Beacon of Lie

[AFK]

There is this kid, his name is David.  He is sixteen years old and a Sophomore student at Central High School.  He had big dreams of becoming a celebrated artist.  He revelled in the images that danced in his head end ritual of putting them to medium.  His imagination was his hang out.  A refuge. 

One day that changed.  And if you asked him, he wouldn't really be able to tell you what day exactly.  Perhaps it was the day that big kid in the hall picked David up and stuffed him in the garbage can for the 5th time of the day.  Maybe it was the day his Mom decided she didn't want to be a Mom anymore and took off.  Maybe it was the day his dog died.  Maybe it was all those days he asked for help from his teachers, but they were too busy to help.  Whatever day it was, the change DID happen.  His hang out and his refuge became broken and useless.  He decided to build a new one.  And he built it with needles and glass pipes. 

David was lost.  He needed to be found.  He needed a guide to come and show him the way out of this place.  It used to be, there were guides.  They were all around and needed but to be called and they would come to render assistance.  That was before they were taken away by the overlords.  The overlords had decided they could no longer afford to have them around.  They were deemed unnecessary and not worth the treasure.  And that those lost children would manage somehow.

As it turned out, they were right.  Those children who came from families of great wealth and status were able to return to safety.  But children, like young David, who but had a Father who was a hard worker yet poor, children like David were left to drift in the wind. 

And so it was, a generation was cast into the fury of the unseen unknown. 

[Telarus]

Poignant. Good narrative flow.





Also, I read the title as Bacon of Lies.

[Honey]

This made me feel sad to live in a land where there are far too many stories like this.  & I was sorry to hear your job may be in jeopardy.

Kin Hubbard used to say (a pretty long time ago) that being poor is no crime, but it might as well be.  Unfortunately still true.  Very nice piece of writing though, can you send it somewhere to wake people up?   

[Jenne]

I'm with Honey--great piece of writing, RWHN.  I really hope some loophole or other comes through to save your job and let you continue to do what it is you do.

[AFK]

Well, potentially there is one.  Apparently the money that pays for my program is federal money, and it sounds like there may be some kind of mandate where the State has to keep a part of it.  Because the proposal was to eliminate an overall pool of money that included the network (my program) and the drug court program.  So, they asked the office of substance abuse if they could restore one pot of money which one would they pick and they mentioned the network. 

The sticky part is that even if they do restore the funding, there is no guarantee my agency will get it back.  The office of substance abuse could put it out to bid and look at proposals from other agencies and if it looks like someone else could do it "better" they might go with them. 

So while the drug court folks had the meeting with HR yesterday informing of them of all the lay-off details.  The meeting with prevention (that's my component) was like, "yeah, we don't know if you are losing your jobs yet or not.  Stay tuned."

It's pretty maddening I have to say.  So today we're having an all-day strategy session to figure out all of the different scenarios and how we will operate within each. 

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Excellent piece of writing there RWHN. 

I hope things work out for you where you are, or that something even better lands in your lap very fast!!!

[AFK]

How perverted is this?  I just spent the past 4 hours, at the request of the higher ups, looking at 5 years of data for the OTHER program on the chopping block.  Unfortunately, their data collection system is utter crap and we weren't able to come up with much.  But, the good news is, if both programs survive, I'll be very busy re-designing their data collection protocols. 

[Template]

Did the overlords decide to provide the guides in the first place?

We could always figure out a way to provide social services and make a profit/break even (inexplicably).  How much can you make from finding, collecting, and mechanically processing Randroids?  Would we run out of them too fast?  It would be unethical to farm rather than hunt them.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That was really good, and heartbreaking.

[AFK]

Yeah, of course, thanks to some advocacy, lobbying, etc., we got the funding back.  Unfortunately, the Drug Court case management program is still getting axed.  So our agency will still be laying off 4 or 5 talented individuals.  It's the State's loss.  And it will cost more money down the road.

[Jenne]

But your job is saved, right?

[AFK]

As far as I know it is.  I still haven't heard a definitive declaration about getting all of the money back but all the language has been about me being here next year so I'm taking that as a positive.  Still, I'd like my Director to just sit down and declare.  "We got all the moneys and we're keeping you!" 

[Jenne]

Doncha HATE IT when they don't do that.  Bugs the shit outta me.  The school districts do it all the time to keep the lawsuits away. 

[Jenne]

Also:  I keep reading this fread as saying: BACON of lie.  Which means it lies to my brain.