Local oddball gets networked. Police investigation to follow

Last week, out of the blue, someone I used to work with called up and and started talking with me. I had not spoken with her in about two months. Not since I had hugged her and said I would miss her. This is a woman about whom I have complex feelings. When we met, a few years ago, I tried to ignore her. I would try to arrive when I knew she would be gone.

That was pretty successful for a while except for the occasional staff meeting. Unfortunately, I found that was not a permanent solution. We continued working together and I found that I had to talk with her. This led to actually getting along together despite constant interference from my other personalities.

Suddenly one day I found that I liked her. Well, wouldn’t you know, that would be the day I accidentally found out she was moving on to a better job. I gave her a copy of Bruce Springsteen‘s song “if I fall behind, wait for me” the last time I saw her. And went on with life. So, of course, as I’m minding my own business last week here this woman calls to talk about how things have been going. Having just written the blog entry about being told not to keep in touch, I mentioned that my supervisor had placed a restraining order against me. That made her worried. Was I wacko? Did I need a med change?

It wasn’t until somewhere around the 10 minute mark of our conversation that I realized she had called to find out whether I might be someone to work with again in the new opportunities being created for certified peer specialists. I ended up trying to get her to come to Madison for Empowerment Days next weekend.

I must be nuts. I don’t understand how I don’t recognize the signs of being networked. I’ve been in a tizzy the last 48 hours. Even the cat told me to chill out. She called the police as part of her wellness plan. If I get networked again in Madison I may not survive the experience. Readers, BTW, this is the point in the blog where you wonder how you could possibly be spending your youth reading about some local oddball in Milwaukee. I have to admit, I have the same problem with our relationship. Let’s try not to keep in touch. Thanks for listening.

The Oddball Couple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Local oddball told “don’t keep in touch!”

Nichelle Nichols Visits NASA Goddard for MLK/African American History Month Keynote Event (Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Last week I appeared in front of Judge Luther P. Johnson regarding a restraining order that my supervisor at week had requested against me. All I thought I was doing was keeping in touch, which was what she had said that she needed. I know I can be a little bit of an odd duck. That’s what makes me interesting but I guess not everyone seems things the same way that I do.

I fry catfish on Mondays and that somehow makes me a little odd. Sometimes I read books from the end to the beginning. I even write letters to Congress, all things that seem a little obscure. The other thing I do is I contact supervisors. Particularly since last year when I was told repeatedly that I needed to keep in touch with her. So I started sending her a few emails, maybe tweeting her or leaving an occasional voice mail message at 1AM. So far, so good. She would tell me how amusing these items were, although my cat thought I should cool it. “Stop while you’re ahead, Kenyatta.” She’s just so practical.

But if she was such a smart cat, she would have been buying her own food. Just because she talks to me, she thinks she’s all that. Well, as it happened, I probably should have listened to her a little more. I was soon buying electronic devices to help reach out and touch. I would wake up in the middle of the night possessed by the idea that I needed to keep in touch. I would be on a date and then suddenly I had to send out a message.

I even sought out 12 step groups for men who are constantly keeping in touch with women but nothing helped. So now I here I sit with this huge restraining order against me. All my wonderful I-pads and smartphones have been seized. I’m a man without access. The last words of Judge Johnson: “Kenyatta, don’t keep in touch.” I was stunned but I will survive.

restraining order (Photo credit: @MSG)

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Local oddball Goes International and Wild all at Once!

T-shirt for Kuma Bolo (Photo credit: Valeri-DBF)

Image via CrunchBase

One day I looked in a copy of The Onion, which is renowned for its fact based journalism and saw a picture of a guy in a tee shirt that proclaimed: local oddball.  And I thought, that could be me I’m local and quite a strange person and with that I was well on the way to becoming a local oddball. I didn’t buy the tee shirt, because I have too many clothes already.

But my next inspiration was to begin spewing forth my inspiration to tens if not dozens of people across and upon the fair city of Milwaukee. I bought a trusty computer recommended by Riley C. Cat, who you will recognize as a cartoon character in one of my earlier stories and away I was swept. I pondered for a few minutes whether there were guidelines for being an oddball. If I acted a certain way, would I be considered quirky, offbeat or or a poser? You know, one of those types who is a straight laced accountant by day but when he takes off his Lutheranism in front of the computer becomes a Superfreak. This sounds like a character from Barely Political.  But it wasn’t me.

I wanted to be recognized for who I am. Lately I have become more disturbed than ever upon having returned to my faithful computer and thrust myself upon it. When I checked the statistics of who was reading my pearls of wisdom, WordPress began telling me most of my readers were from outside the US. Yes, it’s true, dear reader.

Take yesterday, for example. I had readers from the United Kingdom, India, Haiti, Canada, Cameroon, Sweden, Singapore, Mexico and Honduras. I mean, who knew those places had Internet service? They edged out my local American readers in terms of quantification of enormity times py. And that’s really saying something because you know us Americans, we like to be number one. There were some unintended consequences of this sudden international readership.  I received an email today from the International Association of Local Oddballs, of whom I am a loyal member. Apparently some local oddball who is truly more local than me has filed a complaint questioning my credentials and asking that I be re-classified as some other type of oddball. Hmm. Well, I used to be more local is like reminding people that I used to be taller.

Dear foreign readers, I appeal to your sense of fair play in this matter. I did not intend for you to outsource your blogging. I’m certain there are more local people in Cameroon, Singapore or Mexico for you to read about. In the meantime a committee has been convened to investigate these dastardly charges against me.

Oddball barnstar green (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tatiana in tee shirt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Little Known Support Groups You Should Join

Image via Wikipedia

As a peer specialist part of my job is finding resources for people who are experiencing emotional distress. Having revitalized my wildly successful blog last year I have been flooded with tips for my many dedicated followers.

These are among the many support groups I recently uncovered

1. PTAA, Post Traumatic Alien Abductions. If you’ve ever met someone who has been probed by aliens and survived long distance relationships with those fabulously interesting Martians, you know how annoying these people can become. They kill dinner conversation by quoting the latest SF movie and insist upon showing you exactly where ET and his friends had sex with them. Have you ever wondered whether  there wasn’t some place you could send them? Well, now there is hope. Just follow the link at the end of this blog and you and Jan Brewer will be free of aliens.
2. IMVGFDSFUIGE, If My Vegan Girl Friend Doesn’t Shut the Fuck Up, I’m Gonna Explode. If you’re like me, you want to shove a piece of meat in front of some smug vegan and say, bite me.As justified as your actions might seem at the time, some people would consider them morally repugnant. And someone might actually take you up on your offer. A safer alternative might be retiring to your nearest steakhouse for a couple of hours eating some of natures tastiest animals.
3. HCBMH, Herman Cain Broke My Heart. For those true believers who clung to his every word  and understood  the genius behind his 69/69 tax proposal I know you mourn for the one who was too intellectual for America. An early dropout from the Clown Car of Republican Presidential Comedians, he thrilled Jon Stewart and other irresponsible so-called journalists.  Your man, Herman, shall rise again, in bedrooms across America.
4. WNAWNM, We Need a War Now Mommy, for those deeply worried about the threat of peace breaking out in the next 4 years. There are deeply, sincerely, pro-life, sitting around pondering the death of Iranians just in time for next Christmas. Instead of saying all you  want is your two front teeth, you wish for dead children in some distant land. You may get your wish, just ask who god told Pat Robertson will be the next president.
   

   Image via Wikipedia

   

   Image via Wikipedia

    

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“Seriously!?” Saturday: “Goooooooooooo Incest!”

“Seriously!?” Saturday: “Goooooooooooo Incest!”.

 

Reposted from a young woman Kimberly Back about a prank in which students were kissed and groped in an odd contest at school

Don’t Fix the Old Coffee Pot and Other Stories of Recovery

1. 

   Image via Wikipedia

   These are lessons I have uncovered in my work as a peer  specialist.

2. Remember to tell the story of the get down get up struggle. A few weeks ago The Onion published an article about the struggle over whether to get down or get funky. My co-facilitator and I read the story and decided to incorporate it into our group session. And every once in a while she brings up the article. It’s weird, ridiculous and totally appropriate. Bring me more.
3. The Packers stunk up the field today. I get paid to help people get out of their apartments and talk. Occasionally that includes organizing  sports parties. Even if I was not a fan I would still want to help people socialize. So, play cards,  organize games and the recovery path will be so much easier.
4. Be user-friendly. There are rules and you need to understand and apply them as they are needed. But  I would caution against being the strictest person you can be.
5. Unforgettable  is not our show. CBS has a new program called Unforgettable that tells the story of a police woman with total recall. I would not want a peer specialist to be like that. We may be insulted, police may not know what we’re doing and clinicians may use language that we don’t like.  But it won’t help you  to keep remembering those details.
6. It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want to. There was a terrible song from the early 60′s called It’s My Party. A young woman sang about having a broken heart. Would you want her as your peer specialist? Probably not. Although we use our experiences the priority is for peers to start talking.
7. Don’t Fix the Broken Coffee pot. a couple of years ago one of our sites had an old discarded coffee pot that staff was using to make coffee. As luck would have it, the coffee pot began to leak and the coordinator replaced it. One of the other staff members took the coffee pot home and worked to try to stop the leak. After weeks of trying the  person wrote the results of this effort: the coffee pot was history. Yes it was, having been replaced 2 months earlier. My point is, that was a poor use of the person’s time and talent. Don’t fix old junk that has outlived its usefulness.
8. Maybe it is the highway. Sometimes we can get so set in our ways that we absolutely must be right in the decisions we make about the way our programs should run. You know, my way or the highway, black or white type of thinking. But who does that help? Certainly not our peers and not ourselves. If we  act like that, the powers that be may end up showing us the highway. What kind of fun is that?
9. Maybe we should start answering when we talk to ourselves. There’s an old story about how it’s okay to talk to yourself, so long as you don’t answer. However I talk to myself in private and public and sometimes I answer. I encourage, scold, laugh at and mock myself for doing all this talking. I even shush people who answer me for interrupting my train of thought. I think it helps peers to be assured that we have our own quirks.
10. Be fascinating, dear. I remember a story from a movie in which Christopher Reeve sought advice from Katherine Hepburn and she told him those three words. Try it sometime. The last thing we need is a dull group leader.
11. Whose Line Is It Anyway? There was an improv comedy Whose Line Is It Anyway that I really enjoyed. One of the things I liked was the quick thinking displayed by the performers. No matter what the subject, they were able to devise an interesting story. What if  you plan to facilitate a group with this idea you have researched and either no one comes or the only person who arrives is someone you really find quite troublesome.  You can dump your original idea, add in things that your peer wants to discuss or sit there in awkward silence. It’s your call.

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Why I Couldn’t Live With the Barefoot Vegetarians

Commissioner Gordon as depicted in Batman: The Animated Series. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Subtitle:60′s hippie becomes old fuddy duddy. Full disclosure: I lost my virginity in a commune. The happiest and most painful moments of my life have been when I lived in housing co-ops in Milwaukee. PS: I was too horny back in the day to wonder whether that hippie chick was an owner in the collective. There is a growing co-housing and cooperative movement in Milwaukee, where I moved long after I had lost my hated virginity. Today I took off from work to attend a meeting about co-housing. However, several months ago I had attended some meetings about a housing co-op project.

I am part of a yahoo group where people discuss ideas for this proposed housing co-op. But this spring I stopped going to meetings about the co-op. Instead I focused on my school work. Now I am focusing on my job and making money and my job. I have my life and I am set.

Not really. I don’t have people in my life outside of work. Only recently did I discover the impact I had on people through my job. Despite years of formal education I remained clueless. I’m getting diverted from my original intent and I worry that my readers might surf over to another blog.

After not attending the co-op meetings I sent a message about my desire to hunt and gather wild animals in Wisconsin as the reason I had left their discussions. A couple of weeks ago I went on a tour of intentional housing projects in Milwaukee and I visited the group I had left. What did I find? Women taking off their shoes. What the 1960-72 fuck? Oh, this was definitely a deal breaker!

I was going to leave my ghetto apartment to live with some damned hippies? No fucking way. And that’s when my Pre-Medicated, Undiagnosed, Wierdo self said Kenyatta or whoever the hell you are, you’re full of it. Today I explained at the gathering that I was interested in co-housing because I wanted to have my cake and eat it too.

I wanted to continue being a loner but yet have a few select people know my secret identity. Known to only me and Commissioner Gordon. I think somewhere between the Budweiser 70′s and the Merlot 2011 era I may have lost perspective. I may find clarity but not until I finish this bottle of wine.

I think there is probably a co-op group looking to add a little color. A group that allows local oddballs to wear the hunting boots that they wore to track down their meat to become a member. That will be their mistake. To all others, I suggest using MasterCard.

No hippie girls for me, I found a comfortable flat and I wear my shoes as much as I want.

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Ravish Me With Your Books!

I remember reading a personal ad for a woman who described herself as “looking like a clever librarian.” I never wrote to her but I can imagine the kind of responses that she received. I met a woman who was a widow and had been desperately seeking a librarian position. Apparently, with technology users can find a lot more things than they used to. I remember when it was a big deal to search bibliographic data bases. It was almost like putting on the cloak in one of the Harry Potter movies. One would search for a list of article using certain keywords and these would probably lead to something.

Now everyone is used to google and the idea of using the cloak is as old-fashioned as riding a horse and buggy through the streets. We can all be clever librarians. My friend mourned for the days when people went to the library for books, which was where it all began. I too grew up just browsing the library shelves. Even as late as my Master’s Degree program at the University of Buffalo I would be sitting on the floor with a pile of books around me.

Sometimes I have experiences that remind me of those earlier days. I was recalling looking at college catalogs that described their libraries as having so many volumes of books. When I finally took a break this past semester at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee I decided to look at some of those volumes in our library. Indeed they were quite impressive. Although some of the books looked lonely I grabbed a few and scurried away. I checked them out and began reading at a leisurely pace. Ah, this was nirvana, I thought. No wonder those librarians are so clever!

My cat turns radical activist

Riley, the Snowshoe kitten (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Riley C. Cat was disgusted the news about the weiner Enough with that schmuck, she cried, what about the war? I mean a cat can only take so much bullshit. She couldn’t stand Palin and her sidekick, the old guy. And if she had been allowed to vote (some stupid law forbids her from voting) she would have bought into the whole I’ve got a  crush on Obama movement. Setting aside the creepiness associated with animal and human sexual activity. But now enough was enough. For all of her life the US has been in Afghanistan and it’s like when will this ever end? So today Riley unfurled a banner: Money for Cats at Home, Not Wars Abroad. I’m proud of her.

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Away with all vegans

UWM Post

Dear Editor:

I read the UW Post every week and sometimes I am pleased and other times I am not.  There is a column about sex and sexuality which provides timely and well-focused information about an important subject that  appeals to a wide audience. On the other hand, the Verbal Vegan appears to be the biggest waste of newspaper space ever developed. Frankly I have been surprised that the author, Sarah Hanneken, could find so much to chew this unmeaty subject matter. Yes, that pun was definitely intended.

So, Ms. Hanneken doesn’t eat meat or dairy and does not enjoy the fact so many of us own pets. Why is that our problem? I’m speaking as a person who eats a balanced diet that includes meat and dairy products. I also own a cat named Riley who recently became ill. I don’t think of Riley as a “sentient being”, a phrase which, outside of Star Trek and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, I have never seen used in conversation. To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a cat is just a cat.

I enjoy Riley’s companionship and I attend to her needs as well as I can. The food that I give her includes tuna fish and various meat products. No, I haven’t talked with her about the ethical implications behind our diet. Like I said, a cat is just a cat.

Having said that I thought I would offer some constructive suggestions for topics that might appeal to a broader audience. This semester a new student group called Active Minds organized on campus to increase awareness of mental health issues. Why not go and talk with them about what interested them in this subject matter. Have the members experienced issues with mental disorders or are family members with these issues?

Need more ideas? My friend Diana Vang, a Hmong-American woman lent me a book to read called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. This fascinating book tells the story of a Hmong couple whose daughter had a very difficult experience with epilepsy. It also describes in great detail the cultural clash between the Hmong community and the Western medical system. It makes for very interesting reading. I wonder how often students are encouraged to explore people with very different backgrounds and what do they learn.

Finally, what is going on in Milwaukee? One of the most interesting stories involves the creation of housing for people who have been homeless. Last week I attended the ribbon cutting at the Johnson Residences which are permanent supported housing. After coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exposed the poor conditions to which people were being exposed, Milwaukee leaders organized a positive response which resulted in many new housing developments. Are there opportunities for students to become involved in this movement? As advocates, employees, researchers or designers?

If the spirit catches you, it may be possible to get out of your comfort zone and explore new ideas and meet new people.  Otherwise, we can let the Verbal Vegan keep chewing on those old bones.

Sincerely,

Kenyatta Yamel

I am a UWM senior and a member of the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force.

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