24
Oh, what'll you do now my blue eyed son?
What'll you do now my darling young one?
I'm a going back out fore the rain starts a falling
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest, dark forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the home in the valley meets the damp, dirty prison
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the colour, where none is the number
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountains so all souls can see it
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinking
But I'll know my song well before I start singing
Bob Dylan: "A hard rain's a gonna fall
Jay managed to get into the bathroom before anyone else could
enter. He just needed a face wash and to brush his teeth and both
bathrooms would be available for the waiting group in the hall.
Ha came out of the bathroom and was met by the same enthusiastic crowd. He just had to smile and laugh with them; their enthusiasm was very catching. "Something to remember", he told himself.
He went into the bedroom and started the two powerful fans mounted up on the wall. It would be a hot day for cool Canadians!
There were mattresses spread around along the walls for people to relax and have their night's sleep on. During daytime they would be placed according to various needs.
Jay placed the mattresses in a semi circle and put his own along the wall. Pearly had placed a bundle of tissue boxes underneath the windows. Jay opened two boxes and placed them between him and the half circle. Workshops like these always turned out to be wet; as they should be...
After 40 minutes the Canadians started to tumble into the room; everybody excusing themselves for disturbing Jay. He just nodded and sat still with his eyes open; observing each of the 6 participants as they found their places in the room.
Finally Pearly came in with her hair still wet after the shower. Jay just had to admire her; she looked beautiful in any kind of situation! He felt warm inside and noticed that she knew... He felt uplifted by this and started to talk with the group. They had all received a pamphlet explaining the course step by step. He asked then if they had read them and got affirmative nods from everyone. "What an amazing group of people!" he thought
The first thing to do is to spot the special characters of the group.
Uasually there was a clown, a moaner, a tear squeezer and a "host licker". The latter was the most diffcult to handle, because they sucked energy from the group and the leaders and often had to be rejected, which again created a situation of dysfunctionality...
It was part of the job for group leaders. Jay usually pulled the "culprits" out and had a chat with them. He gave them an opportunity to explain themselves and if it went well, he gave them a strategy to work themselves out of an awkward situation.
This time it was the single man who kept on clinging to either Jay or Pearly; depending on his needs for the moment.
This sort of behaviour could be a nuisance, but then again, it was a part of that person's disability that needed to be taken care of...
Finally they had all been telling a little bit about themselves and
what they expected from these three days. Jay pointed out that it was up to them to decide whether they wanted to succeed or fail; he and Pearly would be there as a support for them at all times throughout the workshop.
This first introductory afternoon was mainly for everybody to get to know each other and get acquainted with the idea of using art, dancing and meditation and writing this weekend.
They all had brought notepads for writing and the group was given their first task; to write about their expectations for this course and
and how they could make it a cooperative period of work, so that everyone could go on from here with positive memories from this kind of event...
Everyone sat down by the walls and started writing.
Jay went around noticing each of them and their postures and how they were holding their pens; he'd been a teacher for many years and knew how to read these kinds of activities...
He especially noticed that the couple were sitting far away from each other and not even giving each other as much as a glance. Both of them wrote frantically as if they wanted to say as much as possible in the short time that was given.
croenning@rocketmail.com
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