Re: OT:Tsunami/Desi//Olympic Hockey!

[Guest guest]

While many removed their most treasured possessions from their homes and moved

to higher ground to party with their neighbors (while they watched the ocean for

most of the day) and others filled their gastanks and pantries with emergency

supplies-the Ho'olaulea (family fun day) at Kamehameha went on strong and even

got it's own kind of " surge " in the later afternoon...

By the time I got up there for our show after watching overly-sensationalized

news coverage I was already " WIPED OUT! " And then, ironically, it was the sound

man who left early because of his family's struggle with tsunami threat and left

me without one thus the resulting problems with amateur dads on the board---well

you can imagine the results of that...but nonetheless little ones rattled by the

tsunami scare did their best and sang their distracted hearts out-including

Aubrey's older sister , who because of inexperienced Dad on the board had

to sing her Colbie Callait song-TWICE!  

Personally having experienced both worlds, technology has it's advantages in

informing the general public (of course, until we find out even technology has

it's limits as we saw on our cell networks yesterday where couldn't reach

her family here and I could not get my bros calls from NewYork) of imminent

dangers, BUT the flipside is that if not handled with sensitivity it can really

wreak havoc on the already traumatized like me.

I envied the people up at the Kamehameha Ho'olaulea all day who seemed

unaffected when I encountered them, because they had so little contact with TV,

their cells that were barely working or the internet. shared how the

whole Ho'olaulea stopped for several minutes of prayer at the moment the tsunami

was expected and how moving that was. They were the truly blessed.

The next time I will do a better job of regulating my exposure to the media and

just get back to the good old days

of responsible ignorance.

So sad the Winter Olympics are closing today. I will never forget how that

Canadian youngster skated so brilliantly after her mother's death. Now those

were the moments that celebrate the triumph of the human spirit and inpsire me

to

keep on going. I still have some tough advocacy ahead on Aubrey's case, and

don't let me get started on her transition.

At least my gut issues are quiet today.

Now off to watch the Gold Medal HOCKEY GAME! I have a lot of Canadian friends on

this list.

IMUA USA!

Desi

desi, ashley and aubrey

________________________________

To:

Sent: Sat, February 27, 2010 3:04:11 PM

Subject: Re: OT:Tsunami/Desi/New Confidentiality Law (FERPA) Urgent

 

Desi

I have a daughter that I adopted when she was 2 with ds and autism. My

whole family lives in Oaho

My brother owns Pro Tech Roofing. They do all the gov. contracts. I saw

your post and had no idea what was going on. I live in Colorado and didn't

have the tv on. I tried and tried to call Hawaii and couldn't get through.

I finally got thru and I was more freaked out than they were. lol That

about figures!! We are in Hawaii so much. Well at least all is well now.

Thank God. Glad you are safe as well

In a message dated 2/27/2010 1:13:20 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,

desimckenzie@ yahoo.com writes:

Yes, lots of sirens this morning...so surreal. I cannot believe the

catastrophic events that have happened in our world over this past few years and

especially over the past few weeks...somewhat " apocalyptic " ...scary stuff!

They are closing

all roads in the tsunami zones as I type this to you. Thank God for

today's technology!

All in family are good so far...having lived in Hawai'i all of my life

we've learned that tsunamis are nothing to take lightly. Authorities here are

taking the threat very seriously. Every local television station is

covering this with their

regular weekday morning anchors and their best weather people so that is

scary in itself...

Quite impressive to see how organized the response is especially with

evacuation and road blockage with the exception of the silly surfers who are

giving local police headaches by not evacuating the beaches and are taking

manpower away from other areas of need. Auwe! Locals and tourists are lining

safe hillside lookouts to watch the ocean...For those of you who have

visited here-can you imagine that ALA MOANA SHOPPING CENTER has been closed for

the day? One of the biggest in the world. Can't imagine the effect on our

already devasted economy here as well. Costco, Walmart, grocery stores at

high elevations etc are doing well though-with emergency supply sales.

After I was caught in a flash flood rain several months ago and was almost

swept down the street outside my studio as a result, I plan to stay far

away from low lying areas...because you just never know...traffic is quite

bad right now in streets where people are evacuating to higher ground

especially in the Waikiki area, though in many of those buildings built to

withstand this-they are evacuating people vertically.

I live on 'Oahu at a very high elevation city in central 'Oahu called

Mililani. The big island of Hawai'i is predicted to have a 6-7 feet plus

tsunami which is several feet higher than is predicted here. Fifteen of my voice

students and I actually have a show later this afternoon at a huge Family

Fun Day called " Ho'olaulea " at oldest daughter 's (she's already

there) school (Kamehameha) which is, and to get to from most of our island on

the freeway, much higher than our coastline... thus so far Ho'olaulea is going

on, It will be interesting to see if our show does go on later today, thus

I'm

fielding phone calls as I type this...It will depend on what happens

around noon on our shores.

Have been trying to call my brother in New York but the AT & T network is

way too busy.

On top of this, I have severe gastritis which has my entire abdomen on

fire over the past week after some disturbing incidents of " breech of

confidentiality " on my daughter's case by a couple skills trainers and their

supervisors (!) on the case and in the media. I spent at least ten plus hours

this week discussing the breeches with DOE and agency officials.

I urge all of you to become familiar with the new Federal law and insist

that ALL people that work on your

cases respect your family's right to privacy! As a single mother, and

professional who spends much time performing

in our community and servicing our community, and thus truly needs the

extra support for child's stim behavior redirection and respite, this is so

critical to the well-being of my family, business and philanthropic endeavors!

Prayers are appreciated as we weather this latest threat here and for this

mommy with all of her gastro issues these days-

so that healing comes quickly so that advocacy can continue effectively at

this critical time.

Please find the FERPA (Hawai'i DOE site) information site below!

Sent: Fri, February 26, 2010 11:23:36 AM

Subject: NEW FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS & PRIVACY ACT (FERPA) WEBSITE

FERPA is a federal law regarding the confidentiality and privacy of

student information. Please visit this new on-line information and resources

that provide an overall familiarity with these requirements. The website

address is http://ferpa. k12.hi.us

IMUA! (Go forward!)

Desi

____________ _________ _________ __

From: gldcst <gldcstcomcast (DOT) net>

To: @yahoogrou ps.com

Sent: Sat, February 27, 2010 7:52:56 AM

Subject: OT:Tsunami/Desi

Desi!!

Are you ok out there? Hope you've evacuated if you live close to shore.

Thinking of you as we watch this uinfold.

Sherry &