Sunday, June 10, 2007

My New Face Board

I had to give a talk this afternoon at a meeting of the future members of the soon to be established non-profit corporation, Propeller Dance. The topic of my talk: "The members and directors and what they will do." I was told I would have flip chart paper and markers if I wanted them, but I kept thinking I wanted something else.

What I wanted was something like a magnetic whiteboard and magnetic people to represent the different groups.

Naturally, I procrastinated all week and still had nothing when I woke up this morning.

Have I mentioned that I lead a charmed life?

I had to go to the 7-11 to get some milk for breakfast. On my way home, I noticed that someone had put a panel from an old appliance out with their garbage.

Even though I immediately recognized the panel would make an excellent magnetic whiteboard, I actually left it there and came home without it. Then at 3:30, with only an hour and a half until the meeting, I:

  1. Went back and got the panel;
  2. Cleaned it up with windex and paper towel;
  3. Drew a bunch of faces with a felt-tip pen on a sheet of paper;
  4. Scanned the pictures into my photo software;
  5. Added hair colour and skin tones;
  6. Copied some of the faces;
  7. Printed out two pages on "magnet sheets"; and
  8. Cut the faces out with scissors and stuck them on the panel.

I made it to the meeting with plenty of time to spare and because of my handy visual aids felt entirely comfortable describing interesting points like how the directors choose the members and then the members elect the directors.

p.s. Propeller Dance will be the new independant organization doing DanceAbility programming in Ottawa.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

huh, you are a clever kitten aren't you? Good fluid way to show movement and relationships.

Anonymous said...

David ... you are a very clever boy. I wish that I had your fridge panel .. it would make a great addition to my classroom as many kids never get their work put on the fridge door!
Congratulations by the way ... MR Barrister and Solicitor.

David Scrimshaw said...

Thank you, Pearl and Barbara, it is a refreshing change to have people recognize my genius.

But, Barbara, I had no idea there are children whose work is never displayed on a fridge!

This is terrible.

I am sure if we keep our eyes open, we'll spot a fridge door that you can hang in your classroom for this purpose.

Anonymous said...

One of the many things there is to love about country music is how often it uses the phrase "'frigerator door" in its lyrics.

As in this song, performed by George Strait:

"Baby, write this down, take a little note
To remind you in case you didn't know
Tell yourself I love you and I don't want you to go
Write this down

Take my words, read'em everday
Keep 'em close by, don't you let 'em fade away
So you'll remember what I forgot to say
Write this down

(...)

Stick it on your 'frigerator door
Hang it in a picture frame up above the mantel
Where you'll see it for sure"

Cannot remember the other ones right at this moment. But they exist.

David Scrimshaw said...

Jennifer, if those other songs do not exist, perhaps you should write them.

Here are some possible lines:

Even though you don't love me any more,
I still have your picture on my frigerator door.


It might be written on your refrigerator door, but buddy,
you ain't good enough,
you ain't smart enough, and
doggone it, we all hate you!



[Disclosure: I feel compelled to point out that my white appliance panel is likely not from a kitchen appliance but more likely from a washing machine or dryer.]

Anonymous said...

David, any household appliance or action can step into a country song.

Country music's main goal (if I may be so bold) is to link affairs of the heart with domestic affairs. As in Lee Ann Womack's glorious album, "There's More Where That Came From", where we find these lyrics:

"Met you in the kitchen
Said you needed to talk to me
Said you felt like those dirty dishes
And it was high time you came clean"

Many household applicances provide an excellent metaphorical underpinning for the terrain explored by country music.

Washing machines, dryers, even or perhaps especially the vacuum cleaner (both upright and central) allow us to link concepts of cleanliness, dirtiness, purging, comfort, union, separation, heat, cold, et cetera, with the human heart.

David Scrimshaw said...

Jennifer, thank you so much for raising the level of intellectual discourse in my comment section.

(Are the rest of you paying attention? If you all tried a bit harder, we could start a whole new renaissance here.)