January 29--Doesn't Mean Shit to a Tree

[zyzyly]

Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane died yesterday. They say he is the third of the trifecta that includes David Bowie and Glenn Frey. Of course all sorts of people, musicians and otherwise, die every day, and each one touched someone's life at some point.

I remember hearing early Jefferson Airplane on the radio, They were a San Francisco band, and I was a San Francisco kid. Volunteers was one of my first albums, and the first from the Airplane. I loved it then, and when I listened to it last night, I still loved it. It evokes a mood, as all great albums do.

I got to see Paul Kantner and Grace Slick perform at a free concert in Golden Gate Park back in 1975, when they were first trying out the Jefferson Starship. It was a great concert. Jerry Garcia was there with his band, and played as well. I remember thinking that day that the world was wide open to me. Never in a million years would I have imagined then that I would be who I am today. And yet that kid is still here inside me.

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According to the wristband walking thing I wear, I walked 6.3 miles today, most of that at the hospital. It's one of the things I love about clinicals. I walk a lot, and it feels good. I make a loop through the units, and keep making that same loop throughout the day.


The long walk to the oncology unit

My students did well today. There were a lot of computer access problems. The organization doesn't expend a lot of energy ensuring that the students have a good experience with the charting system. We are pretty much an afterthought. So I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to fix access issues, and a lot of time showing them how to find things that ought to be easy to find, but aren't.

Whatever is lacking in technical support and whatever else is made up for in how well the nurses treat the students. They really take an active role in making sure my students have a good experience, and help them learn all they can. I love watching the interactions between them. I just step back at that point and let it happen.


A nurse explains the intricacies of the charting system to one of my students

I love being a 17 year-old teenager full of uncertainty, but with a love of music, trapped in the body of a 59 year-old man, who loves what life has put before him, and who still loves the same music.

If you want to get to heaven
Over on the other shore
Stay out of the way of the gun shot devil
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love how you describe your age there at the end--we actually have eternal youth... just not in our bodies ;-)

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

The photos are not coming through for me for some reason. I quite enjoyed this post, The reminiscences, the contemplations on youth, and how much you enjoy working with your students and your job. And, I am very happy to hear that your nurses are friendly to the students. At the hospital I worked at, I was told by a couple of people "the nurses eat their young"-that always bothered me.

[thoughtsbykat.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about music. I still love the music I loved while I was in my teens.

[basefinder.livejournal.com]

My former e-mail pal Tim Rose is on the bill with Jefferson Airplane on a Fillmore concert poster in my bedroom. A photo of the Airplane members is in the center of the poster, so I see a young Paul Kantner when I look up over my dresser. I saw Starship in concert in 1986 but I think Paul had left the band by then.

When I was walking today I probably appeared to many passers by as an old dude, but with the Van Halen and Led Zeppelin playing on my iPod I was feeling 19 inside.

Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the hell happened.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

They're just generic hospital pictures--you aren't missing anything.

Yes, the place I used to work (and eventually teach) at had some nurses who were very nasty to the students. I never understood it--we all had to go through the same thing at one point. I never tolerated it.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I looked up Tim Rose and read about him a bit. I'm listening to some of his music now.

I posted a link to a video of Jimmy Page sitting in a chair listening to Stairway to Heaven and explaining how he put it together on Facebook the other day, and my 23 year-old niece looked at it and spent the entire day discovering Led Zeppelin. I loved that.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I do too, although I listen to a lot of new music too. It's all good.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Hopefully we never lose that.

When my grandmother was in her late 80s, she lived in a retirement community. It was a great place for her and she loved it, though she would sometimes complain about being around so many "old people".

[basefinder.livejournal.com]

Tim was a fascinating guy and I appreciate his music even more now that I could when we were pen pals.

He contacted me via my web site based on his interest in WWII airfields. After several e-mail exchanges, I asked him what he did for a living, and I was delighted at what I learned.

Um, for those of us not on Facebook, what was that link? I saw Led Zep in Mannheim in 1980!

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

https://youtu.be/DDo4CA13LbY

[basefinder.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That is very cool. It's nice to see him as a reflective "old guy" with reading glasses. :-)