3,181 Comments Posted by Lynne

anna, don't be gettin' all technical on us with all that photo jargon and all . . .

Ha! 8`-) anna, I was wondering why you were clearing your throat ("hrm") until I saw that this is someone's name. 8`-)

I just lie and say mine always looked fashionable, while burning every old picture I can get my hands on.

Our fire alarms are like that on most parts of campus - they require a key. Otherwise the folks would have an uproarious time setting off the fire alarms. We don't have very many folks left on campus who understand the concept of a fire alarm to alert others for a fire, so none of them would be able to use one if there was a fire and they were aware of it.

OK, so tonight I was doing my monthly living area monitors to check out the different sections of campus - were staff interacting with all the clients, were there materials available, were gloves locked up so no one could eat any, were the bedrooms decorated in an individualized way, etc., etc. I go to one of my living areas where they are painting the bedrooms and some one has apparently handed the gentlemen who live there a large book with paint chips so they can select a color for their room, and whatever color their finger fell on (since none of them are verbal), that's the color they painted their bedrooms. =8-o

Motts, in 20 years you will come here and photograph this place, and people will be wondering why in God's name there were different bedrooms on a single living area that ranged from mauve to goldenrod to royal blue to fuschsia. =8-o I am still blind from the experience.

. . . mutter mutter mutter short leash and a large muzzle mutter mutter mutter . . .

And to add to what anna said, the majority of the people DID get out. There was a massive "mental health revolution" in the 70s. It's in all the history books, even. Almost everyone was "freed" - well, dumped on the streets without any resources, is what many of us would call it.

It helps to work in the field a few years before getting romantic Gothic ideas that everyone was trapped for a lifetime in a mental hospital and that every caretaker was a sociopath. Some of us who read this list HAVE worked in the field a long time or still do, and in many different places, and it hurts to get slapped by people with "ideas" they read or heard about and didn't experience first hand. Or maybe heard about it from a friend who heard it from a friend who SWEARS it was true.

Yes, it's true - life sucked for many people in institutions for many years in many places and still does for some, but some of us were actually trying to make things better and we're not thrilled with the knee-jerk reactions of "outsiders" after watching "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" one time. If someone hasn't personally done something to make life better for these people, we wish they would spare us their weird beliefs and ideas that aren't based on fact.

I am boring the same people again, but please, people, get out there and work in the field and/or ask for increased taxes for funding for people with MR/DD and MI and cut us some slack.

And to you-know-who - "I already done been called worse things by better people than you." :-)

Me too! Girls' Night Out, ladies? ;-)

To ragdolledwahine and anna:

WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA!!!!!!!!!! 8`-)

I gotta admit, that song makes me nuts after a while. 8`-)

The Beatles' White Album.

An obscure reference for all the "old" people here. :-)

>:-(

If SOMEONE had gotten here when this gallery first opened and had been paying attention, they would have seen that it initially said "blaring." Up and into your room right now, young lady! >:-(

And no dinner. >:-(

And no TV, neither, you sassy whippersnapper! >:-(

Motts, how EVER are we going to keep our child in line if you don't step in and smack her around every now and then? :-(

OK, so how is everyone going to interpret this one? ;-)

Another stunning gallery - thanks!

Looks like small alien life forms crawling across the door and walls. =8-o

Or maybe I am going through DTs . . .

I like the fact that it is so dark at the bottom - you can almost pretend it leads even further down into a basement.