Well, where has Jeff gone?

I apologize for this long dearth of activity here. I have had dry periods in the past, but nothing this long. Sometimes it happens, I guess.

Mostly, I’ve been going through a lot of changes. Some have been to make my life better, and a few have taken a lot of energy and time. I’ve certainly lived up to the title of this site. I’ve been shopping for new perseverations, and more than a few self-medications.

First, I have made a few changes to my chemistry. Some may know that I smoked 2.5 packs of cigarettes for about 18 years of my life. I quit about 20 years ago. Since then, I’ve gained a large amount of poundage, become diabetic, and generally unhealthy. My job requires me to sit at the phone all day, and I would usually have five or six snacks a day. I’d also eat very large portions whenever I could. Not good.

I don’t think I ever kicked the nicotine addiction - I’m not sure your brain ever really changes back. I suspect it just finds a way to make do with whatever else you can find to ingest. At any rate, I saw a sign for something called Snus. It’s tobacco that you don’t smoke, and isn’t “chew”, so you don’t spit. You just put this little packet behind your lip and let it set for a while. Then you throw it away. even though it’s made in Sweden, it’s cheaper than cigarettes, by far, and free of tobacco taxes as long as you don’t stock too much.

I’ve lost 25 pounds, gained a lot of energy, and noticed a lot less trouble with sensory-related overload. Since Swedish men use tons of the stuff, and apparently outlive everyone else on the planet, I’ll try this out for a while.

Ironically, given how much less I eat now (NO snacks and much smaller portions) I have taken up cooking. Pan seared rib-eye with blackberry sauce. Ribs with maple sauce and again with peach sauce. Curry last Saturday. New knives, pots, etc. So far, everything tastes spectacular, and my audience applauds with sincerity. Left-overs disappear - usually just before I try to eat them.

There’s less photography. Well, maybe not less, but less guilt when I fail to go out and shoot. We’ll have to see if I regain some motivation there when it isn’t so much pressure to perform.

Also, my youngest son is actually graduating from high school! Anyone who has raised a child with Aspergers knows that this is a major accomplishment for everyone involved. (I’d buy a house for his resource teacher if I could!) The last few months have been a major push, and I’m so proud of our family right now. Whew!

There are many other distractions and changes that have taken much time and energy. When I say I’ve been busy, it’s a bit of an understatement. I won’t give you the whole list because it would wear you out to hear it. Let me just say that it looks like things are loosening up a bit, and I expect to be here a little more frequently in the future.

Now I have to run!

Tags: cooking, excuses, snus

I’ve long wanted to do a calendar. For a long time, there wasn’t much chance of that, given that I didn’t have photos that seemed adequate or appropriate. But lately. I’ve begun to think of it as something within reach. I have a thousand, or so, photos under my belt, and a few that make me proud. And I’ve reached the point where I think I might be able to count on an excellent photo on a fairly regular schedule. I might be able to pull this off.

My other decisions will have to be about context and content. Shall I take on the slightly less impossible task of putting together a seiries on Des Moines? It’s all around me, and always available for a re-shoot. Probably a responsive market, as well. I’m just not sure I’ve got an Iowan style.

Or should I tell a story about my own perceptions? How an Autistic - at least this Autistic - looks at the world? Is that too arrogant? Trying to represent the Autistic Artist? Isn’t that what every artist does? Tells a story about himself through his version of the world around him? I want to give others a chance to understand that there are differences, and that they are valuable and significant differences. That it’s just as important to see the world through an Autistic eye as to see it through the eyes of any other social minority.

What perspective do I want to represent? The citizen of the Midwest? Or the “foreigner”?

Tags: calendar, Photo, thinking out loud

I am not going to be able to speak at any length about this story. It makes me more angry than is healthy. I’ll have to see what I can do about this kind of thing in the future. It’s just not productive to spend so much energy on other folks’ bad behavior.

Those bastards.

Anyway, here’s the basic: Iowa has an unregulated category of group homes that are meant to be able to accommodate no more than two dependent residents. Of course, many of them continue to house several more than that and collect money and further referrals from many hospitals, courts and other institutions. They get away with it for decades, in at least some cases, and many handicapped residents suffer, and die, in neglect, pain, poverty and obscurity.

Here’s how it works: If you have fewer than two dependent adults in your housing, you do not need to be licensed. If you aren’t licensed, no one ever checks up on you. If no one ever checks up on you, you can house however many you like - in whatever condition you like - because no one ever checks on a place that needs no license. [sigh]

Recently, the Feds closed one such home in Atalissa, Iowa. This particular site was “employing” dozens of mentally handicapped men - some for as long as 30 years - as meat handlers for a turkey plant. They were paid half wages and even that was decimated by rent and “kind care” charges. (Despite that, one resident had managed to save $80 over his 30 years in the camp.) Some would end up with about $65 a month to spend as they like. For this pay, they were rousted from bed at 2:30 in the morning to start pulling turkey guts by 4:30 am.

The “bunkhouse” that the Feds closed was an old school - 106 years old, to be exact - and was heated only with space heaters and the rotting corpses of countless cockroaches. It is owned by the city, and rented for $600. The city never, ever visits the place. Clearly no one does.

Why were the Feds involved in what appears to be a State problem? I can only guess that it has to do with the fact that most of the men were shipped up here from Texas. (And when they died, the coffin was shoved in the back of a utility van and driven back to Texas by the bunkhouse caretaker.)

Well, my gut is killing me. I have to take a break. Read the two stories linked above and let me know what you think. Better yet, let your State Representatives and Senators know what you think. Let everyone know what you think!

Those bastards.

Tags: camp, group homes, gulag, Iowa, unlicensed