plot points

P is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, our attempt at skirting the rules of nature; of course there is never any guarantee no matter how much money one is willing to lay down in order to keep their family intact.  But I can't think of a different way to respond as long as a professional is telling me that it is a reasonable option to try, because I love him.

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Baldrey has scooped the story again the way he always does where it comes to contract negotiations.  I appreciate that he shares information with the media that the union does not share with its members, and it is clear that our leadership is fractured.  This has always been the way in this province, deep rifts in trust.  It seems worse than it did to me on the Winter Prairies, but it is also entirely possible that I just wasn't paying attention back then.  I was younger and more invested in things (like beer) that served to distract me from politics.

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On Tuesday I had the most fascinating conversation with L, who is fourteen.  She was complaining to me about her counsellor, M, - the same counsellor I frequently dream of choking to death.  She said that M doesn't listen, or only listens to the things she wants to hear.  L's example was:

M:  How are you doing?
L:  Everything it's pretty fucked up.  Fighting at home.  Failing school.  Using molly.  But otherwise good, haha.
M:  Oh okay, that's great.  So you've got some good things going on for you; that's wonderful.  Okay, go back to class.  Have a great day!

I struggle to watch these kids longing for connection with an adult who will listen, and simultaneously struggle with the fact that every time I do M's job for her, it enables her to be a bigger and bigger parasite.  But this girl, I want her to have help, and so I started to cast her a line.  I told her there was a process she could follow that would help her get assigned to a different counsellor if she wanted to be.  Her response surprised me enormously (because what teenager doesn't want to take the easiest route to getting what they want?).  She said she would rather have a conversation with M and tell her that she is frustrated with the way M doesn't listen to her.

This won't go well, I predict.  M won't hear it.  But of course that isn't the point.  The point is that this anxious and vulnerable fourteen-year old girl has more balls than I do in addressing her concerns.  She wants to face the problem, and call M out on her bullshit.  In the past five years, I have very rarely been so brave to do that myself.   Every once in awhile I have made an (unsuccessful) attempt at getting M to see how her lack of action impacts the rest of the counselling department, but most of the time I just fume to myself and fantasize about choking her to death.  I am fascinated by the fact that L wants to try to tackle this issue and cannot wait to hear how it goes.


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