Autism Acceptance Month Week 4

The next day I started getting back to reading The Goddess and the Bull. On Wednesday I went to a Sex Education Egg Hunt in the football field near Ellis where I met Mardy and we found several eggs, which had condoms, and also these strange, much larger female condoms. On Thursday I went with Hillary, Phillip, and Mardy to an Egg Hunt near the Union, where Hillary told me how some friends from Alpha Sigma Alpha explained to her how the female condoms we found at the egg hunt were used.

                “How do they know this?” I asked.

                “Because they participate in a lot of these functions."

                “What!"

Later I went on Blackboard, and I found out that I had gotten fifty out of fifty points on my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa class. On Friday I got the pictures and texts all together for my Autism Acceptance Month poster and Barbara sent me an e-mail about a mentoring group for THRIVE students on the spectrum, where I could share my ideas and help attract a core group of THRIVE students to my group. I e-mailed her saying I thought that was good idea, and she e-mailed me back saying she would bring it up at the next THRIVE meeting. After all that I made a wallet from Kool-Aid packs, which I got several favorable comments on over the next few days. I spent two hours outdoors while reading The Goddess and the Bull, and also took my Bilbo wood burning with me, as they say in Zen that any finished art piece can be an object of meditation, and to me it was a meditation on taking a risk and stepping out of your front door. On Saturday I started typing up my papers for my World Archaeology class and Film Appreciation class. I also took several miksang photos while managing to slow down in my life. On Sunday I realized my poster board I had gotten from the Union wasn’t big enough to hold the stuff I was going to put on the poster board, so I walked down to Walgreen’s in the rain and found a different one, and ended up getting splashed by a puddle moved a van driving by me. When I got back I still didn’t know any way to print off the pictures, and after much frustration, I found one at the computer center in the library at 11:40 at night, which printed color documents for twenty-five cents, though I had already paid for documents I printed off in black-and-white without having first realized I had to set the printer to color. I got back and finished my poster board and Sinho asked to get a picture so he could show it to his girlfriend in South Korea. 

 

                On Monday morning I went to the Union at eight and set up the poster. I spent much of the rest of the day finishing The Goddess and the Bull outside with a drink from Einstein’s, which brought up much memories for me, and by the end of the day I hadn’t gotten to my weekly posts for Autism Acceptance Month. The next day however, after getting a picture of a poster near my World Archaeology class of a famous celebrity shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, and getting myself a coffee drink as a reward for my efforts, I got done three posts for The Autist Dharma: Me Casa Su Casa (If I Can Manage): A Forum on Independent Living, SomeoneStole Your Identity?  How Bad Do You Wantit Back on Charles Darwin’s (another autistic’s) contribution to forensic science, and a post called Towards RealAutism Awareness, describing the social/cultural model of autism as opposed to the medical model. The next day I found out someone had the third post on Google. The next day I found a mint in the Ellis stairwell that encouraged me to keep going through my day, and finally managed to finish my book report for The Goddess and the Bull.  I also took more time to slow down and got some more miksang photos. I accidentally missed the mandatory meeting for my hall but Maria saw me and told me it was ok and told me all I needed to do to check out.

 

 

Autism Acceptance Month Week 3

On Tuesday after my World Archaeology class had gotten out, I went to the computer lab in the Union, and suddenly I thought, I ought to ask Laci to get coffee and hear about her presentation. At the thought I became increasingly nervous, but then I found a lump, right in the right pocket of my jacket: it was the stone Teresa had given me, and suddenly I remembered my promise to her, “Love someone who will love you the way you deserve to be loved.” I typed up the e-mail with great trepidation, and then, petrified, I clicked “Send.” A rush of excitement moved throughout my body. I e-mailed my paper for my World Archaeology class to Dr. Yelton by 5, as he had asked. I looked at my e-mail list, and saw no response, but then suddenly I realized I had earned something. I went on Amazon and ordered The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey flute solo book. 

On Wednesday I came to the Humphrey’s building to take my general education test, and it went so long that I ended up arriving four minutes late for the UCM Autism Spectrum Support Group Bingo Night, as opposed to my usual fifteen minutes before the meeting time. On my way I saw Hillary.

“Hey, Ben,” she said. “How are you?”

“Good, just tired of so many immature people.”

“Tell me about it.” She said, sympathetically. “Well, I’ll see you later.”

Again, only Tom had shown up for, and then I rushed to the Office of Student Activities to bet a Bingo roller and sheets. Soon the balls ended up coming out of the cage.

“Damn it!” I said and began picking up the balls. Tom helped me.

“Thanks, Tom.” I said, very grateful.

“Sure.”

He ended up winning one game, I won the next, and he won the last one before we ran out of time and cleaned up.

On Thursday finished my shelf for my toilet paper roll diorama made from beer cans. I called my mom and asked her if she could bring me home on Saturday morning rather than Thursday as I planned to go to an event that hosted all these different African foods hosted by the African Student Association at the UCM café Rock the Burg on Friday at 5. On Friday I took all my glass down to the Johnson County Sheltered Workshop, where I found six new bottle caps for my collection around the glass recycling. I saw a beautiful creek and got a picture of Whitman Air Force Base on the way. However, that day I went to Rock the Burg at 5:50 and saw the tickets were $5, which I had in my bank account at UCM, but when I rushed to the bank, I only had $16 in my account, so I rushed to the Ellis ATM, but as I got there, I found out I had left my student ID at the Union, and I went back and could not find it. It would probably turn up by Monday, but until then, I couldn’t withdraw money, couldn’t go to the Rec Center, and I couldn’t eat at the dining hall, or go to any restaurants, so I missed dinner that night, but I used that night to work on my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa case study paper. I went home the next morning with my mom and got brunch at Arby’s from the drive-through.  Then on the way home we bought some new shoes and a tuxedo for the Down Syndrome Dance at a thrift store. I got my hair cut before I went to the dance and met Tyler and Jack there. Later that day I worked on my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa paper.

 

 

 

The next morning my mom gave me a basket full of Easter candy, which helped calm my nerves about all my assignments and deadlines.  I met my Dad, who had a six-pack of beer with funky Laughing Buddha –shaped bottles called Buddha Beer for my Easter, which he had gotten from Beer Garden in Kansas City and from I’d be able to get a new bottle cap.  We met my grandparents at an Italian buffet before they took me back to school.  Before I left for UCM, my dad gave me $40 for dinner and breakfast for the next two days until I found my card.  Soon after I got back, I ate at Hero’s, finding a new bottle cap along the way, while reading a lot of that week’s reading for my Film Appreciation class.  After picking up much trash and recycling, I got back and posted my posts and responses for my Film Appreciation class.  I also worked on my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa paper. 

The next day I reserved an easel in the Union for my Autism Acceptance Month poster. I went to the Student Success Center at two to try and get someone to look at my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa paper, only to find the Writing Center had moved to the Humphrey’s building. I went there and after it was finished being looked at, and I still forgot to take care of a few errors, I sent it just in time. Afterwards I went to the library and found an article on Roger Smith in the New England Quarterly to do my article summary for my Early American Literature class, which I was only able to stretch to a page long, plus the bibliography, and also had a few technical errors. I still had not gotten my all my Autism Acceptance Month posts done by that day, although after twelve, I finished and posted one post called Eight Facts Your Average Autism Awareness Hawk Doesn’t Know. 

The next day I read all but ten pages for my Early American Literature class before going to that class, dressed in my Styrofoam cowboy hat (which interestingly enough, a classmate pointed out the fact that it had holes in) and my shirt tucked in for my role-playing presentation for my World Archaeology class. I went there, getting up from my seat one desk away from a female classmate (who I tried to get the attention of to get her to move some things off the edge of her desk), and when my turn came, I threw off my shoes, put my feet up on the desk, and gave my presentation as archaeologist Colin Renfaire in a southern accent. After class I went down to the Union and outside I saw a few girls from Alpha Omicron Pi sorority had a Pie-a-Pi event set up. I went over to them and said, “What’s this for?”

“It’s for Sexual Assault Prevention Month.” Said one of the girls.

“Well that sounds good.  Is it still going?” 

“No, we stopped at three.”

“Darn, I’ve been wanting to pie you guys for so long.”

I reached into my wallet and found only a one dollar bill and the twenty my dad had given me and handed her the twenty.

“Are you sure you want to give this?” asked the girl.

“Yes.” I said.

“Well for that you can pie me. Here.”

She put a bunch of whipped cream on a plate, and got behind the plywood, and I pied her, making sure to rub it in her face. Afterwards I got a picture of her, and a guy near me got a picture of us together. Then I got to work and finished my third weekly post called Something to Think About When You Appreciate Living Without Cold War Hysteria on how Sir Isaac Newton’s (who also was said to have autism) discovery of gravity may have helped the U.S. beat the Russians to the moon, and my other weekly post called Free at Last! Now What?  A Forum on College Life with Autism. I saw my mom had wrote on Facebook that she found my post I wrote the last night interesting and well-written and a friend of hers, who had a son my age who I knew with Asperger syndrome, also found it interesting. I got back and worked on my snack wrapper collage of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was also said to have autism.

 

Autism Acceptance Month Week 2

On Tuesday I went to the Office of Academic Advising and found out they didn’t have me scheduled for that day, so I ended up talking to the girl at the desk and got it rescheduled for 9:30 next Thursday. I also needed to do some laundry while still reading the reading for my Early American Literature class. I did my reading outside on the bench outside Ellis, going in after a half hour to put my laundry in the drawer, then again in another hour to get my laundry hamper upstairs and rush down to the laundry room downstairs, and bring the laundry up another two stairs, and still had twenty pages left of reading for my Early American Literature class. I rushed to that class and got there four minutes late after my instructor had closed the door, but luckily he opened it when I knocked. 

I found out I gotten ten out of ten points on my last discussion post for my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa class. Afterwards I enjoyed the outdoor weather. During that time I found a fortune slip that said, “Never underestimate the power of human touch.” I also read a lot of the reading for my World Archaeology class. That evening I went outside, gathered a lot of sand in from the north stairs of and sidewalk corners around Ellis, put them in on one my Altoids containers, dropped a pebble in it, and racked the sand around to form lines making a Zen garden, which looked so beautiful and tranquil. I got back and got about halfway through Chinatown and decided to try and write an analysis paper on how it uses form and lighting to capture something such as disillusionment of the American dream or other and thought I might really enjoy the world of film scholarship to some extent. I decided to save finishing the rest of the movie for tomorrow when Maria knocked on my door and invited me and the other residents of my hall to an ice cream social, which only Antwon and I went to, but it gave him, Maria, and I a chance to hang out together, which was indeed rather fun. I felt pretty tired after I got up so I took a three hour nap, before eating dinner with Mary. I realized my tiredness stemmed from not taking my medicine this morning, which I quickly did. Afterwards I got my stuff from my mom in the mail. After talking to my granddad, I took another nap. I found out my posts and links got even more likes. Then I read the first few pages for my Early American Literature class and took another miksang photo. I took another nap, expecting to fall asleep. Instead I went to Late Night and had some nachos before reading several more pages of The Goddess and the Bull and learning a lot more in the process and taking notes on it. 

During breakfast Josh asked me if I would like to be in a video for THRIVE, and I told him I would be happy to. I ate with him, Kriti, and Connor, and Kriti told me about the Show Me Justice Film Festival which today was the last day of and how a series of short films was showing from 1:30-3:30 today and then two short films called Wheelchair Diaries and Reframing Islam were showing tonight at seven, and I agreed to try and come. I got an e-mail from the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network asking me to submit a statement on the Judge Rotenberg Center by Monday and I typed it up, though I felt frustrated when my computer didn’t let my fill in all the information. I also saw a link from Laci on Facebook about her presentation and commented saying, “Sounds interesting. I’ll have to hear more about it sometime.” I saw the short films that evening, which included a film on how apparently, two parents had been able to help their son recover from his autism with cannabis, yet by the end of the film, I was pretty unconvinced. I did go to the filmmaker’s Q&A, and soon the discussion turned to the connection between social justice and film, and I realized I didn’t want all my socially relevant films to be non-commercial, as most of the filmmaker’s films were, because I could show people that a socially responsible film could in fact make money. I also realized that rather than having to deal explicitly with social justice in my films, I could always follow Chogyam Trungpa’s view of working with film where one tries to incorporate the principles of building an enlightened society as he talked about through the arts, perhaps in a similar way to how Homer tried to  instill good morals in the Greeks through The Odyssey and The Illiad, especially seeing as saving this world, as the discussion turned to how films can get people to go out and vote, is not about converting the world to one party or opinion (e.g. democrat, republican) over another, just as the autistic struggle isn’t, and nor was the Civil Rights movement in Dr. King’s mind. At the end I introduced myself to my Film Appreciation teacher, who I told of my idea for my critical analysis paper, and he liked the idea. I went to The Wheelchair Diaries and Reframing Islam, writing down a haiku that came to me while I waited for the movie to start.  Reframing Islam dealt with Muslims in America who smiled, as opposed to our stereotypical view of angry Muslims. I liked the film, though I was left with some technical questions, and during the Q&A I asked the filmmakers, one of whom was a Muslim from the Middle East, how as I know many Buddhists and Christians who don’t smile regularly, that while I thought the film was good, I thought other film projects could also help change perceptions of Muslims and wondered what projects they were involved in to help due that.  To that the Muslim filmmaker answered that his film was rather more intended to use the images of smiling to show what Muslims had in common with the rest of the world.  I got back and read a good article from Babble about autism and cannabis, which related so much of what I was thinking, about how it cannot cure autism, and how the effects it treats may be consequences, rather than symptoms of autism, and much more, and shared it on Facebook.

Afterwards I went down to Walgreen’s and got some toothpaste and shampoo. I picked up and sorted several recyclables on my way back. I got back and I saw Laci had liked my comment about her post about her presentation. I worked on my coasters made from paper plates and Styrofoam and then made several more heart-shaped pins from straws. I talked to my mom who said she shared a link to my blog on Facebook with several of her Facebook friends, including the wife of a famous football player whose son has autism and runs a charitable foundation called the Autism Foundation, and they had great comments, and the wife of the football player planned to show it to her husband.  Later I started watching Clerks for my Film Appreciation class, pausing only to eat dinner, where I sat with Connor from THRIVE. Afterwards I watched the rest of Chinatown, and when I finished at 10:50, I rushed down to the library and finished my statement on the Judge Rotenburg Center for the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, my paper on Clerks, and my paper proposal all before midnight. 

The next day I heard about how theonering.net has a poetry series and This Day in Middle Earth series that its members can post on and how Tolkien said he did intend to give Middle Earth creative license to other forms of entertainment. I also read an article that was a photo essay on Tolkien’s influences. After meditating, showering, and eating breakfast I read a lot of the reading for my Early American Literature class, while learning to read one page at a time without rushing, just like I should when I eat. Then I made several more beads from straws after deciding to give myself a little break from my work. After that I found out where I go about my holds on my account from the Testing Center and went there and learned I need to take a general education test now that I’ve taken forty-five different hours. Then I typed up my role-playing paper, getting more in the mind of an archaeologist, as Yelton put it, or so I thought. Then I went to the Union computer lab and wrote my weekly April Autist Dharma post called People to Appreciate After Your Normal College Drinking, about what the world may have been like if Thomas Jefferson had not founded the University of Virginia, then a forum called All You Need is Love (And Interventions) (again, not my best title).  Then I wrote another post called Square Pegs Don’t Roll Off the Table: A Photo Essay on the World Due to Autism.  After that I had to run to the dining hall and got there to minutes before it closed. Then I saw The Autist Dharma had gotten over one hundred views, ninety-nine in the U.S., three in Russia, and one each from Canada, Germany, France, and Spain, and wrote a Facebook post on it about “lighting it up green” for autism, and several other posts. I also talked to Tyler when I got back. 

Autism Acceptance Month Week 1

On the second day I ate lunch with Mary, who told me how she was going to events with her friends from Alpha Omicron Pi for Greek Week.  She told me too that she had been invited to the organization like Emily had, though she couldn’t on account of the fact that THRIVE did not permit their students to join these organizations.  At the news that Mary was invited, I felt I had really been wrong to think someone who didn’t share my condition would never understand my struggle as I do.  As for my book report for my World Archaeology class, I decided to keep my notes on The Goddess and the Bull in my Sayings of the Buddha Journal and read twenty-five pages of each day to help me finish it and I read thirty-seven pages of it.  I put up a post on Facebook in honor of Autism Acceptance Month and Greek Week talking about how I had been invited to join Tau Kappa Epsilon, but chose not to as it would interfere with my responsibilities as the UCM Autism Spectrum Support Group leader, but, “I told my dad, “’That’s ok, because I live to serve the autistic community of UCM.  They are my brothers, and sisters.’  Our letters: whatever letters are necessary to raise our voice.”  I saw Dr. Downing commented on that post saying, “Proud of you, Ben!”  After drinking a beer at Crazy Dog’s to help relax me for my World Archaeology exam tomorrow, I learned of the Johnson County Sheltered Workshop, which takes glass and other recyclables.  I got lost on my way back in the dark and ended up missing my exercise and Late Night.  The next day I took my World Archaeology exam in the Testing Center.  The day after that I saw a post on my Facebook wall saying that it has been shown that spending two hours outdoors can greatly cut down on the hormones that cause stress.  I decided I would try and do that each day.

                True to my commitment that I had made two try and spend two hours outdoors each day, I sat outside by the Rec Center, reading twenty-five more pages of The Goddess and the Bull, and writing an Autist Dharma post.  In it I talked about how April is AutismAcceptance Month, in contrast to Autism Awareness Month, which uses the medical, rather than social model for autism, and each week I planned to post a forum on topics related to autism such as work, love, school, and independent living, as well as posts on what the world may be like if certain autistic individuals had not existed or been the way they were.   I also scheduled an appointment with the OAS Office for the next Monday at nine, and I went to the Office of Academic Advising and scheduled an appointment for next Tuesday at 9:30. 

                During brunch the next day I ate with Jai and Kim, who told me Sinho had drunken a lot at the TKE party last night, and I learned they all had to live at the fraternity house from Sunday to Wednesday.  After they left I read twenty-five more pages of The Goddess and the Bull near the table at the Rec Center.  I also found out that I had a Film Appreciation test this week, and rushed to the library to take it, hoping I wasn’t too late, and thankfully, it turned out it was due at midnight the next night.  I took it and got thirty-four out of forty questions right.  Then I checked out ten books from the library on Somalia (one on Djibouti for its connections to the conflict in Somalia) deciding to do my Modern Sub-Saharan Africa case study paper on the Somalian conflict, and found that for my thesis which we have to do on what this demonstrates for African politics as a whole, I thought I would talk about the negative ripple effects of the Cold War on Africa.  I texted my mom asking her to send my one of my books at home Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea by Robert D. Kaplan to help my write it, along with my bullet-ridden Styrofoam cowboy boy hat for my World Archaeology class.  Afterwards I walked down to Hasting’s and bought the new issue of Mindful and Do it Yourself, the latter of which I learned to do needlepoint in.  I also decided just to collect those two magazines from now on.  As I walked back to UCM, I ate at Crazy Dog’s where I had an Angry Orchid and some hot wings, which I enjoyed particularly tonight as I decided to eat them more mindfully, including waiting until they had cooled down, and they tasted delicious.  I got back and I gathered some more bottle caps for my wall fish.  Then I sorted some recycling in Ellis.  Then I went down to a gas station, thinking of getting some chocolates, but remembering Mindful’s words on choosing snacks carefully choose some liquorish, and bought some Smirnoffs.  On my way back I also managed to pick up some recyclables again.  When I got back I decided to quit keeping a regular meditation journal as it just was hard with all the demands in my life, and instead try to put that and my daily life in one journal.  I also started reading A Modern History of the Somali in the second floor lounge. 

                As Monday, the deadline for those weekly Autist Dharma posts for April came, I went to my appointment with Barbara, and we talked about how I planned to make an Autism Acceptance Month poster.  She also said she noticed I seemed troubled over the last few days and I said I was simply in grief over Hook and Reeder, who had helped the THRIVE program, whom I had met, and knew several of my friends.  She told me that was quite normal to be stricken by the deaths of young people, especially as a young person.  I did also tell her how I was sort of troubled because ever since my breakup with Emily I was wondering whether I would meet a girl I find mature enough to date, and had struggled with some prospects over that issue.  Eventually, after finding she had good advice on that issue, we got back to the issue of the poster, and she suggested it would be a good idea to have a quote from a famous person with autism related to living in the world with autism.  We also came up with the idea to send an e-mail out to the new-coming THRIVE and UCM students to give them some time to think about joining the group.  I got back to the Union and wrote my first Autist Dharma post for the day, a question forum called What are You Working for (not my best title) on employment.  I wrote my second post called Loss of Football Closure and OtherDiscomforts of an Alternative World talking about what the world might be like for us if Albert Einstein’s discoveries with electrons had not helped perfect television.  Then I wrote and posted a third post called Coming Out ofthe Autism Closet: The Joys and Benefits of Revealing One’s Condition.