A Story Told to Children

To all of those paying attention to this space, apologies are in order for my dropping of the ball the last time around. While some of my scribblings did appear, they were from a year ago, and adeptly substituted by our editor at the last minute when I failed to produce any words at all. As it was, I was in residence at my dark place- somewhere I tend to go involuntarily this time of year. What I have found is the best escape for me when this happens is to go into the light, although even on the sunniest of Fall and Winter days I look for that light inside. While that may sound all spiritual and  new age-ish, I should be quick to say I’m talking about films here. It should be also stated that a brain lubricant is a big help as well. So the last time around, instead of diligently hunting and pecking my way into the Loop pages, I was plowing through a stack of four of my favorite films and a half rack of my favorite IPA. This is one of those treatments where I can safely say that I feel both better and worse the next day.

As I was navigating the darkness just yesterday, there was still a void where my “topic of the week” should have been at the top of this page, which is why I once again scanned through my video archives for escape rather than inspiration. As it was, about two thirds of the way through the first film, one of the characters spoke the words that head this column today- we will get to their context later. Instead, we should say that they rang true for me on a number of levels, not the least of which had to do with an Island story line I have joined recently- that of the Friends of Vashon Pool. At the last meeting for that group, I found that two of the members had had a private audience with the Mr. Ameling who resides on the Vashon park board. They had come away somewhat impressed with Mr. Ameling’s story, and were perplexed at my well-founded polar opposite opinion of how Mr. Ameling conducts himself in and around the business of the Vashon Park District. My solution to their dilemma was a simple one- show up at a Park  Board of Commissioners meeting and see for yourself. To their credit, four of the five people from the pool meeting did show up. Without belaboring the point, I will simply say that one of the email responses to the flurry that came afterward under the subject line “Do Not Despair” was this: “I am recovering from depression/ shock induced by yesterday[‘s] meeting… grotesque pathetic … sad simply sad.”

While this was the response I was hoping for, it is not the response I would have chosen for an optimal, one time visit summation of how our park district should be “managed” by the commissioners. It is an accurate synopsis of how I have seen the commissioners operate in the more than two years I have been going to the meetings, although perhaps what is most sad is that what the Friends of Vashon Pool witnessed at the meeting at Ober Park was actually an improvement over past meetings. A good deal of the credit for the Park District’s recovery is due to Executive Director Elaine Ott’s continued efforts to unlearn old ways and give VPD a new direction. Most of the reason this effort has not seen more success is because of the “…this is how I see it…” clause that Mr. Ameling stamps onto every issue discussed at each commissioners meeting.

Getting back to the phrase that started all of this, it came from a brief , but deeply important conversation between two characters played by Robert Redford and Richard Jenkins in the film ‘the Company You Keep’. They play a couple of former members of the Weather Underground who have been living secret lives for thirty years- the exchange goes like this:
“…now we’re just a story told to children…”
“I’m glad someone is telling it…”

Having watched this film a couple of times now, I believe it asks some very important questions of both the post war baby boom gang and the generations to follow it. I have never really liked the “boomer” label, nor am I enamored with a Woodstock generation tag. I think a more appropriate caption on our place in the timeline has to include Vietnam somewhere in the mix for a couple of reasons. Whether or not you served or protested or simply went about your daily life in those times, we were all affected. I think that perhaps the biggest damage done then was the impression that we “changed” something in the process.    I think the results from this past Tuesday’s election would mostly stand as evidence that even if there had been some change to come out of the ‘60’s, it was fleeting at best. I think that if anything, the belief in a collective change wrought by the post war children has infused a section of the populace with the delusion that the mythical change still has some sway in the way things work. Again, one need only gaze over the promise of Obama’s change you can believe in under the light of what we have in our sights today  to realize the fallacy of that lie.
Besides the delusion of change, I think the macro scale of all that goes on around us nurtures a belief in the imagined permanence of sixties change. That is why I have come to see Vashon as a microcosm of the greater whole where we might be able to actually pull off change for the better in an overwhelming world. Then I pay a visit to a VPD meeting and marvel at the quandary of an Island where sustainability reigns as a watchword for daily living, while David Hackett’s Vanity Exercise Site (isn’t that what VES stands for?) and its hundreds of thousands of gallons for grass watering and hundreds of pounds of fertilizer to keep it all growing was even conceived of, let alone built. And what of the millions of dollars spent on those fields, at the expense of programs that had to be shut down, supposedly, to cover this cost? And what about the Tramp Harbor fishing pier which may now be lost to creosote remediation with no money (thanks to VES) to cover its reconstruction? And why are we heading toward adopting a policy for leasing three pretty new maintenance trucks every four years just because that is what Mr. Ameling is thinking? And what about the pool, which is still stuck at the top of a majority of Islanders’ priority lists as a place they would like to see become a year ‘round facility and a place where all Islanders could come to learn and practice a life skill, while a skateboard park is now on the cusp of being built for a small and dwindling group of users? In many ways I’m getting tired of these stories as they aren’t even good fiction. As it is, the stories Mr. Ameling tells about how he feels the Park District  should be run are told as though all in attendance are a pack of naïve children. In the face of all of this, it’s kind of hard to call for greater participation and attendance at these meetings, but if you want change you have to show up. Then we can talk about changing commissioners, since in this case and with these stories, it is not so good that a certain someone is telling them.

we’ll see how that goes.