Good Soul

"Good Soul"

\ Kinda doubt, anyone is listening
Except for maybe Jesus in my heart
– so to say-maybe no one's listening
The dead of night, the whisper of Art


And you couldn’t help but know,
Stevie was a good soul
With a Ludwig kit, pure '1973'
I drew it once, he thought that was pretty cool
That was my first memory


Came back to Georgia, San Diego time was up
heard him lay it down at the Rock
Frank, Clay, Syd, cousin Travis-Harpers and the Thieves were there
As they do when we turn back the clock
That’s what they do, when they play at the Rock


Good soul, nothing made you happy like the wheel roll
Barring that, you’d make do with a drum roll or a good bowl
Crash a hi hat, didn’t need much more than that
Time took its true toll on a good soul


You blessed most every morning, you weren’t in your cup
When we would see you ‘round, you always asked what’s up
You dodged a bullet, when they cut open your side,
With the pedal keeping time, you loved a good ride


You came in Waffle House, where I was nightly stuck
Just glad to have a gig, you always wished me luck
It wasn’t Saturday if you weren’t loaded in a truck
Driving to a festival with Roy, maybe clear a hundred buck
Playing's all that matters, so why give a care
You can still hear the music, dancing in the air


Good soul, nothing made you happy like the wheel roll
Barring that, you’d make do with a drum roll or a good bowl
Crash a hi hat, didn’t need much more than that
Time took its true toll on a good soul




I had no real desire, but my broken dryer
Kept us meeting at the laundromat
We talked of Colorado, where you had a friend
Raising crops in the mountains, couldn’t beat that


I used to let you know I dream I’ll one day go
I would miss some people, but you’ve got to live free
So glad to hear the call, so glad to live at all
Steve, your smile rang undying harmony


Rarely we’ll inspire a song
when our eyes are tired
When our legs ain’t long
You were the free love days, boogie chillun', purple haze


Electric blues and country tunes that ring all day and night
There was no getting older, even if we don’t see Boulder
You stood on that rock and gave a good fight
If there’s a kind creator, you might


See a good soul….see a good soul…see a good soul. 4/27/20 (in memory of Steve Stewart) C Lue Lyron

Eyes of the Whys

Again, I see the value of you;
Of all you are and all that you do
We’re casting this spell cause it’s true
In the mysteries I’m finding this clue.

The sorceress of past times, today
You can tell, by these words, is at play
Though the greed leaves us, grieving, to die
Still our song opens up to the sky

Chorus
Through the eye of the Why, I keep loving you.
Through the eye of the Why, I keep loving you.
Why? I keep loving you.

2. Every single thing I have, is dust without measure
When troubles have all passed away, I’ve still had the pleasure
And dreams we’ve known are quickly thrown as power from our hands
And when we’ve played this masquerade, still, someone, understands.
So much for human plans.

Chorus: Through the eye of the Why, I keep loving you.
Through the eye of the Why, I keep loving you.
Why? I keep loving you.

Alone in social media wasteland (or is it- and am I?)

In that rare instance of admitting to the loneliness that occasions many of us in the social media world, I wrote this response- broken into three comments, because, as my pal Shawn once put it, 'respect the OS (operating system)- to a friend who was frustrated with putting his personal life out there into the void, as it were. He felt like it was a big waste of time. And I do know the impulse to channel some anger at the sheer sensation of anonimity.

So, how is it that we sometimes seem to be wasting our sincere efforts to communicate, when we thought we'd accepted this friend request or that, and now we'd have our pick of regular contact with a variety of cool people.

I said:

I wonder about that, too, friend.

I wouldn't say none, 99% of the time, no, but I wonder how crowded are the algorithims of the 1400 or so FB friends I have, that so many are missed? It used to be, posting at peak times yielded better results, and replies and interactions seem to boost visibility of a post.

Then, I take into account the ten or so friends I have who post in such massive volumes that I can't really see the posts of others. I don't want to hide or un-follow those people, but the process chokes out seeing into the further reaches of my friends lists. I have to think about a given person and go give them a looksie to start seeing them again, often. It's not that guy or gal's fault that FB thinks I want to see very single one of the two dozen posts or more a day, at the expense of furthering connections with others. I often find something of value in what said friends have to post. Several of them are good at digging out laughs.


And how much time can I dare spend on here, too?
I feel like I've been reading posts so much...and sometimes it's impossible to process the variety of articles or quality of thoughts without devoting hours to the app. Sometimes, the time factor and the sheer rigor of some postulations means I have to pass on a few very intelligent posts. And if you're like me, there's often a personal investment in what I share, rather than just memes picked off while randomly surfing. I am often the only 'like' on a post- that must happen half a dozen times a day, if once. When I'm in a bit of a haze, I just scroll without responding to anyone, because I'm feeling depressed. I should probably try a book instead.


Not to poke the bear- I hope- but unless I'm missing something, often, I'd say I see about one or so of your posts almost daily. I tend to invest a little something in it, to let people know they are, at least in some superficial sense, not alone.

More to the point, I hope you don't feel emotionally isolated like this too often. I was feeling this way pretty seriously for a couple of weeks. There's a lot more factors than the personal. I think some people have been out in public life a lot locally, and get more interactions online, too.
Sometimes I've posted about my students, to crickets. Then, I post about Umbrella Academy or something funny with Patrick Stewart, and here's ten.
If it's something I think is really important, like my posts about the Elm Street Brigade, I might feel disappointed when no one responds. But they're just looking for entertainment, not ways to get involved. Then again: FB posts being shared is how I got to connect the 3-D printer idea with the local teachers at Elm Street!
I found the post I paid to promote got the crochet idea out to many, many people. I hope some did it!

A couple of friends maintain enough Left/ Right inclined people to moderate lengthy political arguments. I can think of more than one, whose posts often seem to get little attention except mine. It also factors in who you PM with.
For a while, if I had a picture of me and my cute wife, it got enough feel-good energy to draw in many more friends.

And that's most of what I shared.
I have more thoughts on this. You could pen a lengthy digression and even cite references to studies and tips.
But I've also learned, most people are only looking for a dive, so deep. If I had one of the blogs lucky enough to gain more interaction in the comments, it's a good conversation. Then again, I've seen the comments of some news articles- they vary from rather unoriginal put-downs and unfocused rage, to surprising investments in analysis.

I think for a lot of people, they dismiss the whole idea of feeling ignore online without much kindness. Then you have people like my wife, who have just had enough disappointment and boredom with their assimilation of social media friends as to not miss it most of the time. I update her on posts and lives of our common friends, anyway. She's never needed much to feel deep love towards people. She's also used to not being much of a blip on social media. She knows people care, and some admire her in ways. She's adept at keeping her own council. That's awesome, but next time we complete an artistic project, I dread promoting it. I'll have to pay for advertising. If you don't have a large organically-built base for personal interaction- and this quarantine has slammed that door shut, wherever you live- it's left to some attractive element in your presentation to connect. But ask anyone who's invited 900 people to hear them play a venue and been lucky to play for ten. It's a sociological field rich enough to cultivate a master's or even a doctorate. I wonder how many people have said doctorate, but connect with few people? I wonder how many people have thousands, if not millions, of IG and Twitter and FB followers, but find themselves feeling there's maybe one or two people, at best, they can really trust?

Therein lies another conversation, right? Close friendships versus 'popularity.'

What do you say? Is there a blog platform that reaches more people for conversation? Is IG the right level for bigger numbers? More to the point, what's your thoughts on anomie- the feeling of anonymous disconnection, perhaps even being ignored- on social media?

PPE shortage: helping from home quarantine (For Hospitality House, Rome GA)

3-D printing files, for face shields, face masks and ear guards. Crochet face straps for homemade masks, and sewing masks. There's many ways you can chip in, and The Elm Street Brigade is a blanket term for that general effort. I
made a quick video for the Frontline Festival Online, which summarizes some of the information you can find on The Elm Street Brigade FB page.

This was made for Hospitality House, a charity in Rome, GA, who hosts Frontline Festival online, all weekend Apr. 10-12th, 2020. If you see this in time, you can find them via FB and donate to Hospitality House, any time. https://www.hospitalityhouseforwomen.org/donate

PPE support: Elm Street Brigade

I really thought I'd have been updating this with kitten photos and videos.

Here is where our efforts began, March 24th. Jeffrey Bolt, RN, called for public support to directly contact representatives and hospital administration - still a valuable idea! Then my friend Gregory Hanner contacted me re: 3D printing/ emergency relief. Soon I contacted Austin Peay, and reached out to our rep from Congress, GEMA, Floyd Medical, and, more fruitfully, our State Senator.

The first week, I began learning from Mike Wilson at APSU, but we weren't able to locate the local 3-D printers.

Then, a post finally reached Rome City Schools volunteers.

https://www.facebook.com/RomeCitySchools/videos/2768496300137667

In an amazing collaboration of technology and leadership, the champions at Elm Street Elementary have taken a brilliant step forward in the fight against COVID-19. Elm Street has now become a manufacturing facility for medical face shields.
The conversation started when Holly Amerman, CTAE Director (Career, Technical and Agricultural Education), tagged Laura Walley, Principal at Elm Street, in a post about using 3-D printers to produce the much-needed face shields that have been in short supply. Elm Street has a number of printers that the students use to manufacture an amazing number of products. Ms. Amerman knew of their manufacturing capabilities and thought it was something that the school could get involved with.

To quote the rest of Rome City School's post:

"Melanie Arrington, Media Specialist and STEM coordinator for Elm Street, took a look at the open-source file and said it was definitely possible. The school carries two different types of 3-D printers. The Mod-T is too small to manufacture the shields, but their four MarkerBot printers had large enough build plates to complete the task.
Once they knew all the tools were there, Lou Byars, School Superintendent, made sure the school had all the supplies they needed to begin printing. “Mr. Byars connected us with our friends at Floyd Medical Center and made them aware of the project. We looked at this as a great opportunity to give back to them since they do so much for our school system,” said Walley.
With their plan in place, Mrs. Arrington brought two of the printers home, Brant Amerman, Assistant Principal at Elm Street, brought one home and Mrs. Walley brought home the other one. It takes about three hours to print one shield and with a total of four printers working simultaneously, they have the capability to print up to 30 face shields each day.
Along with the ability to produce face shields, they have also been able to utilize the smaller 3-D printers to produce mask extenders. There can be some discomfort for certain people who have to wear a face mask for long periods of time. These extenders allow the face masks to be adjustable and accommodate every user.
This is another great example of not only our school system but our community coming together to selflessly help one another. This crisis has put so many healthcare workers on the front line and they need the proper protection to safely and effectively do their job. It makes us proud to see our school leaders working together to be part of the solution.
Thank you Elm Street Elementary and all you do!"



Every time efforts stuttered, a volunteer came across with support or new ideas. I will tell you, next post, about efforts down in Atlanta and Norcross. They are all Elm Street Brigade!

To my surprise, I discovered just now there's already been a news article AND they've been mentioned on Channel 2 news!

https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/education/elm-street-elementary-to-donate-3d-printed-face-shields-to-hospitals/article_40ba3f72-78e9-11ea-a206-5be1e21f090b.html?fbclid=IwAR3VYeecMZnalxPVT3WEV21gGZ3pUu6YlZiTZgHFPo587mIQZvPI5Dcj6Ns

I encourage you to adapt the ideas on our page, or even better ones you find, for your community, wherever you are, and please share new ones, improvements on what you see posted here. Please share these posts when you love an idea- someone just might see.