Mr. Coltrane

 

Oh, I cried when I read that Robbie Coltrane had died. I loved the man and I thought he was an astonishingly great actor. I just recently watched National Treasure for a second time only because he was the star. What a man! What a loss! What a sad, sad day!

The good news yesterday, was that I accepted the invitation to become a clinic board member. I committed to serve for a minimum of three years. I feel up to it. Having Photoshop for free is a huge reward for my work with the clinic. I may be able to save them tons of money that they’ve been paying out for years. My writing and graphic services make me want to be on the board so that I understand the context of issues.

The outgoing fellow whom the Foundation hired to lead their campaign and do the graphics, gave us an ad, as his final act, for a position that we are seeking. We want to find a volunteer social media coordinator. He provided us with a display ad that described the job but did not provide any contact information for interested parties to communicate with us. I re-did the ad and it hit board members like I’d performed magic.

All my life, in discussions with intimate friends, I’ve referred to “earning my place at the table.” I’m proud of having that mantra. It is a legacy of a bad adoption. I have fought to fit in. It began early. I became a trumpet player at a very young age so that I could join a band and wear their uniform. It was all about belonging.

That’s how I’ve felt about becoming a clinic board member. Doing their graphics has tipped the scales. It was easy to say yes to becoming a board member. And, oh my god, do I like doing graphics. It is extremely satisfying work for me. It’s a skill that groups welcome; it’s practical. Plus, they get a person with decades of experience with visual advertising—27 years with Opus’ marketing department—in both copy and imagery. Woo hoo, I’ve not only earned a place at the table, I have also earned a meal.

I’m pleased I could fix the ad that lacked contact information. I also changed the job title and made some minor changes to the text. And I added our email address. It didn’t take me long, and I was very relieved because the interface is vastly different to the program that I was using. It stopped working on modern operating systems because it was so old. I had to ask Google how to do some things I used to do, and it worked every time. Soon, I’ll be up to speed.

I feel better about myself because I joined the clinic. I feel more “of this place” here because of the work I do. It feels really good. I won’t be reading all through Winter. I’ll be writing and doing graphics as well. I had no idea what I was getting into. At first, my thinking was worrying exclusively about my speech. And then I felt inadequate. I’m writing for a field in which I have no experience: public health. But now I feel good, really good, about clinic work and myself.

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The forecast is for this sunny, warm and dry weather to continue until at least Oct. 20^th. Tomorrow is expected to be 26°. The media is talking a lot about the drought. There is no water in rivers for seasonal runs. Trees are dying. Water resources are diminishing in our reservoir. Here. Where we are known for our rain.