Links – lee-lawmaster.com

Niagara Falls Redux

Last week was Amelia’s spring break. I decided to take her on a trip I took her mother on many years ago. To the great white north! And white it was, the ground was covered with snow when we got there and the temps were in the 30’s.

We stayed 2 days on the New York Side, 2 days on the Canadian side, and then made our way to Dearborn Michigan, where we went to The Henry Ford Museum and Rouge Factory Tour. Something my uncle was going to go with us to, but unfortunately passed away before we were able to. He was with us in spirit.

While in New York, we went to Highmark Stadium, The Aquarium of Niagara and The Martin House, a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style home.

It was the most boring FLW home I’ve toured, minus one detail. A sculpture in the conservatory. Which I purchased a smaller version of. Her mom and I went to many FLW homes, including Fallingwater and were foundation members for a few years.

The view from our hotel room in Canada was glorious. Making it not needed to do many things along the gorge that most do.

We did go to the Journey Behind the Falls experience, something her mom and I also did.

While there, I had to pickup some Cuban cigars. Something that was strictly not allowed during my first visit. I must say, they are the best tasting cigars I’ve ever had in my life. Well worth the price.

I’m quickly running out of these “take her on trips I took her mom on” trips. There’s only 1 left, and that is Fallingwater & the Flight 93 memorial. I hope Amelia is able to look back on these experiences with just me and appreciate them as she becomes an adult.

Promises Kept

October 23rd, 2022 was a grand day for Star Trek, Bloomington & The Janeway Collective. On that day, Kate Mulgrew kept the promise she made on October 24th, 2020 when The Janeway Statue was unveiled.

On that cold, socially distanced day in 2020 she made a promise that she would come visit, and that it would be a great day. She was right.

The stars aligned and we were able to have an event with Kate. So many questions had to be answered, so many problems solved to make it happen however. Unfortunately, with my back problems and job change I hadn’t been able to give what I gave to the unveiling.

Event space near the statue was expensive, prohibitively. But the old Woolery Mill, that has been revamped by One World Enterprises wasn’t. It was out of town compared to the statue and other options, but it was overly welcoming. It was there where we held an event titled “A Conversation with Kate” which was a sell out, with close to 500 in attendance. The maximum occupancy was 520.

Kate had a long day that day, driving all the way from Iowa where she is from. Arriving at the statue I’m sure she was a combination of tired and excited at the same time, as we had roughly the same audience size in attendance as we did for the unveiling. There was also plenty of media there, from Indiana Public Media, to The Bloomingtonian, our own crew that was recording and streaming the goings on via Facebook, and a few others that I didn’t know or recognize.

While at the statue, Kate gave a speech and then took some photos. Due to the size of the crowd, and an angry older lady with a walker – the situation quickly became one of fear of the security of our esteemed guest. So I, our security team and other members of the collective quickly formed a bubble and whisked Ms. Mulgrew away.

We then proceeded to the event space, where I had helped do some setup. The event began with The Nerdy Flutist, who had also played at the statue before Kate arrived. She and her friends had made some videos on Tik Tok. It was then that I knew we had to invite her for such an event. I’m very happy the collective continued my motivations.

@thenerdyflutist
It’s been a while since I posted this, and now the @janewaystatue is on TikTok! #startrek #voyager #janeway #janewaystatue #trektok #trektokcrew #nx85313 #nxcosplay #flutequartet
♬ Voyager Flute Quartet – TheNerdyFlutist | Kelly 🎶

This is the video in question

When she was done with her set, Kate made her way to the stage. I’ll never forget Kelly’s words on the experience for her. As Kate bowed to her, it made her feel appreciated, it made her feel seen and loved. And loved she is, for just being herself.

After the event, we had a private dinner with Kate at The Irish Lion. I was told only the board would be present, but we had some other guests including said flutist, who sat next to me. She felt like she was in a dream that she didn’t want to wake from, and I was so happy for her. I told Kate about how the place we were having dinner was featured on the TV show Cheers, which she was on several times. It was a great day, and a great evening.

In many ways, it was the dream realized for the rag tag group of people that got together in 2019 wanting to build a statue for “our” captain.

Women, and Why I Love Them So

Almost two weeks ago I received a call from my uncle in Michigan. It was bad news. My aunt Marty was in the hospital and it didn’t look like she would recover.

Marty flippin’ my dad the bird, circa late 80’s.

I told him that I would be there the next day. After clearing things with my new job, I hit the road. A journey I hadn’t made in eight years. Shortly behind me was my girlfriend. She stayed behind as we were not sure if Amelia wanted to come.

My aunt and uncle moved to Michigan in 1995 from Greenfield, where they had the largest house I had ever stayed in. Their employer had been bought out and they were offered jobs in Detroit, or they could find new jobs and stay. They decided to go.

My dad’s trusty Blazer with my uncle showing off his new house.

She worked in the branches eventually becoming an Associate Vice President of the bank before her retirement. Always firey, always full of attitude. I know why my uncle fell in love with her.

She has a son, who was on Jeopardy at one point. In all these years, I’ve yet to meet him however.

I arrived; and my uncle and I immediately went to the hospital. It was bad. I was suddenly confronted with the reason why I missed out on several family members passing. After going through what happened with my grandfather, I could no longer go to such situations. I had to, my uncle suddenly had no other family. He needed someone to be there for him; and I was going to make sure he wasn’t alone.

Sadly, my aunt didn’t make it. Her condition only eroded until she passed away on 9/11/2022 at 5:30pm.

Her obituary is here.

Her attitude, her voice and her humor formed the basis of why I love women the way I do. Her ferocity towards all things are why I love women who refuse to apologize for being their honest selves. I had no other symbols of female power as close to me as she was in my family.

I will forever miss you Marty. You made this little boy love women just like you.

Taylor, meet Taylor

My eldest princess turned 23 last week. She has decided to live a very private life, so I take whatever opportunity I can get with her. A few days before her birthday I found out that Taylor Tomlinson was going to play the Comedy Attic that weekend.

This screamed PERFECT to me. As she speaks about her hangups with anxiety, depression and even bipolar disorder in her routine. About what life is like for the 20 something crowd. There was one problem though, and that was the fact that all of her shows were sold out.

I almost got tickets for her show the night of my daughter’s birthday, but it was too late. I would have showed up late, I didn’t want that. I woke up Saturday in complete and utter pain. I just wasted the day away, figuring out what I was going to do. My little girl deserved to know her dad loves her, she deserved to know that she is my princess, and she will always deserve everything I can give her – even if she doesn’t want it.

Luck would be on my side, as I was able to score tickets to her last show of the weekend. I then had another issue, my daughter is much like her father at that age. Sleeping is hard, waking up is even harder. I wasn’t going to waste the tickets – but I was definitely worried that we weren’t going to make it in time.

She killed it, and I loved the time with my Taylor who I’ve taken to see 2 famous other Taylors now. This should be a thing that I do, and I know she appreciates it.

A Week Away with Amelia

Last week, I followed through with something my daughter has been working towards. She and I spent a week at a “Undisclosed Location” while she attended a Nike Basketball Camp. This camp is headed by Eddie Gill, a former NBA player.

Amelia will be going into 7th grade and has said she wants to be serious about playing on both the Basketball and Volleyball teams. Her parents are going to do everything we can to ensure she can.

This summer she is attending a total of three camps, the aforementioned one, a volleyball camp at BNL, and a volleyball camp at Butler this coming week.

Due to the crazy increase in fuel prices, I decided to get us a hotel room for the week. I did the math and it came to literally even itself out. I’ll get back to some curiosities on that later.

Amelia made some friends, which definitely helped. There were 120 kids in this camp, which lasted from 9am until 3pm daily. She picked up some skills and some life lessons. I hope this helps her when she tries out for the Bedford Middle School Stone Cutters team.

On the first day, Eddie announced that they would have theme days. Something neither of us had considered. Her friends helped with the first one, crazy socks. We then headed off to Dick’s Sporting Goods and picked her up a headband and basketball jersey. She picked out a WNBA Indianapolis Fever one that is Stranger Things themed.

A couple of the days I showed up a little early, and saw some pleasant surprises. Each day at the end, Eddie would try to make a backwards half court shot. If he couldn’t do it in 3 attempts, he would have to do 10 push-ups. If he succeeded the kids would be the ones doing push-ups.

In our off time, we got to be father and daughter. Something we are very comfortable and good at being. We had dinner with a work friend of mine one night, the rest of the evenings we ate somewhere or just vegged in our hotel room with the snacks and microwavable foods we purchased the night we arrived. I think it was a good quiet and stress free time for the both of us.

For the last day of camp, all of the kids were provided with a shirt to wear. I had also purchased Amelia a basketball. All of the parents were told to show up earlier than usual for the closing of the camp. What I heard from Eddie made me proud that I made that choice to send her to this camp.

I provided Amelia with some sharpies and instructed her to have each coach sign the ball. I know they would appreciate it, and down the road – she will as well.

I have to say, the entire Gill family is just adorable. Eddie, his children and wife all actively run the camp together. Amelia said that a person from the team that won the NCAA championship this year was there as a coach as well. She told me that she wants to go to this camp every year now. I will need to make some adjustments on our lodging, but as long as she keeps up the good work ol’ dad will fulfill her wishes as I know these camps are a way to help increase her skills.

I hope this is the start of something beautiful for my daughter, that she will cherish for the rest of her days. Sports have been good for her in many ways. I just want her to know that her dad will never make her feel that she is less than just because she doesn’t meat some imagined goal.

Thrust into the Spotlight

While annexation in Bloomington is primarily a dead issue, areas 1A and 1B were not successful in completely squashing the attempt. They did however achieve enough verified petitions for remonstrance to have the case reviewed by a judge.

I have been keeping an eye on the social media site NextDoor, where my Township Trustee typically makes her official statements. There seemed to be an outcry of people wanting to raise funds and hire an attorney to use this final tool given to them by the state.

I told her when this all began that I would do whatever I could, whenever I could. So I began a gofundme for the explicit purpose of raising those funds, based on the leadership I had been provided by my Township Trustee.

https://gofund.me/66bb55b6

I did not want to share this personally, this issue does not affect me directly. Legally I have no say in how this annexation goes as I am not being annexed. Sure I can have an opinion, and I do. I would rather leave opinions to the side however. I did feel that informing the local press might be a good idea though, so I reached out to a personal hero who was a journalist for a long time to seek guidance on writing a press release.

He gave me a extensive and amazing primer that I followed. I then sent it to 3 outlets, with another asking for it the next day.

This led to being interviewed by 3 news outlets and a journalism student that another friend decided he would sic on me. Thanks Leo.

The first thing to hit was the front page of the Herald-Times on March 8th, 2022.

Then, on Friday March 11th I was on WFIU and WTIU (our local PBS affiliate). They used an audio clip of me and a video clip.

Meanwhile, it appeared to me that the wind that was in the sails from the people I looked to in this entire situation had to step aside. I’m no politician and I will never understand the games they play.

I felt a large responsibility to all of those who had donated. With the help of some volunteers upwards of 30 attorneys were called. Most of which have either not returned calls or stated that they had a “conflict of interest.” The lawyer I was originally told was going to take the case had to step down for similar reasons, and another I had spoken with was relying upon a local attorney to file the case before he would become involved. There is one local attorney that several referred me to, but I have still not received any communications from him. He is apparently “the” guy for this exact situation.

If you were paying close attention to the video clip, you will notice the County Residents Against Annexation sign. I had seen them in some of the more influential and better off areas of the county, but not mine. We had our own signs. It soon become clear that they were some sort of power as people would cite them as they stated they could not longer help with this effort.

Nevertheless I persisted.

I had a phone call with the president of CRAA, who introduced herself to me by boasting about accomplishments and listing “things” she had done, overall trying to somehow impress me. It only did the opposite. She then crossed the boundary, she asked that I give them all of the funds raised in the gofundme.

I have since received several negative messages about this organization through the gofundme. I’ve received many messages from it, I have responded to most of them in kind.

CRAA from what I know has not focused on the area I live near, but the areas ripe with cash and/or retirees. I do not know them from Adam nor will I speak on behalf of them.

I will however work with them (as difficult as it has been at times) to complete the mission, to let the residents use all tools legally available to them to stop this over reaching annexation by the city of Bloomington. An action that is really tantamount to a tax heist. When looking at the balance sheet, across the board the only org with a positive change are the city’s coffers. Even the public schools and county library will lose money. For me, that’s a non-starter.

I have not hidden behind an organization, I have used my name. In the end when dealing with community issues that is akin to putting it all on the line. The only way to be is to be honorable and moral. If I didn’t follow the will of my community members, I can literally see a “torches and pitchforks” situation occurring.

This has definitely been a very interesting experience in local political theater, reaffirming why my feelings of anarchy run deep to my core. My love for my immediate neighbors however will never fail or falter.

I’m Tired Boss

I’m writing this blog post early on a Saturday morning while I give technology assistance for a series of talks being given by pediatric healthcare professionals, one of which being my own pediatrician who was also the pediatrician for my own daughters.

The first part of the week was extremely difficult on my body, still primarily in significant amounts of pain from my still not completely but partially diagnosed problem. The department I work for remodeled two office spaces. While they hired moving and setups to move the equipment out, they wanted me to move it all back. Sigh.

So I got to work on Monday, and spent most of the week ensuring it was all done. That said, in their grand plan they didn’t consider the infrastructure that was also needed to be moved during this remodel. Since I wasn’t even consulted about any of this, a new and ever increasing trend, I am going to let them lay in the bed they made. I had to run a cable across one room so a computer would have network access.

A office, created from what was open space

Then, the real bang for the week. I seem to have become a “figure” in the county’s continued fight against Annexation by the city of Bloomington, which I have written about before:
https://lee-lawmaster.com/no/
https://lee-lawmaster.com/a-nail-in-the-coffin/

My township trustee typically places her official communications to community members on the social media site NextDoor. On one post in particular, many were asking about how we can take the next (and final step) in fighting annexation, taking our case to court as we are allowed to by law. I use the word “we” metaphorically as I am not a member of any areas that are being annexed. Several asked about the creation of a go-fund-me as a common place to donate funds to hire counsel and get the process started.

This is when my “man of action” senses took over, and I made one. I then told all in that thread about it, providing them the link and told them to share. It has kind of blown up.

The township trustee said we would need a minimum of $10,000 to hire counsel, so I set the goal accordingly. I have heard from several in the business community who want to provide large donations as well. Per state law, if the case is sided for the remonstrators, they (members of the class to be annexed) can receive up to $37,500 back for legal fees.

Unaware of what attention this was getting, not seeing any mention of this on any other social media platforms, I reached out to a man I admire. He’s an amazing photojournalist and a self described pirate. He runs a respected news outlet locally that I try to support as much as possible, The Bloomingtonian. He asked for a press release and the wheels started spinning in my mind. I also had a phone conversation with the man that runs B Square Beacon. He said that he would put it in his daily release as a bullet point. I had never spoken or interacted with him before, it was kind of exciting.

I can barely write, now to write a structured document that you spread far and wide? HOW? So I reached out to a hero and friend of mine that knows a thing or two about press releases, Joe Nickell. In his very peculiar yet amazing way he gave me a 101 course on how to write one, including a couple of his own examples. I was off to the races.

Using Joe’s guidance, I wrote it and sent it to both places I previously mentioned plus the Herald Times, our “local” paper that has been taken over by a mega corp. Then I told my friend Michael Leonard about it, who runs The B-Town Bee and is a former long time columnist with the Herald Times. He said he would sic one of his journalism students on me, and HE DID. Gee, thanks there pal.

The Herald Times government reporter wanted to interview me, and before I knew it I was getting texts from an unknown number that was that journalism student. The reporter for the Herald Times said that they are putting a piece together for publication on Monday. The journalism student interviewed me as well, and introduced herself as being with the IDS (the IU Student newspaper) instead of being personal.

I have had almost daily calls with my township trustee as updates to the ongoing situation and feel as if I’ve become a central figure to this. I was just trying to help my neighbors, I love my neighbors and I love the area in which I grew up and live to this day.

I also received an odd email from a person representing a “news” site I had never heard of, The Lawrence County Zephyr. My youngest daughter, who lives in Lawrence county had never heard of it either. I sent him the press release and he published it.

The Gist of It

5 of 7 areas Bloomington wanted to annex received enough petitions for remonstrance to stop it, pending any litigation the city may file due to their believe that a state law that created an expiration date for utility waivers is unconstitutional. 2 of the areas received enough petitions for remonstrance to take their cases to court and be ruled by a judge.

Stolen from B Square Beacon and highly appreciated

State law states the court filing has to be done within 15 working days of the auditors released findings. Hence the rush. This is the only tool my neighbors in 1A have to use to stop this annexation from happening. We cannot leave 1B in the cold, and have been inclusive of them as well.

This annexation has been full of drama, with the state passing a law that was later ruled unconstitutional that stopped it for a few years. It’s also wide swathing with little promises for a big price.

Personally I call it a tax heist, as the tax rates for these areas will in some cases more than double, with those funds going to the city. My own tax rates will rise 26% per a county council member. Many question if any services the city promises will deliver will ever be delivered. This can also remove choice from the table for many people in these areas. The police department is under staffed and under paid, this will add to the stresses they are already facing, creating an even more hostile police force. The public school system that covers most of the county, MCCSC will also lose over 1 million dollars annually, at last I read.

Thankfully in the time period between when the first attempt was stopped and the second began, our township fire departments got together and created a Fire Protection District, which is protected from annexations. Originally the city was going to severely gut these fire departments, which are a staple in the communities they serve. A major factor in my choice to purchase a home where I did was it’s vicinity to a particular fire station.

It has required an increase in property taxes – but one I appreciate. Something the city does not exactly understand. They just put out bonds for millions of dollars and increase taxes on it’s residents to pay for it. Members of the city council have stated that they don’t listen to the people that elected them. I want nothing to do with the city, and showed as such during the first “informational” meeting they held. This meeting was just city hall full of signs, there was no actual meeting.

The ‘ol Money Pit

My body isn’t the only thing falling apart, my house is as well. It’s time I rectify the problems before I’m drowning in them. Who am I kidding, I am drowning in them.

Almost four years ago, after returning from a vacation I came home to discover that the bath faucet for my main bathroom would not shut off completely. This began #reno2018. I had already tried to refurbish the faucet, and was informed no parts were made for it anymore. The only option was to replace. However, my financial attentions were distracted after spending roughly $3000 on the shower/bath areas alone.

I was however able to use child labor for a vast majority of the work.

How has she changed since this photo was taken.

Unfortunately, the piece called a drop elbow (this is what your shower head attaches to) was faulty and had to be replaced. The water it leaked has caused mold to start to form essentially in the top left corner of this photo. I will possibly have to replace all of the drywall in that area as well.

The rest of the plans for the bathroom include changing the light fixtures, including the exhaust fan, a new sink and lavatory, new mirror, new electrical receptacles and switches, door and the major feature being a nickel floor (a floor made from nickels).

The other major item is unfortunately my kitchen as well. Immediately after purchasing this home, all of the kitchen appliances decided to quit working. Fifteen years of use have provided their toil on them, and so the dishwasher said it was done. I purchased a new one, which has been delivered but not installed. Why? The kitchen floor is in horrible shape, and I’d rather replace it before installing this new quite fancy dishwasher.

The first step in that process is to move the water line that goes to the ice maker in my refrigerator. When originally installed, a hole was simply drilled into the floor. Over the years I have just used it as is.

Today, I installed what is called an “icemaker box.” These are made to be installed before the walls are installed, which made the installation problematic.

As you can see in the above photo, that water line coming up through the floor. The floor is a 2nd layer on top of the original kitchen floor. Both being made of what is commonly called linoleum.

Then came the not so fun part. I assumed I would have to drill a hole through the bottom plate to give passage to the water line, but I was in luck – there was already a hole existing. The 1/2″ PEX tubing fit. But fitting this box into this hole became an issue, so I cut some additional drywall out to give room for the water line coming out of the bottom of the box.

When trying to position the “ears” on the side of the box between the drywall and the stud, they just instantly snapped off. It was frustrating to say the least. That said, the width of the whole I cut was snug enough to hold the box, and the face place gives more friction which causes the box to not really move at all.

The only thing left is to actually connect the line, which I will wait to do until the floor is replaced. I will do this by cutting the PEX to fit, and attaching with a 1/2″ female thread adapter to where the line is connected currently.

I am hiring the job of replacing the floor out, to who I’m not entirely sure yet. The last job I ever did as a contractor was just this, replacing a kitchen floor. It’s actually part of why I’m hiring it out. While moving their refrigerator back, I ruined the floor. I was completely embarrassed.

My primary want on the floor is for it to be a black & white checkerboard vinyl tile. I am not a fan of regular tile due to the temperature fluctuations. These vinyl tiles fascinate me to the point where I legitimately want them in my own home. This is not “peel & stick” but legitimate tile.

However, it seems hard to find. So I am looking at alternatives. I plan on changing my cabinets to white, with black stone countertops. I might go with something that gives a natural stone look as I prefer the French Country Kitchen look.

Unfortunately this is only the beginning of a lot of updates/fixes that have been a long time coming. I just wished my back felt better so I could do more.

Stepping down, but not away

As I’m sure I’ve written about here, I am one of the original members of The Janeway Collective. We built a little birthplace statue in honor of a Star Trek captain who will be born in my hometown in the future.

Over the past year, I have been the President, as voted by the board. While incredibly humbled by that, I’ve never been a large fan of leadership. I still feel that I’m at that point of life where I seek out the more adult people.

Life has handed me many blows in the past few months, I’m beginning to think that a Voodoo priestess placed a hex on me. The problems didn’t really start until I returned from what can only be called an amazing vacation in New Orleans.

I have come to find that I need to let go of anything that is keeping me from my mental focus, my professional focus, and the projects that I have that are piling up has become overwhelming. Our elections are taking place right now, and I did not want to continue the role of President. I took one step further however and also stepped down from the board. I will continue in an administrative role. I will stay a member for the rest of my natural life. If I feel that I want to join the board again, I will wait until the next election cycle and let the board know.

As my last act, I sent the following email to the board. I feel that it’s proper to share here, on my personal blog.

Hello to the greater collective!

I write this message as your outgoing president. As many of you know, I am not one who seeks leadership, to the point where I actually despise it. I am one who sees problems and finds the ways to resolve said problems. It’s what I make a living doing.

After the unveiling, I saw a lot of things I did not like. I saw hopes and dreams falling by the wayside due to ego and in many cases, greed. This is not a collective, and behaviors I hope to never see again in this ever growing group. This is why I formally incorporated us, this is why I pushed to get by laws in place and get us that coveted 501c3 status.

In many ways, this is why I was voted to be president. I will always be appreciative and humbled by it.

With that, came opportunity. I got us our own Google Workspace environment, which includes many things I have seen few use. We have Amazon Smile, Kroger Community Rewards and other resources that could be used more as well.

As Peter once again takes the helm, I have a few things I must say beforehand.

Effective this evening, I will be rescinding my nomination for a seat on the board. While this project, and this group helped me survive the pandemic, other things in my life have presented themselves that I must focus on. I will remain a member for life, and I may want to be on the board again at another date.

I will remain as an administrator, unless there comes a time when the board wants to replace me with another. I have no issue executing any and all requests for updates/changes to anything. I take the word “Collective” very seriously, and always have. Is something wrong with our email, website, PayPal, etc etc? Just get a hold of me. We will fix it! I am not the one who shall not be named.

I will remain our agent on record for both the federal government and state government. A large reminder, as the year draws to a close, there is paperwork that needs to be submitted to both entities in different time frames.

I have the bust mold, the Janeway Cutout and lots of official paperwork on the formation and our official 501c3 determination paperwork as well. If it is ever decided that it should be held by another party, they are not being held hostage. Many of you know many and varied ways to contact me.

I have 0 issue in continuing the meeting on IU’s Zoom instance housed on my personal IU account. However, I feel it would be best if we move away from IU’s list system for communications in favor of the Google Group system that could be utilized. The more we stand on our own feet, the better. Our yearly expenses are under $1000 a year, which encompasses insurance, all inclusive website costs, and Quickbooks Online.

I would like to see the collective make some strategic moves financially. For example, the creation of additional accounts for our known expenses, event funds, scholarship funds, etc. Then it’s just a matter of funding them and making the mark. I don’t know if non-profits can utilize investments – but that is also a good thing to look into.

It is my wish that upon the change of officer/titled positions, a peaceful transfer of email accounts occurs. This way each office will keep the information it needs and or works with. There should be an accumulation of information, not a lack of. I will be handing this account over to Peter after our meeting this evening.

I have uploaded all usernames/passwords that are not already available to the board to the drive, sans the president, lee and admin google accounts. I have also uploaded all of the documents I created in an attempt to create a membership card, including an excel spreadsheet with a current list of our members (we have 13 right now). I will also upload all of the files I have on my computer, for the collective to use as it pleases. Many of these files are probably duplicate/triplicate of ones we already have.

Our website has an issue that needs to be attended to in a few months, and is something I have been meaning to communicate to the collective but have not. At the time we created it, we had no actual business entity. Due to this, it was all placed upon my account within the provider Namecheap. I have since moved the domain to our business account with them, but the EasyWP service cannot be transferred. It will require a purchase of a new EasyWP iteration, with an export/import of data to it from our old one. This process is not complicated or hard – but will require our website be down for a period of time.

The QR code on the informational table still needs to be changed. My best suggestion is to have Anywhere Signs create a new one and install it using epoxy. There is a Donors page (what the original one links to) on our website.

This is not a goodbye. This is a see you later. I am extremely proud that these collective groups were able to come together and accomplish such a task. The owner of the Comedy Attic named me, “The Man Who Hates Bloomington the Most” one evening in the green room (which is really green btw). I am spending more and more time away from our fair city, and it is a disservice to all of you if I cannot provide the focus I used to have. I do not know when this focus will return. I will always be with the collective in spirit, and hope I have only helped build a foundation that lasts for perpetuity, and that the dreams of scholarships for STEAM, and ways to be a beacon of equality in this world become reality.

I could write and write and write, but will end this message for now. I will see you all this evening.

LLAP,

Lee Lawmaster

President

Her Culture is Showing

A few weeks ago, my youngest daughter participated in the North Lawrence Community Schools Elementary Basketball League. Playing for the elementary she, her papaw, memaw, and great-uncle have all went to, Parkview.

I had injured my back and did not make her first two games, but I did make the rest of them. While I had seen her play basketball with the Boys & Girls Club and a church kids league, they both paled in comparison to how ugly this league was.

While the boys played pretty clean, straight ball, the girls would often go after each other. Flagrant fouls were common to the point of the meanness being as plain as day. Amelia’s role was as the center who also performed the game’s tip-off.

Just under two weeks ago was the tournament for the league. Both the girls and boys teams for Oolitic were the number one seeds. Both Parkview teams had lost one game each, and had to play twice to win.

The basketball culture in rural Indiana is foreign to me. To be able to experience it through my daughter. To see her excitement, and meet her teammates meant the world to me. I take a great sense of pride in knowing dad is looking down upon her and smiling that she is getting to grow up in his hometown, and have a childhood somewhat like his.

The tournament was at Bedford North Lawrence High School, commonly referred to as BNL. I had never been inside the building before. The atmosphere was electric, you would think a sectional or regional game was about to take place.

Amelia’s first game was against Lincoln Elementary in the secondary gym. At least one of her friends plays on that team. The game was not overtly memorable as I was sitting next to three high school age girls who’s brother was playing on the Parkview boys team, who was playing immediately before the Parkview girls. Their enthusiastic cheering for him and the team showed deep seated spirit, much like The Beach Boys sang about in, “Be True to Your School.” They provided much entertainment. I sat in a feeling of awe, torn between a smile and a tear.

When the boys game was over, they all sat on the other side of me as those sisters. This provided even more entertainment, and I got to learn a little about the boys my little girl goes to school with.

Their second game was in the main gym, against Shawswick. It was a highly defensive match. Parkview kept Shawswick under 10 points. It was insanity.

I’m extremely proud of the work Amelia and her team put in for the season and for the championship. Amelia wants to continue playing basketball, which means that I need to get my own butt in gear to help her train. Next year she advances to middle school, where she will get to take the name of another family mascot, The Stonecutters. If she does well, she’s a shoe-in for the Lady Stars at BNL, as my 2nd cousin is the athletic director. I think that would make the hearts of many in our family happy, as well as her papaw who is looking down upon her from wherever he is.

After the pomp and circumstance were over, I spoke with her coaches. I wanted to pay something forward. Something that was paid to me at that age, that has always meant the world to me.

The baseball team I played for was sponsored by a long gone restaurant called Mustards. They treated us like kings and provided us many meals on the house. I told Amelia’s coaches that these girls deserve that, and it’s all on me. I know she and a few of her teammates were all about going to Olive Garden. I gave the coaches my phone number and told them I would take care of the finances if they could get the girls together.

Our children are our future. If we show them that we are proud of them, oh the places they’ll go.