ON THE AVENUES: I've got the spirit, but lose the feeling.

Aimlessness, ennui, and frustration.

These three words don’t begin to describe my mood during the year or so immediately following high school graduation in 1978. You’d need to add measures of angst, disaffection and frustration to the mix, not to mention an ongoing, crippling shyness.

To be more succinct, I was an extremely unhappy camper -- and then, as now, I detest camping. I hadn’t the slightest idea what I was supposed to do with my life.

Small wonder The Who’s quintessential Quadrophenia album spoke to me so insistently at the time.

I am not the actor
This can't be the scene
But I am in the water
As far as I can see

Of course it’s been 42 years since then, and honestly I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. The difference between now and before is sheer stagecraft. I’m much better adjusted to performing. As an adult I've become the actor. At some point along the way I learned that people can be shy extroverts, and there’s no law against faking it until you make it.

In fact, faking it has served me quite well.

But in 1978, I was at sea. For my inaugural semester at Indiana University Southeast, I signed up for four evening classes. It was a disastrous foray into academia. I failed one and managed somehow to beg an incomplete out of another. Such was my dysfunction that I derived no solace from solid academic performances in the other two, English Composition and Intro to Philosophy.

In fact, these two courses were harbingers of a future pathway forward, even if I couldn’t see it. In retrospect, I just didn’t know myself. Self-knowledge came only with time.

I’m a slow learner, which means that almost always, I’m also a late bloomer. If you want fast, decisive decisions, look elsewhere, because I may not be the best choice. I’ll hoard every last second you give me to think about it, then run the variations through my head multiple times.

Once focused, that’s where I remain. Getting focused can be an ordeal.

In addition, that horrid shyness made post-high school life challenging. The IUS class I failed in the fall of 1978 was Public Speaking. I should have refused the option when the counselor suggested it to me, but I couldn’t find the words to express my terror. I didn’t know what to say to myself, much less to other people.

To be truthful, coping mechanisms for shyness didn’t become clear until I was well into my twenties. In the beginning, I needed barriers to survive: a teacher’s desk between the students and me, the counter separating the liquor store clerk from his customers, and a nice row of taps like a picket fence from behind the bar.

I’ve proven to be a patient adult, and things gradually fell into place, although four decades ago shyness made it excruciatingly hard to find new friends. At first my friends after high school were the same as during high school, at least the ones who stuck around and didn’t go away to university.

Maybe all of us who stayed here had certain socialization issues.

---

The year following my high school graduation, I joined with a few of these friends to stage what we referred to at the time as a “commando raid.” It was juvenilia to such a brain-dead degree that my adult brain fairly recoils from the memory.

It seems that rudimentary steel gates had been installed at the roadway entrances to Floyd Central, our alma mater. This struck us as the first step toward a future police/education state; a blow needed to be struck for freedom of mobility, and who better to do it than us?

Besides, we were underemployed, bored and profoundly misdirected. Our bizarre conclusion was to advocate freedom of movement by preventing the school buses from leaving. The gang pooled pocket change, bought a few padlocks and coordinated our watches.

Just as the closing bell sounded one spring afternoon, we descended from three directions and padlocked the gates shut, reasoning this would make us famous.

A senior mole still on the inside subsequently reported a farcical outcome as annoying as it was utterly predictable. The bus drivers saw everything as it unfolded, and our cheap padlocks were no match for humongous bolt cutters wielded by yawning janitors who came trotting from the building within seconds of our getaway.

The whole episode lasted a few minutes at the very most, and we looked so foolishly impotent that the administrators didn't even bother tracking us down. For me, the exercise actually generated a learning point, which was profound embarrassment. I no longer was in high school, and evidently needed to broaden my horizons.

After all these years, and quite apart from the youthful idiocy of our ill-fated stunt, the stated purpose of those schoolyard gates recently has come back to me. They were supposed to help secure the grounds at night and on weekends, when no one needed to be reposing on school property anyway.

However, if my memory is to be trusted, the gates seldom were used. It quickly became obvious that school activities ran seemingly around the clock, and students, teachers and staff were coming and going at all hours. The gates soon were padlocked open, and started rusting. Taxpayers griped in letters to the newspaper: why waste a thousand bucks on gates that weren’t being used?

All of it -- the gates, those objections and our commando raid -- seems ridiculously quaint looking back from the vantage point of 2020.

Nowadays when topics of school security and safety arise, we're no longer talking about three or four flimsy gates, but armed guards, weapons, x-ray machines and in all likelihood quite soon, the micro-chipping of humans in the same way we did our cat at the vet last week.

Not to mention mental health services and counseling, the proposed funding for which comprise the bulk of monies being sought in 2020 by the school corporation via the current “safety” referendum ballot issue.

Damn straight; we do live in a different world. See what four decades of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and proliferating neoliberalism can do to a society’s sanity? When RayGun took office in 1981, the disassembling of America began in earnest. Joe Biden’s dementia-accented ascendancy this week seems calculated to assure there’ll be a two-party continuance of the fundamental neoliberal rot, with maybe a symptom or two addressed in passing before the inevitable veto by Amazon, Wall Street and the gendarmes of capital accumulation.

It's a good thing we still have books.

---

Coincidentally, the late Mark Fisher’s amazing Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? closed out March atop my nightstand, from whence I devoured it in three sittings.

In his book The Selfish Capitalist, Oliver James has convincingly posited a correlation between rising rates of mental distress and the neoliberal mode of capitalism practiced in countries like Britain, the USA and Australia. In line with James’s claims, I want to argue that it is necessary to reframe the growing problem of stress (and distress) in capitalist societies. Instead of treating it as incumbent on individuals to resolve their own psychological distress, instead, that is, of accepting the vast privatization of stress that has taken place over the last thirty years, we need to ask: how has it become acceptable that so many people, and especially so many young people, are ill?”

It isn’t acceptable, is it?

Maybe it’s a fast food diet of pure sugar, the plastic fragments coursing through our veins, or the modern global economy’s reduction of work to frantic kaleidoscopic gigging.

Fischer’s view is that when alternatives to robber baron capitalism can no longer even be imagined, bat-shit craziness is the logical outcome for all except the 1%.

(In retrospect, listening to Joy Division while writing these words may not have been my best idea ever.)

I’ll never be entirely sure whether my inner turmoil during high school and shortly thereafter was the usual hormonal accompaniment to acne and masturbation, or something deeper. The odds overwhelmingly favor the former, but it strikes me as useful in the context of a public education that young people have access to mental health services.

Far more useful would be immediate and pervasive revolution against neoliberalism, and yet I understand how few Americans are in a position to undertake the corrective measures. I’m a patient man, and I trust that in time, they will, even if it’s after my time.

In the interim, allow me to state publicly that I’ve no issues with the school corporation’s referendum. I’ll campaign neither for nor against it, but if you have strong feelings either way, please submit them for publication. My blog is your blog.

In the main, my fellow baby boomers have been major bummers; my generation of unreconstructed narcissists has acquiesced in a greed-driven economic system built to benefit engorgement for the few, with the expense of a natural by-product of mental (and often physical) illness left to be borne by the many.

I’m for doing what we can to mitigate the effects, and while I'm on the topic, remember to vote for Bernie Sanders early and often. Maybe soon we can prevent this institutionalized insanity instead of slap bandages on the contusions produced.

---

Recent columns:

February 27: ON THE AVENUES: There is a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

February 20: ON THE AVENUES: For downtown New Albany, escaping reality might soon be a bridge too far.

February 13: ON THE AVENUES: War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

February 6: ON THE AVENUES Alas, New Albany is less of a place without a bookstore.

GREEN MOUSE presents NAWBANY WEEK IN REVIEW for 21 February 2020.

It was a slow news week, so kindly allow a digression.

For the past six years I've been highly critical of City Hall's media expenditures purporting to "promote the city" -- like these.

I've criticized these ads for several reasons.

• We've no idea how much these ads have cost the city. 
• Their authorship and conceptual origin also are unknown.
• There has been no discernible pattern to these ads, no story line linkage, and nothing connecting one to the next such as might suggest a pre-determined marketing or branding campaign. 
• As such, being piecemeal, there's no way to know whether the ads have been effective -- or what they were intended to achieve in the first place. 

Ah ... maybe we do. Of course, as even a first-grader would quickly detect, there actually is a pattern.

For most of his first two terms in office as mayor, Jeff Gahan has been using these advertisements to tout himself on the city's dime. Granted, he's not the first elected official to engage in such egregiousness, and it's the sort of thing that friends adore and adversaries loathe, but here's why it matters right now, in February 2020.

ON THE AVENUES: For downtown New Albany, escaping reality might soon be a bridge too far.

Obviously there’s nothing wrong with any of these modes of escapism, except for this one relevant ancillary factoid, which may or may not be an 800-lb guerrilla perched around the bend, about to interrupt the reverie and impose reality: the 36-48 month long period allotted for Sherman Minton Bridge repairs, which are about to teach us a critical truth about America’s post-war development patterns.

Automobile supremacy giveth and taketh away in equal measure.

The toll-free bridge has been pleasant. Now we’ll see what happens when it operates (conceivably) with only one lane open in each direction for four whole years.

In short, the city of New Albany -- the public officials, private stakeholders, flagrant do-gooders, conniving slackers and every gradient in between -- has wasted two mayoral terms on self-serving ephemera when a thoughtful, concentrated APOLITICAL branding and marketing exercise FOR THE CITY AS A WHOLE might have helped to create a stronger foundation as bridge repair's transportation disruptions approach.

The "personality cult" approach Team Gahan has embraced must be viewed as a tremendous missed opportunity, and it puts us behind the proverbial 8-ball. That's because it's like this, and I know the truth hurts: Not one human being outside Jeff Gahan's family ever decided to visit New Albany, start a business here, invest here, live here, work here, play here or walk their dog here because Gahan is the mayor.

Not one.

And yet this is how we've been selling the city, and now that we REALLY need to be selling the city, we have images of Gahan on the internet, thousands of magazine in recycling bins, vague and undisclosed promises of a "secret plan" from City Hall, pillars of the community suddenly unable to voice coherent syllables, and -- what else, exactly?

That's why I kept talking about it these past few years. Time is short. Is anyone interested in fostering cooperation and leading, not merely talking smack? Step forward, please.

Now to the week in review. The primary election falls on May 5, and another grueling school corporation referendum campaign is underway. It's about funding for mental health and safety, and the local chain newspaper's coverage has been favorable to date.

• Guest columnist on mental health in schools, by George Schultz
• Voters to decide fate of NAFC safety referendum in May, by Tara Schmelz
• Officers, community members show support for safety referendum, by Tara Schmelz
• Residents speak out on school safety referendum, by Tara Schmelz

I'm on sabbatical, but submissions arguing rationally in favor of all points of view will be published here in a timely fashion. I'm support all sides being heard. The newspaper is useless, so contact me using the customary channels.

The tourism board met at the Calumet Club. I'll have more to say about this in a future column, but for now just the coverage.

SoIN Tourism looks toward year to come in Clark and Floyd counties, by John Boyle (News&Bune)

This year marks the 43rd anniversary of SoIN Tourism’s existence as Clark and Floyd counties’ local tourism board.

Though the third month of 2020 is already approaching, stakeholders gathered at the Calumet Club on Wednesday to shuffle the board’s leadership for the coming year and discuss the current state of affairs in Southern Indiana.

According to executive director Jim Epperson, out of all the tourism organization’s created by the state legislature all those years ago, only SoIN’s territory consists of two counties.

“It makes sense,” Epperson said. “Residents hardly know when they’re moving between Clarksville and Jeffersonville, because the borders are kind of hard to define, so visitors don’t know either.”

The industry is doing well in the region at this point in time. Good tourism follows a good economy, Epperson said, since people are more confident in spending their disposable income.

That translates into more people visiting cities along the Ohio River, with Epperson noting that he’s seeing great numbers and hearing similarly great stories from attractions, hotels and restaurants in the area.

Epperson pointed to numerous new developments across the three major communities on the Hoosier side of the river — including the NoCo Arts & Cultural District in Jeffersonville, Daisy Summit in New Albany, and the South Clarksville redevelopment project, which will see the transformation of the area immediately surrounding the famed former Colgate plant and the clock that still hovers over the property.

“What we’re doing right is taking advantage of this good economy and this good fiscal situation to remain competitive,” Epperson said. “All of these things, even the organic burgeoning of downtown New Albany, are new experiences for visitors. Clarksville South, it’s hard to imagine yet, but the vision that’s there, that’s going to be a huge thing. You put a 140-room Aloft hotel in that Colgate plant, that’s going to automatically turn that into a visitor destination. Those are all very exciting to us.”

Some other things happened, too, but I'm already late publishing this update so the hell with it. See you next week.

Following up OTA: "These parents oppose their children's exposure to the PURE Initiative as part of the NA-FC Schools curriculum. Here's why."

Here's an update about last week's column, which examined the presence of the PURE Initiative as part of the NA-FC Schools' sex education curriculum. My friend Missy Smith did most of the writing.

ON THE AVENUES: These parents oppose their children's exposure to the PURE Initiative as part of the NA-FC Schools curriculum. Here's why.

 ... “Did you all know that there is an abstinence program taught in health classes at New Albany High School?? I repeat...THERE IS A PURITY CULTURE, SEX SHAMING ABSTINENCE PROGRAM TAUGHT IN HEALTH CLASSES AT NAHS! I received no notice that this would happen. I would have opted ALL the way out of this BS. I am enraged! I have worked very hard to keep this far away from my child so she does not carry any of the trauma that so many of us carried out of our teen years.”

Later she offered a link to the PURE Initiative.

“Update: the group that comes to every school district in Southern Indiana is called the PURE Initiative. Their website is https://connect2pure.com/. One of their “instructors “ is the executive director of Youth for Christ of Southern Indiana, another is affiliated with the local faith based crisis pregnancy centers.”

Missy's letter to the school board was featured in the column. She later wrote this at Facebook:

As the new semester starts I will be moving forward in effort to protect NAFCS students from exposure to this shame inducing rhetoric. Contact me if you would like to help.

It's also worth passing along a comment made by NAC's co-editor, Jeff Gillenwater.

Missy is absolutely correct. PURE in no way represents objective, science based health education. They are a conservative christian group being granted captive student audiences to spread religious dogma, apparently with the approval of NA/FC administrators. As PURE explain themselves, they are an off-shoot of the deceptively named Choices for Women, a local sex and pregnancy “counseling” center that in reality functions as a staunchly anti-choice organization. PURE connects to CFW which in turn connects to other religious right groups like Focus on the Family whose anti-choice, anti-LGBT, and pro-theocracy political activities are well known. Hopefully, a lot more parents join Missy in objecting and bringing a quick end to this public health danger and Constitutional violation.

If you're interested in assisting Missy and don't know here, tell me and I'll pass it along.

ON THE AVENUES: These parents oppose their children's exposure to the PURE Initiative as part of the NA-FC Schools curriculum. Here's why.

Let’s have a look at faith-based abstinence as a component of health education in New Albany-Floyd County Schools. But first, just a bit of background to explain how the topic came to my attention.

Regular readers will recall that I am a proud member of the 2016-2017 Discover class at Leadership Southern Indiana. For those who are just tuning in, my column of August 25, 2016 told the story of how it came about.

ON THE AVENUES: You won’t believe what happens next.

Discover was a first-rate experience, and I’ll be forever grateful that Dr. Daniel Eichenberger not only talked me into it, but also provided sponsorship. I learned quite a lot and made more than a few lasting friends -- like Missy Smith.

My sense is that these two friends of mine, Dan and Missy, are on polar opposite sides of a curriculum controversy, because while we recently were visiting Trieste, Missy posted this on social media.

“Did you all know that there is an abstinence program taught in health classes at New Albany High School?? I repeat...THERE IS A PURITY CULTURE, SEX SHAMING ABSTINENCE PROGRAM TAUGHT IN HEALTH CLASSES AT NAHS! I received no notice that this would happen. I would have opted ALL the way out of this BS. I am enraged! I have worked very hard to keep this far away from my child so she does not carry any of the trauma that so many of us carried out of our teen years.”

Later she offered a link to the PURE Initiative.

“Update: the group that comes to every school district in Southern Indiana is called the PURE Initiative. Their website is https://connect2pure.com/. One of their “instructors “ is the executive director of Youth for Christ of Southern Indiana, another is affiliated with the local faith based crisis pregnancy centers.”

The NA Confidential household understands Missy’s concern. We're in complete harmony with her decision to challenge the school corporation’s decision to incorporate a faith-based approach. We support Missy 100%. Upon returning from vacation and getting my feet back on the ground, I asked her how it was going.

“While the board and administration responded with plans to have opt-out letters mailed to homes, this isn’t good enough. I will be going as far as we need to get this curriculum removed from the school system.”

Missy included the letter she sent to the school board, and it strikes me as fully appropriate that I turn over the remainder of today’s column inches to her for a detailed explanation of her position.

Here it is, lightly edited. When there are updates to provide, I’ll pass them along.

---

Esteemed Members of the School Board,

My name is Missy Smith. My daughter is a freshman at New Albany High School. She came home today and told me some very concerning things about what she experienced in her health class. 

She truly thought it was funny, but as an adult with extensive experience with the type of program she described, I am appalled and outraged. My daughter explained that the PURE Initiative volunteers shared disjointed, unclear, and sometimes totally false information with her class, all based around abstinence.

First, let me acknowledge that I know a letter was sent home last week that included information on the program that would be visiting her class. My daughter says that when given the sheet, she was told this was an opportunity for parents to opt-out if they were uncomfortable with their children learning about sexuality. As we are a family that communicates freely and openly, and a family that supports evidenced-based learning, she knew we would not oppose her learning about sex and related health topics. In this, she is correct.

However, we do STRONGLY oppose any exposure to dangerous purity culture laden rhetoric, a biased curriculum that can attribute to children making unhealthy and potentially life-altering choices. A topic this important and potentially damaging should never be an "opt-out" situation. Parents should have to opt-in to their children attending at least the PURE Initiative section of the module.

My husband and I did some very cursory research on the PURE Initiative. As far as we can tell, every "instructor" is closely tied to a conservative Christian organization. For example, one is the executive director of Youth for Christ. This criticism is not coming from a faith-shaming family. I am a deacon in our Baptist church, where we attend multiple times per week. We are, however, against anything that seeks to weaponize faith in an attempt to control children's behaviors.

While the PURE website states that data and evidenced based information is used, there is no supporting documentation that this is the case. From the examples my daughter provided today (apparently a video was shown that suggested that having premarital sex indirectly led to a person's child being killed years later in a car accident?), I have serious doubts that this curriculum is reliable, accurate, and unbiased.

I have included below links from journals and reputable sources that scratch the surface of the dangers of abstinence-focused curriculum. As you will see in the excerpt below, this focus leads to the very outcomes (unplanned pregnancy and STI) these visitors say they seek to reduce:

Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S

The level of abstinence education (no provision, covered, promoted, stressed) was positively correlated with both teen pregnancy rates, indicating that abstinence education in the U.S. does not cause abstinence behavior. To the contrary, teens in states that prescribe more abstinence education are actually more likely to become pregnant.

And:

Teens Deserve More than Abstinence-Only Education

Advocates reviewed all available evaluations of state-based abstinence-only programs and found that, of the 10 states with evaluations, few demonstrated any short-term benefits and none demonstrated any lasting, positive impact on young people's attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. A few programs showed mild success at improving attitudes and intentions to abstain. No program was able to demonstrate a positive impact on sexual behavior over time.

And:

Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Is a Failure

Two scientific review papers find abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and policies in the United States are ineffective because they do not delay sexual initiation or reduce sexual risk behaviors. According to the researchers, these programs also violate adolescent human rights, withhold medically accurate information, stigmatize or exclude many youth, reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, and undermine public health programs. Both papers are published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

At this point, my child has been exposed to this irresponsible curriculum, and feels equipped enough to remain in class, inoculated from the fear tactics that were employed today. I have faith that my daughter has learned enough from our discussions that she knows how to take charge of her emotional safety in this setting. 

However, I do not know the other girls in the class (and let's be honest, we know that in these programs the impetus and focus is on the girls as gatekeepers), and have grave concerns about the possible damage that may be inflicted upon them.

Sexual behavior, made of one's own free will and not under coercion or as a response to trauma, does not cause a person to become broken. However, creating an environment that fails to provide comprehensive information (accurate and unbiased information on contraception and infection prevention) will lead to negative health outcomes. 

Suggesting that children will be like "crumpled dollar bills" (illustration used in class today) if they have sex will lead to shame, disconnecting children from the community around them based on valid and normal choices. Creating shamed, disconnected human beings causes brokenness, not having sex.

Please know that I am aware that our very irresponsible and regressive legislature has created and passed legislation that allows this garbage to be taught in our public schools. I also know that the welcome extended to this group sends a message that the administration supports this teaching. 

Any student who has this impression will have no choice but to believe, going forward, that their school officials will see them as broken or irresponsible for decisions that they make regarding their sexual health if they do not choose abstinence. These observations will not foster the safe and open environment, especially for girls who may need a non-judgmental place to land and process. 

As a social worker, I know firsthand that all of our students do not have this safe environment at home, and really need to feel that school officials can offer this to them. 

Again, I am aware that you may not have the autonomy to refuse the presence of these types of groups in the school, but based on what I heard today and my small bit of research on this specific group, I have grave concerns on the decision to welcome this biased and irresponsible group into the school setting at all. I do plan on sharing my concerns with our legislators. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any comments or questions.

---

If readers have questions for Missy, send them to me via the usual channels and I'll make sure she sees them.

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Recent columns:

December 12: ON THE AVENUES: He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day.

December 5: ON THE AVENUES: Ladislav's language, 1989 - 1990 (Part 2).

November 28: ON THE AVENUES: Ladislav's language, 1989 - 1990 (Part 1).

November 21: ON THE AVENUES: Rest in peace, Kevin Hammersmith. Eight years later, you're very much missed.

Since when is Brad Snyder the superintendent of schools? We thought Jeff Gahan claimed credit for education, too.

It's all about the foundation of a strategic plan for the school corporation ... oh, and by the way, in the small print, there'll be yet another referendum.

I wonder if Mayor Seabrook will give the school corporation back to Brad Snyder -- assuming the departing Deaf Gahan doesn't try to sneak the education budget out the back door in his lunch pail on December 31.

NAFC schools seek input to decide future of district, by Tara Schmelz (Tom May Biblical Inerrancy Compendium)

NEW ALBANY – The New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. is finishing up an $87 million capital project, thanks to the approved 2016 referendum.

Now, Superintendent Brad Snyder said he's being asked, "What's next?" for the district.

He talked to the school board Monday evening about starting three committees, dubbed strategic pillars, to help decide the direction the district will take for the next seven to eight years.

"This is not a strategic plan. This is the foundation of one," Snyder told the board. "I think we could have one by next summer."

The groups will focus on three areas: raising the academic bar, helping the social and emotional needs of students and master planning for the construction/renovation/upkeep of buildings.

Snyder said the purpose of the groups is to give all stakeholders, such as teachers, administrators, parents, board members and community members, a chance to have a role in the planning process.

"This is not my plan. This is the community's plan," Snyder said after the meeting.

Though the second group will also discuss the proposed school safety referendum, Snyder said the referendum is its own separate piece. He said he is meeting with various parent groups, the school safety commission and will meet with first responders and other community members to decide whether to move forward with requesting up to 10 cents per assessed valuation over the course of eight years, opening up $3.33 million per year for the district to fund additional security measures.

Snyder said if all goes well, he plans to ask for a town hall style meeting in late October/early November, where the community can voice concerns and/or support for the referendum prior to bringing it to spring of 2020 primary ballot.

ArtSeed Gallery's "Implicit Elements" opening tonight -- and a Mortal Kombat exhibit with an informative surprise.

ArtSeed has an opening tonight and other news to report; scroll down for the descriptions. In the meantime, here's something you may not have known.

Halo Applications owns the building and hosts ArtSeed, and divulges this tidbit of interest:

These machines were moved over to the Halo office for a number of Summer celebrations and have been added as an unofficial exhibit in Halo's ArtSeed Gallery as an exhibit on the cultural impact of Mortal Kombat, which led to a 1993 Senate Committee Hearing on Violence in Video Games. Following that hearing the Entertainment Software Review Board (ESRB) was established in 1994 which started to rate all video games and continues to rate them still today.

Between the two middle machines is something unique that Jim refers to as the centerpiece of the Mortal Kombat collection.

But I'm not giving the game away, so to speak, and you need to see it yourself.

Halo's ArtSeed Gallery is open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 10am-5pm as well as on scheduled evenings for new exhibit opening receptions (check Art Seed for the exhibit schedule), so you are welcome to stop by and see for yourself!

And now for the ArtSeed schedule.

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Implicit Elements
Donna Stallard and Jodie Furbee

5:30-7:30 for the artists reception, Friday, July 12

Art Seed is proud to present the innovative mixed media work of Donna Stallard, and the hyper realistic paintings of Jodie Furbee. Artists reception is free and open to the public, refreshments provided.

Kentuckiana native and IUS graduate, Jodie Furbee is a traditional painter whose love of art is in the process, details and manipulation of the medium to create hyper-representational works that commandeer illusionistic light, luminosity, character and mood of the content.

Donna Stallard began her artistic journey at IUS where she attained her undergraduate degree and went on to get her MFA at the University of Dallas under renowned printmaker Juergen Strunk. After studying in Dallas, Stallard decided to return home to family and community. Stallard has come full circle and is a professor at IUS and a talented printmaker.


Unveiling Celebration

The NEW Platform 22 Art Works
NAFC Secondary Schools Best of Show Winners

6:00 - 8:00pm on August 3, 2019 at Kevin Hammersmith Memorial Park

ArtSeed, in collaboration with the Floyd County Government and a grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and the Indiana Office of Tourism Development, presents the NEW Platform 22 Artworks. Platform 22 is a public arts initiative designed to bring arts and education to the residents of Floyd County.

Spread across 10 locations, each outdoor wall provides an opportunity to display important pieces of art through history, local art, and community art. Each location provides a unique experience with alternating pieces.

Come celebrate with us as we unveil the NAFC Secondary Schools Best of Show Award Winners at Kevin Hammersmith Memorial Park.

The program name, Platform 22, was chosen as both a homage to the county’s railroad heritage through the local train platforms and as a concept of transporting people to new and exciting places through art.

Platform 22 is designed to use currently underutilized public space and transform it into areas where the community can sit, view, discuss, and interact in a vibrant public space.

An important component of Platform 22 is the collaboration with local partners including: Indiana Office of Community & Rural Affairs, Indiana Office of Tourism Development, Floyd County Commissioners Office, Floyd County Parks Department, Open Door Youth Services, Floyd County 4H, Floyd County Purdue Extension, New Albany Floyd County Public Library, Jacobi Toombs and Lanz Inc. and ArtSeed, LLC.

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ArtSeed Intern Show

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. on August 9, 2019

As a show of appreciation, ArtSeed gives our interns an opportunity to exhibit their work in a professional gallery setting. Please join us in welcoming these new artists into our community.

Participating Artists: Ashton Beaulieu, Gracie Koesters, Marissa Kress, Sydney Nalley, Rebecca West, Tristan Buchanan.

• Tristan Buchanan is a High School student and a graffiti and mixed media artist.
• Ashton Beaulieu is an author and illustrator and is currently creating a comic strip.
• Rebecca West, a BFA student at IUS is a printmaker and illustrator
• Syndey Nalley, an IUS Student is a painter and enjoys working with youth.
• Marissa Kress is an IUS graduate and accomplished Graphic designer and painter.
• Gracie Koesters is a talented fine artist and works in multiple mediums. She is a high school student

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NAFC Secondary Schools Exhibit Best In Show Award Winners.

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. on August 9, 2019

Concurrent with our Intern Show, we are delighted to exhibit more young talent from the Southern Indiana region- the winners of the New Albany Floyd County School Secondary Schools Exhibit, Best in Show Award Winners.

Contact Julie Schweitzer
julie(at)artseed(dot)art
www.artseed.art

Address:
1931 East Spring Street
New Albany, IN, 47150

Hours:
Wednesday - Friday
10:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Also by Appointment

Courtesy of Dan Coffey, the Grant Line Road annexation map that Jeff Gahan doesn't want you to see.

Current councilman and forthcoming mayoral candidate Dan Coffey (Independent) has made public the map showing the Grant Line Road area north of IU Southeast being projected for annexation by Jeff Gahan's monetization cadres.

This is the area the city is looking to annex. While we are told not to openly discuss this with the public, I believe we should have an open and transparent government that allows public input to help make a better and informed decision.

Absolutely right. I agree with Coffey and thank him for the map. Here's a closer look at the pertinent data.

Coffey is correct in observing that much of the annexation discussion so far has been strictly back-channel.

However the topic began leaking out when the NA-FC school corporation's administrators recently informed the school board, seeing as the corporation must voluntarily accept Grant Line Elementary's inclusion.

This was the first time most folks became aware of the proposal, although an overview of the annexation plan was discussed at last week's city council meeting, with all involved stressing that nothing can occur in 2019 because annexations aren't permitted by the state during pre-census years.

Even yurt-dwellers in Mongolia can see that Team Gahan lusts after the $1.85 million yearly tax haul, but at last week's meeting Scott "Coulda Been a Contender" Wood explained if the annexation becomes official, there's a period of three years during which residents in the annexed area are obliged by the state to form some undefined manner of participatory committee and to designate uses for the tax revenue in question; it does not go automatically into city coffers until the fourth year.

Presumably such committees choose for infrastructure improvements designed to bring the suburb into line with the city's urban "norms." The word "sprawl" was not mentioned, and personally I'm waiting for this future committee to be immediately infiltrated and neutralized by Dear Leader's operatives, with these three years of infrastructure cash inevitably going to pay for the projects already planned by Gahan's campaign finance donors for the vicinity.

Then again, I'm a cynic.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Deaf Gahan wants to annex Grant Line Elementary School. Why didn't the Redevelopment Commission discuss this at its last meeting?

At the end of the day it's just another example of Gahan's pathological need for secrecy, and his preference for conducting as much pre-planning as possible outside the public's eye so the ensuing process is subject to full personal control with no meaningful effort to glean public input. 

Folks living along Mt. Tabor Road, and others attending last week's Colonial Manor top-down debacle already know this. Fortunately, there's an antidote to the toxic effects of cash-stuffed envelopes, Rice Krispies Treats and Kool-Aid: #FireGahan2019

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By the way, if you're not following Deaf Gahan on Twitter, you're missing out: https://twitter.com/DeafGahan

Brutal satire for a city allergic to it, but still.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Deaf Gahan wants to annex Grant Line Elementary School. Why didn't the Redevelopment Commission discuss this at its last meeting?

At the most recent Redevelopment Commission meeting, the made-for-election-year hosannas could be heard all the way out in Galena, where a similar investment in dead weights is being financed not by a brain-dead mayor, but by bake sales and GoFundMe.

New Albany High School weight room receives $100,000 TIF gift, by Chris Morris (Tom May Column Expositor)

Money will come from TIF funds

NEW ALBANY — New Albany High School's Health and Wellness initiative soon may see a significant upgrade thanks to a $100,000 grant from the New Albany Redevelopment Commission.

The money, which will come out of Tax Increment Financing or TIF funds, will be used to enhance both the health and wellness curriculum as well as purchase equipment for the school's weight room. The measure still must be approved by the New Albany Floyd County School Board at the March 11 meeting.

The redevelopment commission is allowed to use 15 percent of TIF funds for educational spending, and member Adam Dickey said this will have a positive impact on New Albany.

"This will benefit kids across our community," Dickey said. "This is a way as a city we can have an impact to help out the school corporation and impact lives in a very meaningful way."

This example of re-election campaign publicity hokum was so ill-considered that even David Barksdale voted against it.

But now it seems that the devil resided in ANOTHER detail. Back to Papa Morris:

BLACKBERRY RIDGE HILL

The redevelopment commission approved a contract with Clark Dietz, Inc. to design plans to shave three feet from the hill near the Blackberry Ridge entrance off Grant Line Road. Where the entrance to the development is located creates a blind spot for drivers pulling out onto Grant Line Road. Plans are expected to be finished in July and there is no timetable when work will begin.

Clark Dietz? Is it the same Clark Dietz that has gifted the mayor with $34,400 since 2011?

But I digress.

The Green Mouse has learned that the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation's board will be asked to approve -- or is it to request? -- the city's annexation of land that includes Grant Line Elementary School, located a short distance from the Blackberry Ridge.

Apparently the topic of annexation did not arise at the Redevelopment meeting in question, although one might have found it of interest in light of the roadwork, right?

The city's annexation pitch to the school administration, which in turn has passed the glad-handing to the school board (the approval of which apparently is necessary), goes something like this: annexation will make the road work easier for the city, and annexation will then benefit Grant Line Elementary by (a) reducing sewer bills and (b) shifting responsibility for emergency responses to the NAFD.

The Green Mouse sounds weary.

Let me get this straight. With an election coming and "TIF for Schools" under fire via state legislation, Gahan tosses $100,000 at the school corporation that employs his wife and daughter, and Irving Joshua prattles nonsensically about weight training being the same thing as redevelopment; then, with little or no advance information provided to its own board, the school corporation encourages immediate compliance with/capitulation to an annexation move so well camouflaged it was completely invisible. Do these people ever do anything in the open -- and could Chris Morris ask a good question every other year, or is that too much to ask?  

Sadly, here in New Gahania it's business-on-the-down-low-as-usual. 

Property tax bills: Keep your eyes on the ball, and forget the mound of peanut shell games.

Chris Morris is on medical leave, there hasn't yet been a replacement for Elizabeth Beilman -- and hell, Tom May can be 15 or 20 places at once, but not 30, so it looks like it's Erin Walden on the education beat as the superintendent of schools explains it's not an increase at all -- and she's to be commended for keeping things straight as the numbers (and fur) fly.

Reached at his down-low command bunker, bond issue advocate Jeff Gahan said he continues to support the Taco Walk, and any tree than disagrees will find itself rendered into campaign finance broadsheets, sleeping with the little fishies.

NAFC superintendent talks tax increases, by Erin Walden (Tom May Content Coagulator)

NEW ALBANY — The truthfulness behind the 2016 referendum marketing statement “not a penny more” was called into question after taxpayers in Floyd County noticed increases on their property tax bill.

During the Monday night school board meeting, New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. superintendent Brad Snyder explained the increase was one of perception.

According to a presentation by Snyder, the debt rate in 2016 — the year the district pursued the referendum — was .5408 cents. In 2017, the debt rate dipped to .3833 cents and for 2018, the first year of the bond repayment for the referendum, it increased to .4941 cents.

“The campaign was held in 2016 with a very specific pledge to when the debts were repaid. There was a dip [in 2017]. That was the unseen, undiscussed,” Snyder said.

However, residents are only shown on tax bills what they paid last year, Snyder said, so the tax rate and total due for 2016 was not shown to give context to the 2018 figures.

Monday night's agenda was rearranged and the presentation came before public comments rather than after, and each public comment addressed the situation.

Dale Mann, who repeated his request for an independent audit of the district, said, “All these flyers – they were all lies. No increase, not a penny more. That’s all a lie. If you all support it, I’m gonna ask for your resignation ... "

ENOUGH New Albany and NAFC Superintendent Brad Snyder offer perspectives on Wednesday's #NationalSchoolWalkout.

When I was in high school at Floyd Central, there was a walkout once. If an eroded memory properly serves, some upperclassmen (and women) were protesting tightened rules v.v. the outdoor smoking area.

What's going down these days strikes me as a great deal more principled.

First, the forthcoming protest as described on electronic media, which didn't exist in 1975, when all we had were ... that's right, smoke signals.

Sorry about that. I'm very much in favor of these protests.

ENOUGH New Albany

New Albany Senior High School• 1020 Vincennes Street , New Albany, IN 47150

Women’s March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods. We need action. Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship.

Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school.

Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day.

We are not safe at school. We are not safe in our cities and towns. Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that address the public health crisis of gun violence. We want Congress to pay attention and take note: many of us will vote this November and many others will join in 2020.

Join us in saying #ENOUGH!

Superintendent Brad Snyder's perspective from atop the tightrope.

STUDENT PROTESTS

Dear Parents,

This letter provides information regarding school “walk-outs” organized by students.

Many of you may already know that in the aftermath of the Parkland Florida shootings, students have started to raise their voice and others have joined in. At present, certain organizations from around the country are encouraging students to take part in multiple scheduled school “walk-outs.” The walk-outs are being presented as “student led protests” to bring more awareness to current events and societal issues.

We anticipate that some of our students will be interested in participating in these events, and others will not. Thus, we need to remain mindful of the needs of everyone who comes to school ready to learn. We do not plan to interrupt our normal instruction for these protests. Students who wish to protest may do so provided their individual actions do not materially interfere with the function and operation of their school. Students who do not wish to protest will be able to focus on their individual academic pursuits.

Student safety and instruction remain our ultimate concerns.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brad Snyder
Superintendent
NAFC Schools

Q1: Are students legally allowed to protest during the school day?

A1: Yes, as long as their actions and their words do not materially or substantially interfere with the function and operation of their school. The US Supreme Court has ruled in Tinker vs. Des Moines, that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate. Thus, students do have a constitutional right to protest / free speech. However, at the same time, the same ruling also provides that students do not have a constitutional right to materially and substantially interfere with the function and operation of their school or school activities. Students have both rights and limits.

Q2: Does the School Corporation support these student protests?

A2. The School Corporation is neutral to all student led political protests. As a government institution, we do not endorse student led protests nor do we discourage student freedom of speech.

Q3: Will teachers help the students organize the protest?

A3: No. All forms of student protest must be student led.

Q4: Can teachers participate in the protest?

A4: No. An individual teacher’s action could violate state law and local policy. Unlike students, the court has ruled that teachers and school employees are not protected by the Free Speech clause while they are on duty and working for the public school. While in the line of duty, employees have a requirement of neutrality.

Q5: Can parents protest with their student?

A5: No. A parent may sign their child out of the building at any time.

Q6: What will a protest day look like?

A6: We will provide a safe internal environment for students who desire to protest while maintaining a routine for those who wish to focus on academics. We will provide our expected and routine orderly environment for all students and staff.

Q7: Will my student be safe if they walk-out?

A7: Students will be in the safest position if they remain inside of their school building. We have notified local law enforcement regarding the potential of these walk-out situations in the event some students decide to venture outside on their own.

Q8: Will students be disciplined if they participant in the walk-out?

A8: If an event occurs, it will be a normal school day, and as such, routine attendance practices and policy remain in force. All polices within the student handbook will be our guide to assess acceptable behavior.

Q9: Why is the school “protest neutral” and not willing to help the kids more?

A9: Policy directs school administration to avoid all situations in which personal interests, activities, and associations that conflict with the interests of the Corporation. The Corporation will not support outside non-school activities which threaten the effectiveness or the integrity of its staff or the regular school day. Our goal is to be protest neutral and remain safety vigilant. Student safety is a full time and serious matter. Finally, we do not know how many groups may want to conduct similar civil protests in the future and for what political or societal cause.

Q10: As a parent, what can I do?

A10: Talk with your developing teen. Help them think through and discuss the relevant issues and emotions, emphasize personal decision making, and clarify appropriate behavior.

Put away your pitchforks: Hibbard's on the road north, and now things get really interesting.

In what must be the biggest open secret since Israel has nukes, Bruce Hibbard's golden parachute is set to deposit him in a school district far, far, far enough away.

Congratulations to the News and Tribune for breaking news that really is.

Wait just a galdurned minute. If Gahan wants to be superintendent, and superintendents must attend school board meetings ... HEY, WATCH FOR THAT ICEBERG!

Wait just a galdurned minute. If Gahan wants to be superintendent, and superintendents must attend school board meetings ... HEY, WATCH FOR THAT ICEBERG!

I dunno, Jeffrey. Schools tend to take that attendance thing rather seriously. How many notes can Warren write you before the dog dies from overeating?

A final suggestion: It wouldn't be a good idea to copy off Duggins.

In other drab tidings, the current superintendent was too busy packing to make an appearance last night. Sectarian violence duly avoided, the agenda was content to center on soccer.

Hibbard absent from New Albany-Floyd County Schools' meeting, by Erin Walden (Jeffersonville Is Our Passion)

Superintendent the favorite for Indy district position

NEW ALBANY – New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp.'s board of trustees conducted business as usual Monday at its regular meeting, with a notable absence: Superintendent Bruce Hibbard.

Hibbard, who has been at the helm at NA-FC Schools for eight years, has been pegged as the favorite in Franklin Township Community School Corp.'s search for a superintendent. The board for the district, which is located in Indianapolis, is set to vote on Hibbard's proposed contract Tuesday night.

Many anticipated Hibbard would put in his official notice during Monday's NA-FC meeting but, instead, he simply didn't show up.

The board did not comment on his absence and moved ahead with its agenda, voting unanimously to bring soccer to its middle school students, among other things.

Hibbard straps on his getaway parachute, Gahan annexes the school corporation -- wait, who's that OTHER guy?

Get ready to choose between Dear Leader and the Terminator.

It's possible to laugh out loud, but only with copious stashes of gin close by.

Hibbard may be leaving NA-FC schools, by Aprile Rickert (All Abbey Road on the River, All of the Time)

Superintendent eyes same role in Franklin Township schools

NEW ALBANY — The New Albany-Floyd County School Corp. may soon be in search of a new leader.

Current superintendent Bruce Hibbard, who's been at NA-FC for seven years, appears on the verge of being hired by the Franklin Township Community School Corp. at Indianapolis, where he would serve as superintendent.

Posted on the Franklin Township website this morning was a proposed contract with Hibbard, showing he would received a base salary of $180,000 on a contract beginning July 1. The Franklin school board is expected to vote on the contract June 13. A public hearing has been called for Monday, when the board will gather opinion on the contract and proposed hire.

Uh oh -- not another malware attack.

Looks like the school corporation caught the virus this time.

I suppose this means he's not finished yet. Is there anything he can't do? Hasn't he done enough?

I like the mayor's use of the word "will," as in Triumph of the Will. It sounds better than Triumph of the TIF, though not by much.

ASK THE BORED: A 6-pack of BOW's top-scoring posts of the year at NA Confidential, as we try our best to forget them.

Of all posts this year tagged "Board of Public Works and Safety" or "Board of Public Works," these are the top six, according to Blogger's page view metric.

At its most basic, this board channels public financing of works. The chairman is Warren Nash, former Democratic Party tribal chieftain, who is there only because six decades of experience greasing wheels ensures that no campaign finance slush goes unslung. The abacus fairly sweats, and the rubber always meets the freshly paved road.

(The other two board members are Mickey Thompson, the street department commissioner, and Cheryl Cotner-Bailey, the mayor’s secretary and wife of the police chief.)

As for safety, yes, the word is mentioned every now and then, about as often as I concede to savoring the full, rich flavor of Bud Light.

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590
No decision has been reached on new Street Piano Project, says Board of Works and Public Safety.

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606
ASK THE BORED: Can we all have a banner atop the levee, or just the school corporation?

I've had several reader questions about the NAFC schools banner currently hanging on degraded remains of the structure atop the levee by the amphitheater. Because I'll be out of town, I cannot attend this week's BOW meeting and ask them. Perhaps someone else will.

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613
I asked about bicycle racks, and have been directed to CM Barksdale and the Redevelopment Commission.

"Will the Bored of Works be placing bicycle racks on sidewalks, and if so, will it finalize the bike racks before or after the results come back from HWC Engineering's two-way street design and engineering study?"

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617
ON THE AVENUES: Requiem for the bored.

It was another stellar day for auto-centrism in New Albany, and contrary to previous assurances, not a single egg was broken, Larry – just a random walker struck down, and never mentioned, not once, not by anyone in the room. She was probably too poor to afford a car -- right, Warren?

Tell me something.

Exactly how does any of this make any of you proud of your jobs?

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650
Two Way Streets now? Finally? Gahan sets the bar as low as humanly possible and somehow clears it, as BOW opts for a rational street grid.

In the worst kept secret since the Electoral College sucks, the Board of Works voted today to adopt Option B, which restores two-way traffic to Elm, Spring, Market, Bank and Pearl, though at the considerable and heart-rending expense of gutting most of consultant Jeff Speck's worthiest proposals for bicycling lanes and parking innovations on these and other subsequently omitted streets (State and Vincennes most glaringly).

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670
ON THE AVENUES: When the engineer uttered that scandalous word aloud, it was like Christmas in June.

There’ll be even more delays, snarls and slowdowns when toll evasion begins, even though INDOT predicts these disruptions will be brief (one month or less), and the overarching point everyone at BOW needs to grasp is this revamped section of Spring between Silver Creek and Vincennes is intended to be a check valve, to do exactly this – this process, this choking off … to willfully cause … CONGESTION.

A Plan Commission docket heavy on lurid construction porn, but isn't hardcore past its prime?

The Plan Commission's web site section hasn't been updated in a year and a half (it still lists long-departed council representative Shirley Baird as a member), but at least the meeting notice e-mails still arrive, and this one's more interesting than most.

With its Hiddardendum shot popped, the school corporation has earth movers idling on standby, as do the community-minded Kelleys in their build-up to the Summit Springs PUD daisy chain.

An ever eager Scott Wood and a plan commission packed with the usual appointed suspects await conductor Gahan's baton cue to begin the Bolero, with fiddles played by animated TIF bonds in an outtake from one of Chairman Dickey's Disney flicks.

As for me, I dearly hope there's a plot twist. These in-and-outs are so very boring, aren't they?

By the way, do any of them even know what "plot twist" means?

Meeting Notice

To:             New Albany City Plan Commission

                                   

From:        Scott Wood, Director

Subject:    Regular Meeting, November 15^th, 2016

Date:         November 10^th, 2016

Tentative Agenda

The regular meeting of the New Albany City Plan Commission will be held on Tuesday, November 15^th, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., in the Assembly Room (Room 331) of the City-County Building, New Albany, Indiana, at which time a Public Hearing will be held to consider the following petitions:

Public Hearing Item(s):

None

Public Meeting Item(s):

Docket B-39-16:         New Albany Floyd County School Corporation requests a Special Exception to permit a rebuild of the existing school in the R-2, Urban Residential district, at 1452 Slate Run Road.

Docket B-40-16:         New Albany Floyd County School Corporation requests a Special Exception to permit an addition to the existing school in the R-2, Urban Residential and OS (fp), Open Space (flood plain) district, at 4202 Charlestown Road.

Docket B-41-16:         New Albany Floyd County School Corporation requests a Special Exception to permit an addition to the existing school in the R-2, Urban Residential district, at 1020 Vincennes Street.

Docket B-42-16:         New Albany Floyd County School Corporation requests a Special Exception to permit a rebuild of the existing school in the R-2, Urban Residential district, at 2230 Green Valley Road.

Docket B-44-16:         Lisa Livingston requests a Special Exception to permit a halfway house for women in the R-2, Urban Residential district, at 2106 East Elm Street.

Docket P-09-08:         Pat and Pam Kelley request a Secondary Planned Unit Development District (PUDD) for multi-family residential and commercial/office land uses in an R-1, Suburban Residential and OS (ss), Open Space (steep slope) district at 2303-2307 State Street, 220 Woodbine Drive and 2301-2320 Fawcett Hill Road.

Docket C-05-16:         Pat and Pam Kelley request a Secondary Plat approval for an eight (8) lot subdivision in a PUDD, Planned Unit Development District, at 2303-2307 State Street, 220 Woodbine Drive and 2301-2320 Fawcett Hill Road.

Other Business:

           

1)     Approval of Minutes from October 18^th, 2016 Plan Commission meeting