A short film by me and Robin Finch

Grady Summer Literacy Camp from Jason Turner on Vimeo.

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Sunday

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My Dad Can Do It

My dad can beat up your dad, this I'm sure of. He has strong hands, arms and shoulders, a low center of gravity to out-leverage any opponent, and he possesses the shear toughness and scrappy attitude of an Irishman. And no one wants to face an angry Irishman, no one. But no matter how strong my dad may seem, his heart lies more on gentler side. I think he'd much rather shake your dad's hand and share some conversation over a bottle of red wine then get involved in some kind of physical altercation. I admire him for having this duality to his personality and, furthermore, applying his never-give-up, jump-in-the-deep end-and-swim-your-way-out resilience and strength to home improvement.

My dad can do a lot of things. Just this weekend he paid us a visit and wound up re-grouting the tile in both of our bathrooms and installing a new sink top with a shiny new faucet. These are tedious jobs that Erika and I just haven't gotten to in the four years that we've lived in our aging house. More important stuff always seems to get in the way like dogs and jobs and dinners at Mexican restaurants and, well, you just push the bathrooms aside to be worked on some other day.

This is where my dad took on his job as a dad. He's not a professional plumber or tile and grout guy but has many years of experience in being a homeowner. And that's what homeowners like him do, they don't call experts and pay them to do a job that they know they can do themselves. My dad gets done what needs to be done. I wouldn't say that he loves to read directions, but he does have a certain knack for being able to figure things out, like finding a way to remove an old sink top and replace it with a new one and reattach the plumbing so that water doesn't leak all over dry rolls of toilet paper and everything else we keep under the bathroom sink.

Above all, my dad isn't afraid to make mistakes. Who amongst us can honestly say that about ourselves? He knows that joint compound was made precisely for repairing dings in the drywall and that forgiveness is always there to be given by those who are willing to give it. And so, for a man whose intentions are whole-heartedly on the side of good, I don't think that he will be fighting your dad anytime soon. It doesn't mean, however, that he wouldn't win.

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Consequences

Last week I received this message in response to one of my Sapelo Island posts:

Hey Jason , your articles and pictures are great, and I do not see any information about the people that made the trip availiable. I think that would be great support for Tony Coppage Associates and Ayide Summers.

Tony is right. I failed to mention the two men whose tireless efforts made the trip to Sapelo Island possible--Mr. Tony Coppage and Mr. Ayinde Summers. The literacy program at Grady High School simply does not work without them. They are true leaders in our community.

When you have 20 teenagers who read at a 5th grade level and are repeatedly failing the same classes year after year, chances are that it's more than just a lack of literacy skills that are contributing to their delinquency. Often, the kids' character is also failing. This is where Tony and Ayinde stepped in with character-building exercises, the high ropes course and, finally, a camping trip to Sapelo Island. The kids craved positive influences who were real, honest and accessible. Never once did Tony and Ayinde let them down.

I did not intend to slight these two men who, in only a month's time, became like brothers to me. Instead, I made a conscious decision to write stories about the kids and also my experiences. I knew that I was devoting much of the film about the literacy program to Tony and Ayinde and thus paying them their much due credit and respect. What I didn't anticipate was it taking this damn long to edit and produce a short film. However, it is almost done. Like 97% done.

Tony's website is here. If you reach out to him, chances are that Ayinde will be in tow. They can ably lead you or your class, work group or family in all kinds of team building and adventure learning trips and exercises in and outside of classrooms. Tony and Ayinde are former Outward Bound instructors who have traveled the world learning from and working with kids and adults alike. They taught me that every action introduces a consequence. And that my character is made by the choices that I make and my willingness to accept the consequences of them, good or bad. Apparently, it's a lesson that I'm still learning.

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color color color!

Yesterday was a drag. Today, not so much.

Enter Gianni.

I'm sitting him all day while my friends Jacqueline and Jose are busy at an art show. Looks like we're having an art show of our own!

Check out Jacqueline's jewelry if you can. Her Lego pieces are especially wonderful.

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Talk too too tootootoo much

Ursonography (Excerpts), Jaap Blonk & Golan Levin, 2005 from Golan Levin on Vimeo.

Letters... words... punctuation...

I like them all.

I especially like the sounds you make without words.

Is that poetry? No, that is not poetry.

But I do admire poets. And storytellers.

This one is Jaap Blonk, performing Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate.

! !!!

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So what if I slept with the Ultimate Warrior

Sorry it's been so long. Geesh. Not blogging makes me feel guilty. I have been doing things, though, and apparently telling no one about them. My portfolio is something I worked on all of last week. Then, at the very last minute, I accidentally threw away my InDesign file. Emptied the trash. Gone. There were many people and animals and inanimate objects to blame but none were more deserving than me. The more time I spend at a desk contemplating sentences the more neurotic I become. File names appear indistinguishable. Brutus paces. And then I trash important things. Ugh! Lesson learned. If your interested, take a look at my portfolio and let me know what you think. The work may not be new to you but it should appear that way to people who haven't seen it. At least that's the hope.

What else. We run out of space daily in our home and had considered selling the spare bed in favor of a work table. When Ikea didn't offer a solution we took matters into our own hands. Our new work table is built atop the spare bed. Two 6.5 ft x 3 ft doors sit on top of a frame made with 2 x 3's.

I think about napping under the work table almost everyday. Imagine the roof of a blanket fort but instead of flimsy blankets you have real wood. It's an impenetrable fortress where monsters will never get you. If only this was my bed when I was a kid. Barricade the side walls with stuffed animals and wrestling buddies and I guarantee that my nightmares would have been scared away.

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