This in from the You Just Thought Your Day Was Rough Department:
When I left work at 5:15 or so, I turned on the car radio. My NPR station was still in its fall pledge drive, so I switched over to WRR 101.1 for some classical music. But, no, my favorite soap opera was still on the air. The Dallas City Council convened today at nine a.m., and WRR was still broadcasting live from the meeting.
The Council was considering Agenda Item 55 at that moment, and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, Dwaine R. Caraway, was calling for the men "with the motails in the back row to please stand up." Now Councilman Caraway from District 4 is best known for his anti-sagging pants campaign, and he once appeared on Dr. Phil's t.v. show to promote it. The slogan for that campaign is, "Grandma says: Pull 'Em Up!" That's why I thought a "motail" was likely either a fashion statement or a bad hairdo.
The Deputy Mayor Pro Tem was actually asking the men in the back to rise so he could commend them for their plan to build "an unseedly motail," an extended-stay hotel that "meant quality." Don't know about you, but just contemplating this Candlewood Suites in all its unseedliness brought a smile to my tired face.
Next, Agenda Item 54 was reopened for consideration. Seems there hadn't been a proper request for speakers opposed to a drive-through bank in Subdistrict B-2 of Planned Development District 749, aka the Baylor Hospital Special Use District, the first time around. The opposed speakers were even more agitated than they would have been if they were called the first time, if that is possible, and even further off the topic.
The first woman directed her fury at the Council for "sitting up there eating your grapes and your prunes and not letting us comment..." The next speaker went off about Baylor Hospital, and how "they are killing people up there with surgeries they don't even need and the security guards threw me in jail when I walked out the back door of the lunchroom with a plate lunch even though I had a paycheck in my pocket and $8000, so I didn't even need to cash my paycheck, like I couldn't pay for the plate lunch, and they're killing people in there, I know 'cause I worked there."
I spend a lot of time trying to get my preschool council members to eat their grapes and their prunes. They tell rambling stories that often have nothing to do with the agenda item. Some of them have a lot of trouble pulling up their pants and remembering to flush. Still, most of them can tell the difference between a drive-through bank and a hospital.
I'm humming a little WWI ditty:
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.
Tuck in your motails, and smile, boys, that's the style.
And [Note To Self] next time, remember to buy the unseedly grapes at Albertsons!
© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder
Showing posts with label parliamentary procedure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parliamentary procedure. Show all posts
4/25/07
Stitching with C-SPAN 2
Way over on the upper left side of the map, an old friend is creating a blog for her knitting for peace and charity group. I don't plan to knit until I become a grandma, and there's no rush on that! It's just that I'm best at small knitting projects.
My walk-buddy says only old people watch C-SPAN. Okay, that must be me. I like to have C-SPAN 2 as background noise while I'm working on textile art projects. Parliamentary procedure makes me happy. Quorum counts give me the calm to thread small-eyed needles. When I glance up from my work, I can see which senators have $400 hairdos. I can hear which senators are jumping on The World Is Flat bandwagon.
On the good side, I'm not yet stitching pale yellow and green covers for toilet paper rolls or Kleenex boxes.
© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder
My walk-buddy says only old people watch C-SPAN. Okay, that must be me. I like to have C-SPAN 2 as background noise while I'm working on textile art projects. Parliamentary procedure makes me happy. Quorum counts give me the calm to thread small-eyed needles. When I glance up from my work, I can see which senators have $400 hairdos. I can hear which senators are jumping on The World Is Flat bandwagon.
On the good side, I'm not yet stitching pale yellow and green covers for toilet paper rolls or Kleenex boxes.
© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder
12/2/05
Robert's Rules Radio Soap Opera
Pledge drives drive me to other radio stations. Say it louder: Pledge drives drive me to other radio stations. I can't hear you! Hey, Public Radio! PLEDGE DRIVES DRIVE ME TO OTHER STATIONS!
Dear Terry Gross,
I enjoy your program, Fresh Air. I can only listen to it on Wednesdays. The trouble is, KERA had so many pledge drives that I started listening to the Dallas City Council meetings on WRR,101.1 fm on Wednesday mornings.
The City Council meetings, held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, are broadcast live from 9:00 A.M. through their conclusion if earlier than 6:00 P.M., or through 6:00 P.M. (subject to change).
Terry, I love that Dallas Mayor Laura Miller knows her Robert's Rules of Order, or at least has a good parliamentarian by her side. Robert's is the K-Y Jelly of business meetings :
Why is parliamentary procedure important? It is important because it's a time tested method of conducting business at meetings and public gatherings. It can be adapted to fit the needs of any organization. Today, Robert's Rules of Order newly revised is the basic handbook of operation for most organizations from congresses to clubs, so it's important that everyone know these basic rules.
Even if only a few of the people in attendance at a meeting actually understand the intricacies of parliamentary procedure, everyone is reassured that there is an underlying structure for the meeting. If there's structure, then everyone feels safer. They sense they will have a chance to speak without interruption, and without fear of personal attack. They sense the presence of a civilizing force and generally try to live up to it. Church boards, student organizations, Model United Nations , babysitting co-ops, and parent-teacher organizations all use Robert's Rules with success in my personal experience.
Maybe because people listen and watch so many programs with confrontational styles of interviews and panel discussions, they expect and behave with that style at meetings of all types. Lately the U. S. House of Representatives has gotten pretty close to a Jerry Springer Show segment. Then we have the splendid example of Dick Cheney presiding as president of the Senate offering barnyard anatomically impossible suggestions to Patrick Leahy. The Dallas City Council meetings could easily cross into that pattern if it weren't for the strong parliamentary structure. Instead of everyone yelling obscenities at once, order allows each participant to sound as knowledgeable, foolish, self-serving, or arrogant as they really are at the microphone. That the mike occasionally picks up the Mayor's muttered asides is just gravy. It's good radio drama and comedy.
I don't vote or even live in Dallas. I just listen for the entertainment value, Terry. It's so much more fun than a pledge drive.
Wish my condo association would practice a little Oil of Robert's to smooth the meetings. As soon as the president erroneously asks for a motion to call the meeting to order, I get a gavel-pounding headache. After that, all pretense of structure falls away. People ages 25-93 imitate Dick Cheney over earth-shaking issues of pooper-scooping and tree-trimming.
If you don't hunker down in a secret vice presidential bunker somewhere, but need to live in the world with other humans, parliamentary procedure is one of the most useful foreign languages you can pick up. There are dummy and idiot guides at the bookstore. You can get a quick guide to chairing a meeting or more detailed instructions on-line. Maybe there are even audio lessons for learning while you drive!
Dear Terry Gross,
I enjoy your program, Fresh Air. I can only listen to it on Wednesdays. The trouble is, KERA had so many pledge drives that I started listening to the Dallas City Council meetings on WRR,101.1 fm on Wednesday mornings.
The City Council meetings, held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, are broadcast live from 9:00 A.M. through their conclusion if earlier than 6:00 P.M., or through 6:00 P.M. (subject to change).
Terry, I love that Dallas Mayor Laura Miller knows her Robert's Rules of Order, or at least has a good parliamentarian by her side. Robert's is the K-Y Jelly of business meetings :
Why is parliamentary procedure important? It is important because it's a time tested method of conducting business at meetings and public gatherings. It can be adapted to fit the needs of any organization. Today, Robert's Rules of Order newly revised is the basic handbook of operation for most organizations from congresses to clubs, so it's important that everyone know these basic rules.
Even if only a few of the people in attendance at a meeting actually understand the intricacies of parliamentary procedure, everyone is reassured that there is an underlying structure for the meeting. If there's structure, then everyone feels safer. They sense they will have a chance to speak without interruption, and without fear of personal attack. They sense the presence of a civilizing force and generally try to live up to it. Church boards, student organizations, Model United Nations , babysitting co-ops, and parent-teacher organizations all use Robert's Rules with success in my personal experience.
Maybe because people listen and watch so many programs with confrontational styles of interviews and panel discussions, they expect and behave with that style at meetings of all types. Lately the U. S. House of Representatives has gotten pretty close to a Jerry Springer Show segment. Then we have the splendid example of Dick Cheney presiding as president of the Senate offering barnyard anatomically impossible suggestions to Patrick Leahy. The Dallas City Council meetings could easily cross into that pattern if it weren't for the strong parliamentary structure. Instead of everyone yelling obscenities at once, order allows each participant to sound as knowledgeable, foolish, self-serving, or arrogant as they really are at the microphone. That the mike occasionally picks up the Mayor's muttered asides is just gravy. It's good radio drama and comedy.
I don't vote or even live in Dallas. I just listen for the entertainment value, Terry. It's so much more fun than a pledge drive.
Wish my condo association would practice a little Oil of Robert's to smooth the meetings. As soon as the president erroneously asks for a motion to call the meeting to order, I get a gavel-pounding headache. After that, all pretense of structure falls away. People ages 25-93 imitate Dick Cheney over earth-shaking issues of pooper-scooping and tree-trimming.
If you don't hunker down in a secret vice presidential bunker somewhere, but need to live in the world with other humans, parliamentary procedure is one of the most useful foreign languages you can pick up. There are dummy and idiot guides at the bookstore. You can get a quick guide to chairing a meeting or more detailed instructions on-line. Maybe there are even audio lessons for learning while you drive!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
