships that The Belle Center has developed,
we had our, first ever, VOCATIONAL TRADE FAIR. This was not a Job Fair. It was
a genuine effort to get on the floor of the gym at The Belle Center for 4
hours in the afternoon of the 13th of May---as broad a scope of vocational and
trade choices, as possible. The Western New York community was able to see to
what lengths The Belle Center, Organized Labor, other Non-Profits, trade
organizations, and private-sector businesses, is willing to go to help
underprivileged and disadvantaged young adults find self-sustainability in
the 'work-world'.
We want an exciting Vista; a Panorama of Possibilities!!! The young adults need
to know that there is so much more for them to aspire to, for their WORK
WORLD self-sustainability, then cleaning stainless-steel counter-tops---and
flipping burgers, for a living.
As a viable consideration, The Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters Local 289
of 1159 Maryvale Dr Cheektowaga, NY, and its elaborate training apparatus at the
Rochester, NY location is the Creme de la Creme for carpenter and building-trades training
applications. And boasting...We Built This City; You Can Too, The International Union of
Operating Engineers will be conducting their 6th Annual CONSTRUCTION CAREER DAYS
Training Workshop at the end of September, 2010. This two-day extravaganza will include an
intensive mix of detailed classroom and, in-the-field entry-level hands-on training.
The timid need-not-apply!!
Rather than reinventing the wheel, operatives of the Portal Program would
be given the opportunity to review first-hand, the applications and the methods-of-operation
by which your training apparatus functions. It is ultimately our intention to enroll and
have our clients develop their skill-sets therein.
As an AOSOS(American One-Stop Operating-Systems) Clerical;
must data-enter all training, certification, and progress-report updates
into the NYSDOL's elaborate input program for the clients; members
of the Portal Program. The enrollment at this point, is 45 members.
Lou Marconi
Operations Specialist
The Belle Center
The Portal Program
716.845.0485 x 19
716.578.8568 cell
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Oooh, wild horses I wanna be like you
Throwing caution to the wind, I'll run free too
Wish I Could Recklessly Love Like I'm Longing To
I wanna run with the wild horses
Run with the wild horses, oh
I wanna run too Natasha Bedingfield; Wild Horses
Susan K. Stern
Commission Chair
Mark J. Walter
Executive Director
It is with profound professional and personal disappointment that I have come to learn that NY State will no longer fund Buffalo AmeriCorps programs which serve those who desperately need them. Indeed, we AmeriCorps Buffalo members who currently serve our multi-nationality Lower West Side community, reach-out with many different programs to bring hope, and life in a positive light, to so many of the underprivileged and disadvantaged. Thanks to AmeriCorps Buffalo, we have the skills, training, references, resources and support to make this mission statement, a reality.
As a member of The Portal Program, of The Belle Center, of Americorps Buffalo; the below is a humble summation of the objectives and responsibilities that has me proudly serving as an Americorps Buffalo volunteer.
And I proudly serve professionally, even as I MUST do so with a tremendous personal set-back. You see, I do all of my professional responsibilities even though I deal with a very challenging disability, Familial Spastic Paraplegia. By struggling with two canes in hand, and a scooter in tow, and a power-lift in my van to transport my scooter, I make myself available to the potential liaisons, in-the-field, that will ultimately provide the on-the-job training opportunities and the entry-level apprenticeship programs that will help to facilitate the objectives of the Portal Program whom our 17-24 year-old young adults are enrolled in, and can be verified, benefiting from.
On your New York Volunteers HOMEPAGE, you BANNER: Home National Service Volunteer Organizations and Disability Inclusion. It is with a profound sense of disappointment to have to realize that the virtues that are espoused~~~are all spectacle, and no substance.
Subject: Re: Summary of Responsibility & Objectives
Ms. Beverly Newkirk, and Mr. Luis Acosta; I am enclosing a summary of my responsibilities because of what you are involved with, in terms of training at THE Asbury Shalom Zone. It appears to be a hands-on type of training/vocational application that we, at the Belle Center, would appreciate getting a chance to learn more about. I will be following up this correspondence to see if we can schedule a meeting. Your involvement with trade/vocational training was brought to my attention by Michael Brundidge. I sincerely appreciate your time and attention on this matter.
This is a summary of my responsibility and objectives for the Portal Program @
The Belle Center.
As the Operations Specialist for the Portal Program at THE BELLE CENTER, it is
my responsibility to develop windows-of-opportunity to get young adults, 17-24
years of age, ready for the "work world." And of course, the emphasis of the
Portal Program is to try to steer these young adults into some kind of
purposeful college direction. But not everybody is college material. We
however, do not want these young adults to fall through the cracks. These are
young adults whom by-and-large, have little or no skill-sets; little or no tools
in their tool belts. With these individuals, among other choices, we are
attempting to encourage looking at the Military as a career option. Included in
this career option would be the USMC, ARMY, NAVY, USAF, and USCG. We are
additionally trying to develop partnerships, working relationships, and
joint-ventures, with the private sector building-trades companies, Trade
Organizations, and Organized Labor. The intent here is to provide occupational
training workshops, on-the-job training internships, and entry-level
apprenticeship programs for The Portal Program clients. The one institution
in all of this that has consistently stepped forward to offer legitimate training strategies to get
the young adults 'work-world' ready---has been THE LABOR UNIONS, and some of
the NON-PROFITS. These training and advocacy 'engines' continue to recognize
that a well-trained, skilled employee has a better resume, and therefore more to
offer an employer. This makes the young adult more employable and gets him the
respect that allows him to receive a living-wage---and sustainability.
As a way of showcasing these relationships that The Belle Center has developed,
we had our, first ever, VOCATIONAL TRADE FAIR. This was not a Job Fair. It was
a genuine effort to get on the floor of the gym at The Belle Center for 4
hours in the afternoon of the 13th of May---as broad a scope of vocational and
trade choices, as possible. The Western New York community was able to see to
what lengths The Belle Center, Organized Labor, other Non-Profits, trade
organizations, and private-sector businesses, is willing to go to help
underprivileged and disadvantaged young adults find self-sustainability in
the 'work-world'.
We want an exciting Vista; a Panorama of Possibilities!!! The young adults need
to know that there is so much more for them to aspire to, for their WORK
WORLD self-sustainability, then cleaning stainless-steel counter-tops---and
flipping burgers, for a living.
As a viable consideration, The Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters Local 289
of 1159 Maryvale Dr Cheektowaga, NY, and its elaborate training apparatus at the
Rochester, NY location is the Creme de la Creme for carpenter and building-trades training
applications. And boasting...We Built This City; You Can Too, The International Union of
Operating Engineers will be conducting their 6th Annual CONSTRUCTION CAREER DAYS
Training Workshop at the end of September, 2010. This two-day extravaganza will include an
intensive mix of detailed classroom and, in-the-field entry-level hands-on training.
The timid need-not-apply!!
Rather than reinventing the wheel, operatives of the Portal Program would
be given the opportunity to review first-hand, the applications and the methods-of-operation
by which your training apparatus functions. It is ultimately our intention to enroll and
have our clients develop their skill-sets therein.
As an AOSOS(American One-Stop Operating-Systems) Clerical;
must data-enter all training, certification, and progress-report updates
into the NYSDOL's elaborate input program for the clients; members
of the Portal Program. The enrollment at this point, is 45 members.
Lou Marconi
Operations Specialist
The Belle Center
The Portal Program
716.845.0485 x 19
716.578.8568 cell
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Saturday, July 17, 2010
...the Answer, is Blowing in The Wind
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
I love you - those three words have my life in them.
~ by Alexandrea to Czar, Nicholas III ~
Below is an excellent essay written by AMERICORPS colleague, Jacquie Ornsby. She is
mass-mailing this appeal to any and all 'officials' whom, having a sympathetic ear and heart, may devote energies to reverse this decision to dissolve AMERICORPS BUFFALO.
There is a maze of politics here. To be honest with you, I don't fully understand all of it. And I am not sure the operatives of AmeriCorps Buffalo @ The Belle Center fully understand it either. In asking Daytuan Antonetti what happpened, the canned response is"...it was Albany's decision." Great, there are over one million people in Albany. All one million~~~made this decision!?!? The other thing that vexes me is that AMERICORPS is part of the original VISTA(Volunteers in service to AMERICA) program. If WNY AmeriCorps, out of the former SKY ROOM @ Seneca & Cazenovia Sts and AmeriCorps Buffalo out of The Belle Center on Maryland St. are both doing community outreach~~~and doing it to the benefit of their respective communities, why can't they both co-exist??? Yes, Mark Lazzaro gets all the publicity with the community-outreach ventures that they undertake. While~~~blessed are the meek~~~AmeriCorps Buffalo just goes out, without the fanfare, and executes their tasks to make the results of a project, better than when it was first enacted. During my tenure @ The Belle Center the most obvious WNY AmeriCorps fanfare publicity-stunt~~~and resulting 'miscarriage-of-justice' was the EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER on Massachusetts Ave. And keep in mind when Lazzaro machinated this plot, WNY AmeriCorps was in WEST SENECA, not South Buffalo. Lazzaro beat the echelon of the AmeriCorps Buffalo, to-the-PUNCH. In effect, Lazzaro had gotten David Homes to get this volunteer organization(WNY Americorps), from West Seneca, to do this HIGH-VISIBILITY VOLUNTEER collaboration~~~on the Middle West Side; OUR TURF!!! Were we upset?? Sure!!! The fall-out?? In light of the recent decision to phase Americorps Buffalo out, I'd have to say the fallout is huge. The line of thinking is probably going this way...if WNY AmeriCorps is doing it all, including the WEST SIDE, why are we funding the duplicity, to begin with?? Those answers are provided below in the encapsulation written by Jacjuie Ornsby. We do many community-outreach functions, without the fanfare, that WNY AmeriCorps simply does not do.
In the front-page of this Saturday, 17 July 2010, Buffalo News(the article in its entirety can be googled)titled: The Lord's Work or the Landlord's?---there is a story about decrepit housing in the FRUIT BELT area of the Lower East Side that WNY AmeriCorps is trying to address. I think some of the machinations to facilitate these corrections are ethically questionable. First of all WNY AMERICORPS is a volunteer service organization in the tradition of VISTA; not a REAL ESTATE organization. The intention is to buy the default-properties cheap, renovate them, then sell them to low income buyers at affordable prices. Who is doing the selling? Where are the mortgage funds coming from that is the underpinning of the purchase? who is going to manage the mortgage-payment-plans??? This is not volunteerism. [Oh, don't worry, I'm ahead of some of you folks, already!!!]. But even with the deviations from the original VISTA theme, so far Mark Lazzaro has his steam-rolling machine grandstanding for 'Albany's" attention and approval, and getting both. It appears AmeriCorps Buffalo doesn't even look like it is going to be relegated to the sidelines. It appears we are going to be packing our bags, by the end of December, 2010.
For me personally, it is another shot-in-the-face. All my life I have worked. And most of it in the private-sector. In the private-sector, it is all about dollars-and-cents, so I understand how payrolls can be affected. But come-on!!! In a community-outreach, non-profit, where the pay is a joke~~~anyways. The story of my adult career-world. Except for Airborne/D H L Express, Rich Goulah Trucking, and American Freight System, everything else I was able to sink my teeth into full-time, ended up being short-term disasters.
For myself personally, this dissolution means that I will be 'scrambling' again. So much of my adult career experience, has been a desert of scrambling. The only oasis; and thank God, it was a wonderful 17-year excursion, was with AIRBORNE/D H L Express. With some complications now a part of this Applicant's Patch-Work Quilt, the question that begs to be asked is~~~can a door, like ABX, open for me~~~one more time???
And the answer is...
THE ESSAY, by Jacjuie Ornsby:
I reach out to you today to appeal to your sense of social justice. NY State will no longer fund Buffalo AmeriCorps programs which serve those who desperately need them. Indeed, we AmeriCorps members who currently serve our community in 2009-2010 must find new jobs by December 31st. Thanks to AmeriCorps, we have the skills, training, references, resources and support to make us employable.
The marginalized people whom we serve in our neighborhood need us. We shovel their walks, mentor their children, clean and rebuild their community. We fed 1200 families as part of the "Feed the Children" initiative. We give bags of wholesome food twice each month to 200+ families. We teach English to refugees. As AmeriCorps, we pledge to get things done - and we do! Who will take our place?
I implore you to pray for our community and to express your support for Buffalo AmeriCorps. Please pray for the continuation of our good works at worship this Sunday. Please appeal to local and state officials; urging them to reinstate funding for Buffalo AmeriCorps.
The Lower Westside Community needs your help. Last Friday, Buffalo AmeriCorps was informed by Susan Stern, Chair of the New York State Commission on National and Community Service and Mark Walter, Executive Director that Buffalo AmeriCorps will not be funded for 2010-2011.
You can imagine that it was a shock. We had applied for an expansion based on the expansion of National Service by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009. You don't always get what you ask for but we never expected to get zero!
We do need your help because Buffalo AmeriCorps members are a core of what we do, not only in the neighborhood and the city, but in our center with the children. There are 62 children enrolled in our Day Care, 101 enrolled in our summer camp, and 125 enrolled in our 21st Century Community Learning Center summer program. Buffalo AmeriCorps members serve alongside staff to make these programs work. As we have told you before, we provide services to children and youth ages 6 weeks to 24 years. We are doing everything we can to provide hope, to prepare youth not only to consider college, but to be ready academically and financially.
The 44 Buffalo AmeriCorps members who are ages 17-24 embrace the opportunity to serve their community and nation while learning the skills and attitudes required to forge a future of hope. Many of the current Buffalo AmeriCorps members are in their first year. It is amazing watching them grow, but as you would expect some grow faster than others. Those who are in their first year will now be thrown out into a world of the Great Recession when their current term expires.
Anything you can do to help will be appreciated. We are available at your convenience to meet with you to talk about the situation. Please let us know if you need any further information or documentation to inform your decision to advocate for us.
FOOTNOTE: We, as well, reach-out to the community in a very big way during Christmas whereby over 3000 families last year had a Christmas that included gifts---whom otherwise, would not have had. And I've been making some verifiable progress with the Portal Program that exists at The Belle Center where we are trying to get disadvantaged and underprivileged young adults skill-set-ready for the work-world. I always felt this was a meaningful endeavor~~~and I still do.
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
I love you - those three words have my life in them.
~ by Alexandrea to Czar, Nicholas III ~
Below is an excellent essay written by AMERICORPS colleague, Jacquie Ornsby. She is
mass-mailing this appeal to any and all 'officials' whom, having a sympathetic ear and heart, may devote energies to reverse this decision to dissolve AMERICORPS BUFFALO.
There is a maze of politics here. To be honest with you, I don't fully understand all of it. And I am not sure the operatives of AmeriCorps Buffalo @ The Belle Center fully understand it either. In asking Daytuan Antonetti what happpened, the canned response is"...it was Albany's decision." Great, there are over one million people in Albany. All one million~~~made this decision!?!? The other thing that vexes me is that AMERICORPS is part of the original VISTA(Volunteers in service to AMERICA) program. If WNY AmeriCorps, out of the former SKY ROOM @ Seneca & Cazenovia Sts and AmeriCorps Buffalo out of The Belle Center on Maryland St. are both doing community outreach~~~and doing it to the benefit of their respective communities, why can't they both co-exist??? Yes, Mark Lazzaro gets all the publicity with the community-outreach ventures that they undertake. While~~~blessed are the meek~~~AmeriCorps Buffalo just goes out, without the fanfare, and executes their tasks to make the results of a project, better than when it was first enacted. During my tenure @ The Belle Center the most obvious WNY AmeriCorps fanfare publicity-stunt~~~and resulting 'miscarriage-of-justice' was the EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER on Massachusetts Ave. And keep in mind when Lazzaro machinated this plot, WNY AmeriCorps was in WEST SENECA, not South Buffalo. Lazzaro beat the echelon of the AmeriCorps Buffalo, to-the-PUNCH. In effect, Lazzaro had gotten David Homes to get this volunteer organization(WNY Americorps), from West Seneca, to do this HIGH-VISIBILITY VOLUNTEER collaboration~~~on the Middle West Side; OUR TURF!!! Were we upset?? Sure!!! The fall-out?? In light of the recent decision to phase Americorps Buffalo out, I'd have to say the fallout is huge. The line of thinking is probably going this way...if WNY AmeriCorps is doing it all, including the WEST SIDE, why are we funding the duplicity, to begin with?? Those answers are provided below in the encapsulation written by Jacjuie Ornsby. We do many community-outreach functions, without the fanfare, that WNY AmeriCorps simply does not do.
In the front-page of this Saturday, 17 July 2010, Buffalo News(the article in its entirety can be googled)titled: The Lord's Work or the Landlord's?---there is a story about decrepit housing in the FRUIT BELT area of the Lower East Side that WNY AmeriCorps is trying to address. I think some of the machinations to facilitate these corrections are ethically questionable. First of all WNY AMERICORPS is a volunteer service organization in the tradition of VISTA; not a REAL ESTATE organization. The intention is to buy the default-properties cheap, renovate them, then sell them to low income buyers at affordable prices. Who is doing the selling? Where are the mortgage funds coming from that is the underpinning of the purchase? who is going to manage the mortgage-payment-plans??? This is not volunteerism. [Oh, don't worry, I'm ahead of some of you folks, already!!!]. But even with the deviations from the original VISTA theme, so far Mark Lazzaro has his steam-rolling machine grandstanding for 'Albany's" attention and approval, and getting both. It appears AmeriCorps Buffalo doesn't even look like it is going to be relegated to the sidelines. It appears we are going to be packing our bags, by the end of December, 2010.
For me personally, it is another shot-in-the-face. All my life I have worked. And most of it in the private-sector. In the private-sector, it is all about dollars-and-cents, so I understand how payrolls can be affected. But come-on!!! In a community-outreach, non-profit, where the pay is a joke~~~anyways. The story of my adult career-world. Except for Airborne/D H L Express, Rich Goulah Trucking, and American Freight System, everything else I was able to sink my teeth into full-time, ended up being short-term disasters.
For myself personally, this dissolution means that I will be 'scrambling' again. So much of my adult career experience, has been a desert of scrambling. The only oasis; and thank God, it was a wonderful 17-year excursion, was with AIRBORNE/D H L Express. With some complications now a part of this Applicant's Patch-Work Quilt, the question that begs to be asked is~~~can a door, like ABX, open for me~~~one more time???
And the answer is...
THE ESSAY, by Jacjuie Ornsby:
I reach out to you today to appeal to your sense of social justice. NY State will no longer fund Buffalo AmeriCorps programs which serve those who desperately need them. Indeed, we AmeriCorps members who currently serve our community in 2009-2010 must find new jobs by December 31st. Thanks to AmeriCorps, we have the skills, training, references, resources and support to make us employable.
The marginalized people whom we serve in our neighborhood need us. We shovel their walks, mentor their children, clean and rebuild their community. We fed 1200 families as part of the "Feed the Children" initiative. We give bags of wholesome food twice each month to 200+ families. We teach English to refugees. As AmeriCorps, we pledge to get things done - and we do! Who will take our place?
I implore you to pray for our community and to express your support for Buffalo AmeriCorps. Please pray for the continuation of our good works at worship this Sunday. Please appeal to local and state officials; urging them to reinstate funding for Buffalo AmeriCorps.
The Lower Westside Community needs your help. Last Friday, Buffalo AmeriCorps was informed by Susan Stern, Chair of the New York State Commission on National and Community Service and Mark Walter, Executive Director that Buffalo AmeriCorps will not be funded for 2010-2011.
You can imagine that it was a shock. We had applied for an expansion based on the expansion of National Service by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009. You don't always get what you ask for but we never expected to get zero!
We do need your help because Buffalo AmeriCorps members are a core of what we do, not only in the neighborhood and the city, but in our center with the children. There are 62 children enrolled in our Day Care, 101 enrolled in our summer camp, and 125 enrolled in our 21st Century Community Learning Center summer program. Buffalo AmeriCorps members serve alongside staff to make these programs work. As we have told you before, we provide services to children and youth ages 6 weeks to 24 years. We are doing everything we can to provide hope, to prepare youth not only to consider college, but to be ready academically and financially.
The 44 Buffalo AmeriCorps members who are ages 17-24 embrace the opportunity to serve their community and nation while learning the skills and attitudes required to forge a future of hope. Many of the current Buffalo AmeriCorps members are in their first year. It is amazing watching them grow, but as you would expect some grow faster than others. Those who are in their first year will now be thrown out into a world of the Great Recession when their current term expires.
Anything you can do to help will be appreciated. We are available at your convenience to meet with you to talk about the situation. Please let us know if you need any further information or documentation to inform your decision to advocate for us.
FOOTNOTE: We, as well, reach-out to the community in a very big way during Christmas whereby over 3000 families last year had a Christmas that included gifts---whom otherwise, would not have had. And I've been making some verifiable progress with the Portal Program that exists at The Belle Center where we are trying to get disadvantaged and underprivileged young adults skill-set-ready for the work-world. I always felt this was a meaningful endeavor~~~and I still do.
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Saturday, July 10, 2010
An Album, and no comments. Curious!?!?
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
...You will sleep deep within my mind.
I kiss you now...for I am leaving
to greet the roses I left behind. Joyce Hemsley
...I'm so happy, and giddy, and gay!
My essay this week is devoted to a particular segment of my viewing audience. And I am doing this because, frankly, I am somewhat surprised. This one particular segment of my viewing audience has become the fastest-growing part of my FACEBOOK friends-base. And yet, I haven't gotten one single 'comment' or 'thumbs-up' from ANYBODY, including this particular community segment.
Either the material is irrelevant, or I'm still as non-descript as my high school days.
I was part of an extraordinary experience on Tuesday, 6 July 2010. And I didn't even initiate it. My sister Mary, Class of 1972, did!! God bless her; I love her!! She says to me the previous Sunday 4, July 2010..."hey, Louie(with Mary, I'm---hey, Louie; you would think that is how I was christened), you know how you took those pictures at Annunciation???" " Do you think I could take some pictures of the HIGH SCHOOL!?!?" Are You Kidding!?!? YOU ARE TALKING TO ME!! My mind went into overdrive. By Tuesday, so did my mouth. With liaison Sarah Feldman of the Frizlen Group, acting as escort, we were granted the opportunity, over an extended lunch period, to take pictures in a building that was once the Venerated middle west side Annunciation High School. This School, operated by the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur, with all its flaws and imperfections, nonetheless did provide many of the building blocks which have, in part, helped us become whom we are. But like so many Catholic Schools in our area~~~for reasons too many to quantify here, the school fell on hard times, and closed. The school, the institution, the building, in a 'soft' middle west side, had become irrelevant, immaterial, and passe~~~earmarked for becoming another vacant eyesore.
A visionary architect/developer, who ultimately decided to set up shop in the very building that was brought back to life, said...'not-so-fast'. The Frizlen Group took over the School, and turned the building into a series of upscale units to appeal to the young professional. For the Frizlen Group, so far, it is a BULLSEYE!!!
All the $850.00/month grade-school-level units---are filled. All the $935.00/month high-school-level units are occupied. And THE SUITE; Room 312, at $1300.00/month, is taken(and has a waiting list).
A curiosity exists with this 2010 renovated building; no elevators. While Mary was the 'legs' for this 36-picture Album, I wanted to be able to personally absorb my mental and emotional attachments. The last time I was in this building, before the December 2009 Album excursion, was in the summer of 1967 helping Joe Genco, the janitor. All I really remember about that summer was the creepy spiders I had to deal with while I was doing the landscaping around the convent, and Jimmy Morrison & The DOORS and their break-out song...LIGHT MY FIRE!!! The single has been certified in 1967 a gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Those of you whom know the school, and know me, know that those two flights of stairs, with the intermittent landings, mocked my intent to scale them.
As a true labor-of-love, I prevailed!!!
On My FACEBOOK Home Page, is posted, "Annunciation Lofts; High School Album." There are 36 photos, with my perspective 'commentary' attached. I would welcome any additional commentary or observations. The experiences had to be rich and varied. As a poem written by one of the graduates disparaged...I'll never look back; I'll never look back. Powerful words from a woman who is now very very active with the High School's social calendar.
As I remarked in the final photo..."many hands have glanced off this hand-rail."
Many reflections; many stories are wafting to be told. The album is your vehicle...take it to the nearest star!!
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
NB: I meant wafting; not waiting!!!
...You will sleep deep within my mind.
I kiss you now...for I am leaving
to greet the roses I left behind. Joyce Hemsley
...I'm so happy, and giddy, and gay!
My essay this week is devoted to a particular segment of my viewing audience. And I am doing this because, frankly, I am somewhat surprised. This one particular segment of my viewing audience has become the fastest-growing part of my FACEBOOK friends-base. And yet, I haven't gotten one single 'comment' or 'thumbs-up' from ANYBODY, including this particular community segment.
Either the material is irrelevant, or I'm still as non-descript as my high school days.
I was part of an extraordinary experience on Tuesday, 6 July 2010. And I didn't even initiate it. My sister Mary, Class of 1972, did!! God bless her; I love her!! She says to me the previous Sunday 4, July 2010..."hey, Louie(with Mary, I'm---hey, Louie; you would think that is how I was christened), you know how you took those pictures at Annunciation???" " Do you think I could take some pictures of the HIGH SCHOOL!?!?" Are You Kidding!?!? YOU ARE TALKING TO ME!! My mind went into overdrive. By Tuesday, so did my mouth. With liaison Sarah Feldman of the Frizlen Group, acting as escort, we were granted the opportunity, over an extended lunch period, to take pictures in a building that was once the Venerated middle west side Annunciation High School. This School, operated by the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur, with all its flaws and imperfections, nonetheless did provide many of the building blocks which have, in part, helped us become whom we are. But like so many Catholic Schools in our area~~~for reasons too many to quantify here, the school fell on hard times, and closed. The school, the institution, the building, in a 'soft' middle west side, had become irrelevant, immaterial, and passe~~~earmarked for becoming another vacant eyesore.
A visionary architect/developer, who ultimately decided to set up shop in the very building that was brought back to life, said...'not-so-fast'. The Frizlen Group took over the School, and turned the building into a series of upscale units to appeal to the young professional. For the Frizlen Group, so far, it is a BULLSEYE!!!
All the $850.00/month grade-school-level units---are filled. All the $935.00/month high-school-level units are occupied. And THE SUITE; Room 312, at $1300.00/month, is taken(and has a waiting list).
A curiosity exists with this 2010 renovated building; no elevators. While Mary was the 'legs' for this 36-picture Album, I wanted to be able to personally absorb my mental and emotional attachments. The last time I was in this building, before the December 2009 Album excursion, was in the summer of 1967 helping Joe Genco, the janitor. All I really remember about that summer was the creepy spiders I had to deal with while I was doing the landscaping around the convent, and Jimmy Morrison & The DOORS and their break-out song...LIGHT MY FIRE!!! The single has been certified in 1967 a gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Those of you whom know the school, and know me, know that those two flights of stairs, with the intermittent landings, mocked my intent to scale them.
As a true labor-of-love, I prevailed!!!
On My FACEBOOK Home Page, is posted, "Annunciation Lofts; High School Album." There are 36 photos, with my perspective 'commentary' attached. I would welcome any additional commentary or observations. The experiences had to be rich and varied. As a poem written by one of the graduates disparaged...I'll never look back; I'll never look back. Powerful words from a woman who is now very very active with the High School's social calendar.
As I remarked in the final photo..."many hands have glanced off this hand-rail."
Many reflections; many stories are wafting to be told. The album is your vehicle...take it to the nearest star!!
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
NB: I meant wafting; not waiting!!!
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