I was never skilled at Math. It was the subject that I least enjoyed and I still have occasional nightmares of foggy final exams for Algebra courses I didn’t even know I was enrolled in until that day.
But I enjoyed statistics. Go figure. They made sense and I was willing to learn and follow the rules. I had a inspiring smart teacher that made us do every calculation by hand first, And I did my homework every single night. Sometimes twice. Which was super weird for me because I tended to only do papers, not actual homework. But as I climbed on through advanced statistics I started to get the feeling towards the end, Okay. That’s hard enough. STOP. I have learned ALL I can learn. I have worked as hard as I can work. Don’t teach me one more thing. I couldn’t bear it.
I remember distinctly sitting in class on the June day when Dr. Stampp was teaching us the formulas for the two way Anova right before the final as a last lesson. I remember bursting into tears which I could not conceal. She felt so bad she told me later she held her note book up so she couldn’t see my face. The Two way Anova would be on the final. I eventually learned it. I got a 100% and an award from the college for my work in the class. But I just have easily could have failed. Or exploded into a tangle of neurons. Brains splattered everywhere. It could have gone either way.
This festival is starting to feel a little like that.
I keep running into walls: FRO unable to help us, Alhambra Valley Band being unable to play. the EBRP mobile fish tank cancelling due to technical problems. And I keep doing the homework and solving the puzzle by pulling the solution from the furthest recesses of my – er – mind. And it’s working. Erika filling in for FRO. Alan’s trio filling in for AVB. Bees in the space where the fish tank might have been. It’s working.
But just barely.
The newest chapter is the exciting tale of Amelia’s computer dying and all her artwork inaccessible. Amelia has helped us with the beaver festival graphics since 2010 and we owe her more thanks than one person can possibly give. But this year we need to find our way without her. How? How?
The San Luis Obispo beaver brigade has a great graphic artist who works with them and has been friendly in the past to us and our work. I thought maybe I’d ask her for help. Which I did. And which she very generously said she would love to provide.
Terre Dunivant of Gaia Graphics will step in for this year’s festival brochure. We had a great talk about it this weekend and she is very on board with the job. On with the two way Anova!
Whenever I worry about the festival not working I remember this scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and it makes me smile.
Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you!
