8 reasons why Minnesota is better than British Columbia

1. Minnesota has a horizon, not just a bunch of silly mountains.
2. In Minnesota, they don't commit crimes en masse when the stupid hockey team loses.
3. In Minnesota, hockey is fun and religion is confined to church.
4. In Minnesota, people say "hi" when you look at them.
5. High-school kids in Minnesota don't think marijuana is salad.
6. Minnesota fans are happy to make the acquaintance of Canuck fans at Wild games. Canuck fans are sad that they might get in trouble if they pee on your pants as you stand at the urinal.
7. In Minnesota, there's not a starbucks every four blocks.
8. In Minnesota, six cans of beer aren't priced like six cans of caviar.

Stupid fish.

I've never seen the English version of "Finding Nemo"; but in the Spanish version, at the climax of the story when everyone is stuck in the net and it seems all is lost, the absent-minded Dory says, "Nada haremos."
This means, "Nothing we will do." BUT, the verb "nadar"(to swim) when conjugated as "nadaremos" means, in the future tense, "We will swim." These two phrases sound so similar that a group misinterpretation occurs. Dory was giving up, but everyone else thought she was chanting, "Let's swim together." It created a storm of co-operation; changing everything for everybody involved.
Somehow this screwball approach to success sounds familiar to me. Perhaps I have to tell myself this, for I have been surrounded not only by spendid folks like the conductive types I've met since 2000; but also by a veritable HORDE of nay-sayers. I feel (occasionally) that I must be nuts; that something indeed very large and compelling is wrong with me for drifting along so loyally with conductive education.
Ought I to be doubting it, at last? Hasn't the time come for me to drop this tattered flag and tramp on back through the mud to my camp?
Sigh.
Well, let me think about it...heck no! The end result of Dory's ravings and the blind repetitions of the hopeless crowd was FREEDOM. Freedom is not a thing easily found these days, even though so many institutions are set up to look out for the Canadian family.
As an American by birth, freedom has been kind of cemented in my head. Cement though, does not birth freedom. That is best done with more pliable things: like whoopee cushions, songs for reaching up, and group cheers at every object tossed about the room.
It's too easy to see the net; but why look at that bureaucrap when the massive, swirling, pulsing ocean sprawls out around us at every side?

God love 'im; Dad's gone on to Greater Glory.

Truly, there does come a point when a guy has had too much. With my amazing Dad, his battle with lymphoma had just plain tuckered him out. He did a splendid job of it; and my Mom too as they tried to counter, cure, reverse, ameliorate - whatever - the effects of his illness. In late August, we went for his first golf game in a long time. We celebrated his birthday with family, and then it flared up again. Just today, Remembrance Day, at 9:pm Minnesota time, we held his hands and rubbed his hair for the last time as his next big adventure began. He had had enough, and boy oh boy, am I gonna miss him.

Can you say Glenda? I wish Blue could. Heck, maybe he will.

Holy smokes. I've been living in Surrey since 2002, and it's taken until today for me to buy Glenda Watson Hyatt's book, "I'll Do It By Myself." I have become so confined, focussed on my own little world; when all the while there have been so many wonderful people around from whom we can learn: Anne, Scott, Glenda, BLUE, and many more I am sure whom I don't know yet.

Even as I type this, I am acutely aware of how impossible it will ever be for my Bluetiful boy to do such a 'simple' thing as typing; or keyboarding as the modern lexicon would have it. Yet, Glenda is here; and there is such a thing as patience. I think I have another lesson, or several, coming; and I am grateful for it.

Sometimes, I hate blogging. It can make me feel like I'm dangling on a rope and my climbing partner has fallen asleep. But yes, there it is. Throw some rocks, dawn'll find us all here TOTALLY UNSCATHED and stronger for it.

My kingdom for 10 students!

Yes, yes, yes, I know I was blathering on in foamy exultations about the new conductive school; but let me wipe the stuff off my chin and "do some 'splaining." (That's explaining, I reckon)
the Purpose School for Conductive Learning is merely taking a little longer to set up because setting up a school takes more time than we had for a mad crush to a September start. Thus, madness aside, the plans are still building, foundational support is appearing both organizationally and financially. A location has been secured. The set up is ready to go, as in no major renovations are needed to prepare it for accessibility. Now all we need are 10 students to begin.
To those families who are looking for a full-time conductive school day for their kids, we are looking for you!

Where's the pudding?

I'm pushing 50, so let me add whatever curmudgeonliness I have to Andrew's remarks on yet another "study" that fails to glorify conductive education.



So many ask, "Where's the proof?" I say first, how about some pudding! Where's the pudding? Can we start there? If a verifiable "study" was required to do anything worthwhile, sliced bread would have never been invented. It's truly sad that they don't erect statues to critics, because all that pigeon poop would then trickle down the shoulders of the deserving.

We all know cerebral palsy is for life; yet we're still ignorant and stupid and pie-eyed and Pollyanna enough to still do something about it, oops, I mean, conductive education. When folks are convinced that they want something, they want it.

Who these study-writing clowns really are are just simply the other clowns who look at folks like me and ask, "Who is that clown?" I must ask, "Why do you ask?" And further, "Who cares?" And also,"What is to be done with all those holiday leftovers anyway?"

You know who amazes me in her utter ignorance about conductive education? The conductor! That's who! She's the most lost of them all when it comes to CE; and that's what makes her the BEST. She's a student first and always. She leads by example. Without her curiosity and dogged seeking for the next idea, the next moment, the next Aha or Eureka or Whatever; then she'd be just like all the bored and boring and disinterested professionals who profess to profligate progress on my poor palsied progeny. Holy smokes! What did the school system ever do for him? As my Grandpa used to say, "Zero with the rim knocked off." That's what.

Give me a curious conductor any day before a conference crammed with the collectively comatose charisma of "the team." I'll take a conductor anyday. I love those idiots. And Lord, make me a bigger fool than all of them.

Canada's first conductive school - seeking more students now,

Well, here we go now. The Purpose Society and Moving Ahead Conductive Consulting have teamed up to offer something just a weensy bit bigger than a "summer camp." In September 2011, BC's first (and likely Canada's first) conductive school program. We aim to begin with no more than 12 students on the elementary level. Some of the spots are already taken. Funding will be done via the usual education dollars route that all schools in B.C. use; although depending on the big picture there may be a moderate tuition fee.
The Purpose Society has been operating the Purpose Secondary School for almost thirty years. Purpose has both: experience and expertise, in establishing and operating effective school programs in B.C. They just never had a conductor available, full-time.
We are seeking families and students who want conductive education to be a part of their school experience. If you know anyone who may be looking for that custom-made educational experience for their loved one affected by a motor-disorder or any such severe disablility that makes education a challenge, contact me for more information, or call the Purpose Society and ask for Phill. 604-526-2522 Zsipp - Zsupp !!