CONTENTS 03/4/2021
Columbia Neighborhood
Note: Fl!p Out Of Reach
Spring Has Sprung
The Wwu Great Puzzle Hunt
Homelessness
Hospice Issue
Memorial Cookies
Nights Are Still Cold
Meal Sign-Ups
Shopping Run?
Music
Singing To? Or With?
Radio Free Fl!p: Heart Of The Appaloosa
John Hartford: Gentle On My Mind
NOTE: FL!P OUT OF REACH
I will be attending a zoom workshop all weekend, from Friday evening till mid-afternoon Sunday. Zeke will cover for me as best he can, but please, contact me tomorrow if possible to square away anything we need to in advance. I’ll be in the house, but unavailable. Thanks!
SPRING HAS SPRUNG
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Crocus & primrose & still some snowdrops are blooming. The big pink camellia tree in our back yard is in full swing. There’s new growth everywhere. I’ve been out weeding. I have a TON more to do, but the little magenta primroses along our sidewalk out front are still worth a walk-by today and for the next week or so. You are welcome to ask for a walk through the inner garden as well.
THE WWU GREAT PUZZLE HUNT
Saturday, April 17, 2021
The puzzles are written to challenge 8th grade and up, but in the past participants have ranged in age from 8 to 92. It doesn’t matter whether you solve any puzzles; It’s the teamwork and fun that counts! We already have teams registered from India, China, France, UK, Canada, US, Jordan, and more.
Here’s the scoop! There are 4 main puzzles and a metapuzzle. Up to 6 on a team. The puzzles require cutting, pasting, coloring, … and each puzzle is from a different subject area: 1) Music and Performing Arts, 2) Humanities, 3) Sciences, and 4) A Surprise. Choose a versatile team and have fun!
VIRTUAL, FREE, and FUN!
OPEN to everyone, worldwide! Friends, family, colleagues, students, neighbors … All ages!
WEBSITE: https://www.greatpuzzlehunt.com/
HOW TO REGISTER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZU0sLW9pJk
AWESOME GEAR and FREE domestic shipping! https://www.greatpuzzlehunt.com/gear
FAQs: https://www.greatpuzzlehunt.com/faq
RULES OF PLAY: https://www.greatpuzzlehunt.com/rules
SAMPLE PUZZLES: https://www.greatpuzzlehunt.com/puzzles
Millie Johnson, millie@wwu.edu
HOMELESSNESS
HOSPICE ISSUE
A reader wrote to me in outrage and anguish that Outreachers have had to go outside the system to create care for someone gravely ill. She assured me that Hospice house is a wonder. I wrote back that Hospice House is indeed a jewel. In 2018 they took my Mom in for a couple weeks to get me some caregiver respite.
Wherever possible the Outreachers try to be a bridge to needed services. I’ve listened to some amazing conversations between volunteers who know the ropes, and who know the individuals sleeping on the ground as well, as peers and as friends.
The Outreachers are working to get our neighbor through the hoops so he can get into Hospice House. There can be issues those of us with homes never consider – like ID, social security access, Medicare or Medicaid enrollment…. I hope all the issues can get sorted out quickly. I hope our meal support for him will be short term for all the right reasons.
We’ve had three people sign up to cook and deliver a hot meal one day a week. And a fourth wrote to inquire. We have room for three more if you’d like to take a meal a week for a few weeks. Contact me, and I’ll pass you on to Lorelei, and Outreacher who has volunteered to take on this piece of organizing. Thank you SO much!
MEMORIAL COOKIES
I got to be part of Linda Allen’s story tonight. I handed her Bob Allen Memorial Chocolate Chip Cookies to a couple Outreachers and made sure they knew the whole story of Linda and her brother. Of their childhood: making and eating a whole batch of chocolate chip cookie dough (raw, when their mom wasn’t home). But her story includes the loss of estrangement between them. So many of the people that the Outreachers will be handing Linda’s cookies to, are sleeping on the ground because of their own estrangements. I want them to know that somewhere, there was a sister who was pushed away. And she never forgot her big brother and never stopped loving him. And right here, right now, she is sending a sweet promise that someone could remember the cookie-recipient with love, too. Linda wrote this evening that her message today is just this: “to love one another. To take care of one another. To do your best to make whole that which is broken.”
NIGHTS ARE STILL COLD
Due to your generosity, tonight’s outreach supplies included some safer tent heaters, hand and toe warmers, mylar blankets, a warm coat, warm dry socks, a whole bunch of waterproof shoes in sizes that had been requested recently, some plastic storage bins to keep belongings dry, two batches of cookies, muffins, string cheese… and of course, hot, nourishing meals! And the Laundry Brigade turned up some larger men’s coats and got them clean, dry, and ready to warm the world again. It’s amazing what a community can do!
MEAL SIGN-UPS
Starting Tuesday March 9, I have openings for cooks to make dinner for 25 – 30 people. I have ingredients and take-out cups, and would love to mentor you through your first meal! Email is my favorite contact because I have a file-able searchable record: flip@openacces.org. Text is just fine too. 360-671-4511. You just sign up directly with me. We’ll figure it out together.
SHOPPING RUN?
I could use someone to make a SmartFoods (Cash&Carry) run tomorrow. I can provide cash or reimburse you with Venmo or PayPal. I’ve got a list all ready.
MUSIC
SINGING TO? OR WITH?
Summary: There is a difference between singing songs to an audience, and helping them sing with each other.
I am a musician who was born in 1950 in the USA. Today my husband Zeke & I went and listened to a bunch of young people singing activist songs from the 1950s & 60s Civil Rights, union and anti-war movements (also known as The Great Folk Scare). The young musicians did very well. Great singers, some excellent instrumentalists. Remembering some of the songs, and seeing and hearing those songs be cherished and offered anew by musicians who weren’t yet born then, brought tears to my eyes.
I also felt odd and bit sad, because though they invited the audience to sing along, they didn’t really facilitate that. The audience sang a little, softly. Did not raise the roof or connect with one another. I’ve been trying to think about what I do differently, and what Pete Seeger & Joan Baez, and the other people from whom I learned those songs, did differently. I think it involves teaching, leading and inviting until the audience kinda gets going, and then dropping back so the audience can primarily hear one another and realize they are part of something big. Also offering protection to those who fear humiliation if they sing. All together we are beautiful. But I hadn’t thought about how much it’s a learned skill to get a general audience to sing freely. And how necessary that such singing together be a primary intention if it’s going to happen well.
RADIO FREE FL!P: HEART OF THE APPALOOSA
By Fred Small. While we’re on the theme of horses. I have not yet managed to get this song to a point I sing wing in public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ64xr89cN0
JOHN HARTFORD: GENTLE ON MY MIND
Hmmm! A second song, because of Linda. John Hartford wrote this song. I dug around a little and found this gem, with John singing to and with his heroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn35akH09Z8
Love/Fl!p 360-671-4511 2518 Cherry Street flip@columbianeighborhood.org
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