The Years of Plague and Love Part One

“But what does it mean, the plague? It's life, that's all.” 
― Albert Camus, The Plague



I graduated from nursing school in 1982. In San Francisco. I lived in the Castro District and worked at a "gay" restaurant while I was in school. Many of my friends were gay. Many. Most of my clinical rotations were at San Francisco General, UCSF and Kaiser, all hospitals with active Infectious Disease Units and I gravitated to them for doing my in-depth work. A new disease was being seen more and more often and it was hitting people I knew. No one was really sure what it was, but most people called it GRID, Gay Related Immune Deficiency.

Halloween at The Sausage Factory, Castro Street,1981

 I remember the first patient I cared for with GRID He was a 22 year old skinny African-American man, gay, and had a disease of old Jewish men, Kaposi's Sarcoma, a cancer which coloured his mocha skin in deep purple splotches. He also had a respiratory disease called PCP, a fungal disease usually found in chemo patients or other immune compromised people. He looked very tiny in the hospital bed, And very scared. His caregivers, the nurses and other hospital workers, including me, wore isolation gowns, gloves, and if we chose to, masks. I rarely wore a mask, I knew my chances of getting PCP were beyond slim- I was a healthy young woman.
One day he was visited by a rather well-known SF community leader and his entourage. It was a photo op. They asked me what they should wear in the room. I told them the options, knowing that they would be on the far side of the room from him, I suggested a gown, gloves if they had open cuts, and that a mask was not required. They chose to do compete isolation garb. It was their choice. I held the young man's hand , gloveless, not because I was saintly, not because I was crazy, but because that small man was going to die very soon and to feel that alone and unwanted must be a very terrible feeling.
Rumours were already spreading through the Castro , down Folsom Street, Polk Street that there was a disease that you could get from gay men. Some people said it was only from the street gays or in the bath houses or promiscuous guys- of course what other kind was there?

Nursing School Graduation

Testing,1-2-3,Testing, 1-2-3

Yesterday I guest taught (that is the fancy word for sub teaching) third grade at a local elementary school. It is a good little school, although 70% of the kids are on free and reduced lunch they have had markedly improved  scores on the state test in the last year and the teachers and staff are very focused on providing a warm, open and creative learning place for the students.
Although my certification is in secondary, I have taught K-adult and I enjoy working with the little kids. When I checked the  lesson plans for the day I noticed that we would be taking MAP reading tests. These are computerized assessments, Measure of  Academic Progress, used by the local district to , ostensibly, get an assessment of each child's learning level. They are given 2-3 times a year for 2-12 grade. These are not the high stakes state level, or the soon to be high states PARCC core curriculum tests.(More on those, much more, in a blog or two very soon)

I took the class to the computer lab where they were immediately put to work typing in their name and password. The test was administered by the librarian who is also the Tech teacher in our schools. This particular school has a wonderful librarian and I would be the circulating watcher of the kids after he got them logged in and started.

I soon caught on that some of the kids had difficulty just understanding how the computer was to be used, even though they all have regular classes for reading and math in the computer lab. The kids were told that there were 42 questions, that they would have more time for the test the next day and to just do their very best.

I had about 40 minutes for them in the lab- so I encouraged them to start right away. Within 5 minutes I had the first question of "how many questions are there?" By the end of the testing this was asked by at least 8 kids, even though it had been written on the whiteboard. The interminability of sitting and staring at a computer  which did not have a game on it for an 8 year old was quickly apparent. I had to remind kids many times to not use the keyboard, but to just use the mouse to highlight answers. I could not read anything to them, I could not answer any of their questions or concerns other than "don't worry that this question has a blue background, just answer it" "no, your earphones aren't broken, you have to read it" and also to remind them to not pretend write on the keyboard, chew on the headphone cord, poke your neighbor and on and on. Their disengagement with the computer was nearly unanimous, except for the few who became mesmerized with staring at each picture or story without appearing to read.

The first kid finished in ten minutes- saying he was the winner-high five.

He was quickly followed by 5 others. I gave them real books to read while we waited for the time to be up. 
MAP gives you instant feedback on the reading level, or lexile, achieved. I assure you that the levels scored by  the six kids who finished were not all correct. I had read with all of them earlier and know that most appeared to be at least on grade level. All scored poorly.
Now the MAP is not what is called High Stakes- that is- the school, the teacher, the child are not "graded' on it. So why should we care? How about the fact that starting this year my state is one of the states that has bought into the national PARCC test, a test which has the backing of not only the state and federal education departments, but also has been pushed by the c̶o̶m̶p̶u̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶c̶a̶p̶i̶t̶a̶l̶i̶s̶t̶  I mean educational philanthropist Bill Gates.

Oh, and PARCC? It is all done on computers, with new software and computer access required for all students who are taking it.

Those third grade kids I watched who were playing with the computers weren't necessarily doing it because they are disobedient little goof offs. They were doing it because that IS what they think of first with computers. The classes they take on computers are made to be kid-friendly, interactive and fun. Testing is very rarely fun in any format for most people. Unless you are the first one done. High five.




And now for a song on standardized testing by singer Tom Chapin...

More info on the MAP test

and Bill Gates interest in standardized testing

How to save the Springs. You're welcome..

Colorado Springs seems to be in a bit of a flux lately- well, I could say that is true for the entire 20 years or so I have lived here. And I have been in a bit of a flux about how I feel about this city that entire time.To be honest, not so much flux on my part- I spent many years trying to figure ways to get out of here.

 Yes, yes, I know it is beautiful. The weather is pretty fantastic , minus those occasional cold snaps in the winter , but overall it's a physically beautiful place. 

D o you remember the infamous neutron bombs of the 70s? They were hydrogen bombs that would basically leave a site standing, just get rid of the humans. For a long time as I watched the politics of COS get more and more right wing nutjob/libertarian selfish, I would dream of a neutron bomb that could hone in on everyone except my friends here.

At some point I will post about my views on the City for Champions projecthttp://www.cityforchampions.com/ (isn't that exciting?) but for now I have to share my why doesn't everyone just listen to me idea on how  this city can get out of being a political laughingstock and become what all cities these days seem to want to be- a place for creatives (does that word suck or what), for working class people to have real jobs that actually pay, and for old liberal people like me to want to stay in.

So what, you ask, needs to be done?

Okay, UCCS or CU the Springs or Colorado,Colorado Springs- whatever your marketing team has decided is your moniker this year, go out there and GROW. Yes, you have the new medical school extension and there is an art building coming soon, but I mean, really expand. The engineering school is rated high by all of the magazines that seem to know- number 9 in the country for public non PhD granting institutions. So go with that. Boulder is already maxed out- but here in Libertarian Springs there is room to expand. Push more into computer engineering, bring back the glory days when COS actually had some computer industry. Buy up North Nevada Ave from Fillmore to I-25- leave all the cool old restaurants that have been there forever, but buy the rest of that sucker right up . Yes- just take it over.Fumigate the 1950s motels and turn them into student housing. Make over the old greyhound track into an  athletic stadium. Turn Monument Creek behind University Village into a beach and a rapids area. Attract students who will remember their years here so fondly they will want to stay and start new companies with all that expertise they learned.  There is an urban renewal plan for this area but let's make it an education zone. Can you imagine  what it would be like if the first thought people had when they thought of COS was NOT what a political /religious toerag that town is ?http://www.csurbanrenewal.org/csuranorthnevada.html

Beth El nursing is highly rated- get some nurse practitioner programs going. Get some liberal arts advanced degrees that mean something beyond Powers Blvd. Endow some chairs and find someone worthwhile to sit in them.How about a law school? Jeesh, don't make me do all of the deciding on this, UCCS. I have faith in you.

For god/dess sake stop having your president prattle on against recreational marijuana. It's a good thing as far as most college students choosing a school and it is not going away. 

And as an added bonus all of that building and constructing and remodeling will keep the builders and their l̶a̶c̶k̶e̶y̶s̶ political partners happy.

Just remember to ask me the next time this town needs some planning done...

And so we start over again...

I have  lot of opinions. And interests. And I am feeling the need to share them. 

I first set up this blog a year or so ago when I was in an optimistic mood about life and swore I would write at least once a week.Well, that didn't happen.  So here we go again. 

My interests are way too varied- they include books, music ( I know  too much about too many obscure/not so obscure 60s-70s and 80s bands), gardening,history, my rescue Pomeranian, righteous indignation at the injustice in the world ( said with a sense of sheepishness) , dislike of the right wing agenda, my crazy huge family, cats, the odd art I make, feminism, recovery,pro-choice politics, vaguely spiritual searching,

the sad state of our education and health systems ( I am both a nurse and a teacher by trade), and an unhealthy knowledge of pop culture of the late 20th century.

My mother was a British war bride and my father was born in Kentucky. I grew up in a semi-rural area near a large industrial city in Ohio. I dropped in and out of college in Vermont, Indiana and California and I have lived in eight states and three countries. I feel at home in many places and I would rather travel than nearly anything else in life.  I lived a hippieish life in the early and mid 70s in Vermont and the midwest, a punky new wave life in the late 70s and 80s in San Francisco, a being a mom  and expatriate life in the 90s and 00s in New Orleans and eastern Europe  and and a bit of a bummer life in my now home of Colorado in the teens.  I have a few issues...

Cats are a good start

I think that a cat video is a good way to start a blog. So here is a lovely one. Although it is mainly about a man's love for his cat.  I have two cats, well, one cat who lives with me,Devotchka, and one,Koochense, who I have visitation rights with. FYI-Devotchka ( девочка) means little girl in Russian and Koochense(кученце) means puppy in Bulgarian.