Gloria Ferris

This is Tim, writing for Gloria. We were both going over a book Carole Cohen gave Gloria to while away the hours at Metro, and we had an “aha” moment we wanted to share with all of you. Here’s a  excerpt from pages 47 & 48 of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations by Clay Shirky:

For the last hundred years the big organizational question has been whether any given task was best taken on by the state, directing the effort in a planned way, or by businesses competing in a market. This debate was based on the universal and unspoken supposition that people couldn’t simply self-assemble, the choice between markets and managed effort assumed that there was no third alternative. Now there is. Our electronic networks are enabling novel forms of collective action, enabling the creation of collaborative groups that are larger and more distributed than at any other time in history. The scope of work that can be done by noninstitutional groups is a profound challenge to the status quo.

The collapse of transaction costs makes it easier for people to get together–so much easier, in fact, that it is changing the world.

This is Tim, filling in for Gloria. We got this press release today from Bill Denihan, who was telling Gloria about the new, improved situation yesterday, when he dropped by the 7th floor at Metro. Gloria will comment on it herself soon, but here is the release:

The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County with Provisional Authority has voted to name William M. Denihan to serve for three years as Executive Director of the soon-to-be-consolidated agency.  The appointment will be effective July 1, 2009, when the new agency comes into existence.  Mr. Denihan is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board (CCCMHB). 

The decision comes after nearly six months of careful deliberation on the qualities and qualifications needed to lead the new organization, which unites the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board of Cuyahoga County and the CCCMHB.  

The provisional board voted December 1 to limit the search to the two incumbent executives.  William M. Denihan will be on loan to serve as the Executive Director under the terms of a memorandum of understanding while continuing to direct the CCCMHB.

“We take very seriously both our stewardship of the public’s mental health and drug and alcohol addiction services dollars, and our charge to assess and quickly respond to the community’s growing need for lifesaving behavioral healthcare services,” said Mary McElrath, ADAMH board co-chair. “We want this agency to be the gold standard for good government in Cuyahoga County, and Bill is the person to take us there.”

“The search committee had two highly competent and accomplished candidates to choose from, and the decision was not an easy one,” said Kathryn Gambatese, ADAMH board co-chair. “However, in the end we felt that Bill is best suited to lead the consolidated board at this point in time.  His particular combination of skills and track record of experience were significant deciding factors.” 

The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County is committed to strengthening the community by supporting a provider network that offers leading edge behavioral healthcare and wellness services.  In joining forces, the preferred practices of both systems will be combined, with the goal of continuously improving how people are connected with the recovery services necessary to lead an independent and productive life.

Scott S. Osiecki

Director of External Affairs

Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board

216-241-3400, ext. 361

osiecki@cccmhb.org

Tim is writing this post for me, but this is the tale of me and my ever-jumping bed.

Those who have visited me in the last week or two have probably been greeted with the words, "I swear, if I didn’t know better, this bed moved all night long!"

At first, I thought it was me and the medications they gave me each day. But then I happened to tell one of the nurses, "If I didn’t know better, I’d think my bed was moving," and she answered, "It is!"

It turns out that my bed is a highly sophisticated model that keeps severely disabled people from getting pressure sores. These beds are great things, but certainly not what I need. When I come to bed at night, I need to be able to sink down into a comfy bed, cover myself with blankets, and snuggle down in between to get a good night’s rest because sleep is when you heal.

Right now, the only one in the room getting any sleep is that bed. Well, this isn’t over yet. It may have won the battle, but it’s certainly not won the war. Hooray, Dr. Cui has given the order to banish that bed and to find me a new "old" bed. The nurses have already taken up the fight and are combing the halls for a different bed. So tonight, the ever-jumping bed will sleep somewhere very comfortably in the halls of this hospital, but not anywhere close to me.

It is with great pleasure that I’m typing up this entry at the request of my dear, dear mentor and friend (how lucky am I to be able to write that?), Gloria Ferris.

This request from Gloria is for us to say prayers on behalf of her dear friend, Patty, who would have been a five year cancer survivor by the end of this year.  Today, Patty is having her last test and consult and Gloria reports that her friend will begin and is beginning to make final decisions due to her health.

It is Gloria’s wish and desire that, while we are planning and conducting our end of the year vacations and get togethers, we also recall that Patty is making life-altering choices.  Although Gloria did not say this in so many words, I believe her intent is that, as matters that seem small and large may dog us in relation to all the holiday arrangements so many of us make, we please pray for Patty as she makes a certain set of arrangments as well.

Thank you.

Who knew that I would have to be reminded by my husband Tim of what is so important? I am fortunate to have the most wonderful care here (at MetroHealth in stroke rehab), but today this story is about my nurse Michelle.

Yesterday, she spent quite a bit of time with us telling us about Foster and Kleiser’s billboard business and about her uncle who was a poster artist. I believe I may have known him during the political campaigns of the ’70s, but that’s a blog for another day.

So yesterday, when we were having this conversation, I insisted on continuing to call her Marjorie even though I insisted I knew her name was Michelle. I said that Marjorie was a beautiful name and that it would be a good name for her.

To be truthful, I am not sure that I could get "Michelle" to stick in my head. But, what I didn’t realize was that I had forgotten what I had always prided myself on: Remembering peoples’ names. I am putting it in my head early, I have done this since 1972 when I first started student teaching: People’s names are who they are.

I grew up with Mom and Dad, who always were very centered on making sure that people were included and that new people were welcome. Thanks to Tim, I didn’t forget the biggest part of me and I won’t forget Michelle’s name, I know I won’t.

Through the days, I’ll be writing more little snippets, but they may be much different from what you remember, but remember, after all, this is my experience.

Wow, is it great to get back to writing!

The early church did not identify with a "place" as much as  with "a sense of place".  Over the years, large gothic cathedrals became beacons of hope and light for generations of Christians.  When the reformation began, we again went back to a simpler day and time with our churches, although for many, the magnificent cathedrals remain a beacon of light and hope.

Here in America, we created our own symbols of light and hope, and we find here today in Cleveland that many of those churches will be closing.  When they were built,  they were where the people rallied to act as one community to build something where they could gather to worship, to pray, to celebrate, and to mourn.

And, as in all things, the community changed; it grew, became prosperous, and many in the community  moved to ever brighter places.  Leaving the old to tend the buildings and for a newer generation a bit poorer to use the building for hope, shelter, and peace.   But then, they knew that  the place they once gathered would  be there when it would be needed  for the next celebration or sad occasion, not so much the place to worship, to reflect, to gather as a local community but more as the ceremonial place for "big" events.

But you see, while others were moving away others were staying in place or moving in who relied on that beacon of hope and light to provide the shelter, the solitude, the dignity that belonging to a community  provides. These churches became not only a place for one community to gather but for others to partake of the mercies, the solace, and the hope that the very walls give off.  Some of these buildings are reaching their 150th birthday and facing their impending death because others have seen fit to say that they have outlived their usefulness.

I am hear to ask you have they outlived their usefulness?  Or, is it that their mission has changed?   Could  the smaller communities served find a way to keep these beacons in our midst? Have they been asked?  Are the services they provide any less needed by the core city? How will the abandoned building affect the surrounding community?  Where will the sense of hope for a better day come from, when and if the church building is no longer in our midst?

It has been said that the services rendered are more than bricks and mortar and that the services will remain, but where and how? When people who walk to church will now need transportation to get there, how will they get there? When women and children who use the services provided will have farther to go to attain those services will they be able to make it or will they do without?  The closing of these doors means much more than the shuttering of a building and I would ask how and when will the questions I have asked and that other more thoughtful people than I have asked will be answered.  If the bricks and mortar already in place is to be considered in these discussions they should take place sooner rather than later.  

I rue the day that the skyline of Cleveland will no longer be peppered with the beautiful beacons of hope that have inspired generations of Clevelanders because I fear that we will have lost much more than "just a church spire". Rather we will lose a bit of our sense of place, our heritage, our history.  We will have lost a bit of our essence, of who we are, and who we can be.  Yes, services may still be provided but at what price?

Will we leave  damaged communities that are facing daunting odds with more than they can handle?  Will we leave behind another symbol of abandonment with boarded up windows and weedy lots?  Just what will become of the empty shell of a building shuttered and lonely on the edge or smack dab in the middle of the community?  Have we forgotten that  a church is more than bricks and mortor?

Or was it convenient to look only at bricks and mortar and dollars and cents when making these extremely important decisions?  If we take out the variable of people and communities and keep the pencil moving toward the bottom line the decision becomes easier to make but as we have seen that is not always the best way to make decisions.  

I am getting ready to live blog here at WKYC. Brian Layman again comes to my rescue what would I do without him?

Believe me this is a must.  A few weeks ago on twitter blogesque said that he had just finished voting absentee-it took him about twenty minutes.  I thought “oh, it couldn’t have.”  It could have.  It just took me FIFTEEN MINUTES and I have been reading on the issues for the past three weeks to get up to speed. There are a LOT OF ISSUES, FOLKS.

There are five statewide Issues, seven charter amendments if you live in the city of Cleveland, the County Library Levy and any local issues that may be on your ballot.  These are all in addition to voting for the candidates-a lot of bubbles to be filled in COMPLETELY, a lot of STUFF to wade through before voting.

For illustration purposes, I am going to use the last Presidential general election figures from the precinct I worked.  Poll hours are 6:30 a.m to 7:30 p.m.  We had six voting stations.  Many of these polling places are not large and the number of voting stations are limited.  The final figure for my precinct at my polling station was 273 voters. I had a heavy voting precinct in my ward.  Predictions are that there will be even more voters this election cycle.  Based on that election, those polling stations could handle 234 voters if it took each voter 20 minutes to vote.  Based on a voter taking fifteen minutes to cast their ballot, 312 voters would vote. 

Granted, polling stations stay open until the last voter in line at 7:30 p.m. has voted.  Historically, voters drop off toward the end of a ballot.  Fewer people vote for judges than the president or governor and fewer people vote on issues as well.  Voting early in the day on election day should be a must if you just can’t bring yourself to vote early.  At the very least, go to the Cuyahoga County BOE website and check out a sample ballot for you. There will be LONG LINES on Election Day.  We will not know how we voted here in Cuyahoga County quickly.

Last evening I was with a small group of neighbors working on a group project when our conversation turned to heating our homes this winter- the cost of doing that, what each of us are doing to achieve that, and alternative ways to do it without a large dependence on natural gas.

Our hostess had apologized for the coolness of her home, and since we had finished our original task we turned our attention to heating our homes.   She said that she had turned the heat on when she arrived home from work but the furnace was still catching up.  She then said she was  looking for alternative ways to heat her home.  Three stories is a lot of square footage to heat.  Of course, she said her third floor bedroom was quite toasty.  It was the public area on the first floor that was more problematic.

Interestly enough, none of us had turned on their heat yet.  We all said that we had been wearing bulky sweaters and vests, wool socks, and heating our homes with electric heaters.   We have had some pretty chilly nights, but all of us were stretching the time line to its limit.  We were all aware that this weekend might be the turning point. 

We all agreed that our relationship with normal gas suppliers was deteriorating daily. The news that the PUCO had agreed to allow them to increase delivery charges, when conservation is at its highest point ever,  does not bode well for natural gas prices this winter.  Additionally, the international news that Russia, Iran, and  Qatar are exploring the formation of a cartel much like OPEC for natural gas should concern us all.  Given the fact that the United States has a 3.5% reserve of the natural resource compared to the 60% the cartel would own  means that this commodity will only rise on the world markets just as oil did.  We will definitely not be controlling our destiny if we continue our dependency on natural gas.

One of our group mentioned Mr. Slim heat pumps good to 0 degrees Farenheit.  He said that the electricity is negligible to run the unit.  Right now, he personally uses two $120 electric heaters to heat his 900 square foot home.  He is looking for alternative sources for heating and cooling for his rental properties.  He believes that low energy bills will be a marketing point for getting and retaining good tenants.  We all agreed.

One of our friends installed a geothermal unit.  He said that it did his heart good when he finally received that first gas bill where they owed him.  So my questions are how do we leverage this discomfort with the old models of heating, how do we cut our dependence on natural gas, how do we continue to conserve energy, and how do we eventually get off the grid and form a new paradigm?  We need more instruction than layering of clothes.  HELP!!    

Two months ago,  I saved this quote on my desktop.  At the time, I didn’t know why.  Now I know.  Events and comments made during this 2008 presidential campaign season have illuminated why we need to heed  these words by Harry S. Truman:

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of  increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. -Harry S. Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972)

Our government is not there yet, but if we allow hate slogans, catcalling, intolerance and elected representatives  to question opposition as “unamerican” can we be far from that path? Opposition by all Americans to these types of intimidation needs to be strong and united.  If we silence dialogue, if we eschew diversity, how do we become the innovative economy and country we need to be?     My computer has just told me that the word unamerican does not exist. Is AI is more intelligent than humans?  By the way, I am not adding it to the dictionary.