I’m so impressed that the New Orleans Times -Picayune Newspaper got back to publishing so quickly.

Here’s the link to the first page of the pdf from Wednesday, August 31

www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/083105/a1.pdf

I can’t seem to find a way to access the 14 page pdf all at once. Maybe because it would take a long time for a lot of people to be able to download it an see it, so it’s just be uploaded one page at a time.

Anyway, you have to change the end of the address to.. a2, a3 etc. so you can see the whole edition.

And if you change the part before that to 090105/a1.pdf etc..
www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/090105/a1.pdf
then you can step thru subsequent on line editions.

What an amazing story. What amazing pictures!

I’m learning to be a Barista! My sister has a very cool, very friendly coffee shop in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. The Stoudtburg Village Coffee Shop is only about two years old and it’s growing day by day. Carol is taking her daughter from school in Georgia to school in Colorado. It seemed a shame to close up for two weeks in the middle of summer. So I figured, I could help out here.

I’ve helped out on busy weekends but mostly making sandwiches and keeping up with brewing the coffee. But now, I’ll be on my own for almost two weeks!

What I am hoping is that working in someone else’s business, doing things the way they think it should be done is going to teach me some things about what I think it the right way.

I really am a little nervous about it all. Will I make the crème just right on the espressos? Will I remember my glasses so that I can read all the posted notes that explain exactly what goes into a BrainFreeze? Will I push the right buttons on the cash register?

But more important than that,

I want to practice being separate from my own worry about that.

I want to practice being separate from my mother’s worry that it’s a long drive across the country and maybe my sister shouldn’t have gone.

I want to practice being separate from my worry that my sister might be right and maybe I will screw it all up and crash her business into total ruin in a mere 12 days.

And I want to focus on what needs to be done.

The shop needs to stay open – to break stride of operating hours now would be a mistake.
People need to get what they order and it has to be a pleasant experience for them.

What needs to be done… is really nothing about me or my worries. But it’s all about what is NOT me. It feels like a much calmer place.

And while I am sure “barista” is not a calm place, I am looking forward to the idea of working at something I’m not used to. Besides, my sister is a barista, my daughter has been a barista.. .. before she was a barrister.. ok.. no, not really.. but a paralegal… anyway. Now I’ll get my chance.

My letter to the Baltimore Sun appeared in the Letters column this morning. (July 5, 2005)
The bit I replied to appeared on June 30. I do mean bit as it was just the last two paragraphs of the article “Laws on parkland, bullying go into effect: Sale of state forests harder; schools to track harassment” by Tom Stuckey

Here’s what I was reacting to:

The anti-bullying law requires schools to maintain records on harassment and intimidation of students by other students on grounds such as race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.

Some conservative lobbying groups opposed the bill, arguing that it would result in schools telling students that it is OK to be a homosexual.

You have to scroll down on the page to see my letter (I’ll include it here)

Schools must quash all forms of bullying
It’s great news that Maryland laws on school bullying went into effect Friday (“Laws on parkland, bullying go into effect,” June 30).
But it’s unfortunate that Maryland’s law seems to be concerned, according to The Sun, only if the “harassment and intimidation of students by other students” is “on grounds such as race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.”
What if your ears stick out, or you’re too tall, or your mother left you in a basket at the church? Are those acceptable reasons for bullying?
Bullying must not be considered a normal plight of childhood – or any other part of life.
Kerch McConlogue
Baltimore

I wonder why they left off my final line: I hope the schools will pay attention not only to the victims but also to the bullies who surrounds themselves with others who encourage his (or her) aggressive behavior. It’s not a good life model.

Maryland laws on school bullying go into effect on July 1 as reported in the Baltimore Sun today.
Bullying must not be considered a normal plight of childhood … or any other part of life. It’s unfortunate that Maryland’s law seems to only be concerned if the “harassment and intimidation of students by other students on grounds such as race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.” It should not be acceptable under any conditions.

Parents rightly worry about children being bullied. And I’d guess that most often, it has nothing to do with those standard grounds. It’s just about some kid who thinks he has more power than other kids and feels compelled to prove it … daily. We search for ways to arm our harassed children with anything that might get them past the bullies in their lives. We really know that “Just ignore it” doesn’t work. “Make jokes,” “Tell a grown up,” or “Keep away from them” doesn’t work either.

Our children believe, and perhaps rightly so, that if the parents try to do anything it would be more ammunition for the bully’s attacks, which really are only about being more powerful than the humiliated kid. And by the very fact that he told, he proved that he is a dweeb who can’t manage his own problems. It’s interesting that we somehow make it the fault of the kid being bullied instead of an issue for the bully.

Psychiatrist Carol Watkins has an excellent series of articles on bullying on the website of the Northern County Psychiatric Associates. She suggests, in part, “teach [your child] to avoid being an easy target. Start with posture, voice and eye contact. These can communicate a lot about whether you are vulnerable.” Those things can work for adults who find themselves being bullied at work.

But consider also the problem of the bully.

Watkins also says that the bully is “more likely to surround himself with friends who condone and promote aggressive behavior. He may not develop a mature sense of justice.”

It seems to me that this very behavior is the one which the fraternities use in hazing rights and the military uses to “train” soldiers to follow orders. That all just seems pretty warped to me.

Here’s a coaching question for this issue:

If you are being bullied, what would it look like if that stopped? How would you know you had won?

Have you seen the Bounty paper towel ads?
The Chicago Tribune ran a story about them today. On TV you really don’t get the full effect. But on line, they are a stitch!

“One of the insights we had was, `[A man] doesn’t have to be perfect; he just has to try,’ ” said Biondi [Brawny’s director of marketing, who lead the research campaign to determine what women want]. In one of the videos, the Brawny man tries to serenade you on the guitar but — adorably — forgets the words.”

Why do I care?

But past that they point out to me that a sensitive new age guy really just has to ask a couple questions and then listen. He doesn’t have to fix things. Although, sure when something is actually broken, it would be nice. But lots of times what I’m thinking has nothing to do with anything being broken.

Men and women are happiest with people who help.. not just judge us wrong and then attempt to fix something.

That is the beauty of coaching. A coach will ask you some questions and wait for the answers. And maybe wait longer for different answers.

That’s really what I want. Someone who helps me figure stuff out for myself. But he, or she, can’t do it if he doesn’t just listen first.