Setting something straight. . .

Andrew's latest blog has me thinking, and Rony's ideas too. In British Columbia, the most beautiful place on Earth, the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the great, wet coast, etc. . . . well, there isn't really much conductive education at present. What there is, is a few families. I know them. I won't name names, but what we have is NOTHING AT PRESENT. I am not offering a service from which I make a living. It's not my business; it's my 'hobby.' (I think obsession is more likely the truth.)

For several years, I have had families contacting me to inquire about our CE program. Goodness! There's only a CE program for 3 reasons:
- a few of us choose to kitty up for it,
- a splendid, community-oriented, non-profit society (Purpose, in New Westminster) has supported our efforts,
- we've been able to pay the occasional conductor for short-term contracts.

All this is changing now, because the conductor coming will be living here and building a business. Do you think this is going to be some sort of magical, easy service that will be ready for those with loads of money? I know that people don't have a lot of cash for this. I also know that EDUCATION shouldn't be reserved for those with money. I also know that it's an insult to sell CE to people who want it at high prices, after school and on holidays.

There are a lot of wonderful things happening, but we need to hear from people. I would bet that the Purpose CE program has been the most cost-efficient CE program in the world. Nonetheless, that isn't satisfactory. It needs to be happening through schools too. That will not happen without the voice, the request, and the action of families and individuals looking for that something different.

Speak up.

B.C. conductive education services starting up again soon, check the Purpose website

Since, October 2000, I have been organizing bits and pieces of CE in B.C. through the Purpose Society. Here is the link to our webpage:

http://www.purposesociety.org/conductive/conded.html

If anyone is interested in setting up some CE time, be it privately, in a group, or in one of our longer programs, or in the school, or anywhere or anyone you'd like to meet and work with the conductor; let me know.


I look forward to hearing from folks. Let's build this program!

You're soaking in it.

No, I didn't relieve myself in my Dickies; though I remember it being really nice and warm for the first minute or so. Crassitude aside, I also remember there was a cheesy advertisement (is there any other kind) on the TV years ago for a dish soap: palmolive. One of the traits of the soap they were selling was the notion that it was so wonderful that a manicurist might dare to soak her clients' hands in it before she got down to the dirty work. After suggesting to her thoroughly unsuspecting television hand-soakers that they might do something so preposterous, "Madge" gently shattered their universes with the horrid news that: yes, you're soaking in it! Aha, what to do but accept this daring foray into unorthodoxy?

Well, the other day ago, I had that annual event in my house occur where the PT and OT and any other T who has T time in her (aren't they all women?) agenda come visit our little home to see how kosher we can be with therapeutical interactive conjunctivitis mechano-troublesome-equipment stuff. Well as a 'devotee' of conductive education, I tend to be allergic to the accoutrements and more rabidly fascinated in the organic machinery that arrived with Blue: namely him.
So, anyways, I showed 'em how we stand up, walk with Dad in front and in back, use large rice-filled denim legs for positioning and such, how to use the you-walk-I-steer method and what not; and before the time was T'd up everyone seemed happy and that was that. I didn't say the "C" word once, nor the "E" word either. Why bother? Nobody wants to make a wheel when there are already so many people trying to reinvent the square. So, I squared up with them, but I took a page from Madge and soaked them in it.

now the only complaint would be . . .

that I have nothing to complain about! After so many years of "voice in the wilderness," or "pissing into the wind" this new mindset of GET BUSY is fantastic.
On principle, I stopped organizing little fly-in sessions about 5 years ago. I'd been burned once (by a very well-known Canadian charitable service organization, which I won't name here; oh, modesty prevents it) and one gets very tired of watching conductors leave and families all wondering when is next. So, I had stopped altogther.
Then Zsuzsi sent me an e-mail. A real-live conductor living in Seattle?! So close! And she was what? Working as a nanny? HOly smokes, talk about hiring an electrician to change a light bulb! So, she was available to actually take up my half-time job offer spread liberally over six months. It went very well, and just like that we were somewhat re-ignited. A local school board took interest. Proposals were begun, but nothing really happened because I am still waiting on the proposal and Zsuzsi got married and settled down in the Seattle area. Hmph. This was all still hopes and prayers until the conductor who we won't name yet decided to just come out here and go for it him/herself; knowing that I and all "my families" are behind him / her. Every possible family/client into the future is there for him/her as well.
This blog then is to somehow say that I don't really know what else to blog about now; but I will think of something.