Shovel Man

The Queen is dead,long live the Queen. I'm not really sure what that bastardization of the phrase “the King is dead”. I think I'm trying to come to grips with the death of Barbara Toomer, the quasi famous figurehead of DRAC and the disability rights movement in Utah and beyond. I really thought after the grand dame passed things would return to normal and maybe things are returning to normal if normal is confusion. Before Barbara passed DRAC was getting ready for the trip to Washington DC for yet another season of activism at the nation's capital. DRAC was also putting together the celebration for the Americans disabilities act (ADA) birthday coming up in July. The planning for the celebration kind of got shoved to the back burner until we finished Barbara.

At the last planning meeting which is really the first planning meeting for this ADA celebration assignments are made and finally we met today to go over these assignments and plan the next meeting. In the interim I met with Sherry R and we actually did some planning for our assignments which near as I can remember was how to get information out to other programs, agencies and systems which support folks with disabilities. I had actually forgotten about the meeting or rather the meeting was not supposed to be today technically it should have been tomorrow. I got a call this morning however the meeting was the day. Is kind of glad once again by Assist, Inc. meeting was canceled because of lack of funding and I was sort of itching to get out and have a reason to do something.

The meeting was held, as usual, in the basement of the Housing Authority of Salt Lake County. The usual characters are there with the exception of Barbara of course unless she was there in spirit which I sincerely doubt. There was however a bit of a morose feeling of the gathering. Clearly, the leaders of this group are still in mourning. There was a lot of discussion about the funeral or in lieu thereof the gathering at Barbara's home over the weekend. I didn't golf course but the others did there still brooding. I guess I should be more considerate of their feelings. The meeting was okay fairly productive and new assignments are made. We seem to be moving along on this project. As of now the event we are planning should take place over 4 to 5 hours which is a long time to fill with content. They're going to have a generalized gathering at first with leaders from the disability community, then there will be an hour or so of music (I'm not really sure what this means but I assume that talking about bands or something) then it will be a tribute to Barbara or Memorial or something which I don't understand why. I mean the old lady was great I love her to death but how many times do we have to do more of her passing. How many trips down memory lane must we endure to center off?

I do not even know what the final hour will entail.

On the way home on the bus something came to me – – I don't know if it's the answer but it kind of feels right – – Barbara's passing is left a hole, a gaping hole which is now trying to be filled. The hole may be too big to be felt by anyone locally. Jerry, is actually the executive director, of this motley crew. I'm sensing Jerry is trying to fill the whole but he is too small, is just a social worker. He also seems to be really angry (but I might just be projecting onto Jerry). My assignment was to contact folks from independent living community and in particular the director of the Salt Lake I.L. To see if she would be one of the presenters as well as freeing up her people to attend the celebration. I stopped at the Independent Living Center after the meeting ended on the way to the bus stop. I met with Debra and we had quite a discussion. Debra, of course will support this project as well as allow her staff to participate to some extent. She clearly has feelings and not necessarily positive towards the DRAC organization which is mirrored by the organization to the independent living center. I somehow am in the middle which I guess makes sense. I've done my part. I am not a leader nor do I intend to be. Maybe I'm just a shovel man trying to fill in the hole.