Watching An Ink Pen Run Dry

The last six weeks have found me writing profusely in long hand. Writing long hand is my preferred method and style. It has a romantic feel to it and is the closest I come as a writer to the experience a reader has with a page turner of a book. Long hand is also my prefered method of penning the many letters I will write to friends and loved one's alike over the path of the year instead of email. November and December are the times when I like to write letters to people, with the book ends of Thanksgiving and New Years holding up Christmas, there is much to reflect on and yet still much more to write about in journals, note books and the odd collection of ideas and topics to explore when i have time that gather atop tables and in draws all around the house and the studio.

Recently, however, I have been going through pens at an alarming rate. I seem to be running out of ink in my favorite pens and ink wells all at once. I have had to dip into my back stock of pens, pencils and ink I stockpiled from the closing of my office unlike at any other time in my professional life that I can recall. It got me thinking about the scarcity of ink in other times and in previous generations and what we can learn from it. How can we, in these times, the age of the internet and email, the computer and electronic documents, cell phones and text messages, Blackberry's and television, relate to how it must have impacted the lives of our fore bearers across the globe to have a scarcity of ink.

The purpose of all these mediums I mentioned, including pen and ink, is simple to communicate. It is to facilitate the exchange and transfer of ideas and content. In our times, the cell phone and the scarcity of minutes is probably what compares best for me to the scarcity our fore bearers must have experienced when they ran out of ink as a scarce and costly resource that was necessary to transact all aspects of life. I can imagine how the common professional, such as an Student, a young architect or an aspiring writer had to be resourceful to keep themselves in ink. I imagine, unless you were of some means, ink was a luxury many could do with out and thus it stifled the growth of ideas from odd corners of society. Where there vendors capable of securing for a paying customer sufficient quantities of ink to keep a manuscript going? What type of ingenious methods were people forced to innovate and invent to cultivate a good constant supply of ink?

Since I recently restructured my life and curtailed back my expenditures, my 5000 minute luxury cell phone plan has had to be paired down to a reasonable level that I can afford on my very limited income these days. It has maid for minute counting like never before. I watch every minute, I talk try to save my phone conversations for those off peak hours and weekends when I can communicate with the outside world at a reasonable cost. Instead, I prefer to write and communicate by mail where I can write quite a bit for the cost of a 42 cent first class stamp.

In thinking back to my life in Ghana in the 1970's (where I was born and raised until the age of 11), it was customary to send letters with people who were traveling overseas to post for you when they arrived at their foreign destination. The thought process was that the postal system elsewhere was far more dependable that the local Ghanaian postal system. I wrote back then with inexpensive pens and pencils. I recall writing letters to pen pals that took took weeks and even months to get to them. It was a struggle back then in the heat and humidity of the Acccra region climate, to keep the ink in the inexpensive ball point pens we purchased from the road side vendors around the City and at market. I recall receiving letters from friends posted two to three months earlier according to the originating postmark, with beatiful penmanship in ink that looked bleautiful and luxurious. Many of the street boys I played and ran around with (against my mothers wishes), could not read or write. Some did not even go to school. The concept of using an ink pen or pencil was a far fetched concept for many. I saw first hand the stifled ideas of many smart young boys. Destined to lives as laborers because of the scarcity of writing materials and especially ink.

Looking back a little further to the turn of the nineteenth century through the great depression and the second world war era when cell phones did not exist, writing in the west was deeply important to the life blood of the growing industrialization of the world. Typing was still a luxury and ink was the primary method of recording all types of information. I am currently researching the life of a prominent citizen and business in the Tacoma area. In reviewing some of his business records, it is clear how important ink was to his operations. His records show significant orders of ink being placed above many other consumables. I read somewhere that inflation overtime can be pegged to the cost of a mans suit ensemble over time. I wonder if the same assessment can be made for ink?

I recently had to switch pens in mid letter to my partner Jill. I proudly informed her in the letter, after switching over to a new ink pen that I was one of the few people I knew, who new from actual use how many words you can actually get from the average modern pen. Whether its 6,000 or 20,000 words or some other number depending on your preferred brand, whether you are a heavy writer or a lighter scribe, it is humbling to me consider how we take ink and pen for granted as we do in this time.

I can't imagine what would happen to all my ideas and yours if we could not write them down. I think of the impact that ink has had on the passing of knowledge from the past on to us today. I think of the lost knowledge and the lost concepts and ideas, that hove been lost because of convenient access to ink. Whether made of mineral pigments or of plant extracts, I can very easily imagine an absent minded scholar of a different era, locked away for weeks and days, penning way at a manuscript in his studio, a seminal work that would lead humankind to a formula that could be the missing link of understanding some plague, he has a "eureka" moment, envisions the formula for an instant, goes to dip his quill in the ink well to record it, and discovers...it is empty.

Making the case for a neighborhood garden...

Recently, I had an exchange with the Public works department of my dear City. It started with a mild request to have a community garden across the street from my house. My original request was turned down with out any real inquiry as t the possibilities. Since these communications with City officials are a matter of public record, I have decided to post it myself on Facebaook and also on my blog at http://piratesandlullabies.blogspot.com/ it pains me to see how those of us small fish get treated by the system. my point in this post is to highlight the larger impact that a small neighborhood garden can have on the hopes and sense of belonging of the people that live there. If we don't stand up for the neighborhoods we currently live in, how will they ever become places of pride and prosperity.
You read and decide for yourselves...may you be inspired to take care of your own neighborhoods.

Conversation Thread...Dates and smaller none relevant emails are omitted to keep it brief...but the point is still made.

Hello My dear City of Tacoma:

I will like to speak to someone about doing a small community (neighborhood) garden on a City owned piece of land in our neighborhood. I have been doing some research over the last few months and have some pretty good support up and down the street from a majority of the neighbors. Before I take the time to role out the specifics, I will like to connect with you and have an initial get to know you conversation. The site is a green belt wedge located between E. Division Lane and E. Morton at F street. You can map my address and its just across the street you can’t miss it (520 E. Division Lane, Tac. 98404)

My contact information is as follows:

Rohn Amegatcher

Response i received back:

I believe you need to check with Metro Parks 305-1000
Madeline
Streets and Grounds

My Response:

Hello again:

That's funny because they sent me to you. City of Tacoma owns the property.
Can we try again...I really would like to connect with someone about doing a
garden on that small plot. Perhaps I should talk to public works???

Thx,

Rohn Amegatcher

Next Response:

Dear Rohn,

Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for the run-around you have been given. I am checking into your questions and should be able to get you an answer by the end of this week. I appreciate your enthusiasm for gardening and wanting to make Tacoma more “green!”

In the meantime, if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,

Ramie Pierce
Urban Forester
ISA Certified Arborist
PN-6334A

My response:

Thank you for looking into it. We have about 9 neighbors and 12 kids that are up for doing this. I say that’s a good thing for the east side and specifically McKinley Hill.

Thank you again for looking into it.

Rohn

City Response:

Just one quick question, how do you plan to get water to the right-of-way (the small plot)?

Ramie Pierce
Urban Forester
ISA Certified Arborist
PN-6334A

My response:

We will fill water barrels once a week from my domestic hose bib once a week which is just across the street (Division). We will install 10 – 12 barrels (interlinked / daisy chained) together. We will use drip irrigation to irrigate the crops in raised beds. We will buy Tacgro for the planting beds/boxes. One of the things we want to do is install safety barriers along the boarders with a minimum 4’ set back from the streets (Morton and Division). We will like City input on this element.

I actually have a fairly detailed plan I will be happy to share as a straw plan. You folks can put holes in it and we can then refine it before spring gets here

Rohn

City Response:

Actually, I would love to see a plan-the more organized you are the easier it is for me to make an argument for you! You may not need to buy TAGRO, as TAGRO is interested in supporting community gardens-details still being worked out of course. Stay tuned though. Trust me, you don’t need to convince me of this good idea, just need to make sure we can get the City’s legal department happy in the process.

Ramie Pierce
Urban Forester
ISA Certified Arborist
PN-6334A


Further City Response:

Rohn,

I made contact with Mike Teskey, Tacoma Cares and this does not fall under what he does. I also made contact with Elton Gatewood who works with the Neighborhood Counsel. The problem is that the patch on ground in question does in fact belong to the City of Tacoma, is a right of way with a street on both sides. This brings up safety concerns,also who maintains it if the person decides they no longer want to work the garden. There is no water on site. So with all of this in mind I would say that the answer is no, at this time. It's a good idea, but Metro Parks offers garden plots around town that have water and are secure.

Tom Slagle
Grounds Supervisor
Public Works

My response to Tom:

Tom

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your research and follow up. The thing is we will have to find some way to make it work on our end (Division and Morton residents). It does not make sense to go out of the area to try to do it. We live here, we know the area we know the hazards of the area, we would not have proposed the idea unless we could see a safe way forward. We have options and we will get back to you. With all due respect to you and the City, its this way of thinking that keeps the east side and this area an after thought in everyone’s mind. The neighborhood never improves and we only get service when its criminal activity. I mean no disrespect in the least bit, I am simple making a point and giving you a context with which to try to think creatively. There are ways to get water to the site, and there are barriers and set backs that are reasonable that can be brought to bear. We can actually develop good solutions here, it is an opportunity for us to think a little harder. I have seen this done for pocket parks and green belts with this type of profile over my 22 year career as a construction manager and as an urban planner. I can’t just roll over and go to our little group and tell them the answer is no because of safety, ownership restrictions and water access.

This does not have to cost any money to the City. Times are hard for everyone. Houses are being foreclosed in the area; this is a way to lift the spirits of those in this neighborhood. To give people some pride in where we live. To give the kids some hope that this place is worth hanging on to. It is more than just water rights. This is about the people who took the risk in the last 5 years to buy in this community, to set up businesses here, to give something back to them so they don’t feel like, no one cares about the neighborhood. Please try to understand that I am not grinding at you, I just see a larger process at work here in this community. The kids will be losing Gualt middle school. The police 4th precinct and animal control will be relocating soon, the road sides have open gutters which get muddy when it rains, people are trying to feel good about the neighborhood and the street and we can’t just tell them “NO”.

I will pay for it if I have to, I just need to know what the set backs need to be a modest community garden. It would be helpful if someone will at least meet with us and look at our well designed concept and garden schematics and see how we have collectively solved the elements you have introduced. I think you may and the department may learn a thing about good solutions. We can’t help what the urban planners did 100 years ago when these areas were platted, but we live here and own here today, and we have pride of ownership. We cannot be poor forever, and we can’t show our children the bear ground because mom and dad could not afford to buy on the north side of town. We also can’t tell them to take the bus to a better part of town with water and safety. This is what we have here, and we want to make the best of it. Again, I assure you I am not trying to be disrespectful in anyway, but I need to make my point very firmly and perhaps provide you and the department with an alternative view of how we that live here see our reality.

A community garden here is more than a P-Patch. It is a community-building venture for us like the Glass museum was to the water front or Triangle Town homes was to the St. Helen's area. We may not be grand, but we like our area quaint. We will like to add features to it that creates pride and makes people want to send out that extra resume each day to see if they can find a job to make the mortgage because there kids love it here so much, instead of giving up and thinking, this place is a dump anyway. I will offer my home for a meeting, come meet with us after the holidays are over and see what we are trying to do around here. We don’t ask for much, just reasonable guide lines that are not unduly restrictive and we will do the rest.

To respond to one of your points in your email, I don’t know about you, but at the end of every season, I put away all my tools and leave my gardens in such a condition that if I did not come back the next year, it would not be an eye sour. Currently, we maintain that area. The City cuts the grass once a year and we are the once who keep the place maintained, pick up the trash, and keep the fire danger down for the remaining 51 weeks of the year. No one pays us for that. Until we wanted permission to do a garden, you never would have even known we were here.

Last year, we worked very hard to get the University of Idaho to do a concept for the McKinley Business district. We lobbied for this small opportunity because we believed then and still do that little things are the way we can bring up the community and give it a positive profile. The neighborhood is full of backyard wood workers and craftsmen, of people like who are potters and master gardeners, people who take old discarded wood furniture restore them or find second uses for the material. of back yard artisans of all types who silently do there thing and wish the neighborhood would just look better so they can feel that much better about the place. We have stair climbs around here that are crumbling, wonderful links to our past as a street car community which we can’t get anyone from the City to help us power wash and maintain (hand rails, lights, etc.). These are the things we have. It seems when ever we make an effort to lift our selves up, someone we have never met down in the valley of downtown says “NO”. We are the once who live up on the hill, we will like to feel like we have something going over here that’s fairly special. We can’t do that if our vision and ideas are not truly heard. The other possibility is to have a neighborhood where no one cares, creative solutions don’t get employed and the roughnecks around the corners think they own the neighborhood.

I am sure at this point I sound like I am venting, but rest assured there This is not a vent. There is a visionary prospective to this rant and a method to my madness and our neighborhood. I am no elected official, but I talk to everyone around here and I hear them grumble and complain. Please give this a meeting or two with us, and preferable if you delegate this to someone else, please make sure it is someone who has a Long view. I would hate to have a conversation with anyone who shows up with a predetermined response. These people here have dignity and deserve a reasonable review of our
request.

By the way…so we all can laugh and keep it real…I bet you did not expect this response back did you…it gets funnier from here if we don’t make any progress with public works…lol. All with good will, we just love our community. Please understand, otherwise the criminals and dividers have won…think about it.

Be well and happy holidays,

Rohn Amegatcher

Toms Response to me and other City people:

Elton,
What about a neighborhood grant for developing a pocket park, or roadside landscape. We could install drought resistant plants that we get from the WDOT, in which are free. Could one grant be used to install rolled asphalt curbs to keep the soil where its suppose to stay? Sort of like what was done on N26th St. Islands?
Tom

Elton's Response to Tom and myself:

Yes, it is possible that a grant can be used for roadside landscape. The applicant must apply for an Innovative Grant when they are available (Feb.- Mar.) if the Neighborhood Council approve it. Before they apply for a grant, they need to do some homework. First of all, will the City permit them to landscape on this public property; secondly, who will be responsible for maintaining it (adopt a spot), and where is it located?

Elton

My response to Tom & Elton:

Tom:

I will get it to you towards the end of the week. I need to get it scanned down to size. Also, I am spending the next few days working on a project in Woodinville. I will like to take some time to annotate it properly before sending it over…best foot forward so to speak.

Rohn


So the process goes on...I will meet with them and share our plan. I had it scanned earlier today and we will see where it all goes...

Stay Tuned...

Appreciating the one you are with...

Today, I spent some time on the phone with an old friend Brenda. We have recently rekindled our friendship after some time going about our lives. We are both in a different place know, she has bought a home and is experiencing the pleasures and pitfalls of a 1920’s home, the poor insulation, the truncated electrical panel and all the limited space bathroom and kitchen counter space that comes with an old home.

Never fear Brenda, we have all made it through our first winters in older homes and happen to enjoy our lives in these wonderful homes especially because of all the character they offer. Mine is vintage 1927, well built, under-insulated especially in the floors. This makes for some drafts around the ankles in certain areas of the living room. I avoid seating guests in those cold spots, unless, I have a fire going. The fire place is a different issue all together, but that’s not today’s burning topic.

Brenda and I got onto the subject of a friends life. He and his partner have recently had a child (two months ago), and he has decided to take some time of to be with her and their new daughter. Originally, he wanted to keep working given the economic times, but after mom expressed a concern that she felt as though he was not involved and as excited about the new arrival as she expected, he decided to stop forking for the winter and take care of the emotion and caring needs of his family.

Brenda’s comment was that during her marriage, her ex-husband had always said that her gaining weight (becoming fat…this is subjective to me), was grounds for a divorce. She was 120 lbs and 5’7. She got pregnant and got to 170lbs at the time of delivery. She was at 150 after the birth and stayed there for several years. Eventually, they did divorce for this and other reasons. Her point was that after birth, some woman’s emotions can be all over the place and could result in different types of insecurities. She noted that she was happy to hear our friend had made that decision and accordingly, good for them.

My response was also supportive of his decision; any one that knows me knows that I am the “house husband” type anyway. I did have a general observation about relationships in these times that got us both laughing hard.

Here is the general thought:

My take is that Moms and Dads of today from all walks of life, whether hockey, Wal-Mart, NASCAR, Greener, or East Coast should all by know just stick with what they have got, take good care of each other and follow the example of our friend. If you really think about it, most people today have dated every variation of mom or dad (woman or man) within there preferred subgroup that they are going to find. Smoker moms looking for smoker dads who live a certain life, have pretty much covered the spectrum. I do not really think Smoker Mom is going to find a better brand of Smoker Dad than the one she has. It is also not like Wal-Mart Dad is going to go out and find a better brand of Wal-Mart Mom. Okay so maybe some Wal-Mart moms like to shop at the green Wal-Mart just outside of Sevierville, but for the most part, a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart. I say, as the song says, ‘love the one you are with, get over the little things, realize that it’s a waste of time to continue to look around the corner for a better bargain with higher return should a recall be invoked.

Sustain your own efforts in your relationships and that of your partner. It is more important than ever that we turn inward and nurture what we have. Live within your means, love your NASCAR Dad with the tummy, his appeal comes full circle at the holidays, free Santa for the kids. Appreciate your Greener Mon with the Saddle bags, they are her chapters in the book of life.

I don’t suggest anyone put up with inappropriate behavior or abuse (had to include that in here…sorry for the commercial). What I am suggesting is that within the bandwidth of what we are attracted to and what is reasonable to you, cherish the one that loves you, find interesting ways to be compassionate, discover a talent you once explored and share it. If your partner comes up with something that seems intriguing, fight the urge to dismiss it in your old self-affirming way. Be vulnerable for a little while and see where it gets you. Be humble as you used to be with your dinner reservations when you were only 18 years young and made $3.35 an hour (adjust to be age appropriate), and take her out for coffee, tea or cocoa (guys). Be brave, do something self-deprecating and enjoy the laugh (this really gets a good laugh if you have a cape to go with the batman boxers).

Its time we looked at the divorce rate and realized that there is not going to be that much variation between the one you have now and the partner you hope to trade for. Divorce is overrated…take it from me, I have never been married, but everyone who has been married and divorced that I know look like hyenas on the delta before or after a scavenge…believe me, it is not a good look… (See picture above).

So I said a little more here than I shared with Brenda on the phone, yet the point is still there, what exactly are you thinking you will find that is better than the one who loves you today? Security, money (way overrated…see financial system), looks, what?

In addition to wishing for prosperity in the New Year, let us all also resolve to renew our sense of appreciation for the Mom or Dad we are fortunate enough to be partnered with today. They have some great qualities, and they give something back to us each day. Moms…you may have to work on some of us Dads a little harder, but believe me, we will get it, the times are with you. Dads, write her a letter this year, in your own handwriting and remind her of the quality she represents to your life. If you have kids, include the kids, you are a family after all. Enough out of me…I have to go curl up with Jill, and read her my poetry…with any luck she will feel like reading some of hers, if not I will just appreciate her, right where she sits…she deserves the very best and I am to be that best.

Happy Holidays…Moms and Dads…

Hyena Image is courtesy of: www.news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/

Our two boys life...

I recently finished reading Abigail Thomas's book My Three Dog Life. It's a wonderful book, I highly recommend it for anyone who has had to make unexpected adjustments to their lives as a result of a lose of some kind. She writes beautifully well, speaks gently and simple, and gathers you in with her as she journeys along an unfamiliar path.

It got me thinking about the two new additions to the lives that Thadd and I live. It is probably the other way around, they are folding us in. Jill and Lil to be exact. Jill rescued me at an all day poetry marathon we both attended back in November. Up until that point, I had spent the last 6 months basically on a sabbatical to readjust my life. I sat a couple of rows behind her and noticed how much she just altered the feeling in the room. We both read and shared that day and she decided to take a big risk and converse with me about what we had discovered in each others poems. She said in our first letter exchanges that it was fresh and not at all trite of a first meeting, I agreed. Its was filled with possibility and intrigue. Time has passed and its only getting better.

Jill and I went for a walk less than a week ago (Dec 14th), we came across a little precious stray cat I named Little Jill, or Lil for short (Jill is very patient and I can imagine she is tolerating the whole name thing just to humor me...). The weather had changed suddenly, It had started to snow as dusk approached and we, meandered through the streets and enjoyed our walk. Out of no where it seemed came a little darling, running up to us in the middle of the street where we had stopped to look back at the City view, Lil came running up to Jill and I and just rubbed up all over us as if to say...I need a home, things are not so good. We did the natural thing and knocked on doors, we asked around and found no takers. Eventually we decided, as the storm blow in, we could not leave Lil out there to work her way back home. We bundled her up and walked her home to my place a few blocks away. Upon arriving, we proceeded to introduce Lil to Thadd, the resident Cat of our humble abode.

Lets just say it has been a few tense days, I send Jill daily updates of their antics and ways. The other day, I put them up in the attic with instructions to work it out or else I would step in. Yesterday, while sitting in bed writing away, Thadd walked up to a sleeping Lil and begun to groom and wash her neck. What was amazing about it was that, half asleep, Lil reached out and licked Thadd's paw. It lasted a few minutes, but the bond was made and I thrilled like a child to tell this to Jill. The three of us spend our days in tow, moving from room to room wondering why we don't have our Jill. Thadd and Lil are adjusting well and we are all growing very attached to Li, even Jill.

Jill is also a wonderful addition to our lives. She is gentle and sweet and writes us beautiful letters. She is a lady in the classic sense, she is delicate, but oh so passionate. She is definitely her mothers daughter, she writes us wonderful poems about daughters who have kitten soft dreams. We enjoy having her come over on occasion and spend precious times with us. I wonder often if Thadd and I needed Jill and Lil. My house mate Renee remarked the other day about how wonderful it was that Jill and I found and rescued a pregnant cat just before Christmas. She likened it to the nativity story in the bible. I never thought about it that way, but I shared the remark with Jill the next day and she had the same reaction as i did. We both could see the irony in the timing of it all.

In this season of Christmas and Hanukkah , the times we live in, and the confused ways of our world. It has been going through my mind that perhaps we are all fortunate to have come together at this time. All four of us have experienced loss in this last year. We all have amazing hearts and care deeply for our fellows and friends. Despite our individual hardships we all four have an amazing capacity to love, be compassionate and exercise the true spirit of forgiveness. We are all humble and share what we have willingly with those who have a need. We tend to reject greed and have stopped asking why not us. We instead have looked inward and found a joy in those near us that nourishes and nurtures us one day to the next. As Jill says we leave room to have our toes tingle from the little joys we experience each day.

I for one on behalf of Thadd will like to say a heart felt thank you to Jill and Lil, The two of you have been exceptionally generous with your love and acceptance of us. We were just two boys, hold up in our little urban village home, writing away at our manuscripts, trying to find a publisher to take us seriously, taking walks and learning to live on less, when the two of you walked in and lifted us to our best. Thadd and I are the better for it all. We are hopeful. We have learned much from the risk you ladies took. You did not let us retreat into our shells, you would not hear of it. You stopped us cold in our tracks with those eyes so direct. Jill, those blues, and Lil those golds. If this is all we will have of you two, please know that we are thankful for what we have had. I think I speak for Thadd when I say, its all been one big winter "GULP" and we didn't even get brain freeze.